So the issue with this is that a node can only operate in one mode at a time.

The wireless interface on the Linksys is dedicated to the mode you choose.  Normaly this will be MESH which allows the node to be used as a mesh device.

To provide services as an Access Point a different mode exists in the interface. Normally you will put a Mesh Node and an Access point together if you want wifi access locally to the mesh (Make sure the wifi device is on a channel as far away from the mesh node as possible)

Even if a node could run an Access Point and a Mesh Node at once you would have bigger issues of RF pollution.   The mesh node antennas would likely be outdoors, aimed away from the users (towards another mesh node) and any time you wanted to send a packet to another local laptop it would have to flood the RF link for many miles for a packet to just go a few feet.  This just doesn't make good RF sense. It would be similar to using 80m 100w HF rig to talk 200 feet away when VHF/UHF handheld would do much better

NOTE: by setting up your main router to forward all 10.x packets to the mesh you will be allowing any device that connects to your network to send out data.  One must be espcialy careful that random devices do not attempt to send content that would not be in compliance with Amateur Radio regulations.

What you are trying to do is actually much more of a DD-WRT question than it is a BBHN question because it relates to configuring your router rather than the mesh node. The documentation on the DD-WRT site will likely be able to provide much more detailed information than this short snippit should you require more details.

1) DD-WRT router would need a static route to 10.x to point towards the mesh node IP address on the interface the mesh node is connected.

2) DD-WRT would need its dns server configured to forward queries to the mesh node:

http://cybernetnews.com/local-internal-dns-ddwrt/

http://www.thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/docs/setup.html

"Using special servers.

Dnsmasq has the ability to direct DNS queries for certain domains to specific upstream nameservers. This feature was added for use with VPNs but it is fully general. The scenario is this: you have a standard internet connection via an ISP, and dnsmasq is configured to forward queries to the ISP's nameservers, then you make a VPN connection into your companies network, giving access to hosts inside the company firewall. You have access, but since many of the internal hosts aren't visible on the public internet, your company doesn't publish them to the public DNS and you can't get their IP address from the ISP nameservers. The solution is to use the companies nameserver for private domains within the company, and dnsmasq allows this. Assuming that internal company machines are all in the domain internal.myco.com and the companies nameserver is at 192.168.10.1 then the option server=/internal.myco.com/192.168.10.1 will direct all queries in the internal domain to the correct nameserver. You can specify more than one domain in each server option. If there is more than one nameserver just include as many server options as is needed to specify them all."

Where the server line is something like "server=/local.mesh/nodeipaddress"     --- all DNS access would have to be done as http://nodename.local.mesh for this to work

My first Linksys firmware upgrade went perfectly for me.

However I am told that there can be no WIFi access point now. I thought I read that it is possible but I can find no article about that.

Having wireless access to the node is important when a LAN connection is not practical.

Thanks

Ted, WB2LOU...an entry level nubee!!

Have you added the LAN-gateway mesh-node's IP to the Primary DNS setting of the PC?

I dont know about OS X, but I know with Windoze, if you do not have it as the Primary DNS server in the settings (have it as Secondary, Tertiary, etc), it wont work properly. This would not hinder your laptop if you set the secondary to a public DNS (8.8.4.4) or similar. When Primary fails to answer appropriately, it will drop to Secondary, Tertiary, etc, as designed.

I think on Debian/OS X, you can set multiple DNS servers in the setting's text file, and they will work in order, so place the Mesh node first, and more as secondary, tertiary, and so on.

Give that a shot and report back if it helped or not. Im curious and I know we WILL run into this again for someone else.

73

Jim

Away with your weapons, I mean you no harm :-)

Have you checked this page:

http://www.broadband-hamnet.org/documentation/96-using-the-mesh.html

Down at the bottom it explains how to have a mesh node be a gateway between your LAN and the mesh, and more specifically things you may need to set on PC's on the LAN to be able to talk to the mesh.

Happy Meshing

Jim

I have used a number of UBNT devices with BroadBand Hamnet.  Which device to use depends on the way you intend to use it.  For general use, I love the NanoStationM2 (not the loco version).  If you need to cover a wider area or a long distance link then a RocketM2 with a matching Ubiquiti antenna which can be a sector, an omni, or a dish.

For Long Distance links, the NanoBeamM2 has a lot of promise but is not supported yet.  I think it will be with the next release or soon there after.

I am less than impressed with the AirGridM2 and BulletM2HP.  The BulletM2HP can be used to upgrade an existing antenna.  My experience is that the the devices with MIMO capability will out perform the non MIMO ones.  The Bullet and AirGrid are non-MIMO.  A BulletM2 with a grid antenna is a big improvement on a Linksys WRT54G with the same antenna.

