Hello-

I realize that it is popular and cheap to deploy a HSMM-Net with 2.4 gear, but is there anyone experimenting with the 5.8 Channels available?  Hams have access to the band at 5650 to 5925 mHz.  They offer much more bandwidth and are non-overlapping.  They are channels:

Channel 132: 5660 mHz (DFS Channel, do not use.  This is a RADAR channel for Doppler Systems)

Channel 132: 5680 mHz (DFS Channel, do not use.  This is a RADAR channel for Doppler Systems)

Channel 132: 5700 mHz (DFS Channel, do not use.  This is a RADAR channel for Doppler Systems)

Channel 149: 5745 mHz

Channel 153: 5765 mHz

Channel 157: 5785 mHz

Channel 161: 5805 mHz

Channel 165: 5825 mHz

In regular 802.11a/n wireless, we have the ability to channel bond and create a 40 mHz channel.  This would offer even more throughput.  Also, using the 5.8 band allows for multi-channel RF links, allowing the entire RF link no loss in throughput.  Is anyone experimenting with these capabilities?

Matt

KB9YOJ

AJ4TW -> any suggestions for a decent low cost IP camera?

I bought two of the Wanscam pan and tilt brand off eBay for $50 each, but that style might not work for you in a vehicle. They do make an outside model that's around 5" long and runs off 12V, but I haven't tried it. 

I had to use the minimalistic search utility on the included mini CD first, after that I could use the web GUI to get the MAC and set the camera to DHCP.  I set up a static lease in the Mesh firmware, forwarded the port (I used 300 for one and 301 for the other) and added a link.  I was surprised at the quality, and the distance the IR LEDs would illuminate (again, not much use for your application).  The audio is a joke, and only available with IE.  I watch and control them with Firefox in Server Push mode rather than IE and ActiveX.  I'm thinking of getting another pair and putting them in my house and shop.  Wanscam apparently has it's own DDNS service.

AJ4TW -> in the past we have run APRS from the car, and someone found me and complained to me that I was using my license for commercial purposes, I don't see it that way at all, we are just turning money into noise.  :-)

Did you have an advertisement in your beacon comment?

Shouldn't be an issue.  Not sure what the deal was with the one I had, I spent at least an hour of rebooting and logging in trying to get it to accept the firmware upgrade, had just about given up and one of the guys from the IT department walked in, clicked on "Administration" and off it went.  Ever have one of those days?

So I am part of an amatuer motorsports team, we do SCCA club racing events.  I haven't ever fired up one of these HSMM-MESH radios, but I'm thinking this could be a fun marriage.  We have this long endurance race that last 13 hours at Virginia International Raceway:

http://virnow.com/track/configurations/

I was thinking that we could put an IP camera in the car (any suggestions for a decent low cost IP camera?)  with a node, and then set up nodes around the track to feed back into the pits so that we can see live video from the car in the pit lane.

Does anyone have any idea how quickly the node can hop from one connection to the next.  It will, I think, based on my guesses, need at least 3 maybe 4 nodes to cover the entire course, plus the one in the car.  So the one in the car would be hopping between 4 nodes over and over, a lap time is about 2 minutes 15 seconds. 

Is that feasible? Sounds like fun to me, I'd even be interested in seeing if I can port some additional data back from the car on engine temp and so on.

In this race there is only a wooden plaque trophy to win, it is purely for fun, we for sure are not making any money on this, so I don't see any Part 97 violation here, the reason I mention that is because in the past we have run APRS from the car, and someone found me and complained to me that I was using my license for commercial purposes, I don't see it that way at all, we are just turning money into noise.  :-)

I echo what AD5OO said.  That is part of the requirement for an ad-hoc network.  You cannot hide the SSID.

Now on to what I noticed:

"My assumption is that the idea behind this action is to ensure part 97 compliance via having your callsign as part of your ssid."

Okay, let us assume your assumption is correct to ensure part 97 compliance.  First, Broadband-Hamnet/HSMM-MESH utilizes an ad-hoc network.  Part of how an ad-hoc network works is that each item that wants to join that particular network must have the same SSID.  If each individual user had their own callsign as part of the SSID.  The nodes would not be able to connect. 

"You would of course have to manually configure accepted nodes to talk to but that is part of creating a stable semi-secure network."

That is not how I understand how Broadband-Hamnet/HSMM-MESH works.  The goal here is to be as autonomous as possible with nodes joining and leaving the network as they wish and being self-configuring.

Assuming you could hide an ad-hoc network...What would you do if you self-dispatched in a disaster (bad idea...ICS100) to another city with a Broadband-Hamnet/HSMM-MESH network that you had to find and manually configure?  Would not you want something more automatic that is plug and play and spend less time in configuring something that otherwise works?

The firmware does use OLSR and inside the firmware there is also script that will transmit the hostname of the node to remain Part 97 FCC Compliant.  So, hopefully you setup your node hostname with your callsign or else you are not Part 97 Compliant.

Even in ad-hoc it is possible to disable ssid broadcast. I need to take a look at the firmware but are you using OLSR? Regardless you can disable ssid broadcast in that "mode", there is nothing that would cause the node to fail without a broadcast. You would of course have to manually configure accepted nodes to talk to but that is part of creating a stable semi-secure network.

An amateur network should not be showing its face on commercial/retail devices.

Is it possible to build a image on a Mac?

I'm having some trouble trying and will post some specifics, unless someone who knows tells me that's a stupid idea.

Tom, AC2IE

Jim-

Thanks for the input.  I will keep that in mind when I set up something here.  When you talk about local connectivity, you are speaking of the mesh link and not local access via a laptop?  I assumed that the PC-to-router link is via the L2 switch connections.

Matt

KB9YOJ

Yes, version 1.0 has less memory than the current version 1.1 of the GL router. If possible get the 1.1 version, but 1.0 will still work.

Hi Matt,

If you look under the Basic Setup page, (where the IPs and such are set), you can see and set the antennas to either Right, Left, or Diversity (default).

Actually, on some models. I have seen where the left and right settings dont really seem to do anything, so I leave all mine on Diversity, and let the router figure out which antenna to use.

If you look under Applications - Tower Cam over Mesh, you will see I have 1 dish and 1 omni, and we use that config alot, the dish for a long haul and the omni for close-in local connectivity.

Jim

K5KTF

Hello-

I am new to the message board but am a professional in the wireless networking world.  I have been studying the equipment files and have noticed that the most popular "wireless routers" are older b/g routers with 2 antennas.  These antennas, when used as an access point(not mesh), were designed to utilize receiver "antenna diversity" and fight the effects of multi-path by selecting the strongest signal at either of the 2 antennas, but not both.  Here is my question:  Does the HSSM-MESH firmware and OLSR algorithms still use antenna diversity, or is this function disabled?  Is it native to the AP and not changed by the firmware update?  It makes me wonder if using high gain directional antennas is useful from a design perspective.  Maybe high-gain verticals are a better choice?  I have many more questions, but I will post those later.

Matt

KB9YOJ