Broadband-Hamnet has a new release of Ham-oriented data networking firmware for the Linksys and Ubiquiti products!

Broadband-Hamnet (BBHN) has released version 3.1.0 firmware for the Linksys WRT54G and Ubiquiti families of products. This firmware returns to the use of patch updates, while also supporting add-on tools such as HamChat created by Nikolai, VE3NKL and a tunneling solution optimized by Darryl, K5DLQ.

This firmware release continues support for EMCOM data networking in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 900 MHz bands using Ubiquiti equipment and in the 2.4 GHz band using Linksys equipment.

Many Hams were concerned about future Broadband-Hamnet support of the Linksys units; the core team has listened to these concerns and has decided to continue support of Linksys devices.

Additionally, with the recent frequency of updates, the lack of available patches became very apparent. There are two items here:

1. In order to focus on Broadband-Hamnet as an EMCOM tool we have resolved to limit our major (non-compatible) updates to no more frequently than every 6 months.

2. By returning to our patch capability we expect to make all of the minor updates much more friendly to existing networks, especially those with hard-to-reach installed locations.

By creating solutions with Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) hardware and Broadband-Hamnet firmware, a high-speed IP network can be deployed in the time required to set it in place and power it on.

There have been many requests for tunneling capability to allow interaction between remote Broadband-Hamnet networks. While this has been done before, the resources and complexity were quite high. With the new VTUN capability this feature becomes feasible for all Broadband-Hamnet users.

The HamChat server is a real innovation that allows keyboard-to-keyboard chats between any connected users on the same mesh. By using your web browser instead of chat client software, the complexity is reduced and the speed to deploy is increased. The HamChat server is not installed but is a downloadable package option for the Broadband-Hamnet 3.1.0 firmware.

We hope that Hams interested in high-speed data networks look at the new Broadband-Hamnet 3.1.0 firmware!

For more information, please take a look at www.Broadband-Hamnet.org.