March 2014 - PSDR - mailman.hamwan.org

hostname on ampr.org?
by Dean Gibson AE7Q 22 Apr '14

22 Apr '14

Now that I have an IP address (albeit DHCP) on HamWAN, how do I assign an ampr.org DNS hostname to it, and (if feasible) a reverse IP DNS entry? Do I: 1. Contact someone here? 2. Contact John Hays (the owner of 44.24.0.0/16)? 3. Need a fixed IP address for these features? This is not urgent; I'm just curious what the plans are for hostnames on ampr.org (or even hamwan.org) Right now I DDNS-update my own DNS server to point "hamwan.ae7q.net" to my present DHCP address. However, that may or may not be accessible by some "44-only" network users. Eg, I may want/"need" a hostname served by someone's (authoritative) DNS server on the 44.x.x.x/8 network, which seems to suggest a hostname (or sub-domain) in the ampr.org domain. The pattern seems to be either a hostname of the form <callsign>.ampr.org, *OR *a delegation of a sub-domain with the same name. Either works for me, although if I also get one of John's UDRX-440 radios (I've had reservation for one, for the past year), I'd need another hostname anyway, so maybe a ampr.org sub-domain and a static IP (for its DNS server) is the way to go ... -- Dean AE7Q

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Kitsap County Tests: East Bremerton, West Bremerton, Silverdale
by Daniel Ransom 19 Apr '14

19 Apr '14

I had good success thanks to Tom at KD7LXL. Thanks for your help, Tom on 147.30 WB7DOB/R! From East Bremerton (looking into downtown Seattle): -88 dB Haystack-S3/AE7SJ -79 dB N7FSP/Baldi-S3 -81 dB N7FSP/Baldi-S1 -81? db Mirrormont (didn't capture the data, but good signal) From West Bremerton on the ground at Kitsap County EOC (looking into trees): -79 dB Haystack-S3/AE7SJ I need to get above the vegetation. From West Bremerton on Lansing St. N (other side of the trees--looking at Bainbridge and Port Orchard): -77 dB Haystack-S3/AE7SJ -82 dB N7FSP/Baldi-S3 -85 dB N7FSP/Baldi-S1 no Mirrormont We will have good signals to Baldi and Haystack. From Silverdale (red spot on coverage prediction at Ridgetop Rd.) no signals (lots of vegetation to the east and south) I need to get above the vegetation. No Capitol Park. I will do Port Orchard Fire Station 8 (Kitsap County Alternate EOC, KD7WDJ) tomorrow. I will revisit Manchester and list the stations I received. 73 from Dan at K7MM

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Outside the 2nd story window
by Dean Gibson AE7Q 18 Apr '14

18 Apr '14

Pending a permanent installation, I now have the antenna outside my 2nd story window (pictures pending), hanging from the 2nd story rain gutter (plumbing PVC piping/fittings make excellent mounting fixtures!). This has resulted in about a 6dB increase in signal strength. Questions (from "interface wireless monitor 0"): 1. "Signal-strength" (I take it this is receive signal strength?) typically runs -86dBm to -90dBm; "tx-signal-strength" typically runs about 5dB better, although I have seen them the same. With the same radio at both ends (the other end is the DEM at Paine), I would think they would usually be the same, except for possible reflections, which I would think would be "equal opportunity" in occasionally giving a better value to the receive value, but that never happens. 2. What is "current-distance"? It's showing as "10" or "11". I'm exactly 5 miles from the Paine DEM, so I would have thought that this might be the round-trip distance, except I would have thought that a physical distance would be reported in kilometers (the manufacturer being outside of the USA). Now I do not have to leave the window open ... -- Dean AE7Q

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Change in routing ???
by Dean Gibson AE7Q 28 Mar '14

28 Mar '14

Today I tried to access a number of 44.x.x.x/8 web sites that I was perfectly able to access a week ago, but cannot tonight. A "traceroute" shows that these accesses are leaving the 44.x.x.x/8 network and coming back in at UCSD. That of course could explain what is happening.

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New servers
by Scott Honaker 22 Mar '14

22 Mar '14

I just inherited two IBM servers that can be configured with services for HAMWAN. I haven't looked at them at all. I only know they're running Windows 2008 something now. Scott N7SS

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5.8 GHz patch antenna info?
by Bill Vodall 18 Mar '14

18 Mar '14

I'm in need of some gain antennas for my (HamWAN inspired) High speed 5.8 GHz backbone experiment. While I'm sure there's one in my future; the 30 db, $100 BBQ dish recommended is too big, too much gain and too many dollars. So - that brought me to the 20 dBi, $50 panels at Fab-Corp: http://www.fab-corp.com/home.php?cat=270 Potential candidates are the Echo Series 5.8 http://www.fab-corp.com/product.php?productid=2868&cat=270&page=1 And the tri-band patch: http://www.fab-corp.com/product.php?productid=3164&cat=270&page=1 Any known strong pro's or con's on either of these. Maybe one of each for experimenting? These will be driven with the 5SHPn or Grooves so the matching N connector is a requirement Thanks, Bill, WA7NWP

