Today I finally erected the mast, AP and Waveguide at Woodville, though I could only go to 7 metres above roof level. I have another 3m pole that could potentially go on there, but I would need some more guy wires and turnbuckles. I managed to get it done myself today but for the extra height I'd probably need some help :-)
I used the SSID "Air-Stream-Woodville-TEST" so people wardriving or site surveying would recognise it as a potential air-stream site, and hopefully report back if it is picked up anywhere.
Im hoping the waveguide I made performs well!
There is no computer connected to it yet, as it is in testing phase before making everything more permanent, but I have plenty handy to do it if needed for testing.
Please report if you pick it up... and from where! Thanks,
HaQue
Good stuff
Was wondering what you have been up too ;)
Last week I was helping getting a wireless link working and did a scan at Ferryden Park but from what you have said I dont think your Woodvile AP would have been running. This week its highly possible that ill be there again so I will have a try for it if i can and post details.
Also there is someone else in Woodvile West who ill tell as they are trying to scan for access points at the moment.
Great work, good to see peopl
Great work, good to see people working to establish more Access points, if need any help with backbons or routers let us know.
Can anyone suggest a site for
Can anyone suggest a site for me to BB into the AS network from Woodville? I should be able to provide an AP, router and antenna my end, and maybe with some of the components the other end as well.
Woodville won't be much good to Air-Stream without Back-Boning to someone!
My Advice
I cant really suggest APs as i don't know the exact location. Also the best way to find out is for a site survey to be done.
But i have had a quick look and see that there is good points and bad points. The bad is that the SA Manufacturing Park is close by and is a massive building. This blocks off a large area. also a little further away is the Queen Elizabeth Hospital which blocks that area off.
The only other thing in general is trees since its the plains, long links aren't generally possible. You be surprised that you might be able to pickup access points on the hills well but not an AP a few KM away.
Only other thing i can think of is interference (something none of us can avoid).
Did you know that there is a WiFi at the Woodvile Train Station? I spotted a Hills 25db on a pole about 20 metres high pointing in the Port Adelaide direction.
There is also a lot of WiFi at Arendale Shopping Centre.
Not all is bad though as next to the SA Manufacturing Park is the Cheltnham Park Racecourse which besides some trees around the outside, it is quite open.
Possible APs
Ridleyton
Another dish could be installed here as its only 2 backbones and an omni.
Ottoway - Pasadena
Although both these are linked and are using all possible channels, this could be the potential for a bridge and create two shorter more stable links.
Rosewater
Around the same distance as Ottoway. Depending on where the Woodvile AP is this may be a good link.
Seaton
This is a slim chance as the Royal Adelaide Golf Course has lots of tall trees and may block. Also depending on the location of the Woodvile AP, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital may be in the way. However have done a scan on a rooftop in Seaton near Woodvile West where i have picked up Seatons omni. This was on the other side of the golf course.
Today I bought a new 25db gri
Today I bought a new 25db grid from hills and a dipole to go in my 15db dish.
What exactly is involved in a site survey?
I have laptop, 25db dish, kismet or netstumbler... So is it just a matter of jumping on the roof and scanning?
I think the train station one is probably for the police or security to monitor the station as there are cameras and voice intercom system there.
The only air-Stream AP's Ive been able to pick up from woodville have been a couple of Carrick-Hill ones. May be able to get more now with the 25db... all the other attempts were with homebrew antennas or little ones.
The Hills 25db at Woodvile Tr
The Hills 25db at Woodvile Train Station would be 2.4G video Didz ;)
Re: The Hills 25db at Woodvile Tr
My point is that there is interference.
NodeDB Air-Stream-Woodvill
Add a node to NodeDB and lets have look :-)
NodeDB ID & other stuff
http://www.nodedb.com/australia/sa/adelaide/view.php?nodeid=1239&lang=en
need to take the mast down this week and change the AP over on the waveguide from a SVEC to a Netgear MR814. Also hope to add another 3m to the mast at the same time.
Woodvile West?
From what I see there you have put the nodes location on the nodedb map as Woodvile West and also you put down that it is in Woodvile West.
So that means that its not in Woodvile at all?
I did a scan on a roof in Woodville West last week but I did not pick up your AP. during scanning something went wrong and I was unable to pickup anything else so a good chance of picking everything up will have to be for another day.
