One of the possibilities I have been mulling over is controlling an FT-950/450 Yaesu rig and routing the audio bidirectionally. Both rigs use legacy RS-232 interfaces. They can be converted easily enough to an ethernet interface. The command and control interface at the desk can easily be routed.

I planned on routing using a different set of ip addresses at each end point.  Thus the HF rig end would have an interface for Command & Control using an IP address for example of 172.10.20.10 while the distant end audio would be routed via an interface with a second address of 172.10.20.20.  At the desktop end the Command & Control as well as the audio link would have separate IP addresses. Since I am a newby I wanted to check the braintrust and see if they could elaborate on potential landmines with this scheme.

The audio is another beast with which to deal. The good news is it is half duplex. I have looked for hardware solutions that convert audio to data vice versa and have noted that most hardware solutions are oriented towards the Broadcast end of business. New off the shelf low end stuff is priced around the $350.00 range minimum which for someone with the middle name of Tightus-Wadus is a little hard to justify.

I examined the possibility of using VOIP but ran head-on into the SIP server. If the SIP server was a simple thing such as launching an app which required no admin efforts I would not be particularly adverse to adding the overhead. However the ones I looked at had more user settable features than Carter has Little Liver Pills. While I enjoy twiddling knobs, flipping switches and making LEDs blink the last thing I want to do is to engage software-hardware that comes with a 50,000 page user manual were each setting will ripple through and affect the way other settings HAVE to be set to obtain proper operation. (LAZY?) Besides having to run a SIP server seems like a lot of overhead for a simple function.

One software solution that looks like a possibility is Broadwave Streaming Audio. The price is tolerable ($49.00) but it will mean having to place a computer at the distant end as opposed to a simple unit like the LANTRONIX RS-232 to Ethernet Converter for handling the command and control.

Has anyone actually routed audio via ip on a WRT54 mesh setup to date? What kind of latency, dropout problems, spurious pops, whistles, and other annoyances were noted if any?

Where am I planning on going with this? My station at home is able to run on emergency power. I want to be able to operate the basic rig remotely. Additionally I would like to add the ability to remotely control the antenna tuner, and if gravy permits the antenna rotor. This would all be done three to four blocks away from the residence and if the infrastructure permitted even further. I anticipate that power will not be readily available at the distant site unless I provide it. It would be easier to run a laptop and WRT54 on battery than it would to drag around the generator and a dipole.

Suggestions?  Thanks

Chuck WD4HXG

That is the general rule.

I had one hardware version (cant remember exactly which one) that over 50' of CAT5e (up a pole outside), it was flaky, so I changed out the wall wart for a 13 or 14VDC one I found in my box of warts, and everything stabilized.

Could have been amperage, though. Dunno.

The symptom was that the router would boot, and would visible on the mesh, most of the time. It would just be generally flaky when trying to connect to it, comes and goes, so I thought it may be voltage drop. Once I bumped up the power, it was all good and is still running today on it.

KTF

K7CQX was over here the other day with a Chinese Yagi we were testing. It didn't look bad but we were not getting very encouraging results. We were having a difficult time seeing the SSID of a Dunkin Donuts 2 miles down the road that the grid easily picks up even when horizontal. I think it was the length of the coax (they put about 6 feet on it) He ordered a grid and is gonna shorten the coax on the yagi. Maybe he will end up with 2 good antennas.

That one comes out a few cents more to AZ  with s/h so another good deal. Good find...May be cheaper to other states.

$35.45 b4 s/h and tax

http://www.provantage.com/scripts/cart.dll/x/0/continue/TPLK01Y

I have been using 3 routers(all WRT54G v1, v2 and v3).  #1 on the roof  #2 in the front room and #3 for testing in the car.  I often have problems getting one of the routers to be a neighbor. (its not always the same router)  often I can get #1 and #2 to be neighbors and have to access #3 as a remote even if they are all sitting together on the same table.

 #1 and #2 were flashed 6 mo ago and were updated to the latest firmware. #3 was just purchased and flashed this week with the latest firmware.   I just used the stock setup and only changed the name and password on all 3

The problem is that we have about 7 nodes in the neighborhood and I will run one router off an invertor in the car and mount another on a 30 foot fiberglass pole and set it up around the neighborhood to see if a location can be found to connect all 7.  About half the time the one in the car and the one on the pole are neighbors and testing is great. The other half the time they wont be neighbors and testing comes to a halt.  I even have situations where I leave the pole setup and drive to where I get access to a router in the neighborhood and when I search the mesh the one on the pole shows up as a remote!, but I cant get it while in line of sight and even on a level plane (pole not extended)

Sorry for the long post, but I do appreciate your help

N7FV

Cory

Ebay has some 25db yagis for about 25 plus s&h....from china so it might be a gamble. I saw a few grids too.

Goodwill home of the $5 router, except on Saturday its $2.50...

Goodwill home of the $5 router, except on Saturday its $2.50...

If you want to power your HSMM-MESH with your ethernet cable you can use pins 4,5 and 7,8 to supply the voltage to your router. Data is transmitted and recieved on pins 1,2,3,and 6.  So the easiest way would be to cut you power supply and wire positive lead into the cable on wires 4 and 5, the negative lead into wires 7 and 8. I would make sure to cut these wires so they DO NOT lead back into your computer (just a precaution) On the router end you have a choice you can take these pins and make internal jumpers on the router to the correct pins on your power adapter, or make a jumper with your existing left over pigtail. As we all have some technical experience I suggest you use a VOM and double check all your connections before powering up. Ethernet cables commonly use blue and blue/white as 4,5. Brown and brown/white as 7,8. (AGAIN DOUBLE CHECK) keep in mind the longer your cable run the greater your voltage drop.

N7SKV