Greetings to all -
I am spooling myself up on the HAM Mesh world and while being new I am running into some confusion. First of all I was looking at the other HAM mesh website and was planning on using a Linksys WTR-54GL (not 100% sure on the suffix) for loading firmware on to it. This would turn them into Mesh NODES as I was told and be in the amateur band. In being referred to the website here I do not see that listed as firmware or a device.
Therefore, is the firmware I would load on to the Linksys WRT-54 series to turn it into a Mesh node be compatible with the ubiquiti or TP-Link ones here if in the same band? I guess my concern is that a split would occur and if using AREDN firmware it can only talk to other AREDN firmware devices. Also vice-a-versa with the Ham Mesh firmware for the Linksys.
Thanks in advance and I am trying to learn here.
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Linksys WRT-54 series
Thu, 12/27/2018 - 17:34
#1
Linksys WRT-54 series
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(This is STRICTLY my opinion and not necessarily that of AREDN, Inc.)
But basically what Darryl said :-)
73
Orv W6BI
I have personally never deployed a TP-Link device so I can't give you an opinion on those.
Andre, K6AH
I *love* my MikroTik hAP however, it was certainly not the easiest thing to do to setup the initial firmware install on it, IMO. In contrast, the TP-Link CPE210 initial AREDN install was a total breeze and easily accomplished. This might be a deciding factor for some new adopters.
- Don - AA7AU
Andre, K6AH
I respectfully disagree, Andre. It's not nearly just as easy to do, and the TP-Link is still a dream to do (did another CPE210 last night). Although these two models are really for two different types of usage, I'd still point a new user at the $40 TP-Link CPE-210 every time.
I just did two more MicroTik hAPac installs today using Win7. Tried to document the steps in the video on the first pass thru today but ... at the ~8:50 mark where the unit gets restarted as a client ... it gets very confusing with the true order of the steps. My Win7 machine just doesn't like having it's eth0 NIC reset/unpligged/restarted/messed-with and I just couldn't get the client and the server talking together properly thru many tries. Finally made it thru with both unit installs but only by going into total flail mode both times (and I spent my entire 40+ year working career in interactive computer software and systems etc).
As we used to say: YMMV! I do know, no matter how much I love the units, I'm not volunteering to do another of these MikroTik installs for quite some time.
- Don - AA7AU
Andre
I actually do agree with both of your separate comments above, Andre. I do remember the hassles of trying to figure which AirOS was on a particular Ubiquiti device and whether we had to flash-back to earlier AirOS before then using the GUI installer to upload the AREDN firmware, and then worrying about bricking, etc etc. Not to mention, how to acquire a Bullet M2 and NOT a Bullet HP2. It was enough to put-off even the most experienced tech, not to mention a first-time user.
My point was that, with all the fantastic progress the AREDN team has continued to make, the ability for a first-time user to pick up a CPE210v2, setup a static port and connect an ethernet cable to it, and then use the TP-Link native GUI to upload and install the firmware in basically one step (without the complexities of tftp) cannot be underestimated.
I *love* my little hAPac-lite MikroTik (have now setup three), especially with all the new features which Joe and your team have put into the current nightly builds. However, I have yet to use any of the other MikroTik devices. The hAp unit seems to be head and shoulders better than my old AIrRouter. I salute the AREDN team for moving out into the MikroTik and TP-Link product lines, Can't wait use MikrtoTik to re-purpose a couple of those old spare DirecTv dishes in my barn up in Idaho!
It's just that, for most folks, the initial install is pretty much a one-time event. I'd rather not see the potential first-time user get mired down in the complexities of negotiating a tftp-client with a Windoze tftp-server, especially given how Windoze is not a single product and all doze different variants can be so damn difficult to network thru/with/to.
I'd much rather see the first-time user have an easy install and then spend their time learning the magnificent magic and potential of the AREDN mesh.
I should have said this before: despite my personal issues with Windoze, I'd really like to thank Ray (KK6RAY) for blazing the way with Windoze and then posting his YouTube video. I'd also like to sincerely thank you and the entire AREDN team for all your selfless efforts and on-going forward-looking progress - it is *very* much appreciated.
Best wishes for a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!
- Don - AA7AU
Perhaps we can convince Ray, KK6RAY, to remake his video now that he has more experience with the Windows process.
Have a happy New Year!