I picked up Air-Stream-Skye, SebbyNet-Omni and many that are in the city. I wasnt able to scan in horizontal much.
I picked up alot of home APs with defult names. but didnt pickup ottoway, northfeild, ridleyton or rosewater. Those APs I have never been able to pick up in Grange, Seaton and now Woodvile West.
I have picked up Ridleyton with a Hils 25db up 7~8M in Ferryden Park but still it was a poor signal.
location
FYI the node I am setting up is on Sage Crs.
That helps heaps
Thanks that helps alot.
I was on a rooftop about 600~700 metres west where the Woodvile West Reserve is.
So Air-Stream-Woodvile-West it is.
Air-Stream-Woodvile-West
ok, woody west does sound more appropriate, so I'll update it once the new ap goes up. I can easily make a router box similar to Roberts JF upgrade, dont have any VPN experience, but I'm willing to learn!
Air-Stream Map
Checkout Air-Stream-Woodvile-West on the Air-Stream Map
http://awebpage.cjb.net/~meekys/asmap/node.php?id=64&showInactiveLinks=1
For those on the wireless:
http://10.120.128.88/~meekys/asmap/node.php?id=64&showInactiveLinks=1
This link shows the inactive links and as you see it looks like the possible links are evenly spaced.
Naming
I also need to know if I am allowed to use the SSID "Air-Stream-Woodville" or if I need to request it thru the committe or whatever.
I guess you can put the ESSID as Air-Stream-Woodvile. Naming isnt restricted to the suburb. If its a business or something like that then it can be named that (eg: Air-Stream-Optcom). this is good for if and when in the future there is more APs in the same suburb.
Your AP would come under a certain type of classification depending on how it is setup. See the Network Node Classification
not picked up on the Ridleyton-Ottoway back bone
which direction is it facing?
the backbone shoudl pick up soem spill form woodville
Sam
direction
It is a supposedly 180deg WG pointing approx 5 - 10deg anti-clockwise of the City.
I was looking at the designs and it looks like it makes a marked difference in which channel is used. If the design and construction is perfect, ch 6 looks the best. I am on 11 at the moment, but hopefully in the next day or 2 the new AP/router goes up and I will try all of them to see what works best.
Im hoping some network guru can help me set up the access rules for my setup as I cant offer internet to Air-Stream (probably can in some cases though) as it isnt my connection, but I need to share the adsl there with 1 other wireless user(the whole point of the site!).
my topology looks like this(3 cheers or booos for old school ascii):
( ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ) | | DHCP server on | | pool 192.168.0.2 Site 1 | | Site 2 to DHCP Server off | | 192.168.0.19 | | +-------------------+ +-------------------+----+ +----------------+ | ADSL Modem with | | Netgear MR814 Wireless | | 802.11b AP in | | 4 port switch | | router + 4 port switch | | client mode | | 192.168.0.1 | | 192.168.0.20 | | 192.168.0.21 | +--+----+--+--+--+--+ +---+----+--+--+--+------+ +----+-----------+ | | | | | | | ADSL Internet--+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Computer 1---------+ | | +-----------------------+ +--- Computer 4 | | Computer 2------------+ | | Computer 3---------------+Would it be feasible when I expand the network to just add new wireless devices to the MR814 switch for BB's etc ?
\\ ***************************************************************
\\ Q. How many geeks does it take to change a light bulb?
\\ A. 10 .. 1 to hold the ladder and the other to replace the bulb.
\\ ********************************************************
I dont think its the best way
I dont think its the best way.
Its best to have a proper router setup and then if you want to share internet have a proxy or use VPN
Robert has said he will help out with backbones and routers. The mark server/routers are a nice small unit that can do everything. I dont think you will have much problems in having 2 or more backbones either.
I agree with Didz
the ADSL connection is a bit wide open to exploitation
I would put the wireless stuff in a different subnet to the rest of the LAN and make a VPN connection to the stuff you want to lock down
Sam
Could you give it another try
Could you give it another try? I think the angle it is facing should include ridleyton. I can pick up the Air-Stream-ridleyton when wardriving from south & grange road intersection, so maybe a backbone from Ridleyton to my site on grange road could work, then I could do a BB from woodville to the grange road one. Or something.
