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Mission Statement • News
& Press • Board of Directors
December 2005 News Digest Vol. II.2 online Download PDF File (10MB)
August 2004 News Digest Vol. II.1 online Download PDF File (10MB)
June 2004 News Digest Vol. II.0 Download PDF File (4MB)
June 28, 2002 Neighborhood Co-op Brings High-speed Internet to Mountains - Boulder County Business Report
March 1, 2002 Press Release - Broadband Trial Begins in Mountain Community Outside Boulder
2004
21 Nov 2004 Fall membership potluck preceded by workshops. New BoD members
Shane Castle and Peter Jensen elected. Allen Gordon re-elected.
23 May 2004 Spring Membership meeting/potluck at CCCIA Hall in Coal Creek Canyon. Open house prior to it draws 34 households signing up for more information.
21 May 2004 Spring Issue of MRIC News Digest sent to members
20 May 2004 Board of Direcotrs meet to finalize membership meeting slides
19 May 2004 Steve Dickson installs first MRIC hotspot at CCCIA
2003
29 Oct 2003 New service number added. You can now call 720 210 1969 for service. Of course the email, support@mric.coop is still available.
25 Oct 2003 3 New POPs under construction! We are currently building 2 new POPs on Sugarloaf to serve the middle level of Sugarloaf and to finish the end to end linking of the network. We are also building a lower Thorodin to serve Subscribers there.
08 Apr 2003 MRIC added to web site of leading Colorado WISPs.
17 Mar 2003 MRIC stays on-line during blizzard of 2003! Even
state Representative Tom Plant conducted legislative business
by Internet as 5 to 6 feet ofsnow buried residents.
10 Mar 2003 3 With the addition of the 8.3 mile link to Upper Sugarloaf,
the backbone changeout is nearly complete
2002
31 Dec 2002 Completed move off Yahoo! Groups - all MRIC lists hosted
on MRIC servers.
30 Dec 2002 Trial of public safety audio streaming begins.
29 Dec 2002 Lancelink (local speed test) upgraded to write process ID.
26 Dec 2002 Conversations with the Colorado Internet Cooperative begin
regarding closer cooperation.
15 Dec 2002 Construction begins on upper Sugarloaf site on a relay point
to join lower Sugarloaf (Tall Timbers) to the rest of the MRIC backbone
20 Nov 2002 Replacement of the network backbone with higher speed Trango
5.8Ghz gear begins
18 Oct 2002 MRIC mentioned in Front Range Tech Business Journal.
04 Oct 2002 A WiPOP is built on upper Sugarloaf mountain providing service
to Upper Sugarloaf and Lower Magnolia road.
16 Aug 2002 Magnolia Road and Sugarloaf Internet Cooperatives mentioned
in FOXNews.com article.
08 Aug 2002 mric.coop domain registered.
07 Aug 2002 Rollinsville residents start asking for repeater.
07 Aug 2002 MRTG (traffic stats) graphs added to subscriber area.
01 Aug 2002 The network is reconfigured to provide failover between our
two upstream providers across the mesh.
27 Jul 2002 Directional antenna is installed at the Lazy Z NOC. The wireless
mesh linking our two NOCs via Thorodin is complete.
14 Jul 2002 Mt. Thorodin repeater built and brought on line. Many thanks
to our volunteer repeater builders. For the story in pictures see here.
28 Jun 2002 MRIC appears in the Boulder County Business Report
15 Jun 2002 Three more installs done. Tim and Peggy Gorman kindly contribute
$300 seed capital, declining loan repayments. Thank you!
14 Jun 2002 6 more 24-dBi antennas arrive along with 1 repeater amp.
Twelve more female pigtail cables arrive, too.
12 Jun 2002 Jill & Greg Nazimek become first Coal Creek customer.
11 Jun 2002 Don Roper becomes our first summer resident subscriber by
paying 3 months in advance.
02 Jun 2002 Bob Bows donates 486 PC to MRIC for use in our NOC. Mike
Lewinski plans to remove Windows and install BSD for use in our NOC. Thank you, Bob!
02 Jun 2002 Joel Ehrlich becomes first MRIC subscriber to report canceling
his DirecPC subscription. It took 45 minutes.
