Hope I'm not double posting. Made this same post (my 1st on this forum) a few minutes ago and it appeares to have evaporated into the ether.

I attended the Summerfest in Austin, caught Glenn's HSMM-MESH breakout, and visited the HSMM-MESH table.

Noticed several Lowes "bucket-nodes" and at least one had an AC line cord exiting the side of the bucket. I assumed at the time the bucket contained a gel cell and a battery charger, but coud have jyst been full of bricks for ballast and the "line cord" nothing more than an extension cord feeding AC to the standard WRT54G wall wart p_supply.

Can someone in the know please outline the configuration / construction of the 'bucket-nodes' seen at Summerfest 2012 and provide links to info on other portable node designs?

If it doesn't yet exist, perhaps the web master would consider creating a gallery of user submitted portable node designs

Matt - K5MWG

Webmaster - If my 'lost' post exisits in a bit bucket can you post it? It contained additional info on a group in San Antonio interested in HSMM-MESH, recent activity, and a new weekly radio net.

Hi Matt.

What? You missed MY presentation at 10 and only came for Glenn's? :-( sheesh

  (just kidding)

The 'lollypops' are built as such:

5gal bucket, a 10lb barbell weight that fits the diameter of the bottom of the bucket, a couple 2x4 wood blocks (to stabilize the weight centering), and one of the Belkin UPS with a 12VDC output. THAT is the AC cable you saw. They last 12+ hours per charge with just a node attached, but we set them up Friday night, so plugged in where we could to keep them topped off.

Below the weight is a piece of plywood cut round and has a 3/4" EMT connector drilled though, then the pipe fits through the weight's center hole and into that connector and comes up through the lid as you saw.

Up through the pipe we run a chunk of CAT5 that has a PoE adapter on each end to get power from the Belkin up to the node.

Reason for having the nodes up so high: Get the antennas above the ugly bags of water walking around, as water absorbs the 2.4Ghz energy.... They would work fine in setup with no one in the halls, but once the place fills up, signals would drop drastically.

The original design/idea of the lollypops was a brainchild of one of the gents from the Plano Klub (PARK) for last year's HamComm. They worked so well, Brian KF5GAH built us up a set for down here.

Hope that answers the questions...

Jim

K5KTF

Oh, and I checked, and cannot find your lost post anywhere. I dont know what happened, but its not in here.

And we do not have a user's gallery yet. Great idea, and Ill see what I can do to implement.

Most times, people email us with their pics and a blurb that we can then create an article from for the site. If you want, email me off-list (jim at K5KTF dot com) and Ill be glad to get any info you send up ont he site. We are always looking for fresh material!

73

Jim

I dont have any photos of the lollypops, and they are stored at Brians QTH.
Ill ask if he can snap a couple, and Ill gladly do up an article on the site.

KTF

So any ideas for outdoor deployment with the lollypop setup? That is water proofing the bucket where the pipe penetrates and the top of pipe/mast? We have thought about deploying a few of these along a parade route with cameras (X-Mas later this year) but would need to be water proofed in case of rain. I have a few ideas but would like to hear what anyone else has. The router would be placed in a exterior grade irrigation box at the top, still trying to figure the best way to weather proof the camera.

On the other hand..the 10' height of the standard lollypop height may not be enough. I guess it would depend on distance apart and LOS.

Among other thoughts, I am looking at other ways to weight the bucket. One is with sand, the pipe could be easily pushed thru the sand (at least I think) to the bottom of the bucket and into a hole bored into a 2x4 at the bottom of the bucket the size of the pipe (or a bit larger). The 2x4 would be caulked/glued to the bucket bottom and would span the width of the bucket. The bucket would be about 1/3 - 1/2 full of sand to allow room for the BelkinUPS and a towel or other cloth on top of the sand. A small hole drilled into side of pipe (deburred or grommeted) to insert PoE up thru pipe.

I'll also look into the Lifting weight idea someone else mentioned, depends on how much these weights cost though. 