Re: Could you give it another try
Been in that same position, i first picked it up there when slowing down on south road coming from the south to turn left onto grange rd.
Its only a waveguide at the moment right?
I think Ridleyton is a good possibility as another antenna can be put up for a backbone.
Also i had a chat to EpOcH and i sugested the possibility of making a backbone to Air-Stream-Rosewater
The other backbone i would love to see is Seaton and im sure Sebby would aswell. I have picked up Seaton from just down the road from your woodvile west site and Sebby also wants to raise the omni and free up a 25db in use there for a backbone somewhere else. I think Woodvile West is a good oportunity.
Air-Stream-Woodvile-West definitly has places it can link too where there is room and can be dedicated.
update
Today I pulled the mast down and replaced the SVEC AP with the Netgear MR814v2 Firewall/router. I had stripped the casing off the router and soldered a pigtail on to connect to the WaveGuide. I bought an IP66 waterproof case and stuck it in there with a POE LAN cable.
I erected the mast again and went to the other site on Grange road and climbed up on the roof with my 25db hills and the longest cantenna. Disaster! I had left the pigtail home :(
Then my mate suggested using the 7db car antenna, so he threw that up and I connected the cable. Instantly Kismet woop-wooped and displayed "Air-Stream-Woodville-TEST" - While the antenna was still laying on the roof !!!
I didnt attempt to connect because it was nearly dark, but Im certain with a better antenna installation all will be fine. I estimated the link at about 2.7Km.
If anyone else wants to do a stumble for it city side of woodville west, Id appreciate feedback. I can pick up carrick hill from there, with just the PCMCIA card and pigtail, no antenna. Id love to know how far the WG will transmit.
I couldnt log into the router to change the SSID, Im hoping i didnt put the LAN cable on the WAN port!!! I cant remember for sure which port i put it on.
Pictures of the Installation will be up tonight as well.
Cheers,
HaQue
oww
i was on the roof untill recently aswell (7:30PM), i put a superpass omni and a hills 15db dish pointing at woodvile west.
Im about to make the poe work and hope its all working up there. ill post if i get anything good
where was this place on grange rd?
Ill have pics soon too.
Didz, if your location is sea
Didz, if your location is seaton'ish, I dont think you will be able to pick it up. The WG is a 180deg one see. the way the antenna faces is.... umm.. if you imagine a line parallel with Findon Rd, then twisted it 10deg... it's about like that.
The one on Grange rd will be just a grid or cantenna pointed at the WG, but it isnt up yet. It is located on the corner of the first side street (Woodville West side) of Grange & Crittenden Rd intersection.
pictures
some pictures are up at my image gallery: http://www.air-stream.org/image/uid/20
Another scan
I might be doing another scan later at woodville west so i'll see if i pick it up at all.
Last time I didnt get to scan in vertical around that direction due to failure with the wifi cards connectin to the pigtail.
I will also be having a chat to Sebby on the latest news and see about making seaton to backbone with woodvile west as long as its ok with you HaQue... I dont want to tred on anyones toes but I have to tread somewhere.
Check your hotmail HaQue if you havnt unless there is a better way to contact you i'll use that or the sites own messaging system.
BB
I am actively looking for a Backbone, so speak to anyone that may have a site that would work effectively :)
Though I don't know Seb personally, I have met him... I bought my SVEC AP from him... he told me it was good so hes obviously dodgy! ;) that AP was the one that started it all for me, and though some think it is a POS, I have found it quite good.. and ap-utils for linux supports it so that is a bonus.
I thought the Netgear routers I bought would be much better, and I guess I am not using them strictly as designed, but:
The wireless config is VERY simple
Cant do bridge or client mode, so no way of seeing any scanned networks or anything
I have another netgear, a 108Mbs WGT624v2 that I was going to put at grange rd site, but without a client mode, it aint gonna work.
I'm going to have to do one of the following:
-use the SVEC
-have a simple PC in the roof with a pci wireless nic
-buy another AP that supports client mode
- have a long coax down to the pc inside and hope that loss doesnt kill it.
I cant really afford to be lashing out much more now, so Im not sure which path Ill take yet.
Oh and Didz, Id prefer to use the air-stream internal messaging!
Thanks for everyones interest, support, comments and help so far!