01 Jun 2002 ISDN backup now in place for automatic failover. Paid service
begins with subscribers having until June 10th to get agreements signed
and first quarter's payments made.
31 May 2002 Out of 39 trial subscribers, 22 active users. Remaining 17
still completing installations.
30 May 2002 50% attainment of $15,000 seed capital goal via $300 loans.
29 May 2002 MRIC solves RG-1100 configuration problems. New owners of
Ethernet Converter and RG-1100 advised to let MRIC configure.
28 May 2002 20 more PCMCIA wireless cards arrive.
27 May 2002 More installs completed bringing total completed installs
to 20. First Lazy Z repeater install tests at 1.2 to 1.3 Mbps downloads!
First 1+ Mbps downloads reported on www.dslreports.com/archive validates
MRIC philosophy of uncapped service - if no one else is using the bandwidth
you are welcome to it! For $50/mo this is a tremendous bargain...even
better when rates are lowered.
26 May 2002 Winiger Ridge repeater upgraded. Lazy Z repeater installed
with Rockynet Frame Relay feeding it.
25 May 2002 Last formal install work party...new installs by arrangement
only.
24 May 2002 Richard Garcia becomes first paid subscriber, paying 3 months
in advance. More checks coming in the mail!
20 May 2002 Four more subscribers add RG-1100 (wireless LAN) capabilities
to their home; five known RG-1100s are being deployed.
18 May 2002 More subscriber installs completed bringing the active trial
usage to 18 subscribers (out of 32 signed up for trial). About 80 potential
subscribers are on waiting list.
17 May 2002 20 more Avaya PCMCIA Gold cards ordered.
16 May 2002 Jay Sklar becomes first MRIC Wondervu subscriber!
15 May 2002 Good results from preliminary Mt. Thorodin repeater sites.
13 May 2002 200m AirComm cable, 20 N male connectors, 5 PCMCIA Gold cards,
5 Ethernet converters, 5 RG-1100s w/USB client & Gold PCMCIA cards,
10 female pigtails, 6 HyperGain 24-dBi grid antennas ordered.
12 May 2002 More subscriber installations completed bringing the total
of network users to 16.
11 May 2002 More subscriber installs completed.
07 May 2002 10 more PCI adapters ordered.
06 May 2002 Another 100m of cables and 40 more cable connectors arrive.
05 May 2002 Winiger Ridge #1 repeater antenna upgraded.
04 May 2002 More subscriber antenna installs completed. Over 50% of trial
subscribers completed installation and actively using network.
03 May 2002 MRIC mentioned in Boulder County Business Report column.
02 May 2002 Presentation at PUMA Open House at hosts LYnda and Clark
Chapman's home. Thanks to Jay Biddle, Scott Bogart, Greg Ching, Rick
Cobb, and Dan Metzger for helping to set up.
02 May 2002 Ribbon-cutting photo and article in the Mountain Ear.
27 Apr 2002 Twin Sisters repeater now up and running. Thanks go to George
Watson, Hans Rohner, Mike Morrisey and John Colton.
24 Apr 2002 First T1 line added to MRIC network! ISDN line used as backup.
22 Apr 2002 At least 30 people brave winds on a sunny day to witness
the MRIC ribbon-cutting. Special guest Paul Farnan from Congressman Mark
Udall's office attended. Lots of shrimp, pate, and wine!
20 Apr 2002 Braving rain and snow, two teams installed a few more antennas.
In one very difficult (sunken) location, an amplifier was required to
get a good signal 1.4 miles away. In another situation 2.12 miles from
a repeater, a very strong signal was received without any amplification.
In the latter case, over 90% of the packets transferred were at 11 Mbps
during "white-out" snow conditions! Both locations verified
by laptops surfing the web.
20 Apr 2002 Winiger Ridge tower goes live at 9:45 AM.
17 Apr 2002 Twin Sisters repeater installed by John Colton, George Watson,
Hans Rohner, Mary Jo Brodzik, Rick Cobb, John Kauzlaric, and Greg Ching.
Six subscriber antennas assembled as well.
14 Apr 2002 Three more subscriber antennas installed. At least five other
sites are ready (i.e. no external antenna needed). Approximately 40%
of the trial subscribers are ready for service, or very close to getting
service.
13 Apr 2002 ORiNOCO install clinic and first subscriber antenna install
at the Cowart residence.