Thx Sly n5gqb

Yes, Sly n5gqb, I've given it a good bit of thought and here's my idea:

Leave the waterproof bucket lid alone. It's perfect as is. "What?" you say. Yep, leave the bucket lid alone and think outside the box, er 'bucket'.

Side-mounted mast:

• Waterproof lid. Original lid is not altered in any way. That's as waterproof as you can get.
  
• Side-mounted mast eliminates hand pinch between center mounted mast and bucket handle when being carried.

Ballast - by far the least expensive permanent ballast is concrete. One 50lb bag per bucket, cost a couple of dollars at the local hardware. Fill the bucket as high as you'd like with concrete, can even mix it IN the bucket if you'd like! Remaining space can store battery, etc.

Battery Box - expand on the above idea by suspending a plywood form the size of your battery in the bucket prior to filling with concrete. Once the concrete sets, remove the form and you have a battery box cast into the concrete itself. Making the form a bit taller than your battery will allow you to cast the battery box a bit deeper than the actual battery, protecting the terminals. Battery box form options are many:

• finger holes - 45 degree wedges added to the form will leave 'finger assist' ramps in the concrete to aid removing the battery from the battery box.
• battery hold down - add a cross bar (a few inches wider than the form, with a hole at each end) to the top of the form. Suspend a bolt (head down, washer/nut above the bar) from each end of this crossbar when casting concrete. When the form is removed it leaves two studs behind in the concrete to secure a battery hold down bar, preventing the battery from falling out if the bucket falls over.
• drain hole - add a dowel to the bottom of your form that reaches the bottom of the bucket. This leaves a drain hole through the concrete. Drill a matching hole in the bottom of the bucket and you have a way for any moisture in the bucket to escape
• line cord opening - If you're using the Belkin 12 volt DC UPS instead of a battery consider the following. Add a removable horizontal dowel to the side of your UPS box form that leads to the side of the bucket, passing through the bucket wall via a pre-drilled hole. Once the concrete is set this dowel is pulled out from the side before removing the form from above. You are left with UPS box formed in the concrete with a tunnel for the line cord to pass through.
  

Combine side-mount mast with concrete ballast idea as follows:

• Get two 6-8" 3/16 or 1/4 carriage bolts, lots of washers and four nuts.
• Hold mast vertically outside of bucket and drill two holes through both sides of mast and the bucket wall. Make lower hole an inch up from the base of the bucket and the upper hole about an inch below the planned top level of the concrete you will pour later.
• Run a nut about 3-4 inches onto each carriage bolt followed by a washer.
• Insert the bolts from the inside of the bucket through bucket wall.
• On the top bolt add additional washers as spacers between the outside of the bucket and the mast so the mast clears the lid of the bucket.
  
• On the bottom bolt add even more washers as spacers between the outside of the bucket and the mast in order to bring the mast into vertical. Requires more washers than the top because the bucket body is tapered.
• Slide mast onto studs secure with a washer and nut tightened so minimal bolt/nut are exposed on the outer side of the mast.
• Take up any slack using the nuts inside the bucket and you're left with the mast bolted to the bucket and 3-5 inches of carriage bolt extending into the inside of the bucket.
• Pour concrete.
• Once dried your all set with a mast semi permanently attached to the outside of the bucket. Remove the nuts/washers to remove the mast for transport/storage or leave it permanently attached. Substitute wing nuts on the outside for quicker set up /tear down.
• Combine this idea with a battery box cast in the concrete and you've really got something special.
• All that's left to do is drill a hole in the bucket & mast, add grommets, then route your PoE cable. Optionally you could eliminate the hole & grommet in the mast and simply feed the PoE cable into the open lower end of the mast, gently guiding it upward past the two mounting studs.
  

I haven't done it yet, but that's my plan.

• Simple!
• Weatherproof!!
• Cheap!!!

I can't see a downside. What do you think?

Matt - San Antonio