[HamWAN PSDR] Report from Mike and Key Electronics Show and Fleamarket

[Tom Hayward]

On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 4:05 PM, Ed Morin <edmorin.jr at gmail.com> wrote:
> As for locations.  These are the fire station addresses and GPS coordinates
> that one of our other members put together:
>
> Station Address City Zip Lat/Long
> 11 - HQ  8450 161ST AVE NE REDMOND 98052-3848 47.677913, -122.124938
> 12 4211 148TH AVE NE  BELLEVUE 98007-3119 47.648426, -122.143646
> 13 8701 208TH AVE NE REDMOND 98053 47.680206, -122.063499
> 14 5021 264TH AVE NE REDMOND 98053-2718 47.651962, -121.987793
> 16 6502 185TH AVE NE REDMOND 98052-5039 47.664105, -122.093651
> 17 16917 NE 116TH ST REDMOND 98052-2246 47.703403, -122.114135
> 18 22710 NE ALDERCREST DR REDMOND 98053-5845 47.692245, -122.03717

Ed,

I have not done RF models for each of these, but some quick plotting
on the map shows line of sight from Haystack to stations 12, 13, 14,
16, 17, and 18. Station 11 is in a low spot and the only opportunity I
see is a direct link to station 16.

> My thinking is to have a "core network" of links between stations 12, 13,
> and 17.  Of all the stations, 13 seemed to be the most promising.  Station
> 12 is practically next door to Microsoft's main campus and the noise level
> is huge there, but it potentially has great shots to several other stations
> which makes it attractive to having in the core.  Station 17 has become
> somewhat of a "hub" station for ARES -- at least we continue moving in that
> direction; trees could be an issue there.  One or two of the other stations
> might have coverage potential, but it's all showing even more spotty on the
> map than these others.  (Of course if we were able to access a node on
> Cougar, everything changes for the better...)

Station 17 shows line of sight to station 12, 13 and 18, so could be
somewhat useful as a hub, but not for all of the stations.

Keep in mind the coverage map on hamwan.org is binary and only shows
signals greater than -70 dBm. This is essentially 100% signal
strength. "Spotty" might mean 5 Mbps speeds instead of 15 Mbps. Of
course it could also mean zero signal, especially if there are local
issues not accounted for in the model, like trees. It's worth doing
calculations for specific sites in those "spotty" areas with a tool
like ubnt.com/airlink or Radio Mobile, and if it looks favorable, ask
here on the mailing list for someone to come out and test. We've got a
number of people here who love playing with our portable HamWAN rigs.
:-)

Tom KD7LXL