Lancaster Mesh Network

Amateur Mesh Network

Several Sparc members are creating a mesh network within the county. With an initial deployment goal of 10 units we will see how well linking works between individuals and the club’s site. The necessary components needed are a Linksys WRT54G/GL/GLS version 1-4 routers. The firmware gets flashed to a custom version of DD-WRT that manages all the meshing and connection protocols. You also need an Amateur radio license as the firmware turns the part 15 device into a part 97 Ham device.

From there you can modify your unit with higher gain antennas, an outdoor enclosure, and remote power. Since these use off the shelf hardware Amazon has a large selection of high gain antennas and Power Over Ethernet devices for the Linksys router. Omnidirectional antennas are vertically polarized all unidirectional antennas are set horizontally polarized. The club site will have a omni and uni setup, as the weather warms, to use as a linkup and connection test site.

 

For an overview of the mesh network
broadband-hamnet.org

For specifics on the flashing process see
Step by Step Router Flashing

Once you have your unit online add it to the Map and see where you should point your antennas.

Use this link to compare type and DB gain of various antennas based on the distance and feed cable length.

Here is a resource of numerous links. http://www.remoteamateur.com/