FYI, I have converted a couple of these for mesh use.

If it has a downconverter (I see the familiar RG6 F connectors on the side), you will need to bypass it and run the coax straight to the dipole feed. The feeds are usually hermetically sealed and a dremel with fine cutoff wheel and a steady hand can get it open for modification.

Also, if they are the old "Wireless TV" antennas, you should check the dipole length (468/2412=0.1940, or 2.328"). The ones I found were a tad short (made for slightly higher freq's), so I flattened out some copper and soldered it on the dipole to get the correct length (verified by attaching to a high-dollar VNA for resonance/SWR at a corporate S.I. Lab).

They just do not seem to perform as well (even though the VNA says its good) as commercially available units made specifically for the low end of wifi. Nothing I can point a finger at, but I am suspicious of them, as they dont seem to be doing as well as the 'real' ones.

Just something to ponder.

KTF

OK, I learned something.  100.64.0.0 - 100.127.255.255 is a reserved address space for carrier grade NAT. 

i.e. it's a bit like 10.x.x.x and 192.168.x.x.

Glad you figured out your .24 vs .204 bit.  These sneaky computers tend to choose confusing stuff like that.

KG1L are you saying that 12V 2Amp cigarette lighter will work? 

Like this one?

Linksys WRT54G WRT54GS WRT54G-TM WRT54GL WRT160N REPEATER 12V CAR ADAPTER!

http://r.ebay.com/h8wi88

The 8080 was understood.

Yes. 100.100.100...

I just did not follow why one is  24 and the other is .204.

Seems odd.

Is the first octet really "100", not "10?"   And does the last octet really change from 240 to 24?

The ":8080" part changing is normal.

Just curious if this is a bug or I just missed something.

To access the node I entered 100.100.100.204:8080
But...
The status page shows an IP of 100.100.100.24

Comments? 

... meanwhile back at the ranch ...

I had a momentary lapse of reason.
To access the node I entered 100.100.100.204:8080
The IP of the machine I was accessing it from 100.100.100.24
The similarity of the addresses threw me for a loop. I have slept since then. Thanks for reading along. 

You do not have to upgrade the firmware of your Polycoms if you do not want to. However, I would recommend that you do to fix any bugs or gain features between 3.0.1 and 3.1.8. Polycom's firmware matrix doesn't even have 3.0.1 listed. Therefore, it will be hard to find the correct configs for a TFTP boot.

Send me an e-mail and I'll get you squared away.

You can have several tunnels configured on one node.

Look at the howto and also look at my picture in the above post showing, at that moment, three tunnels.

As long as you can configure your router/firewall to let the PPTP protocol suite pass through to you node WAN side you´ll be fine.

Thanks to Peter Harrison AA1PL for donating a pair of fine commercial parabolic reflectors to the cause. We'll be putting these to good use at our Providence nodes very soon.

Attachments
 2013-11-26 11.01.35.jpg [931 KB] :: antennas with cat for scale

I'm guessing then that the radio-side routing uses a /8 netmask and routes the whole 10.0.0.0 network?  If so, that would certainly mess things up unless you use some magic that I don't know.

Thanks for the quick reply, and back to the drawing board for me!

73,

John

How are you trying to upload the new firmware?  From the HSMM-Mesh administration menu? 

If you're using the "Upload" menu, you need to use the bbhn-1.0.0-brcm.trx file. I believe that .bin files will not work from that menu.  .bin files only work from stock firmware or tftp install.

For upgrades from previous HSMM versions to Broadband Hamnet, you need the .trx file.

It's easier to not use the "upload" option at all if you have an intenet connection.  Use the "Download Firmware" option.

Connect the router to the internet, go to "setup", select "administration."

Select "refresh" under firmware update.  Then select bbhn-1.0.0-brcm.trx and then download.

If you're stuck, you can use the tftp install method.  In that case you'd use the appropriate .bin file.  For a WRT54Gv3.1, it would be bbhn-1.0.0-wrt54g.bin.  The TFTP process is described here.

There is no ".tgz" file to upgrade to BBHN. 

Novice alert--

GRE Tunneling is the next trick I'm going to be trying with my nodes, and I have a question about the basic principles behind GRE.

In my implementation, I want to tunnel from a BBHN node at my house, through a D-Link router to a Sierra Wireless aircard (wireless internet via Telus, a cellular carrier) connected to a remote BBHN node.

In setting up the router in the home setting, I'll need to port forward protocol 47 and TCP port 1723 to the D-Link port which is connected to the BBHN node's WAN port.

Does this port forwarding support multiple tunnels? Does the GRE software sort out source/destination information for, say, two tunnels originating from my home location to two other remote nodes? It seems to me that if I need seperate ports for each tunnel, then I'm going to have a problem with steering my D-Link using port forwarding.

I see in the examples documented here that the nodes are being set up for 2 tunnels, and it would seem that only one port forwarding rule is described for the example, but would appreciate a clarification on this point.

Thanks.

You're welcome, Glen. Just remember to shutdown the RPi by typing "shutdown -h now" and you will be good to go!

I am having issues upgrading a few mesh routers to verison 1.  I keep getting the message
Firmware CANNOT be updated
the uploaded file is not recognized


Currently the router is a Linksys WRT54G v3.1 with the HSMM firmware v0.4.2

I have also tried to upload the current Linksys firmware back in it but get the same message.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thank you!

Thanks Paul, I have tried a couple of different things to get the network to work.

I now have it working and HW clock now installed.

The intention is to use the Asterisk server in our emergency communication group.

Glen