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Reconfiguring w/ firewall ...
by Dean Gibson AE7Q 17 Mar '14

17 Mar '14

OK, after seeing the number of "random" IP addresses hitting the radio from outside the 44.0.0.0 net, I didn't like the fact that the firewall filters were removed in the web site's suggested configuration, so I decided to start from scratch. I learned a couple things ... /# -- Restore the radio to a factory fresh state --// ///system reset// // //# === At this point you must connect via MAC address ===// ///user set admin password="This is not it ..."// ///console clear-history// ///system identity set name="CALL-Paine"// // ///ip// //dns set allow-remote-requests=no// //address remove [find]// // ///ip firewall mangle// //add action=change-mss chain=output new-mss=1378 protocol=tcp tcp-flags=syn tcp-mss=!0-1378// //add action=change-mss chain=forward new-mss=1378 protocol=tcp tcp-flags=syn tcp-mss=!0-1378// // ///ip dhcp-server// //remove [find]// //network remove [find]// // ///ip dhcp-client// //add add-default-route=no dhcp-options=hostname,clientid disabled=no interface=ether1 use-peer-dns=no// //# -- The following is already configured --// //#add add-default-route=yes dhcp-options=hostname,clientid disabled=no interface=wlan1// // //# -- Do the following if you need to move the radio to a different network --// ///system shutdown// // //# === At this point you can connect via IP address ===// ///system logging// //action set remote bsd-syslog=yes remote=my.lcl.log.svr remote-port=514 src-address=my.lcl.ether.ip syslog-facility=local1 syslog-severity=info// //add action=remote disabled=no prefix="" topics=!debug,!snmp / Note that I have "bsd-syslog" set to "yes". This *appears to be necessary* if you want a remote system to see "syslog-facility" and "syslog-severity" (the radio doesn't save/display those settings otherwise). / ///system ntp client set enabled=yes mode=unicast primary-ntp=my.lcl.ntp.svr1 secondary-ntp=my.lcl.ntp.svr2// // ///interface wireless // //channels add band=5ghz-onlyn comment="Cell site sector centered at 360 degrees" frequency=5920 list=HamWAN name="Sector300-060" width=5// //channels add band=5ghz-onlyn comment="Cell site sector centered at 120 degrees" frequency=5905 list=HamWAN name="Sector060-180" width=5// //channels add band=5ghz-onlyn comment="Cell site sector centered at 240 degrees" frequency=5890 list=HamWAN name="Sector180-300" width=5// ///delay 5// //set 0 radio-name="CALL/Location-Paine"// //set 0 disabled=no frequency-mode=superchannel scan-list=HamWAN ssid=HamWAN wireless-protocol=nv2// // ///tool dns-update dns-server=my.lcl.dns.svr key="MD5 key ..." key-name=ddns ttl=3600 zone=ae7q.net name=hamwan-1 address=my.ham.wan.ip// ///console clear-history// // //monitor 0// / I like my sector names better than just numbers... These "scripts" (when altered) can just be pasted into a command window (otherwise the "/delay 5" above is not necessary). Oh, I can sometimes connect through my CLOSED window, but that's not reliable enough for anything useful. -- Dean

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FYI: Firmware info
by Dean Gibson AE7Q 15 Mar '14

15 Mar '14

FYI: I of course followed the instructions to upgrade the OS to v6.1 before I did anything. However, when I clicked on "RouterBoard" in WinBox, I found that I was running firmware (which is of course "different") v3.02, and v3.12 was available. I did the upgrade (no separate download needed), with no observable effects. *I sure wish* this thing had a decent scheme to get the date/time from somewhere. Even a reboot (required by the firmware upgrade), resets the clock. I may try my hand at a script, but without setting the clock on each boot, the log timestamps are completely useless. Not to mention that the log appears to be cleared on each boot. Ugh. I think there's a way to send the log transactions to a server, and that will be useful ... Gotta go, be back this evening ...

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SSH keys
by Dean Gibson AE7Q 14 Mar '14

14 Mar '14

I'm trying to load an SSH RSA public key file from my Linux box, and I can drag it over to the "File" folder, but when I try to import it, I get: /unable to load key file (incorrect passphrase?) !/ There is no passphrase (nor did it ask for one). Does this thing only support DSA keys ?!?!?

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DNS questions
by Dean Gibson AE7Q 14 Mar '14

14 Mar '14

1. Do I always get the same IP address (using the same MAC)? If so, I will just add it to my DNS server. 2. If not, does that radio support DDNS updates to a configurable BIND DNS server (if, so I couldn't find it). 3. Do you create a hostname on an externally visible domain?

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