[Mesh] 5 ghz rooftop node in west oakland

[Pete Forsyth]

Yesterday, Marc, myself, and my new roommate Cameron successfully installed
a NanoBridge at my apartment (phorzaith), and connected it to his node
(Adeline Livelabs, described below) -- 0.57 km, line of sight down Adeline
St. So far we are using the Ubiquiti firmware. I have downloaded files from
his network, with a maximum throughput of 5.5 MB/sec -- nearly twice the
download speed, and about 7 times the upload speed, I can achieve through
my DSL Internet connection. This is the mesh's first 5GHz connection, and
we expect it to be robust and persistent!

Process:

First, we went on my roof to see if we had line of sight from up there, but
found that several slightly taller houses on my side of the street would be
in the way. There are also limited opportunities for easy installation up
there. However, we did note a few other potential targets for future nodes
I could connect to: the California Hotel (being used as a halfway house),
and the bodega on 34th and Adeline which has a nice tall tower that might
be useful for getting across the MacArthur freeway. I can also see several
neighbors' houses who might be friendly to the People's Open network.

So we went back to the initial idea (picture attached), a dish above my
front door. This has several advantages over the rooftop: it goes in front
of the taller buildings (providing line-of-sight down the street), and is
easier to access for installation and maintenance. We tested by attaching
the NanoBridge to an 8' length of 2x3 lumber. Using the Ubiquiti firmware
(and also the router's built-in indicator lights), we tested several
antenna angles, and discovered that it was more forgiving than expected --
we were able to achieve a reasonable connection (2 MB/s) with as much as
about a 25° angle (not tested thoroughly). Perhaps the signal does zigzag
bounces off the fronts of houses along the street?

We then made a more permanent installation, using a 10" and 7" length of
2x4 scrap lumber to attach to the wood side of the house. The NanoBridge is
designed to allow easy vertical adjustment; if we find we need horizontal
adjustment it will be easy to accomplish with shims. The installation is
higher than the test, which has the advantages of fewer potential
interfering objects, and also more difficult to access for any curiosity-
or theft-motivated passersby. We also turned the router so its lights face
the house and taped over them, so as to attract less attention to it. The
cost was essentially no more than the NanoBridge; all other materials were
stuff we had lying around (and very inexpensive if we did have to buy,
under $10.)

Bill of Materials:

* One NanoBridge
* One 7" length of scrap 2x4 lumber
* One 10" length of scrap 2x4 lumber
* One basic bookshelf bracket, 6" by 8"
* 12 foot Cat 5e cable (standard; to be replaced with outdoor-grade cable
ASAP)
* One Power-over-Ethernet injector

To do:

* Make installation more permanent/less hackery (better cable, run the
cable less conspicuously, paint the wood)
* Design and implement network infrastructure (public/private); share
network with neighbors
* ???
* MESH THE PLA.NET

-Pete


On Tue, Dec 31, 2013 at 7:27 PM, Marc <marcjc at gmail.com> wrote:

> Pete and myself Installed a nanostation m5 on a 20 foot aluminum flagpole
> in west oakland. The node is about 14 feet above the roof of a two-story
> building. The total cost of this install ran to about $145 including all
> materials.
>
> Bill of Materials:
>
> * One nanostation m5 loco
> * One 4 foot wood beam of 3.5" by 3.5"
> * Three 5" by 1/4" bolts
> * Three 5/8" washers for bolts (optional)
> * Three 1/2" washers for bolts (optional)
> * Two 5" hose clamps
> * 30+ feet of outdoor shielded ethernet cable
> * Two shielded/groundable ethernet plugs
> * A bunch of zip ties
>
> The optional washers make it easier to tighten and untighten the bolts
> (otherwise they dig into the wood).
>
> Material sources:
>
> * Nanostation from Amazon
> * Flag pole from habor freight
> * Everything else from home depot
>
> -
> marc/juul
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mesh mailing list
> mesh at lists.sudoroom.org
> http://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/mesh
>
>
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