05 Apr 2002 First Winiger Ridge repeater installed by John Colton, George
Watson, Ric Turley, Mike Morrissey, and Greg Ching.
02 Apr 2002 Network modem card bulk order deliveries begin.
14 Mar 2002 Both RockyNet and Fortis backhaul committed for April trial.
ionSKY proposal also received.
12 Mar 2002 Taggart & Associates reports insurance success!
10 Mar 2002 Board decides to order Fortis connection (as earlier attempt
stalled).
10 Mar 2002 More testing on second Lazy Z repeater despite high winds.
07 Mar 2002 Board meeting to review subscriber agreement draft.
07 Mar 2002 Negotiations continue with ionSKY. RockyNet order waiting
for Qwest local loop date.
07 Mar 2002 Article in Mountain Ear on April MRIC trial.
05 Mar 2002 30 ORiNOCO cards @ $79.95 ordered from HyperLink Technologies.
04 Mar 2002 Article in Daily Camera on Nederland area WISPs.
02 Mar 2002 Upcoming trial press release issued.
01 Mar 2002 Board meeting to discuss ionSKY and RockyNet backhaul options.
Decision made to order Frame Relay from RockyNet and T1-equivalent from
ionSKY. Banc One signature forms signed. Treasurer Allen Schmitt-Gordon
receives 10 seed capital checks for deposit.
01 Mar 2002 MRIC meets with ionSKY to discuss possible synergies.
28 Feb 2002 George Watson interviewed by Daily Camera reporter.
12 Feb 2002 Pablo Sanchez and Paul Kolesnikoff resign from MRIC board
after 6 months of service. Thanks, guys! New board members Ric Turley
and Alan Dunwell appointed until general elections.
08 Feb 2002 Taggart & Associates receives new AIG insurance application.
07 Feb 2002 Alan Dunwell becomes the first person to write a $300 seed
capital loan to MRIC even though he will not be ready for the initial
trial! He is joined by over a half dozen lenders who agreed to no-interest
MRIC promissory notes. Thanks again to our demo hosts Jim and Todd Cowart!
04 Feb 2002 An order for 3 roof mounts for repeater locations was placed
today, along with an order for the necessary tower hardware (mast clamps).
They are 4.5' tall with a good base, should be able to take the winds.
There will be about 3 feet of mast out the top with a pair of dishes,
one horizontal, one vertical.
02 Feb 2002 Board meeting at Rick Cobb's house. Decision made to start
the trial on April 1st (no fooling!). George Watson has found a way to
modify ORiNOCO AP-1000 into repeater station wireless routers, saving
MRIC $300 per repeater station. Pablo Sanchez will place the order for
the T1 line this week.
02 Feb 2002 Groundhog's Day testing proved successful. We were able to
surf the net from the Cowart's residence to George Watson's test repeater.
We got a 17 dB, 5 Mb/s signal over a 1.35 mile distance which should
prove more than sufficient for the PUMA demo. Unfortunately, equipment
failure prevented us from confirming if the BRODZK<->CARDER link
will work. Since we don't need this for our trial and the TOPO! software
indicates good probability for success, we will test this as we install
the 3 repeaters. Thanks to Greg Ching, Rick Cobb, Dan Metzger, Terry
Mooster, Hans Rohner, Ric Turley, Jim and Todd Cowart, and George Watson
for helping with this last test before starting repeater installation.
12 Jan 2002 Braving gusty winds and chilly weather, two legs of the Magnolia
Golden Triangle were tested successfully. From Winiger Ridge to Twin
Sisters we got a 33 dB signal! From Winiger Ridge to Porter Ranch we
got an amazing 41 dB!! Thanks to John Carder, John Chase, Greg Ching,
Rick Cobb, Alan Dunwell, Mark Lindberg (from Wondervu), Dan Metzger,
Mike Morrissey, Hans Rohner, and George Watson.
12 Jan 2002 Bulk purchase of network cards and antennas in progress.
11 Jan 2002 MRIC board meeting at Greg Ching's house. Discussions continued
on incorporation issues and initial trial subscribers. Immediate goals
are to finalize by-laws and create repeater tower hosting agreement,
subscriber agreement, and promissory note (for repaying seed money loan).
