Mission Statement • News & Press • Board of Directors

NEWSLETTERS

Fall 2005   News Digest Vol. II.4 online 
Dec 2004   News Digest Vol. II.2  online   Download PDF File (10MB)
Aug 2004  News Digest Vol. II.1  online   Download PDF File (10MB)
June 2004   News Digest Vol. II.0  Download PDF File (4MB)

PRESS

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

NEWS

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.