K5NWZ.com

Radio, mesh, workshop projects, and Colorado mountain adventures

K5NWZ • Northern Colorado

Radio, mesh, projects, and mountain miles

A welcoming place for MeshCore and Meshtastic users—and anyone curious about amateur radio, signals, electronics, projects, and outdoor adventure.

Welcome to K5NWZ.com

From mesh radio to a wider world of hobbies

K5NWZ.com is a personal hobby site built around the things that interest me: MeshCore, Meshtastic, amateur radio, software-defined radio, digital communications, RC projects, 3-D printing, Jeeps, camping, and the Colorado outdoors. I use it to share what I learn with friends—and to help newcomers discover that these hobbies are far more approachable than they first appear.

Here because of MeshCore or Meshtastic?

You are already exploring radio

Many visitors first hear about K5NWZ.com through a mesh node. If that is you, welcome. Mesh radio is an excellent doorway into antennas, propagation, packet data, mapping, emergency communications, electronics, and eventually amateur radio. You can begin by watching and learning—there is no pressure to understand everything at once.

EXPLORE THE MESHCORE & MESHTASTIC GUIDE →

The best first stop

Start with Live Now

Live Now is the quickest way to see what this site is about. It brings together current radio activity, mesh traffic, station data, weather, and other live services connected to K5NWZ. Some panels are busy, others may be quiet, and that changing activity is part of radio.

OPEN LIVE NOW →
K5NWZ live Home Assistant dashboard showing mesh and radio activity

Choose a direction

What would you like to explore?

Each path begins with a plain-language introduction and leads into the live tools, detailed guides, and real station activity.

Your next step into radio

Curious about earning an amateur-radio license?

A license opens the door to transmitting on amateur frequencies, using repeaters, making contacts across town or around the world, experimenting with digital modes, supporting community events, and building your own station. The Technician license is the usual starting point in the United States, and you do not need an engineering background to earn it.

1. Learn what the license offersStart with a plain-language overview of amateur radio and the activities available to new operators.
2. Study at your own paceThe questions are public, and classes, books, videos, and online practice tools are widely available.
3. Take an examVolunteer exam teams offer both in-person and remote online sessions. Choose the format that works for you.

Listen, watch, and decode

Radio is more interesting when you can experience it

The site connects explanations with real signals. Listen through the online SDR, watch APRS stations move across a map, learn what packet and digital modes sound like, or step back in time with Wayback Radio.

Built for newcomers

You are not expected to know where to begin

The pages explain the unfamiliar words, show what the equipment looks like, and connect you to real examples. Listening and learning do not require an amateur-radio license; a license is required only when you transmit on amateur frequencies.

Built to share

One link for friends and fellow experimenters

This is also my working reference library—a place to share station information, project notes, useful software, live dashboards, and lessons learned without having to explain everything from scratch each time.

Follow your curiosity

There is no required order. Open Live Now, choose a topic from the menu, or send me a message if something raises a question.