Hello and Welcome to Ventura County,
NOTE: Pictures are not posting at this time. I will post pictures when the site can accept them.
I have provided a link with pictures: http://www.pvarc.club/cam/?page_id=134
This is a short review of what we have accomplished here in Ventura County since June 2014 with lots of pictures. We have seen growth from a small pocket of activity in the Ojai Valley to a fantastic growth of activity throughout the county. Currently we are connecting from the West to the East through a part-15 5.8GHz microwave BackBone system that I have installed specifically to support the MESH activity. There are then part-97 high level 2.4GHz MESH sector antenna connected to the backbone providing covering to the users throughout the County. There is also a high level standalone node which provided good interconnectivity.
Here are some of the major accomplishments since last summer geared towards MESH.
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Sulphur Mtn, 2,200ft
It has always been difficult to communicate in or out of the Ojai Valley. With the introduction of the MESH technology, communication on this mode posed many challenges. The Ojai Valley Amateur Radio Club stepped up and took on the task of a tower located on Sulphur Mountain. From here we can now interconnect the Ojai Valley to the Coastal area of the County. This site has a 2.4GHz MESH Sector antenna and a part-15 5.8GHz Sector antenna pointed south to the Oxnard - Ventura Area. Additionally part -15 5.8GHz Dish antennas to the Ojai Site, the Oxnard relay (15 miles) and to Chatsworth Peak (32 miles). This MESH equipment was installed in November 2014
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Ojai Valley, 1,572 ft
On Saturday February 21st the long awaited Solar MESH relay installation was completed in the Ojai Valley by the Ojai Valley Amateur Radio Club. It took several months of planning and construction. We took our time and have a first class site for the MESH technology.
This site accomidates about 15 users and the Ojai PD, Ojai Hospital and the Ojai ARC.
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West Chatsworth Peak, 2,300 ft
This site was obtained during the Christmas holiday of 2014. In January 2015 I had a great work crew from Simi Valley on the mountain to pour the concrete for the Tower. February the tower was setup. By the middle of March the following items have been installed and are operational. This is on the West Face of Chatsworth Peak to try to block some of the Valley RF.
- A 32 mile part-15 link to Sulphur Mtn on 5.8GHz (shown).
- A part-15 5.8GHz Sector antenna pointed west to cover Simi Valley (shown)
- A 2.4GHz Mesh Sector antenna pointed west to cover Simi Valley (not shown)
- A security camera and a Simi Valley camera (not shown)
The biggest issue with this site is the amount of traffic on the part-15 WiFi channel 1 that is seen from here. I can be heard very well in Simi Valley but the part-15 users are so abundant that we can’t easily overcome them. Once the programmers figure how to move the 2.4GHz units in frequency to a part-97 only channel only, this site will really perform.
Current Links and Diagrams
As you can see we have been focusing a lot on getting the County interconnected this past year. I will sure others chime in as to that they have been doing with the MESH technology. As for me, I have really enjoyed this mode of Amateur Radio Communications.
Paul Strauss
WD6EBY
Awesome job Paul!
Corrected Link: http://www.pvarc.club/cam/?page_id=148
Sorry Folks
Paul..WD6EBY
Subject says it all.
Mike wa6fxt
I've not run the numbers yet, but a backbone link may be doable with 3Ghz between Chatsworth Pk and Pleasants Pk in Orange County. 66.8miles. Andre, what's the longest link distance you are planning in San Diego? Do your models show this is doable?
Joe AE6XE
Well... seems like it works with 15-20 dB of fade margin. Can't estimate the bandwidth, because we just don't have enough experience with 3 GHz. The longest 3 GHz link in the San Diego plan is 44 miles.
It would be nice to pickup Los Angeles County though... rather than shooting over the top of it entirely ;-)
Andre
Paul (WD6EBY) and I were discussing something similar a couple of weeks ago. We've gotten CP's Mesh install fairly stable now. The two nodes up there look WNW into Ventura County, but with a bit of back breaking work we could establish another node on the eastern side of the site, which looks over the San Fernando Valley. We were discussing it with an eye to linking into the San Fernando Valley, but two nodes are as easy to put up as one :-).
If you guys think the link will work we can certainly discuss implementing it later this year.
We also have a contact who might be able to get us onto Oat Mtn, north of the San Fernando Valley. That has a reasonably good look into L.A. County. Would be nice to use it as a backbone link to someplace in central L.A. County rather than a downlink, though.
Orv
Hello All,
I was thinking about Chatsworth Peak (my site) to Verdugo Peak (site access granted) (~20 mile hop), Verdugo Peak to Pleasants Peak, OC (~48 mile hop). The ~20 mile hop could be done on 5.8 or 3G. The ~48 mile hop would most likely have to go on 3G due to LA congestion on 5G. I will also investigate a mid point location for the ~48 mile path. Just this week I have speaking with folks about trying to provide an Amateur uWave link network to run the length of the State. I think this could be a great start to that goal.
FYI, I am currently running a part 15 link from Sulphur Mountain to Chatsworth Peak (~32 miles) with Rocket radios and a pair of 30db dishes. Sulphur can get foggy while Chatsworth is clear, this caused lower signals. It may be marginal but it works.
Paul
WD6EBY
PS Mike, FXT, call me on the telephone tomorrow. I will answer your question. You can find my number is in the RABBIT roster.
I'd like to suggest those of us in the process of planning a regional backbone get together to brainstorm and align on a common architecture. I am ready to begin the implementation of San Diego County and am eager to bounce these plans off the larger group.
If those interested in joining that discussion would email me at <callsign>@arrl.net I'll attempt to coordinate the "event".
Andre, K6AH