Personal Telco's Field Day

Personal Telco's Field Day is inspired by [http://www.seattlewireless.net/2006wirelessfieldday 2006 Field Day of Seattle Wireless].

TableOfContents

Field Day Part 2 (October)

When: October 28th 2006 BR

Where: see Sites BR IRC: Online at #ptp, irc.personaltelco.net BR FRS Radio: Channel 11 (turn off privacy codes) BR Photos: http://www.personaltelco.net/gallery/fieldday2006 BR

Schedule (from Seattle Wireless)

Coffee

6AM - 8AM

Setup

8AM - 10AM

Field Day

10AM - 2PM

Teardown

3PM - 4PM

Sites

Name

Lat/Long

Rocky Butte

45.546868,-122.566038

Crown Point

45.539594,-122.244358

Gear

Name

Relevant Gear Owned

Destination

CalebPhillips

14 dBi enclosed yagi, USB GPS dongle, Garmin GPS 60, 5 ft. LMR 400 (N-fe -> N-fe), 50 ft. LMR 400 (N-fe -> RP-SMA ma.)

Mt Tabor

RussellSenior

MGP metrix boxes, 27 dBi 5.8GHz antennas, jumpers, battery connections

SamChurchill

24db Dish on tripod, 19db panel, WRT54G, 10W Solar Panel

Tamarack

2 directionals of 16db

DonPark

Wrap board, 9db patch, wrt54g + pigtail N connector

TomHiggins

12v battery, Cantenna(s), Poles, Garmin eTrex GPS

Still needed

low-loss radio cable with N connectors, assorted ethernet cables, DC/AC Inverters

any

People

Add your name to this list of what level of participation(Site Leader, Demo Lead or General Help) you would like, also provide a brief description of your demo idea if you are doing a demo:

Name

Level of Assistance

Location

DonPark

butte

RussellSenior

Driver

SamChurchill

AV Recording

TamarackBirchWheeles

CalebPhilips

CaseyHalverson

Seattle Contact

Seattle

Routing

Outdoor Ad-Hoc Events 10.11.204.0/22 Gateway: 10.11.204.1

Logistics

Rough plan:

Notes

Field Day Part 1 (August)

When: August 26th 2006 BR Where: see Sites BR IRC: Online at #ptp, irc.personaltelco.net BR FRS Radio: Channel 11 (turn off privacy codes) BR Photos: http://www.personaltelco.net/gallery/fieldday2006 BR

Schedule (from Seattle Wireless)

Coffee

6AM - 8AM

Setup

8AM - 10AM

Field Day

10AM - 2PM(Council Crest done at 1:30pm)

Teardown

3PM - 4PM

Sites

Name

Lat/Long

Street

Mt Tabor

45 30.755', 122 35.609'

Council Crest(maybe)

45 29.940', 122 42.470'

Distance = 5.6 miles or 9 km

Gear

Name

Relevant Gear Owned

Destination

CalebPhillips

14 dBi enclosed yagi, USB GPS dongle, Garmin GPS 60, 5 ft. LMR 400 (N-fe -> N-fe), 50 ft. LMR 400 (N-fe -> RP-SMA ma.)

Mt Tabor

RussellSenior

MGP metrix boxes, jumpers, battery connections

Mt Tabor

SamChurchill

23db Dish on tripod, 19db panel, WRT54G, 10W Solar Panel

Mt Tabor

Tamarack

2 directionals of 16db

Council Crest

DonPark

Wrap board, 9db patch, wrt54g + pigtail N connector

Council Crest

TomHiggins

12v battery, Cantenna(s), Poles, Garmin eTrex GPS

Council Crest

Still needed

low-loss radio cable with N connectors, assorted ethernet cables, DC/AC Inverters

any

People

Add your name to this list of what level of participation(Site Leader, Demo Lead or General Help) you would like, also provide a brief description of your demo idea if you are doing a demo:

Name

Level of Assistance

Location

DonPark

Event Coordinator

all sites

RussellSenior

Driver

Mt Tabor

SamChurchill

Observer

Mt Tabor

TamarackBirchWheeles

Ondine(if used)

TomHiggins

Driver(gone by 2pm)

Council Crest

Routing

Either bridge everything off of the hostel's 10.11.100,101,102,103.0 network or use the 10.11.204,205,206,207.0 network which is reserved for ad-hoc networks like this one.

Logistics

I propose we all meet at MtTabor. Once the initial link is functional, we can dispatch teams from there. Also, it will allow us to set up the gear at least partially all in the same location, which will make coordination a lot easier. If you have car inverters, please bring them. They will allow us to plug in PoE injectors, reducing the necessity to open the metrixes. I am considering making a test run Friday evening (anybody want to come along, please contact me) to establish the MtTabor-NodeHawthorne link. --RussellSenior

Notes

DonPark, TomHiggins, TamarackBirchWheeles, RussellSenior, and SamChurchill participated. We met at the Reservoir at MtTabor and fiddled. Tom was able to hear NodeHawthorne with kismet, but couldn't associate. Russell configured two metrixes with pyramid and got them talking to each other, then Don and Tom headed off for CouncilCrest with the 24 dBi antenna on Sam's tripod. Tamarack headed for the roof of the Ondine and Russell and Sam headed up to the top of MtTabor. There is no car access to the upper loop, so Russell parked at the gate and loaded the gear onto a jogging stroller and they wheeled it up the hill. Russell and Sam set up one of the sleds loaned by the MississippiGrantProject and got the antennas attached. Sam's 19 dBi patch antenna had insufficient bolts to attach to the mast, so bolts were borrowed from the smaller 13 dBi patch (the latter was less critical, and the deficiency was compensated for with some gaffers tape). The MtTabor location got an association to NodeHawthorne immediately.

The FRS radios were sufficiently powerful to communicate between the MtTabor and CouncilCrest locations, and the bulk of voice communications during setup took place over them. Both CouncilCrest and Ondine were visible from MtTabor, but at first neither would associate to www.personaltelco.net/tabor. Tom and Don flipped polarization at their end, and immediately achieved an association. Then it was just a matter of fixing up the routing in between, setup /etc/resolv.conf appropriately, authing and they were online. Tom got on IRC, used Skype to call his wife, and generally expressed glee.

After establishing the link to CouncilCrest, we reoriented the antenna to point at Ondine. Even after that, a rotation of maybe 6-8 degrees, we managed to get some traffic from CouncilCrest before they turned off the metrix. Tamarack's gear did not want to associate, so we gave up on that and started to tear down the gear.

We spoke with many curious passersby, including a bicycle security officer. I asked her about getting permission to get through the locked gate in order to drive our gear to the top of MtTabor. She said to contact the Portland Park Bureau to request access. We talked about doing something slightly more ambitious for next time, such as adding MtTabor, or perhaps even try LarchMountain. The latter might not be so tractable if we wait for the end of October, as snow shoes might be needed by then.

Later, Russell debriefed on the event with CalebPhillips afterwards, during which they brainstormed the idea of doing a wireless kiosk on the PacificCrestTrail somewhere. PTP members go camp somewhere along the trail for a week, meet through-hikers and let them check their email/surf/etc via a temporarily established wifi relay. Need to get some grant money for that.