Victoria to Port Angeles Wireless Link

[img src 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.
[img src http://www.dailywireless.org/images/up/portangelesmap.jpg]

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?