What type of equipment is commonly used to implement an amateur radio mesh network?
Why Amateur mesh networking (AREDN, formerly BBHN/HSMM-Mesh) is built by taking inexpensive commercial Wi-Fi routers and reflashing them with custom firmware. That firmware moves the radio onto channels that overlap the amateur 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands and adds self-discovering mesh routing, so nodes automatically link to each other. Because the node is then operating under Part 97 rather than Part 15, licensed operators may use higher power and high-gain directional antennas for long links, provided the station is identified.
Watch out The packet-radio style answers, a 1200-baud VHF TNC or a 9600-baud 440 MHz setup, describe classic AX.25 packet, far too slow for the high-speed data a mesh carries. EchoLink is voice-over-internet linking of stations, not a self-forming data network.
Mesh = flashed Wi-Fi router. Think AREDN: cheap router, new firmware, ham channels.