My overall favorite is the NanoStationM2.  With the right geography, I have connected 13 miles with back to back NanoStations.  The NanoStation has pulled off links for me where linksys boxes with grid antennas could not.  With its 45 degree beam width aiming is not as critical.  It installs to a pipe or tower with a couple of zip ties or hose clamps.  Since it is the radio, the antenna, and the weatherproof box are in one package, the cost reasonable too.

The M5 hardware will be supported in the next firmware release and I expect similar results from the M5 hardware.

Clint Anderson, AE5CA

If it's possible to download the DDWRT bin file to /tmp and mtd it from there, is there some reason I couldn't wget the BBHN bin and have that work?  The BBHN bin file isn't much bigger than the DDWRT mini generic bin.

Mark K5LXP

Albuquerque, NM

Hey everyone,

Happy Monday to you (please don't lynch me!)

I've been working on adding a mesh node to my home network with the intent of being able to access mesh resources from my house.  I followed the directions here http://ohiopacket.org/index.php/Integrating_HSMM-MESH_into_an_existing_network and am able to ping the WiFi address of my node so I know the static route part is working, however I am stuck when it comes to the name resolution part.  I can't access my mesh node (except by IP address) or anything on the mesh because the name resolution isn't working.

Has anyone gotten this working?  Am I missing something simple somewhere?  My home network is running on a Netgear router running DD-WRT firmware and from what I can tell, I need to tell that router to forward DNS requests for ".mesh" networks to the mesh node but for the life of me I can't figure out how.

Help me oh wise and knowing meshers, you're my only hope!

73,

Travis W9HDG

I'm looking to get started with the Ubiquiti hardware. This will be a standard node which will be the prototype for all the local hams to get.

You guys using Ubiquiti hardware already, what do you recommend?

Thanks,

Bernie

You can flash a ddwrt-enabled device using telnet or ssh, or via the ddwrt Web GUI. For more information (and the easiest way), take a look at "Method 1: Flashing with Web GUI" on the same page.

You will download the respective bin file from broadband-hamnet's webpage and use that image instead of the ddwrt image under Method 1 - Part 3.2.6 (6. Click the "Browse" button and select the DD-WRT .bin file you downloaded and confirmed...replacing ddwrt's .bin file with broadband-hamnet's).

Let me know how it goes!

How do you go from DDWRT mini generic to BBHN?
Right here: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Installation#Method_3:_Flashing_with_Command_Line (replacing "dd-wrt.v2x_generic.bin" with your compatible *.bin file)

At least one user had installed BBHN on a Rocket M2 GPS however a board.info file hasn't been provided yet to move the RM2GPS to the supported list.

The best I can say right now is to obtain one and try it.

The big question would be is how the GPS interfaces on the node. (It may be a usb to serial device inside or it may be on one of the GPIO lines ). Without somone trying it and testing it we won't really know.  The GPSD daemon may help too.

Once you can get to the gps data the NTPD daemon would let you be a time server and than you could point your other nodes to the node with GPS as the time server.

We are exploring options for a mountain top node. A question I have, is if the GPS option is supported, and if it is, can we use it to provide NTP service for the mesh?

Very timely - I have a router running OpenWRT I'd like to load BBHN on.

I know what doesn't work - trying to load any *.bin file I've tried from the OpenWRT admin page (Luci).  I also know the OpenWRT failsafe mode is more fail than safe.

I can successfully wget the ddwrt mini generic into /temp so I know I can get at least that far.

How do you go from DDWRT mini generic to BBHN?

Thanks,

Mark K5LXP

Albuquerque, NM

Hello all,

I have an issue with getting the mesh firmware (or any for that matter, even the latest Linksys firmware) to update. I keep getting " Incorrect Image file" I have also tried changing the file extention to .trx as suggested in an earlier forum post. Still no success. I have read a few others on here have had the same issue and I have never saw a final outcome or anything that might have worked. This routers original web interface looks diffrent than the normal ones I have seen. I have updated 5 of these units before with no issues, one of them was also a Ver 1.0. Does anyone know of something that will work on this unit? 

Thanks

Wade

KC0MLT

I am trying to get linked in to a group in Denver, but from my QTH in the mountains, it is around 30 miles, mostly line of sight.  I was wondering if anybody could advise whether the AirGrid AG-HP-2G20 or a Bullet M2 with 20+ dB antenna would be the better choice.  The Airgrid seems like a very cost effective choice, but I am probably pushing the performance limits.  From here there are several mesh nodes that would be within a few degrees of each other, so I figure I could see many of them with a parabolic antenna, and perhaps hear them too?