Thanks for the input.  My knowledge of linux, arduino and pi are very limited, so building a kit using that kind of hardware/software is in the distant future for now.  I was hoping to find a resource on how to possibly set up a system similar to the many commercial fleet tracking systems out there that utilize IEEE 802 to plot and track fleet assets.

As far as microwaves being hard to connect to on the move, I disagree. We have been using mobile microwave in the military for some time now.  The key is how you network it together, which is the very heart of this system.  Obviously with one or two access points in town, you are going to be very limited in maintaining a connection on the move, but once a MESH is established, movement within the MESH shouldn't suffer a great deal.

   -KG7KJU

Hello fellow MESHr's

I've been poking with MESH for a while now, but nothing really serious.. Well, that's changing. 

I have 7 WRT nodes, 1 Nano M2, and once it's supported, an Airgrid M5HP. What I'm looking for are ideas of what to do. I have a computer set up and running Ubuntu Linux that I'd like to use as a server for VOIP, and maybe other services. It's connected via WiFi to my network and via ethernet to one of my WRT's. 

What services other than VOIP would you install? I'm already planning IRC if I can figure everything out. 

Any input?

We figured out a little tip/trick/hint...  We had a few problems with getting people to sync up after entering their data in my server or my client...

But REBOOTING after saving their entries makes things come alive when it comes back up!  So if you are adding nodes and they don't show up as active - THAT'S WHY!  REBOOT!

Just trying to save anyone else the head scratchin' headache me and several other people have been trying to figure out this morning, this afternoon and this evening...

I have 5 remote people connected now and still rock solid - so far! :)  I am told there is a limit of TEN remote tunnel nodes per server or client node.  So I can talk to 20 before I have to add another tunnel router...

Bill - N5MBM

Not sure what you are running your backbone under but just in case they are running part 97 keep in mind that tunnels use methods to obfuscate the transmission content (encryption) to protect it as it traverses the global internet and may not be an acceptable protocol for use over Amature Radio links.

@K6AH - good points...  However, in my case, when Hurricane Ike hit a few years back, we had no lights, no phones, no cell phones and flood water everywhere around us - but our point to point microwave ISP out here stayed up and running thanks to fiber links and back up generators.

We were literally sitting in the dark, surfing the web on laptops with our own WiFi running off the same generators keeping our freezers alive...  We thought it rather ironic to be surfing by lantern light...

I know it isn't all that and a bag of chips when the stuff hits the fan...  But if we don't get some interest in toying with it and interconnecting, we will have a hard time getting people to be interested in it at all.  As K3MMB said, the problem is getting enough other people interested to even have anything to connect to via RF.  If nobody participates, nobody gets to have any fun with it...

If you build a temple, they will come...  If you prop up a tent in the desert, you probably wont have many visitors... :)  I don't mind being one of those that lays down the roads that people may eventually follow.  But I have to have a few destinations... :)

Bill - N5MBM

I agree that the internet is likely to be absent, but in our case, we are building a 5GHz AIRMAX backbone.

It now covers portions of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Northern Virginia. So  all this practice gives us lots more understanding of how to get out of the incident zone. Our goal is to be able to reach a node with internet service out to 100 miles. But within our AO we want to provide contingency communications as needed. WE need to move traffic within the many ZONES we may be dealing with during any given situation.

To be honest our real issue is getting local HAMS interested. 

73 de mike

I completely get the novelty of building big networks with the tunneling technique.  Let's remember though that these Internet-based tunnels will likely not survive disasters and you should not use them in an emcomm plan.  Although it's certainly a "trick" to carry in your bag that might be useful in a disaster if circumstances support it... through a satellite links, etc.

Tunnels are most useful when building out your network to connect "mesh islands" together before you're able to connect them via RF.  In doing so, the interconnected mesh can more easily spark the interest of other hams, justify the build-out of network services like email--VoIP--file services, and enable you to extend the mesh and run exercises sooner, etc.  As soon as you can connect via RF I recommend you take the tunnels down.

So, I encourage you to have fun with it, understand how to set them up, and when the excitement wanes... starting using it as a strategic tool to complete the mesh implementation in your area.

Andre, K6AH

Bill

sign me up

k3mmb at arrl.net

Bill, that's wonderful! I (unfortunately) remember those days of Fido-net although even that was after Radio Shack was no longer a parts supply store when we all learned by building things.

This mesh project is exciting because it's still in its infancy with lots of room for grass roots development. My mesh network is confined to a valley in the boondocks of NH but I gave a presentation on it to the Central NH Amateur Radio club and there was enough interest that at least one of the members is actively planning to utilize it with his proposed 10 meter repeater.

I've been plotting out the terrain to find somewhere to place a remote node to reach out to the larger expanses of population down in the river valleys. It's the most excitement this old man has had since he was a teenager!

I am new at this, so if I do it wrong please forgive me.

I am with a new group of hams in the Corinth, MS. area, we are attempting to build out a 900Mhz

mesh for emergency preparedness.   

