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EmComm 5th Saturday - Seattle ACS
by Randy Neals 30 Mar '19

30 Mar '19

Today, Saturday March 30th was a 5th Saturday EmComm exercise across Washington State. The Seattle Auxiliary Comm. Service used this to focus on HamWAN deployments at the Sector level. As background, The City of Seattle has a very nice EOC in downtown Seattle. It has two HamWAN dishes on the roof providing redundant HamWAN backbone connectivity to two different HamWAN cell sites. Seattle ACS is organized in 6 sectors. Central West, Central East, North West, North East South West, and South East. Each sector establishes its own UHF voice net, and operates within the sector like it were a small town. Radio amateurs are dispersed at their homes, or in community emergency hubs (Parks/Community Centers). Today we fielded HamWAN at 5 of the 6 sectors, some using permanently installed HamWAN clients at amateur's homes, and other using field deployable tripods and radios in parks. Each Sector net maintained voice and Winlink connectivity with Seattle EOC, and in turn Seattle EOC maintains communications with King County and the State EOC. We also deployed HamWAN VoIP Phones, and were able to call between the EOC and Sectors by dialing 4 digit extension numbers on the phone. Winlink Telnet over HamWAN is extremely fast. In previous events we have congested our UHF Winllink RMS Gateways. This problem was eliminated with Winlink over Telnet. we also tested sending photos over Winlink with the photo reduced to 100kB size. Randy, W3RWN Seattle

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Re: [HamWAN PSDR] Pacific County sites / planning - input needed
by Rob Salsgiver 20 Mar '19

20 Mar '19

Steve provided some EOC sites to fill in on the map. The below locations have been added. Coverage colors for each peak have been changed to better allow seeing which client locations can be served by different potential cell sites. This should be available on the same map link provided earlier. Let me know if anyone has more to add. Cheers, Rob Locations added: Pacific County EOC Public Safety Building 300 Memorial Drive, South Bend, WA 46.6621, -123.8106 Pacific County Alternate EOC 7013 Sandridge Road, Long Beach, WA 46.3524, -124.0506 (140' tower) Clatsop County EOC (Camp Rilea) 33168 Patriot Way, Warrenton, OR 46.1228, -123.9341 South Seaside (potential cell site) Line of sight to Long Beach EOC tower 45.9527, -123.9385 Wickiup Mtn. (potential cell site) Line of sight to Clatsop EOC 46.1056, -123.5858 Map link: https://caltopo.com/m/UT9N

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Pacific County sites / planning - input needed
by Rob Salsgiver 19 Mar '19

19 Mar '19

Greetings all, Been playing some catch-up as I get ready for MHDC this weekend and was working on some mapping. I laid out some potential routing based on the email chain that was going around. There are a couple of sites that I didn't see GPS coordinates for, so they are left off for the moment. These are Long Beach, North Cove, and Radar Ridge. If someone can get me coordinates for those I can add them to the map. Snapshots of the map are below. They show the primary sites I have coordinates for, and their (combined) expected coverage. Photo 1 (below) shows the basic routing being discussed. Photo 2 below shows the anticipated LOS coverage from these sites. Additional information (GPS coordinates and names) of the EOCs and/or other sites of interest to connect to the system can be placed on the map to show a first-draft of whether they are likely to be in a possibly covered area. Right now it was easier to show total coverage with the same color. Each site can be assigned a separate color to determine which (client) sites would be service by which (cell) sites. It is much easier to distinguish separate colors if the map is zoomed in and not covering such a wide area. Misc Notes: 1) BawFaw/Boistfort - I don't know the geography down there, but when I put the GPS coordinates for Boistfort in, it covered our existing BawFaw site exactly. If these are not in fact the same sites, I need better coordinates to get them split. 2) The URL for you to look at this map directly is: <https://caltopo.com/m/UT9N> https://caltopo.com/m/UT9N. The map is read-only, but you should be able to zoom in and move around. Information requested: 1) If there are additional sites to be considered to establish pathing (Long Beach, North Cove, and Radar Ridge, etc) let me know. I need site name and GPS coordinates (UTM preferred) 2) If you would like to see EOCs or other client sites shown on the map, I can do that as well. Need the same info as above. 3) If you want close-ups with coverage colors changed (example: KO peak as yellow and Megler as red), I can do that as well. Let me know what sites you want to see and I'll set it up. Zooming in with different colors would show for example which uplink site would best serve a given EOC / client site. For the moment I would like to consolidate all of the information so we can all be working off of the same map. I know there are some folks in Portland that this could be helpful to as well, and might bring secondary paths back into Pacific County from down there. Once the map is fairly static I have no problem duplicating it or dumping datasets for others to use. Give me a shout if you have any questions. You can also shoot me info off-list at rob(a)nr3o.com Cheers, Rob Salsgiver - NR3O

