Now that BBHN v3 is out there, I thought I would post this update for anyone wanting to revert back to the factory firmware (or any other flavor) on Ubiquiti devices:

There's a lot of conflicting information between the documentation, website and real world with all the different versions and platforms now.  It will take some time to get things in sync.

Until then, information from end users helps to fill the gap. Just be careful to read the posts and double check the post dates and information before you proceed!

I've upgraded all of my nodes to BBHN v3 (a Nanostation NSM2, Loco M2, Bullet M2HP, an AirGrid M2 and several WRT54G & GS's) with no problems. It's pretty straight forward.

I  wanted to use Ubiquiti's "AirView" Spectrum Analyzer to check a few locations for noise, interference and channel usage. This required restoring my Nanostation & Bullet to factory firmware.

I am still seeing a lot of posts from people getting started in BBHN that are using WRT54G's as their first nodes.  I believe this is a mistake. My suggestion is to start out with a NanoStationM2. Why the NanoStation? Here are my main reasons:

• Ease of getting a node up in the air and running
• Lower overall cost
• Significant improvement in performance over a WRT54G
• Outdoor design of the NanoStation
• More features

I believe you will have a better experience  and be on the air faster if you start with a NanoStationM2 instead of the WRT54G. 

If you want to see more about why I feel this way see the article on my website at:

http://ae5ca.com/?p=74

Clint, AE5CA

I just set up two WRT54G mesh nodes both sitting in the same room.

I am plugged in to the LAN port on one of them and looking at the "mesh status" page.

It shows no current or previous neighbors or remote nodes.

So what am I missing?

We are well aware of the new XW board.  We plan support for it in an upcoming release.

Andre, K6AH

The new Ubiuiti airGrid M5-HP has update hardware and will only run with firmware that is designed for it.

That implies that it will not currently support the Hamnet firmwares?  The info from Ubiquiti is that it requires XW firmware.  All devices shipped in 2014 are supposed to have this upgrade.  

Any developer aware of this and what suggestions should I follow?

73,

Alan

I recalled on my Grandstream phone, I had to put the IP address of the TFTP server (asterisk box) in my phone. Hostname always failed.

I suspected that Grandstream had a defect where they didn't start their DNS client before the TFTP was attempted.

I am assuming this is through http://www.raspberry-asterisk.org/. If so, then there is nothing wrong with the iptables. Do you have any items in the /tftpboot/ directory? Have you setup your phones to point to a specific IP address or hostname? Have you watched this video?: http://www.broadband-hamnet.org/documentation/182-cisco-7940-with-asterisk-raspberry-pi (and if needed, this one: http://www.broadband-hamnet.org/documentation/170-asterisk-rpi-bbhn)

Good morning all,

I have successfully gotten up several nodes and setup a raspberry pi pbx with several Cisco 7940 phones as a test over the mesh. I have a IP phone set up in my home using the same PBX and Cisco 7940G phones.

I have the mesh gateway setup and from the mesh I can access everything on the local right now. I can access my internal PBX ( Raspberry Pi PBX )

The phone boots up on the mesh network. , It obtains an IP address, now Its setup to use the internal PBX . when  the phone attempt a TFTP download it fails. . From the mesh with a laptop I can access the local PBX. This appears to be an rule issue with IPTABLES.

FYI, The same phone on the internal network works just fine. Using a PBX on the mesh,  the phone works fine too.

Any thoughts ??

Mike

You are partially correct.  There are several contradictions between the instructions on the website and the latest firmware.  This is not one of them.  I have been told that a scrub of this website is (soon) underway and that it is about to undergo a major update.

When you first flash your node, the nodes is setup in a mode similar to access point.  It is not connected to the mesh yet and must be set up.  When the node is in this state you can connect to the node in two different ways.  This first is  using an Ethernet cable between your computer and a lan port on the node.  The other way you can connect is using a wifi connection to the node.  The node has an SSID of Meshnode when is in the setup mode. 

Once you have entered a node name and password twice, then the node will save changes and reboot.  It then comes up in Mesh mode using the BroadbandHamnet-vX.  The X depending on the version.

The SSID in mesh mode has changed several times.  In the early versions it was HSMM-MESH, then with the Broadband-Hamnet name change and the release of version 1.0.0 it became BroadbandHamnet-v1. Version 1.0.0 was not compatible with the prior versions and all nodes had to be updated.  Some very serious security flaws were discovered in 1.0.0 firmware and I do not recommend its use.

Version 1.1.2 introduced some new security measures among other changes and once again was not compatible with the prior versions so the SSID was changed to be BroadbandHamnet-v2.  It also added support for M5 (5.8GHz) devises.  Unfortunately, this version had some bugs that went back into the OLSR code that have proven very difficult to resolve.  These bugs were not found until after the firmware was release and installed on some bigger networks.  I do not recommend this version or the prior versions.

Version 3.0.0 (currently in beta and available in the download section for your flavor of hardware under experimental versions) backed out a some of the changes from 1.1.2, but there were other changes that remained that made this version incompatible with the prior versions and once again the SSID rolled.  This time to BroadbandHament-XX-v3. The XX is the bandwidth of the channel and can be selected in the setup screen of the UBNT devises.  Linksys nodes can not handle the different channel bandwidths and are limited to 20 MHz.  The UBNT nodes can be set for 5, 10, or 20 MHz.  The narrower channel widths are required to be able to use BBHN on a 900MHz node since the entire band is only 26 MHz wide.  Version 3.0.0 will load on a M9 devise but it is still in testing and not yet counted as fully supported.  The narrower channels may also provide some extra punch to make a connection on the 2.4 and 5.8 bands as well.  With this release, the version numbering was revised to show as the first number the SSID version number.  This is to help indicate to the user base that an SSID changes has been made and the need to update firmware. 

The website has yet to catch up with all the latest information, but it will happen.  The webmaster has a day job and a family and only so much time to keep everything up to date.  

Clint, AE5CA

Yep... That's right.  Jim, K5KTF, is working on an upgrade, as we speak, that'll fix this difficiency.

Andre, K6AH

4. Configure the mesh node - this is required every time the firmware is installed

in a browser go to http://localnode:8080/.

At this point the node is acting as an access point, so you can either be connected by a cable to the LAN port or connected wirelessly to the SSID "MeshNode"... "

I am retired from an engineering career, and do not do well with contradictions. Can anybody bring me up to speed on which SSID is the one and only proper one to use on ham radio mesh net?

Thanks in advance, and 73

KW7B