We need more gain with nanostation loco units.  See that there is a SMA connector where another

antenna can be attached, but if I connect a yagi antenna to this connector what about the built-in

internal antenna?  Won't this double-terminate the unit if I connect a external yagi antenna?

Any help would be most appreciated.

73,

Bob / k0ris

With the patient help of a few people I have my little mesh up and tunneling like it should.  It has been up for a while and surprisingly stable.  I haven't noticed any restarts or problems - so far...

Now I am ready to see who else I can connect with!  I have both a client node and a server node for people to connect to me with and I need some patient folks to help me see just how good it is!

Or how bad...  I am testing, looking for other people testing, hoping to find a few folks to test with...  I want to find out where the problems lie.  I want to be able to give some USEFUL feedback to the guys hard at work developing this stuff!

I can't help but laugh though, this is sort of like the old BBS days, with Fido-Net - I had one of the first HD based BBS's in Houston.  Now I am doing it again over the mesh...  Back then we had a tiger by the tail if we had a 9600 baud modem.  Things are a little different now...

I live in the boondocks, so having RF neighbors right now is next to impossible but we are working on it!  I have some more guys in the county getting interested.  But we want to see MORE!

Personally, I would like to see LOTS of little link lines on the node map!  All over Texas and beyond!

Drop me a note or post up here if you are looking for people to test your tunneling out with!

Bill - N5MBM

n5mbm @ n5mbm dot net

Bill/All,

I'm not aware of any standard practices yet. I agree with Darryl, prefix all advertised services with your callsign at minimum to avoid collisions. Combine in hostname descriptive text of what it is:

AE6XE-voip1         <ip address>x1010   <- direct IP dial and local PBX extension #

AE6XE-VideoVoip2   <ip_address>x1011 <- it's a video voip phone!

AE6XE-cam3  view_view <- user_passsword to access

Note that nearly all of the ipCams support streaming video, including the foscam--viewable on linux, windows, android, etc. platforms. No pan-tilt action, however. I install VLC and use a play list like below (save to ".pls" suffix file). Open with VLC, then click the "next song" button and move from cam to cam on the mesh (or even plug into your favorite multi-cam-view security monitoring program):

[playlist] NumberOfEntries=

File1=rtsp://view:view@ae6xe-cam1:554/live/play1.sdp

Title1=AE6XE-10 MtnCam

File2=rtsp://view:view@ae6xe-cam2:554/live/ch00_0

Title2=AE6XE-11 SolarCam

File3=rtsp://view:view@ae6xe-aircam2:554/live/ch00_0

Title3=AE6XE-gateway FishCam

File4=rtsp://view:view@KE6BXT-MVCHCam1:554/live/ch00_0

Title4=KE6BXT Mission Veijo City Hall AirCam

File5=rtsp://view:view@aircam:554/live/ch00_0 Title5=WU2S-14 AirCam

File6=rtsp://view:view@wa2kwr-22-cam:80/videoMain

Title6=WA2KWR-22 FosCam

Bill, I recently came into possession of a 120 gal salt water fish tank. Getting everything conditioned and just ready now to start adding fish and growing up a reef--it's a patience building exercise--weeks and months. So keep coming back to watch it grow (and hopefully I won't kill everything off). I'll probably add Nemo this weekend after I trek up to survey a new mtn top mesh node site.

My wife just put in a little Chicken Coop in our backyard in metropolitan Orange County, CA. Surprisingly, the ordinances allow 2 chickens on our 5000 sq ft lot with sardine housing. Only somehow she came home with 2 rabbits with the chicken coop. She reminded me of the Easter bunny when I asked if she was aware that rabbits don't lay eggs :) .

Now I may have to put in both a chickCam and rabbitCam.

Joe AE6XE

Hi Bill,

There's a clear need for this.  I'll discuss with the team and see if we can't get that posted.

Thanks,

Andre, K6AH

I did a little poking around and I haven't found any document, FAQ or whatever talking about standards and practices for this kind of stuff...

Is there something out there that I missed?!?

Just wondering...  The Internet searches I tried turned up with nada...

Bill - N5MBM

good point Conrad, with one correction and an additional tip:

Since the tunnel server/client will only run on a Linksys GS box, there is certainly enough space to install tcpdump on them. I have it on my GS2 client and my NS2 server.

one additional tip to test a server's ability to receive the vtun traffic thru an external firewall:

on the remote network, it's useful to see if your vtun traffic is getting to the target nodes vtun server process thru their firewall.

An EASY test is to use telnet. from my osx commandline, i run:

telnet remoteServerDNSnameOrIPAddress 5525

If you get back a response that says "VTun version 2.6", then the remote firewall is properly forwarding to your server.

Of note, tcpdump is actually installed by default on Ubiquiti so no need to install it just run it (Linksys devices on the other hand don't have enough space for it in the 4mb limit with everything else for us to include it by default so must be installed manually)

You may try running "logread"  - It will show you the log output to see if your getting connections or not.

Also a "ps w|grep vtun" will help as well as you should see if memory is correct you should seel statuses like "[connected]" or "[connecting]" etc.