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Help with connecting
by Subhro Kar 15 Mar '19

15 Mar '19

Hello, I have recently moved the Lake Stevens and was wondering about signal strength here. Does anyone have spare gear and willing to drive a bit to help a fellow Ham? I will buy you lunch. Thanks -- Subhro Kar System Administrator Working and Playing with FreeBSD since 2002

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Any other ideas on how to experiment with hamwan?
by Chris Prosser 12 Mar '19

12 Mar '19

Hi folks, I was hoping to take some time this summer during my work sabbatical to build a station on hamwan and experiment with it, my idea was to experiment with voice over IP with concurrent downloads/uploads and fq_codel to do traffic shaping and see how a saturated link performed. But I just mapped out my home location and things don't look good. Here's where I'm at: 47°41′5″ N 122°21′48″ W 270ft Looking at Gold Mountain: Distance = 37.889 km (23.543 miles) Azimuth, Point 1 to Point 2: 247.21° True Azimuth, Point 2 to Point 1: 66.86 ° True I'm shielded to the south by Queen Anne, to the east by Phinney Ridge, and when I look out towards Gold Mountain all I see are tree tops and one or two roofs. This is from a third-floor balcony in my townhouse, while I could probably get another 10 feet of elevation on my roof, I'm scared to go on the roof and I'm 90% sure that doesn't give me any line of sight. Am I correct in assuming that I'm pretty much out of luck with my QTH? I'd really prefer to be able to run things from here if at all possible. But if there isn't a creative solution, it looks like I'm going to have to figure out a portable solution. I came across this post documenting a mobile station that someone had built: https://cdine.org/2017-11-19-portable-hamwan-station/ Would the high power version help with range? it's not clear to me which side tends to be the limiter in HamWan. https://mikrotik.com/product/sxtsq_5_high_power Then I need to find a place where I can set up within range and not sit in sun the whole day. Thanks, Chris -- Chris Prosser chris(a)nart.org

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Re: [HamWAN PSDR] Replacing Metal5SHPn modem?
by Rod Johnson 04 Mar '19

04 Mar '19

Kenny, Thank you for the reply. That looks pretty daunting to me. I am not much of a computer guy, and a lot of the terminology looks foreign to me. I tried something like that a year or two ago, and got completely lost; and very frustrated. I could well have also corrupted any files that were still intact. I think I had better just skip the idea of installing the spare modem for now. Maybe when I am bored and have some 'geek' help, I should try it again. Thanks, Rod Johnson -----Original Message----- From: Kenny Richards <richark(a)gmail.com> To: Rod Johnson <we7x(a)aol.com>; Puget Sound Data Ring <psdr(a)hamwan.org> Sent: Mon, Mar 4, 2019 4:12 pm Subject: Re: [HamWAN PSDR] Replacing Metal5SHPn modem? Rod, >Can I just plug in the replacement unit, or is there some programming that will need to be done, for it to be recognized. There is probably some programming that should be done, at the very least you should upgrade the firmware in the modem to the current version if it has been offline for several years. I would recommend going through the client setup guide on the HamWAN site. It is straightforward and takes you through all the current recommended processes. Thanks Kenny http://www.hamwan.org/Standards/Network%20Engineering/Client%20Node%20Confi… On Mon, Mar 4, 2019 at 3:51 PM Rod Johnson via PSDR <psdr(a)hamwan.org> wrote: I have a spare 'Metal 5SHPn' modem, and I am considering replacing the suspect one on my tower. This spare is the original modem that was on my roof, to relay from Baldi to the tower which is part way up the west side of Tiger Mountain. The HamWan on that tower was deactivated as a result of the group moving to a site on top of the mountain. The ham who was using that dish and modem pair was also removed from using HamWan , as a result of the move and deactivation of that tower sector. I took a lightening hit several years ago, and immediately discovered I was not able to connect to Baldi ( the only possible connection route from my location). I found the wall wart POE power supply was fried, and I replaced it, but to no avail, and I have always suspected the modem was damaged in the strike. I have been off-line for several years. Although I have been told the system sees my dish, I have not been able to connect, and I think it might be an issue with the modem. Can I just plug in the replacement unit, or is there some programming that will need to be done, for it to be recognized. Thanks, Rod Johnson Mirrormont _______________________________________________ PSDR mailing list PSDR(a)hamwan.org http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr

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Replacing Metal5SHPn modem?
by Rod Johnson 04 Mar '19

04 Mar '19

I have a spare 'Metal 5SHPn' modem, and I am considering replacing the suspect one on my tower. This spare is the original modem that was on my roof, to relay from Baldi to the tower which is part way up the west side of Tiger Mountain. The HamWan on that tower was deactivated as a result of the group moving to a site on top of the mountain. The ham who was using that dish and modem pair was also removed from using HamWan , as a result of the move and deactivation of that tower sector. I took a lightening hit several years ago, and immediately discovered I was not able to connect to Baldi ( the only possible connection route from my location). I found the wall wart POE power supply was fried, and I replaced it, but to no avail, and I have always suspected the modem was damaged in the strike. I have been off-line for several years. Although I have been told the system sees my dish, I have not been able to connect, and I think it might be an issue with the modem. Can I just plug in the replacement unit, or is there some programming that will need to be done, for it to be recognized. Thanks, Rod Johnson Mirrormont

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Neat Photo from Baldi
by Nigel Vander Houwen 26 Feb '19

26 Feb '19

This is a neat occurrence that happened up at Baldi today that we haven’t seen before and was captured on the camera we have onsite. Thanks Tim for pointing it out so I could grab a screenshot. Nigel

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Volunteer
by Dan Dimick SR. 08 Feb '19

08 Feb '19

I'm very interested in this project however I'm in Pacific County which is unconnected "yet". What can i do to help? My interest other then the Wan is the VOIP, i have tech support skills (Intel once opon a time) networking and more. Dan Dimick

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HamWan Assistance
by Howard Auble 08 Feb '19

08 Feb '19

February 8, 2019 To HamWan Pacific County ARES/RACES would like to join the 21st Century with respect to emergency communications by participating in extending HamWan capability from the Puget Sound area and particularly Camp Murray. Holy Cross Mountain (46-41-43.14N/123-46-21.09W) is north across the Willapa River from the Emergency Operations Center in the Courthouse in South Bend, with an elevation of 1,300 feet. Holy Cross also has county microwave links from the Courthouse to KO Peak, which is the tallest mountain in Pacific County at 2,900 feet. Both Holy Cross and KO Peak (46-27-39.96N/123-33-02.27W) have existing concrete shelters and tower space available, to which the local ARES Amateurs have access. The EOC has the normal amateur HF/VHF/UHF radio communications capability but the feeling is that HF modes should be a back-up to HamWan. We are quite aware that small rural counties have a more difficult time responding to emergencies. We are always looking at new and better ways to handle emergency communications. We will be relocating our EOC within the courthouse and moving our antennas in the near future. We wanted to be able to pull CAT5 (and/or whatever you recommend) at the same time we are relocating/replacing our RF cabling, if that is the best way to hook up to HamWan. We would like to explore the technical possibilities of having HamWan Sector Antennas on Holy Cross and possibly KO Peak. Please send us your recommended equipment list and vendor sources so we can begin to prepare cost estimates. Attached are elevation and map information. Sincerely, Frank Wolfe, NM7R, ARRL Western Washington Section Emergency Coordinator Nm7r(a)yahoo.com Robert Cline, N7CVW, EC/RO Pacific County rcline496(a)gmail.com Howard Auble, W7HGA, District 3 Emergency Coordinator boxa(a)comcast.net

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