• PortAngelesWashington

Victoria to Port Angeles Wireless Link

http://www.dailywireless.org/images/up/portangeles.jpg

The [http://www.portangeles.org/ city of Port Angeles, Washington] is some 30 miles from Victoria British Columbia. This July 3rd, a "free" 802.11a link will be attempted between these two cities.

• When: July 3rd 2004

• Where: PortAngelesWashington and VictoriaBritishColumbia

• Who: Pacific Northwest Wireless Volunteers and friends

• Why: Establish a free 802.11a link from VictoriaBritishColumbia to PortAngelesWashington for fun.

  http://www.dailywireless.org/images/up/portangelesmap.jpg

[http://trevormarshall.com/biquad.htm Trevor Marshall's biquad design], feeding a Primestar satellite dish has established [http://www.erlang-software.com/FreeNet/Rottnest has established a solid 30 mile capability] with 10-15 dB (SNR) link from Rottnest Island off the West Australian coast, to a number of APs on the escarpment east of Perth; a distance of 48 km (30 miles).

http://trevormarshall.com/bq-mount-thumb.jpg

http://trevormarshall.com/bq-front-thumb.jpg

http://martybugs.net/wireless/biquad/images/biquad_size.png

Technical Approaches

[http://www.trevormarshall.com/waveguides.htm Trevor Marshall], [http://www.e3.com.au/ Perth's Community LAN site, E-3], and [http://www.everettwireless.net/index.php Everett Wireless] have been building [http://members.iinet.net.au/~clark/FreeNet/Workshop.htm homebuilt waveguides].

Here's [http://www.dailywireless.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=683 a +22 dB design] made from [http://www.everettwireless.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpBB_14&file=index&action=viewtopic&topic=14&forum=4&1 aluminum foil and styrofoam].

http://www.sdots.com/photos/waveguides.jpg

[http://www.overclockers.com.au/article.php?id=118207 Tests with Long-Distance Waveguides] look good but a PrimeStar dish is likely to provide more gain.

The 5.8 GHz Option

The 5 GHz band has about 8 dB more loss than 2.4 GHz at long range. With 6 db loss, range is halved. So 5.8GHz will need more than twice the gain.

[http://www.atheros.com/pt/index.html Atheros Xtended range chips] claims receive sensitivities up to -105dBm. That's more than 10-20 dB better than other 802.11 chips.

D-Link [http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=6 DI-624 Wireless Router], their [http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=241 DWL-G810 "G" bridge] and Netgear's [http://www.dailywireless.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1913 WGT634U Wireless Media Router] and [http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=241 Netgear's G810 "G" bridge] use them.

[http://usa.asus.com/products/communication/wireless/wl-330/overview.hTm The tiny Asus Access Point] can also be used as a bridge. A long distance link might simply use a +23db, 5.8 GHz flat panel, with an Atheros Xtrended Range bridge plugged in. [http://www.dailywireless.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1926 Could 100 mile WiFi Video] be possible?

Port Angeles

Possible Locations

• [http://www.portangelesinn.com/ Port Angeles Inn]

  • Latitude: 48.118518286954 (geocode estimate)
  • Longitude -123.43420050028 (geocode estimate)

• Salt Creek campground ( [http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/mapsurfer?infact=2&outfact=2&act=move&tlevel=-&tvar=-&tmeth=i&mlat=&mlon=&msym=bigdot&mlabel=&murl=&lat=48.1655769&lon=-123.7072144&wid=0.022&ht=0.009&conf=mapnew.con&map.x=275&map.y=157 Map] )

  • Latitude: 48.1663284
  • Longitude: -123.7041855
  • coords are nad27, decimal.
  • Plenty of camping, possible power (cant remember if there were RV hookups or not). LOS to vancouver island. Vehicle fee is ~$15. Camping available at edge of bluff.

Vancouver Island

The Victoria Telecommunity Network and the BC Wireless Project are working on this as a joint project. Many thanks to the VTN for their willingness to help us with this project.

Possible Locations

• Gonzales Observatory;
  • Latitude: 48.41317
  • Longitude: -123.325
  • Elevation: 65 meters above sea level.

  • Managed by the Capital Regional District, also has some [http://www.bcwireless.net/tafl/callsign.php?callsign=xkk420&gettype=cached&cachedcopy=20040117140605 Weather monitoring systems used by UVIC]

• Mount Tolmie
  • Latitude: 48.45655
  • Longitude: -123.3259
  • Elevation: 112 meters
  • Located in Saanich, also City property.
• Dominion Observatory aka: The Center of the Universe
  • Site A (Lower Scope)
    • Latitude: 48.52075
    • Longitude: -123.4193
    • Elevation: 183 meters
  • Site B (Administrative offices)
    • Latitude: 48.5192
    • Longitude: -123.4166
    • Elevation: 193 meters
  • Federal land, also a historic site.
• Mount Douglas (approximated)
  • Latitude: 48.49414
  • Longitude: -123.3478
  • Elevation: 208 meters
  • Problems: Conservation society doesn't like antennas, lots of commercial antennas already up there.
• Other site considerations: The West Coast Amateur Radio Association may have repeater sites we could hitch ROW off of.
• Gear we have available:
  • One WRAP based Atheros box.
  • 2.4GHz antennae

Issues

Technical

• Lets try to do 802.11b also, just in case the 802.11a stuff doesn't work out
  • A should be doable, if we have some nice antennas, and possibly a social "debate" on whether to use closed-source software or not.
• Power sources are questionable, need generators and UPS probably
• Need tested, pre-configured software and hardware
  • Configure routers with routes and IPs
  • Configure radio cards with proper channel assignments
  • Test end-to-end connectivity up close
• Network diagrams
  • Just some well documented diagrams so we know what the heck we're doing
• Communication between the two sites
  • amateur
    • Free

    • CaseyHalverson has a radio for the Washingtion side

      • MatthewAsham has a radio for the Victoria side.

  • cellular
    • International calls need to be made, can be expensive
    • Need a list of phone numbers in case of lost radio contact

Gear

PersonalTelco is offering to sponsor wireless gear to maintain a permanent link. Home brew antennae.

Logistic

• Unavailibility among SWN people during this holiday (maybe another weekend in July)
• SWN and PTP people should plan to stay the night in this area
• Food, water, shelter, activities, socials, schedules, equipment, etc. details

Wireless campout? Anyone want to look for a campsite?

References

• [http://www.narx.net/~chrisk/WaFreeNet/GalaxyMod/ ChrisK's Galaxy Mod]

• [http://www.leemingwireless.net/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=1' Leeming Wireless Network - Dish Mod]

• [http://www.mrx.com.au/wireless/ConfierModifications.htm Conifer 2.4GHz Antenna Modifications for Wireless LAN]

• [http://www.ashtec.dyndns.org/ashtec/mods/index.html How to modify an Ex-Galaxy Antenna for Wireless Network]

• [http://martybugs.net/wireless/conifertest.cgi Conifer Antenna Testing (part 1)]

• [http://martybugs.net/wireless/conifertest2.cgi Conifer Antenna Testing (part 2)]