03 Jan 2002 The PUMA monthly meeting allowed Greg Ching and Rick Cobb
to explain our broadband plans to a few new faces. Special thanks to
our hosts Dan Metzger and Jennifer Stewart!
2001
20 Dec 2001 Magnolia Road Internet Cooperative officially incorporated
within the State of Colorado. To see a PDF file of our articles of incorporation,
click here (166K).
15 Dec 2001 Good turnout at the PUMA potluck gave MRIC a chance to explain
our broadband plans. Using an unamplified connection with heavy snowfall
we were able to sustain a 5 dB signal (still 700 kBaud or 20X typical
Magnolia dial-up speed) for perhaps an hour before the signal degraded.
At least one person offered to write a check to MRIC! Thanks to Greg
Ching, Rick Cobb, Hans Rohner, Pablo Sanchez, Paul Kolesnikoff, and Ric
Turley for setting up the Rohner-McClellan link. Special thanks to our
hosts Roz and John McClellan who really helped *promote* our presence!
12 Dec 2001 Insurance broker said MRIC turned down again. Sigh. Will
continue search next week but self-insurance may be necessary.
08 Dec 2001 Initial testing between Porter Ranch and Twin Sisters did
not result in a good signal. However, in the process of setting up the
PUMA potluck demo we may have found a location to reach Porter Ranch.
Thanks go to Mary Jo Brodzik, John Chase, Greg Ching, Rick Cobb, Bob
Gailer, Paul Kolesnikoff, John McClellan, Dan Metzger, Hans Rohner, Pablo
Sanchez, and George Watson for braving the sunny cold (Ray Browning's
perfect tower raising attendance streak ended at three as he shreds Winter
Park; he's still batting .750). This was the first time we used both
mobile towers! We promise to be faster next time....
01 Dec 2001 Despite gusty winds, a very strong signal (25 db) was picked
up between George Watson's house and two homes on Forsythe Rock. Thanks
go to Doug Benson, Bob Bows, Ray Browning, Greg Ching, Kristine McInvaille,
and George Watson for braving the cold!
28 Nov 2001 Rick Cobb receives his Lucent Technology Orinoco Gold PC
card ($99) for his laptop. He installs it, and is able to connect to
George Watson's home wireless network with no additional equipment at
a distance of a few hundred feet.
27 Nov 2001 mric-community Yahoo! group set up for announcements/discussions.
23 Nov 2001 Successful mobile tower testing at HCFD #4 and George Bogg's
house confirms connectivity to George Watson's repeater tower. Pine Glade & Magnolia
to Frontier & Hazelwood is no problem! Need second mobile tower assembled
for missing link to Porter Ranch. Ray Browning, Scott Browning, George
Boggs, Greg Ching, Rick Cobb, Alan Dunwell, Craig Irwin, Ric Turley,
Pablo Sanchez, and George Watson participated in this field test.
19 Nov 2001 Pablo and Rick represent MRIC at the Nederland Wireless Internet
meeting sponsored by Peak to Peak Healthy Community Project and rock
the house! Armed with flip chart and VGA projector, they cast their hooks
into the audience and reel back in two subscribers from eastern Ridge
Road. The TOPO! map software was instrumental in illustrating elevation
profiles between potential subscribers and access points.
18 Nov 2001 Planning committee meets at Rick Cobb's house to discuss
schedule for point-to-point testing and participation at the Nederland
broadband meeting.
15 Nov 2001 Insurance broker reports that American Equity is considering
our application.
09 Nov 2001 Second portable tower and base received.
02 Nov 2001 Second portable tower and base ordered for point-to-point
signal testing.
01 Nov 2001 First public demo of 802.11b connection between George Watson
and Greg Ching's houses (roughly .9 miles with NO direct line of sight
between the two points). Rick Cobb, Pablo Sanchez and Ray Browning helped
with mobile tower set-up (using $90 antenna). 11 Mbps link demonstrated
running for over 2 hours. More demos planned before upcoming PUMA meetings
(next is Saturday, Dec. 15th). Broadband fever detected amongst those
in attendance.
31 Oct 2001 Portable tower and base received; George Watson begins configuration.
30 Oct 2001 Taggart & Associates (insurance broker used by the Colorado
Internet Cooperative) reports MRIC turned down by Travelers, Zurich and
Hartford as the insurance industry tightens underwriting guidelines.