Andre, K6AH
A couple of questions come to mind. Could I use DtD to link the WRT54's to the AREDN network? That way we could use both the older broadband hamnet, as well as the AREDN as a backbone between our meshes (with the understanding that all new nodes will be AREDN-compliant). Also, in the case of the 5Ghz routers (TP-Link or whichever brand we go with), will they also handle 2.4Ghz traffic, or do we need a separate node for that? This is because we may have older laptops that only use 2.4Ghz, so I want to make sure they are able to connect.
Thanks, and sorry for hijacking this thread with potentially unrelated questions. I'm probably going to make a second thread with my specific situation and questions.
Have a great night, and happy new years. :)
Pattrick.
Have a great night, and Happy New Year. :)
Patrick.
One issue with the WRT54: if you power one up near an AREDN node running on channel 0 or below, it will fail to boot up. This is due to an obscure feature in the WRT that listens for an existing link and then tries to go there. But since the frequency is out of range of the synthesizer, it shuts down. This drove me crazy for a couple of days (it's documented in another posting somewhere).
So yes you *can* use the 2.4 GHz WRT54, but not within range of an AREDN node running on channel 0, -1,-2. No problem AFAIK if the AREDN node is on another band.
Have a great day. :) Happy New Year.
Patrick.
Patrick:
My personal advice to you now I pass along which I got from others much earlier on when I insisted that I also kinda wanted to use some old WRT54s (which I already had) for a rural mesh: "Put those units aside and get hardware which will run AREDN and build from there. Do not start on the wrong foot." I'd also say: Tomorrow is 2019, go forward not back.
I am [still] building out an isolated "Mesh Island" in a small, remote, river valley, Idaho town of ~3,000 people in a large county of ~8.000. We are continuing to build out, but we were very successful in initially linking approx 8 scattered nodes using used Ubiquiti Bullet M2s (bought inexpensively on EvilBay) with a variety of inexpensive omni (<$20), sector, and yagi-uda (<$20) antennas and using AREDN. The original 120* sector antenna pointing down at the valley was on a Bullet on top of our local mtn top at ~9200'; overlooking town (4000'). We initially covered 7-8+ miles north of town to that end of the river valley, and the same distance to the south. This is not a hub-and-spoke design, the principal cenrtral area around town has most of our nodes all "meshed" together.
That started a couple year back (my mtn top is pretty much inaccessible by people in its second heavy winter) and it runs great. Our primary node is a Bullet, with a cheap omni, on the roof of our 2-story regional hospital. It "sees" 6-7 other nodes with 100% connection around town and out to 6 or 7 miles out.
With our newer hardware we are doing even better. We are just about to expand our mesh out (hopefully this late spring,PTP) to our other three distant mtn tops where we already have UHF-linked 2M repeaters. We do NOT use tunnels or Internet connections for anything other than special remote maintenance. I do use an old AirRouter and a brand new MikroTik RouterBoard (with internal antennas) as end-points (and tunnels) for remote support and GoKits etc.
As I've written here before, I find the new TP-Link CPE210 outdoor unit with built-in MIMO antennas have terrific performance [for some but not all], especially for starter units ... but you need to plan for your overall line-of-sight design. Remember that your are hopefully building a multi-path *mesh*
You are very lucky to be starting up now. With all the new firmware advances the AREDN team has made with new hardware and new mfgrs, you have an incredible set of choices, including lots with all kinds of external antenna options, many at now very reasonable pricing. My strong advice is take good advantage of that. Otherwise you will struggle and struggle and struggle with that old antiquated gear/firmware and find little of any support for those problems.
Good luck going forward.
Happy New Year everyone,
- Don - AA7AU
!? Loco models which are 32MB. !?
The datasheet indicates that the Loco M9 and M5 are 64 MB.
The early loco M2 (XM?) may have been 32 MB as the datasheet indicates, but
my two (more recently purchased) locoM2 XWs are 64MB.
I use my 64MB locoM2 in my mesh-go-box to tunnel home and reach our local mesh network.
It provides WiFi access for my laptop (+linphone) and old ipad2 to reach mesh network resources.
Chuck
http://www.broadband-hamnet.org/documentation/202-dtd-linking-on-linksys.html on how to do this And I haven't had any trouble that I could blame on the Ubiquitis causing the WRT54gs to not network over the air. I have a few WRT54gs running OpenWRT running a web page, these WRTs ethernet wire connected to the mesh WRTs. See http://www.wa2ise.com/radios/WRT54Gv2USBmod.html on how to set an OpenWRT WRT54g to serve up web pages.