[HamWAN PSDR] City of Redmond "Red.E.Net" Broadband Project

[Ed Morin]

Hi Folks,

As some of you know, the City of Redmond received a grant to implement a
small broadband system with links to HamWAN.  Here is a high-level picture
of what we are doing:

[image: Inline image 3]

The links take a bit of a circuitous route because of the geography (I have
spent countless hours analyzing it and testing it in the field).  Even this
design is going to be challenging to implement, but it seems to be the most
reasonable of the various options we have been looking at.

Since the grant was submitted, we will likely change the "PSB" (Public
Safety Building) node to be on Redmond City Hall ("RCH") instead.  (The
overall link design/layout and equipment selection is fairly "set," but I'd
say the "concrete is still a bit wet" if adjustments need to be made as we
get into it.)  While I am a Mikrotik fan in some ways, it is too
intimidating for "novices" to come up to speed on; some may argue that
point, but the grant was submitted implementing this network largely with
Ubiquiti equipment (except for the HamWAN links).  I also have a Cisco 2911
which we could consider using if needed.

Specifically, what we need some initial help with is:

1. Bringing this high-level idea down a level and develop an address
allocation plan (we have a class-C subnet on the 44.0.0,0 network) and
routing strategy.  (We'll keep the Internet peering solely through HamWAN
for now, but may set up peering with another ISP "down the road someday.")

2. A preliminary equipment selection has been made (it had to go into the
grant budget proposal) and the next step would be to acquire a few pieces
of it and prototype one of the radio links simulating linking two of the
sites.  The best place to start would be the MOC (Maintenance Operations
Center) to FS16 because it's a short drive between the two sites and the
radio side of it is a no-brainer for the most part.  We could start with a
simulated setup in a conference room and then take it to the field to try
out.

3. As things get tested out and ready to install, we'll need help with both
indoor and outdoor installations, but I am not sure how much latitude we
have for bringing in non-ARES members to help with.

4. We also have some funds for exploring using something like the Raspberry
Pi devices for inexpensive temporary file storage and network monitoring.
Developing the scripts and software "glue" to interface with the routers
and radios is a whole project in itself.

If anybody with network architecture, design, and router configuration
experience is available to get together to talk over and do some whiteboard
discussion about some of these things, that in itself would be a great
start.  Taking that down to creating router configurations and testing it
out would be the next step.

Anyway, this is just a thumbnail sketch.  As those who have done this sort
of thing before know, there are many, many more details than what I have
enumerated here.  We presently do not have enough people in our group with
the necessary expertise to do this in a timely fashion.

I think there may be some other cities that may be interested in seeing how
we do this and may wish to use it as a starting point for their own
networks.  (It would be fantastic if it benefits somebody else.  One way or
another, linking with our neighboring cities is something we definitely
want to keep in mind.)

So, if there are a few of you available to help with any of these things,
let me know and I'll see how we might be able to coordinate working
together.

Thanks,

-Ed
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