Additional companies sought. Increasing personal insurance not an option
as commercial insurance is a different beast.
26 Oct 2001 Rick Cobb orders a portable telescoping tower and base for
testing signal strength in preparation for a demo prior to the PUMA meeting
at Greg Ching's house at 6:00 on Nov. 1
30 Sept 2001 Planning meeting at George Watson's house. Incorporation
papers signed. Less expensive tower design in progress due to lack of
state funding. Prep work needs to be done prior to pre-PUMA meeting at
Greg Ching's house on Nov 1. Over 50 potential subscribers; need to set
up new Yahoo alias to push news out to them.
15 Sept 2001 State freezes all grants due to slowing economy.
10 Sept 2001 PUMA newsletter article on MRIC draws interest of new group
of potential subscribers.
27 Aug 2001 Decision made to use Fortis Communications as initial T1
service provider. T1 end-point and repeater tower at John Carder's house.
24 Aug 2001 Rob Savoye says he will be meeting with the Colorado Beanpole
project folks next week. Tom Plant says funding still looks good at this
point.
22 Aug 2001 Lakeshore resident Brad Keiser learns about MRIC.
09 Aug 2001 MRIC attends NedNet/Peaknet meeting in Nederland. MRIC members
meet afterwards to review incorporation documents.
07 Aug 2001 Tom Plant takes grant proposal to committee.
04 Aug 2001 MRIC flyer left at PUMA potluck.
03 Aug 2001 Coal Creek residents ask to join MRIC. They are encouraged
to start their own co-op.
02 Aug 2001 "Code Red" worm attack no problem for mric.coop.
01 Aug 2001 George Watson reports 5 Mbps from 1/4 mile away using standard
PCMIA card antenna.
31 Jul 2001 PUMA newsletter article prepped for August issue. 44 potential
subscribers.
29 Jul 2001 George Watson repeater tower installed.
23 Jul 2001 Meeting with lawyer regarding MRIC incorporation.
21 Jul 2001 Meeting with Tom Plant & NedNet/Peaknet regarding grant.
17 Jul 2001 Collected GPS data for 34 potential subscribers.
16 Jul 2001 www.mric.coop up and running.
15 Jul 2001 Third meeting to go over designs & progress. PDF maps
of GPS locations generated.
13 Jul 2001 State Representative Tom Plant offers to seek funding for
a pilot project.
09 Jul 2001 Second meeting to review design. Propagation drive around
tests with GMRS handhelds.
06 Jul 2001 MRIC Yahoo group forms.
05 Jul 2001 Conversations between MRIC and SL.net begin.
02 Jul 2001 T1 provider shopping begins
02 Jul 2001 Invitation to join MRIC goes out on PUMA e-mail. Conversations
begin between MRIC and NedNet/PeakNet.
01 Jul 2001 MRIC founders meet for the first time.
29 Jun 2001 Domains mric.coop and Magnolia-Road.net are registered.
25 Jun 2001 Greg Ching and Allen Schmitt-Gordon express interest in the
project.
19 Jun 2001 George Watson thinks an upgrade to a T1 connection would
be required to handle multiple subscribers to his wireless network. Preliminary
inquiries are made to determine if we can find 4-5 subscribers willing
to share the cost of a T1.
17 Jun 2001 George Watson tests reception at Rick's house. Rick fantasizes
of working from his porch connected to the Internet via George's network
and ISDN line.
15 Jun 2001 Rick Cobb asks his neighbor George Watson about his home
wireless network.
05 Jun 2001 Allen Schmitt-Gordon and Paul Kolesnikoff join the discussion
on how to bring PPHCP's project to Magnolia.
31 May 2001 Rob Savoye of PPHCP's High Speed Internet Project starts
Magnolia discussion with Greg Ching.
06 Mar 2001 Mountain Ear reports on 60 people attending a Peak-to-Peak
Healthy Community Project (PPHCP)meeting on high-speed Internet access
alternatives.
January 1999 George Watson sets up his wireless LAN and dreams of faster
access.
Dec 1997 Bill Clark starts Sugarloaf.net (SL.net), providing T1 speeds
via low-power radio transceivers.
1996 PeakNet forms, opening free internet kiosks in Nederland.
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