I hope this is the right place to ask. Our club, LBARA, wants to create an AREDN network in Lake Havasu City, AZ. First node will be at the top of the 5000' Crossman Peak, on an existing tower used for our repeaters. We want to control our ARCOM repeater without the hour drive with an ATV. It has good power, but we may want to restart it. Maybe a camera at some point.
Google Earth indicates we have good coverage from there, most area of interest within 16KM and 90 degree arc.
I am looking at a NanoStation M2 and an RPi 3 there, and another node with more storage and Linux box + internet at a home QTH, and something at the Police Department and Fire EOCs as we build.
A few questions: Is there a good planning guide for deployment?
1) Is the NS M2 a good choice, with the 120 degree antenna? Are they really good to ~20KM?
2) RPi 3 with WD PiDrive + camera to watch the gear (snapshot mode)? I plan to SSH in and tunnel X. What other daemons should I run up there? Some way to control the relay board.
3) Relay board to reboot ARCOM controller
4) Other mesh nodes NS M2's? Other suggestions?
5) Currently we are linked to two other repeaters via UHF over distances of 46KM and 75KM. All have sturdy towers, so wondering what equipment to eventually extend our AREDN to Bullhead City and Kingman (County EOS)?
If there is a better place to ask for help, point me. Tnx
Charlie KØTAN
London Bridge Amateur Radio Association
Lake Havasu City, AZ 86406
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Help siting an AREDN network
Wed, 03/22/2017 - 13:32
#1
k0tan
Help siting an AREDN network
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2) SSH is encrypted so keep that in mind when deploying. Generally a web interface or similar would be best for controllign a relay if you want "average" control ops to get in, if everyone is very technical a simple CLI (via telnet) could work.
4) If this hilltop node is intended to be a feed point for the community, you likely want to invest in a high gain sector (which can do true 120 degree at higher gain) and a Rocket. It is a bit more expensive than a NanoStation, but it will give you a high quality link. Take a look at a lot of the SoCal Deployments, most of the "Mid mile" nodes are sector antenna's with Rockets. Clients can be anything needed on the field side then.
5) Likely a point to point link using dish antennas to create a 'Backbone" link would be recommended for this part (on a different band/channel than your user access layer) with another sector on the remote end to feed that local community.
Bein' a security guy, I avoid telnet and raw ftp. We'll think that through before installation. You are right about control operators needing quick and simple. A web page might be just the ticket.
Antenna references
Charlie,
Here's the Sector antenna line up: http://www.ubnt.com/airmax/airmax-sector-antenna/ . Just add the Rocket M2/M3/M5, it snaps directly in. This would be the "go-to" options for having area coverage of multiple up-links from prominent sites. On the other end, clients could be a small dish, e.g. https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B004MYZ8U2/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new&tag=aredn-20 . We achieve ~40Mbps links at 15 miles with this setup on 5Ghz, and that's in the noise rich LA basin. The farther the link distance, the link rates and throughput will go down from there. You can keep 30Mbps to 40Mbps link rates by upgrading the client to the 2' RocketDish going out to 40 miles (still going into the tower with a Sector).
If you only need a point-to-point and looking to lower cost to get started, 2 count of the above Nanobridge P2P dish on each end will do nicely.
I prefer now days to invest in 3Ghz and 5Ghz, given the 2Ghz devices are limited to 1 channel option in clear sailing outside of the wifi noise everywhere. There are many channel options in 3Ghz and 5Ghz to maneuver around any noise sources that pop up in these bands. ...and tower sites tend to have a lot of other noise sources. The propagation characteristic between the bands has not been much of factor in choosing which band to use for a long distant link, rather the noise sources around you are what has been the significant issue limiting the distance and data thoughput of links.
Check out what we are doing in SoCal at http://ocmesh.org. Keith, AI6BX is peaking out your direction though Palm Springs now. We only need a hop our two past Palm Springs to connect up! Feel free to contact me separately to regionally coordinate in the future at any time.
Joe AE6XE