Going the router board way is very nice, but I have found out that others will not go to the expense of that type of system. ( I priced it out once, with box, 2 cards, board was around $400 ) It is more fun if others will play too!  That is why the Rocket  / Nano series is attractive, since it is mass produced for other countries, we can take advantage of the low price. If the Nano 3 can become a access point/mesh node as well using the DD-WRT software then more people will join in. No need to by the high power rocket base station. aka Meraki networks.

What would be nice is it working with the DD-WRT software and the Mesh component. Looks like that would cost $25. ( If I am reading the website correctly.)

[OK, we're getting the ball rolling now! This is Kip's announcement.]

Digital Tuesday is a special interest group that is interested in HSMM-MESH, Winlink, and APRS. While we will be affiliated with the Plano Amateur Radio Klub, you do not have to be a member of PARK to participate in Digital Tuesdays.

Since this is the first meeting, we will discuss how we want to go forward, and how often we want to meet.  The options we are looking at for how often are once per month on the first or third Tuesday, twice per month on the first and third Tuesday, or one Tuesday and also meet at the monthly "PARK at the park".

Rusty AE5AE is going to talk about the configuration files in the HSMM-MESH software, and how you can customize them in ways that is not possible from the menu system.  You can bring your HSMM-MESH router and follow Rusty in editing the files, or we can help load the latest HSMM-MESH software into the router.

I also want to have a "show and tell" session, so bring what you are working on in the HSMM-MESH, Winlink, or APRS areas. I envision the meetings as a way for the group to get up to speed in different areas of digital communications quicker.

I would like to have mini-briefings (5-10 minute) each time on different areas by the members. One member decides he wants to figure out one problem, and then shares it at the next meeting in a little briefing.

So the first one will be at 7:00 p.m. March 1, 2011, at 299 Connor Lane, Lucas Texas 75002. Follow the driveway to the backyard gate, and there is a pool house in the back yard. That is where we will meet.

just a small point: Ubiquiti (www.ubnt.com) has a device called a router station pro. In contrast Mikrotik (www.routerboard.com) has a variety of devices, that fulfill a similar function, called RouterBOARDS. (Two of these devices can support 4 mini PCI cards.) routerboard has its own OS, but it looks like openWRT has been ported to a few of their devices.

I'll try it on Monday evening and post my findings.  Thanks! 

Ronny

K4RJJ

Since no one has replied ...

The openwrt forums list a failsafe way to boot the router: https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=338. (hsmm is running on openwrt, but I don't know whether this will work for sure.) (Note that there is a response to that posting that suggests using mount_root.)

At the bottom of that page, there is a response that indicates that if you connect a serial cable to your router's serial port, you can interrupt the boot during the boot process, and not have to enter a password.

fyi,

robert

I am intrigued with the idea of a VFO-driven HSMM node -- what a great idea.  Would the Si570-based oscillators from sdr-kits.com be suitable?  I am using (primarily) Ubiquiti RouterBoard Pros with their mini-PCI radio modems (900, 2400 and 3400 MHz at the moment).

73,

john W3JKS/AAT3BF/AAM3EDE/AAM3RE/AAA9SL

I know from the Webinar how you guys hate when someone looses their password.  Well, I forgot mine on two of my 3 nodes.  Sorry to be a bother but maybe you can post the instructions here and that will end the discussion on it.

Thanks!

Ronny

K4RJJ

If you're in the Philadelphia / South Jersey region and want to run a node, please leave a note here.  Also helpful if you can introduce this idea to a local club.

I am also curious if anyone has made measured latency tests.

Although I just found out about the HSMM-MESH project I have been working on a similar network in west Kentucky for a couple of years.  We are not running MESHing software yet but I am interested in doing so.  I teach in the Telecommunications Systems Management program at Murray State University and I have build the beginnings of a regional network as a way of providing lab experience for my students in my Intro to Wireless Technology course.  I also teach Intro to Telephone Technology and will follow with great interest the VoIP experiments here.

Just as I was getting depressed that digital ham communications hadn't progressed from rs232 connected, 1200 baud, Z80 driven TNCs, I came across this project.  This is state-of-the-art high-speed digital communications with commodity hardware that is even forward looking to IPv6.  Thank you for bringing our hobby into the 21st century!

I'd like to connect a node in my region.  Can you please create a "philadelphia area" forum board?

btw, a handful of geographically oriented wiki pages could help hams organize nodes in their region and would be far easier to navigate than a growing list of forum boards created for this purpose.  I'm not very familiar with Joomla, but it looks like JWiki or DokuWiki ( http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/news-production/wiki-integration ) could fill this niche.

At PACIFICON 2010, I attended a talk given by Jason Spense, KG6RGF "Reviving the HSMM Hinternet" and came out of it really motivated to get into building some HSMM-MESH nodes.

Earlier this month, there was a terrific Webinar given by the very active HSMM group down in Texas.  Since then I've flashed a WRT54Gv2 with the 0.4.1 Firmware and I'm about to flash another one, which then, according to Arlo Guthrie, makes it a conspiracy. 

I've also picked-up four Ubiquiti Bullet 2HP's in hopes of being able to some day use them with this firmware, and until then, use them for a backbone or two.

If you're in the Bay Area, or for that matter, anywhere in the region, it would be great to hear from you, and maybe we can get this network built!  I'm also very interested in setting up portable and mobile nodes for experimentation. No doubt there are already a few of your probably quite a bit further along than I am.

How about linking some nodes up at SFBAY area clubs during Field Day??

By the way, have any of you thought about the fact that most of the time, with HSMM, we're operating at QRPp levels.  Make sure you mention that next time someone says "that's not ham radio."  I tell you this because I'm going to tell you something else:  "72" is what often QRPers say to one another in QSOs and correspondence; much the same way '73' is often used by hams in general.  Therefore:

72/73!!
Jack, K6JEB
http://www.k6jeb.com/

PS - Greetings to any folks from the W6BB Ham Club at the University of California, Berkeley!

New geographic forum added for the Bay Area.   Go for it.

NG5V, Rick

Hey There,

I'm a systems administrator (by career), and interested in networking/redundancy personally as well. I could never find alternative methods of linking up remote computers outside of using the internet, this is when I found out about packet radio, and amatuer radio in general, I'm (slowly) working towards my license..hopefully this summer. At first only networking over shortwave radio interested me, but it's really starting to grow on me.

Any how I read the whole HSMM-MESH site, and documents, and it REALLY intrigued me, especially the redundancy it provides, allowing people to still be connected regardless of internet, as well as having an excuse to setup linux mail/voip/file servers at home ;). Two questions I did have were: What kind of bandwidth is theoretically possible between nodes in the mesh, I know this is a question that can't be answered definitively as it depends on many variables, but I'm curious if it's 100kbit, 1mbit etc..

The other question I had was what are the typical distances you have seen between nodes? Another "it depends" answer I know, but would love to hear the distances anyone has gotten.

Thanks!

P.S. Anyone in the Ontario, Canada area?


EDI: I found the slideshow and read that, looks like 40KM range (best case) with dual 19dbi antennas. and speeds were listed too :)