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Kevin,
mike
All,
A bunch of us were thinking about setting up a Ham
radio only network here near Kitchener. Can you give
any details on the "reprogramming" of the hardware?
<---I'm curious about this myself. I'm installing a Linux machine at my
site soon and this would be good knowledge to have.
Hopefully, Kevin's suggestion is Linux usable as well.
The
T1 is located at the "Fred Baer" tower site shown as a little red flag in the
image:
http://www.shol.com/wireless/pix/wireless1path.jpg
The
T1 is transferred from the Fred Baer tower to the "Highland" location
(Highland Farm) with 5.8 GHz Trango stuff. This path is LOS and has no
freznel zone infractions. At Highland Farm, we recover the "T" with
another Trango unit. It is etherneted to a Linux box which uses "StarOS"
server software and wireless PCI card interfaces that allow us to use
differing types of wireless cards. This Access Point is built on a
common desktop frame and has UPS power backup, and sits in the rafters of my
friends farm.
<http://www.star-os.com/>
We
use the cards with antenna ports that can be cabled to antenna systems easily
as opposed to the older Orinoco (silver/gold) cards that had the antenna built
in. The cards we have had the best luck with are the "High Power" (200
mW) types like the Prism 2.5:
<http://www.demarctech.com/products/reliawave-rwz/reliawave-rwz-200mw-prism2-5-pcmcia-card.html>
For
my port, I use an Orinoco 64 mW card that goes to a bi-directional
amplifier. The amp produces about 1 watt at 2.4 gigs with 64 mW input
power, and adds some sensitivity to the receive side. I don't remember
the make or manufacturer right now, but I'm sure one could do a google search
and come up with similar solutions. The amp feeds a run of LMR-400 to
the Grid:
<http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/antennas_2400_out_directional.php>
Up
to this point, everything is done with a bit more reliability in mind than
might be necessary for the common amateur, as this equipment is also a
backbone for a wireless internet infrastructure for the local computer
store/internet provider (with the exception of the stuff used for my
port).
At my end, there is another 24 dBi grid that feeds a Linksys
"Wet-11". The Wet 11 is souped up with yet another card replacement that
exceeds stock wireless regulations. The Wet feeds a Linksys wireless
router/hub that serves as an access point, which is located about 1/4 mile
away on my brothers property as it has a better look to Highland Farm.
On my tower at my house is yet another Wet-11 that is modified for "power over
ethernet". The ethernet cable is about 150 feet long and carries the
power for the Wet, and the internet signaling.
I must tell you that I'm
not happy with the Linksys Router/Hub I'm using for an access point. It
has thermal problems and is actually off line right now because of it. I
hope to have a single board (computer) solution built up and running soon to
replace it, as it's now the weakest link.
Hope this helps...
Kevin
Custer
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