[FADCA] Take a look at this...

Sat, 19 Oct 2002 16:15:22 -0400

Comments below.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rick Muething [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2002 03:29 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: RE: [FADCA] Take a look at this...
> 
> 
> A few months ago I did some poking around on this. There has been some
> significant ham effort using modified Wireless LAN radios...Here's one
> interesting source:
> http://www.qsl.net/n9zia/wireless/
> 
> Here is also an interesting thread on some ham work:
> http://www.ir3ip.net/pipermail/linux-hams/2002-May/002543.html
> 
> Basically:
> 
> Some Wireless LAN radios can be easily modified (simple 
> firmware change) to
> only frequency hop in the 2.4 GHz ham band.

Yes, there is quite a bit about that on the SS list at TAPR.

> 
> In the Ham band a amp is acceptable and I think Down East 
> Microwave has them
> up to 10-15 watts.  That with a 20+ db Dish gives some 
> respectable ERP and I
> seem to recall easy links over 20 mi. There are auto EIRP 
> requirements in
> place once you get over certain EIRP levels.
> 
> There are a lot of very cheap 2.4 GHz 20 dB dishes avail from 
> both new and
> surplus sources.

Several of the articles that I have read have used the sat dishes
with great results, besides there are a lot of surplus dishes out
there if one is willing to dig.

> 
> When you think about the time and effort involved with 
> setting up a 9k6
> packet backbone it may be worth biting the bullet and thinking about a
> "pipe" that is 1000 times fatter!

Yes that is what I keep on thinking these things are down to $130
over the counter, and I bet if you dig you can get them lower. I
am talking about the LINKSYS box which at this moment seems to be
the box of choice because of cost.

I have two dishes, and there are loads of plans on how to put a 2.4G
antenna on those dishes, it is real basic stuff, put the Linksys box
behind the dish and you keep line loss to a minimum. The article out
of O'Reily has good info on the devices that we can use.

Use LINUX FPAC at the switch sites and start replacing old links with
these things and it starts to get interesting. I am thinking now why
spend money upgrading and fixing old radios if many of the paths can
be done using these devices?

The next step is to get some user access points going for fun....

> 
> I would be very interested in pursuing this and contributing 
> in any way I
> could.
> 
> Rick Muething KN6KB
> Winlink Development Team

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