[HamWAN PSDR] Newbie

[Phil Cornell]

Well, bad news.  I have a wall of Douglas Fir at the end of the block between me and Capital Peak.  I don't have a clear shot.  I may set this station up at the Thurston County EOC for use in the radio room for Winlink traffic.  My site is a no-go.

Phil Cornell  
 W7PLC 
SHARES NCS590
Hybrid Gateway W7PLC
TCARES  VP





 

    On Monday, March 15, 2021, 12:49:39 PM PDT, Kenny Richards <richark at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 Just want to add two things to what Carl said already.
1) Line of sight means you can actually 'see' the HamWAN node, or at least you can with something like a pair of binoculars. 

2) Remember that HamWAN is not meant to be a replacement for your home internet. Be very conscious of what traffic you are putting over HamWAN. I don't recommend connecting it to your home network unless you are familiar enough with routing rules to limit what traffic goes out the HamWAN link.
Good luck,
Kenny, KU7M


On Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 12:40 PM <carl at n7kuw.com> wrote:


Hi Phil,

You can do all of the configuration while on the ground, but obviously you won’t have any signal. You don’t indicate what specific equipment you have, but if you have the mAnt30 dish and separate router/modem, make sure you have the antenna connected before powering it up.

 

As to trees, they are an absolute show stopper. You must have clear, visual, line of sight to the HamWAN site you are shooting to. Hopefully you will have that, or can achieve that, from where you plan to mount the dish.  As to “just over them”, a microwave shot consists of the direct, pure line of sight, but also what is referred to as the Fresnel zone – a cigar shaped “balloon” around the pure line of sight.  Items in the Fresnel zone (including trees) can reduce the amount of signal you have, so you may not get optimum performance, but some.

 

In your initial post you commented about how to balance between your regular internet and HamWAN for a Winlink node.  My suggestion would be to just leave it on one (whichever one) as the norm, and only switch to the other if the one goes down.  You can also acquire routers that include failover capability to automatically make that switch.  You can go more advanced with load sharing and such between multiple connections, but that requires much better understanding of internet routing, and for a winlink node basic failover will serve your purpose.

 

Good luck, let us know how things turn out.

Carl, N7KUW

 

From: PSDR <psdr-bounces at hamwan.org> On Behalf Of Phil Cornell via PSDR
Sent: Monday, March 15, 2021 12:11 PM
To: psdr at hamwan.org
Subject: [HamWAN PSDR] Newbie

 

OK, I figured out my problem and I now have Winbox talking to the radio and reporting status.  I's not linking to anything since the antenna is still on the ground.  How much configuration can I do before mounting it on my roof.  The only question in my sight path may be some trees but I think I can aim just over them and get a signal.  My friend Bruce/WA7BAM will be helping with the antenna installation on Wed afternoon.  Making progress...

 

Phil Cornell  

W7PLC 

SHARES NCS590

Hybrid Gateway W7PLC

TCARES  VP

 

 

 

 
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