Cheers,
HaQue
site news
I had screwed around with the config before I put it up to test to see if the internet would work properl thru it. I had dhcp server turned off and the IP was different than I had thought. Tonight I worked out the IP, logged in wirelessly and rechanged the SSID to "Air-Stream-Woodville-West-TEST". Turned DHCP back on so though there is nothing south of the AP, you can at least connect and get an IP assigned to test the connection.
I cant seem to log in thru ethernet, so it looks like I have done the stupid thing and plugged the cat5 into the WAN port! DOH!
Ill pull it down over the weekend and fix it. It takes about 1 -2 hrs to do.
Im working on a simple server for a web page and FTP with file transfer test files to put at the bottom so people have something to do when connected.
Update
Well i did another scan but picked up a poor signal, i saw that it was Air-Stream-Woodville-West-TEST. I think that the solder i did on the card wasnt good still, im shocked as it was working well at home.
Best i picked up was -81 but i was picking up blips and bops when there was no antenna attached afterwards.
I talked to Sebby about linking Seaton to Woodvile West, his aim is to link back home directly if possible as he intends to doing alot of trasnfering. Also he doesnt want to rely on another AP to link back home.
He is thinking of purchasing gear to make a link for himself but unsure if the 25db will be free or if he will use that.
If seaton is not possible then there is still myself but i have no router here. If a good link is possible then we can take things further.
So far i have not picked up anything with the dish pointed at woodvile west in horizontal with the minitars site survey.
scan reply
Missed this post before.. was it your grange site you scanned at? If you picked up the signal faintly, then really this is good. The antenna is really not pointing towards you and Im surprised you picked it up at all.
maybe I should make an identical antenna and put it up to face the other direction. Im sure you would get a way better signal then...
Actually, just thinking that I could turn it around a bit. It should still be ok for the Grange rd site and maybe you can get a better signal. later I can put an identical one to face the other way, and have a north and south.
fixed stuff-up and did stumble
I took the mast down breifly today and sure enuff I had left the LAN cable in the WAN port after testing the internet. I put it back into one of the LAN ports and now as soon as a server is done I can add it.
While I was up there I did a stumble with 3 antennas, hills 25dBi, pacmon 15dBi with a new hills dipole installed abd my aluminium long cantenna. I used kismet in slackware linux v10.1. I stood on the chimney and held the antennas by hand as high as I could and tried both polarisations.
The results were very interesting.
first I used the 25dBi and picked up :
AgileWestBAT (has info of SantosWestBat in network details)
Air-Stream-APANA-NW
awol-city-westlakes
NO-SSID (this had an IP address 10.2.1.35)
Air-Stream-Carrick-Hill-2
aawrl-n
carrick hill and agilewestbat were strongest, but intermittent
I then put the 15 on and was surprised to see that another network showed up, "msb"
some of the others were not quite as strong now.
Then I put the cantenna on and AgileWestBAT, Carrick hill and no-ssid continously recieved packets. way out performing the hils 25dBi
does anyone recognise who the AgileWestBAT, awol-city-westlakes,msb and aawrl-n are?
cheers,
HaQue
>does anyone recognise who th
>does anyone recognise who the AgileWestBAT, awol-city-westlakes,msb and aawrl-n are?
These are ISPs awol is WISP run by ben wanna and Agile is commercial ISP
Your best Air-Stream connections are either Carrick Hill or APNA, if you can get APNA that antenns maybe adjusted to point more to the west, contact steve.
Re: (multiple)
Missed this post before.. was it your grange site you scanned at?
No this was just down the road about 600m away.
I have scanned at my place but only with a minitar (site survey) and a 15db hills on the roof pointing in woodvile wests direction. I think its pointing i lettle too far left for your site HaQue.
In that direction i can see one of the mobile phone towers and i know exactly where it is. I have been looking up in maps where the dish should point. By being able to see the tower about half way from Woodvile West i can point the dish better.
About your scan
At the woodvile west site i have been using my 200mw senao and a 19db pacmon. I picked up "awol-city-westlakes" very strong signal. infact i picked up alot from the city but not APANA-NE.
I picked up alot of awol and arrlw or whatever from the city and always have.
I have picked up "msb" so many times its not funny. Its been up for as long as i can remember. I have picked it up on my roof in grange, seaton in two places and woodville west. I have no idea what its about.
