This was a nice little first project to get something useful on my node. I have a couple of suggestions that may help others like me; total Linux newbs who really do need step by step hand-holding to get something even this simple working.

First, if you're installing from a Windows machine onto a node, SCP from within Putty won't work. (didn't for me, anyway) I would suggest that rev 2 of the docs should include this information explicitly. The program I used was pscp, which came in a package with putty, and will transfer files to a linux machine. The command line entry I used was:

scp -scp -P 2222 hamchat.pl root@192.168.nnn.mmm:/www/cgi-bin/hamchat.pl

Where the -scp option forces scp protocol (BBHN won't do SFTP or whatever the default is) and in the above example the hamchat.pl file is in the same directory as pscp. And of course, use the proper ip for the target machine.

Second, it isn't clear in the docs that the lock file is supposed to be created in the data directory. Common sense, sure, but in following the step by step directions, I ended up with it in the Hamchat directory instead. I would suggest modifying the lock file creation step a bit to make that a bit clearer. This error presented me with the same symptoms described in early posts; entered messages wouldn't appear in the main window.

All in all, a good experience. I learned a bit setting the thing up, and it's a very useful way to quickly set up a message exchange that works with anything that can connect with the node. Thanks.

Oh, and the last thing I learned, don't forget to add the .pl extension when you build the 'advertised services' link.

Not really.  We have tested a few nodes to see what kind of distance we can establish connections.  We were also trying to tunnel a few nodes together, but have discovered it seems like Cox ISP blocks port 1723.  There are dreams of getting a mountain top node active.

Device is WRT54G v3.1

Firmware  is Broadband-Hamnet v1.0

I installed the firmware without any issues and had to mesh nodes working fine. Then I had to start experimenting so I installed the IRC server package and that went well.  Then I configured the port forwarding. I wasn’t able to connect to the IRC server with a client so I went back into the settings to check my work and I must have changed something. Now I don’t get any DHCP from the node when I plug into the lan port.  It’s not broadcasting the SSID of BrodbandHamnet-v1 anymore its sending AG6AU-1. I can’t connect to it from the other mesh node. I tried plugging the lan port of the broken node into the lan port of the working node and tried to connect to http://172.27.0.2:8080/ and got no response. I am able to plug into the lan port of the broken node and connect to the shell at 192.168.1.1. Is there any way I can check the settings from the shell or reload the firmware from the shell? I would really like to fix the node and figure out what I did wrong.

Thanks,

Jay- KE6GLA

The mesh core team is very pleased with recent development in VOIP using Asterisk and the new small footprint boards. We had a very successful demo of this at Austin Summerfest in June. Many people saw the demo in the presentations and later dropped by to try it out on our display table in the vendor area. We are developing a concept of a single device bringing many functions when you plug it in. Asterisk, chat server, web server and NTP (time server) all work separately on both the Pi and BBB. We need to get fully configured images posted for download for your MicroSD.

It is easy to post a link to the web server page as an advertised service. This could easily be the starting point at a mesh deployment. New mesh user opens his mesh status page and sees a web page like "Event briefing" showing on a different node. Clicking on it, he opens the page in a new browser window, learns that Asterisk and chat are also on this node and points his chat client to the chat group on that named server. Chat is useful since it contains a scroll window. Any question asked and answered an hour ago is still there. You just roll backward to it. The IP address of the server for asterisk is needed to set up your phone. You see the server name and IP address in the briefing web page, get an extension from the asterisk admin and you have a phone. It is helpful to have the config files for the phone already loaded on the server. We did this recently but sending a list of MAC addresses to the asterisk admin. Those were spun up into phone config files for our 7940 models. When the phone was initially set for the correct TFTP address, it found asterisk, loaded the files in the TFTP root and got a complete config. The admin had also set the phone extension up in the asterisk server. Booting the phone connected it to its own host node, jumped across the mesh to the asterisk server and went online.

While the phone stuff is happening, your node has picked up the correct date/time from the NTP hosted by the Pi or BBB. Many of the USB connected GPS pucks that are sold for mapping programs work fine as a position and time source. K5KTF had already modified some of his status pages to show location. A bit more work could easily show distance and bearing if your node and one of the others in status page both had location data.  We want to include distance/bearing in a future mesh firmware version. Some details need to be worked out, but these are functions easy to deliver together in the same small footprint server.

73 de NG5V

Did my snooping around this site and the ubnt.com site for the answer to this question:

What is the current compatibility between Broadband-HamNet v1.0 and Ubiquiti's AirMax mesh? Is the "compatability test" mode still available?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V94Afsfv8-E

Here is a youtube vid on doing mesh on ubiquity stock firmware. Will v1.0 connect to a properly configured Ubiquity?

You could setup a VPN connection to any node south of your location and be part of the bigger picture unless you can overcome the topograpical issues.

I would use one directional dish and one omnistick in the mast. Use diversity on the antennas.

This way your node inhouse, providing the internet connection, will connect with the node in the mast and provide a stable path.

This is the way I have it myself actually....

Ok here is what I have...

I am helping one of our hams in our group set this up.

He has a tower with one Ethernet line run to the top. We are going to put the Linksys node with a 30dbi grid antenna at the top. We have two ubiquiti 5.8ghz units one at the bottom of the tower and one at the house. I don’t think a node at the house in the basement would be able to connect to the one at the top of the tower. So what would be the best way to...

A. Connect to the mesh from in-side the home?

B. Still be able to provide Internet to the mesh if needed?

My first thought is to connect the WAN and LAN together. Not sure if I would get a routing loop? Then make the node LAN "NAT" with 172. no DHCP, static the PC with a 172 #. Make the WAN a static 192. to tie into his existing home network. Any ideas would be appreciated greatly.

Buona giornata a tutti.

Questo post per informare che la sezione ARI di Civitavecchia RM, dopo aver realizzato con successo una HAMnet mobile, sta mettendo in opera una rete fissa. Per ora provisti 4 nodi. Li potete visualizzare sulla mappa.

Informazioni su:

www.aricivitavecchia.it

www.radioelementi.it

73 de iw0dvv Mariano