[ML-Hams] 2015.03.10 HAM Meeting notes

[Kris Kirby]

> Here are the notes from the HAM Meeting last night:  
> https://256.makerslocal.org/wiki/Ham_Shack/2015.03.11_Meeting_Notes
> 
> I'll be at the make shop with my radios again next Tuesday, but what 
> do you guys think about another meeting in 3 weeks to keep the energy 
> going?  That would be Tuesday, March 31st
> 
>  *  Jeff to schedule the next Ham Radio Meeting
>  *  Jeff to schedule a stakeholders meeting for the library (Greg), AV Area
>     (Tim) and HAM Shack (Jake)
>      +  Once results of this meeting are done, Jeff to schedule a
>         re-arrangement and taking measurements day
> 
> UNASSIGNED ACTION ITEMS
> 
>  *  We need Coax to run from the hamshack to the antenna
>                                    Notes
> 
>  *  Our first goal is to get our hamshack built and on the air
>      +  Habitat for humanity may be a good resource for materials
>  *  The Landlord is adamant about not poking new holes in the building

Find some existing holes and use them. If you go into an existing pipe 
(i.e.: sewer vent), special cables (plenum rated and then some) are 
necessary..

I would recommend starting a dialog with the building owner for a roof 
penetration, with an eye toward replacing it on move-out with a roof 
vent and/or fan. Use an outside contractor for the work, or an 
electrical contractor. If you're installing coax in cable, I recommend 
installing a 3-4" electrical conduit with a weather head, and plan for 
coax drip loops as well as proper grounding and static dissipation 
devices. (If no static dissipation, use a folded dipole type of antenna 
to minimize the induced DC voltages on the radio's input connector.)

>  *  Just to get up an running, our first antenna can be as simple as a
>     mag-mount slapped on the roof

A non-penetrating roof-mount may be an option, if a little bit of 
altitude is desired. The roof has to be able to support several 
cinder blocks as the mount frame uses them for ballast. Cost $150 less 
cinder blocks. 

>  *  Darryl demonstrated his Broadband Hamnet
>      +  Darryl was running version 2, version 3 can do 900mhz
>      +  while you can't encrypt anything on broadband ham, you can use
>         public keys for refutation
>      +  Hope to get text based chat up and running as first use of broadband
>         hamnet
>      +  Hunter and Strages are setting up a non-HAM meshnet. It may be
>         possible to utilize non-ham infrastructures like non-Ham Meshnet and
>         the internet backbone by encapsulating the ham-mesh packets.

As hams, we have an entire IP CIDR block to ourselves, 44.0.0.0/8. Of 
that, 44.100.0.0/16 is allocated to the state of Alabama. I am the 
coordinator for that space, and I have set aside space for mesh 
networking as well as point to point links. 

Ubiquiti makes 3.4 GHz equipment for export use that works perfectly in 
the 3.3-3.5 GHz ham band. A pair of end points is about $500, but we 
(hams) have full run of the band and no interference outside of 
government stations. Look for all the parts sold/branded as M3 made by 
Ubiquiti for export use. The Bullet is a small device which is simple 
and effective. And since it's ham use (and no interference from other 
Part 15 devices, etc.), it's possible to use power (10W and under should 
be relatively affordable). Just remember that your eyes are most 
affected by microwave RF. There is no staring into the waveguide or 
antenna with remaining eye, unlike lasers.

If anyone is interesting in linking IP or mesh south to Birmingham 
besides myself, please contact me. I've been doing data over ham radio 
since 1995. I know what we've done, what didn't work, and what did. 

Sorry it took me so long to get around to finding you, but the Make shop 
has moved a time or two since I was last in Huntsville (or had time to 
stop in and say hi -- it's hard to stick around when it starts snowing 
and you're 90 miles from home!). If there are any questions about ideas, 
feel free to mention them. If I can find information, I will forward it.

--
Kris Kirby, KE4AHR
Disinformation Architect