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 Subject :Setting up a city wide network. Logistics to consider?.. 2013-08-15- 23:57:43 
ke7rip
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Joined: 2013-07-07- 01:53:59
Posts: 13
Location: 
 

My local ARES group will be setting up nodes around the city. Eventually covering it. We are in the talking stage to several local businesses that have some of the highest buildings in town. Also the hills [we're in a 2000 ft deep valley].


Our first deployments will probably be either in or next to where local repeaters are and use 2 directional antenna. One aimed in town at a particular quadrant. One aimed at the next node on the parimiter. In town, various hams will have omni directional antenna/node mounted at their home. I'm wondering if using a second antenna aimed at low coverage areas would be advantagious.


What issues or problems have others had that we might want to learn about in the planning stages rather later after a couple nodes are up in hard to get to places? 

Anything in regards from antenna polarization to cable length to software to remote node firmware upgrade, anything at all i'll listen to and read up on and take back to my group. I'd rather have a lot of small tips that were good then one large pile of mesh mess.

Thanks.
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Last Edited On: 2013-08-16- 00:03:39 By ke7rip for the Reason
 Subject :Re:Setting up a city wide network. Logistics to consider?.. 2013-08-18- 11:01:12 
AD5OO
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Joined: 2010-01-18- 23:05:42
Posts: 37
Location: 

You may be a pioneer in this field, at least for us.  Covering a large area in a systematic fashion is something that we have not had the luxury of being able to do yet.  I hope someone chimes in with experience from actual deployments.  There are already numerous other mesh networks in place.  Perhaps one of their sites could have the answers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wireless_community_networks_by_region
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 Subject :Re:Setting up a city wide network. Logistics to consider?.. 2013-08-19- 07:05:17 
WD4A
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Joined: 2013-07-10- 14:44:14
Posts: 4
Location: Maggie Valley, NC
In the Waynesville, NC area, we are planning a mesh project very similar to the one KE7RIP describes. Waynesville is ringed by mountains about a mile high and we'd like to network several of our mountaintop voice repeater sites together while, at the same time, provide access from the valley floor for video, file transfer, VoIP, etc. We are trying to figure out which antenna port setting is the most advantageous or if back-to-back mesh nodes should be employed in some way to allow transmit and receive to be directed in one particular direction from a singular antenna port. Many of our paths would be 8 - 10 miles and would require high-gain antennas. Should we have some nodes dedicated for "transport" while others act as "access" nodes? I have looked at a lot of mesh web sites and blogs and don't see very much information on long-distance mesh networks. Can someone point me in the right direction? Al, WD4A
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 Subject :Re:Setting up a city wide network. Logistics to consider?.. 2013-08-19- 07:54:08 
KD5MFW
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Joined: 2010-01-18- 23:02:11
Posts: 104
Location: 
Have you read the deployment section of "Wireless Networking in the Developing World"? It is available for free at: wndw.net. We highly recomend all users of mesh systems read this book. It covers most topics and provides pointers to other sources. -Glenn, KD5MFW
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 Subject :Re:Setting up a city wide network. Logistics to consider?.. 2013-08-24- 15:34:41 
W9HDG
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Joined: 2013-08-20- 10:35:21
Posts: 17
Location: 
I am in the process of planning a similar network. I look forward to hearing about any lessons learned during the project and will be sure to share mine as well.
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