The one that was good news was picking up sebbynet from woodvile west, this was before i had an AP up at my place so i have not picked that up at all yet.
My dish is also in AP mode
yo i picked up your TEST west
yo i picked up your TEST west ap from my house
Pasadena
gw :)
i was able to associate with a 2mbit link
im not sure what ips to set?
this is with a senao + conifer 19db
also i was able to ping 192.168.0.1
cheers
seabird2k
great news :)
Thanks alot seabird2k! first report of anyone picking it up. and from pasadena too means the WG I made isnt too dodgy. I think I have set the ip range to a DHCP pool of about 20 192.168.0.2 to 198.168.0.21.
I have found that when the link isnt very strong, the client has trouble getting an IP address from the Access points DHCP server. If anyone has this problem, try setting your IP to 192.168.0.40 or above and see if you can ping it.
Later today I am taking the Netgear MR814v2 down and swapping it with the Minitar MNWAPB I won on ebay earlier this week. It has a better tx power rating and should perform alot better. I have upgraded the firmware to the latest available on the website: 2.53.
I have started building another 16-slot waveguide to service the other side of the western suburbs.
Still looking for a backbone...I have a 25dbi hills parabolic grid and a minitar Wireless Router/Access Point MNWAPGR to use for it. I could possibly help the other side with hardware as well.
update
Today I took down the mast again, just because I love doing it so much.
I took out the netgear MR814v2 and replaced it with a Minitar MNWAPB. I also turned the waveguide a bit to point around more towards seaton. I have uploaded a picture to my image gallery.. It is of a map showing relative locations and waveguide orientation. The way that it was, Im very surprised seabird2k picked it up at pasedena as if you look on the map I uploaded, it was rotated anticlockwise about 15 degrees.
maybe you could all d a stumble if you think you are in the coverage zone ;)
\\ ***************************************************************
\\ Q. How many geeks does it take to change a light bulb?
\\ A. 10 .. 1 to hold the ladder and the other to replace the bulb.
\\ ********************************************************
just a question what kind of
just a question what kind of angle is the WG on vertically? does it point down a bit or straight out ?
upgrades
I will be ordering the Wrap 1-1 from Yawarra on monday for woodville-west. I now have 2x 200Mw MiniPCI for it and a 25dB hills grid.
Backbone anyone?
From what I can gather, I will need:
1 x WRAP board
2 x MiniPCI
2 x U.Fl - N female bulkhead pigtails
1 x Compact Flash for operating system / router program code or whatever it runs
1 x Power Supply
can anyone point me to the software that I would need so I can obtain it and familiarise myself with it?
any other gatchyas that I might run into?
Cheers
Backbone to Seaton
Sebby is happy to arange for a backbone to Seaton or to his place as he wants to backbone or somehow link back to Seaton.
It all just depends on who can get the best signal where.
stumble
I have 2 cards installed now and have both enabled in kismet to scan at the same time. I will do a stumble today from woodville with my hills 25dBi and see whats around.
SebbyNet-omni
Remember I did pickup SebbyNet-omni from just down the road from the Woodville West site and that was with heaps of large gum trees right infront and also though the Royal Adelaide Golf Course.
That was with a Seanao 200mw and a 19db PacMon modified by myself.
Just got word the WRAP board
Just got word the WRAP board for Woodville-West shipped today by express post.
Just need a power supply, compact flash card Operating system/software.
The pigtails for the senao 100mW prismGT cards shipped today and should be here by Tuesday.
I'll replace the 100mW with 200mW as soon as I raise the funds.
We should have some western coverage soon :)
Cheers,
HaQue
WRAP-2 Arrived today, along w
WRAP-2 Arrived today, along with the 2 pigtails for the Senao MiniPCI cards. It looks very cool :)Just need a waterproof box Compact Flash, Operating System and power supply.
Then the easy task of configuration (note the blind optimism!) and put it up the mast.
I'll post some pictures soon of the new equipment, and also an "exploded view, HaQue style" set of pictures of a hills 25dBi parabolic grid antenna.
So if you are interested have a look at my Image Gallery.
update
updated my Blog!
new pics
added some pics of a hills 25dBi dipole - exploded view...
take a look HERE