Myself, KE5SWU, Scott, KD5NKR, and Curtis, KF5ECI have been talking about building out a mesh network using WIFI. Here is my first attempt at a node for the network. Currently the solar panel is not being used. I need to get a solar panel controller before it can be introduced into the system.  The end goal will be a self contained unit that could be easily installed at any repeater site or someones home. So this is a call to the rest of the club, we have cool projects going on and if you want to join in on the fun do. Here are some links about the project:

This is the source for the firmware we load onto the wifi routers:

http://hsmm-mesh.org/

We are trying to standardize on the WRT54 models. All models below v5 should work.

http://wiki.openwrt.org/oldwiki/openwrtdocs/hardware/linksys/wrt54g

If you have one collecting dust, join in on the fun and we will help you set it up.

Here is the dish setup I am currently using:

http://www.qdg.org.au/qdgmod.htm

Ping any of us if you have any questions or want to help.

(Thanks to Jay ad5pe, and Jeff kc5ert for assembling this info and making it available to us.)

Parts: 

A Conduit – base (1) 4’6” 
B Conduit – 10m (1) 3’6 13/16” 
C Conduit – 12m (1) 1’3 11/16” 
D Conduit – 15m (1) 1’6 15/16” 
E Conduit – 17m (1) 1’11 3/8” 
F Conduit – 20m (1) 3’5 3/4 ” 
Couplers (5) 
Star washer (1) 
Screws (6) 
Ring Terminal (2) 
Board (1) 
Clamps (2) 
Radials (8) 18’ of network cable 

The A conduit is the base – it fastens to the board with the 2 clamps and 4 screws. Positioning is not critical, but keep the base end up about 2” from the end of the board. The board will sit on the ground with the antenna erected, and is the “base insulator” to keep the vertical radiator off the ground. Pre-drill a hole in the lower end of the A conduit for the coax. Put this slightly below the bottom clamp ,positioned out.

Strip a couple of inches of your coax pigtail jacket. Fold the braid back and pull the center conductor (with dialectric) out through the braid. Leave the dialectric in place. Strip ¼” of the dialectric off the center conductor.

Instal a ring terminal on the center conductor, and fasten to the predrilled hole in the A conduit with a star washer and screw.Strip the jacket off the network cable. Untwist the inner conductors, yielding 8, 18’ wires. Fasten all 8 wires to the coax pigtail braid. Use a ring terminal and a screw into the board for a strain relief. Coil the wires up to keep them out of the way until you set up the antenna. 

For 10m operation, attach the B conduit to the A base conduit with one coupler. Guy the antenna approx. 2/3 of the way up (any nonconductive rope with work). You will need the appropriate connector to match your radio on the other end of the coax. 

For lower bands, add the appropriate conduit stubs using the additional couplers. For 20m, you need all six pieces. You will have to move your guys up, keeping them 2/3 of the way up the vertical radiator. Also, unless you need to frequently switch bands, (in which add them in order by band) the antenna is more stable with the longest stubs towards the bottom. In other words, for a day of 20m operations, A, B, F, then C, D, and E stubs puts the shortest stubs up top and makes the antenna flex less, but to change to 17m you have to break the antenna at both ends of the F stub, and then reconnect C to B. 

The below spreadsheet was contributed by Edd, kk5edd. 

Band	Lo Freq.	Hi Freq.	Freq.	Avg.	LnthFt.
20	14.225	14.350	14.288	16.378	3.478
17	18.110	18.168	18.139	12.900	1.947
15	21.275	21.450	21.363	10.954	1.579
12	24.930	24.990	24.960	9.375	1.306
10	28.300	29.700	29.000	8.069	3.569
Base				4.500
Band							Total	Mine	Jay’s
20	4.500	3.569	1.306	1.579	1.947	3.478	16.379	16’4 9/16″	16′ 51/16″
									12′ 10
17	4.500	3.569	1.306	1.579	1.947		12.901	12’10 13/16″	13/16″
15	4.500	3.569	1.306	1.579			10.954	10’11 7/16″	10′ 11 1/2″
12	4.500	3.569	1.306				9.375	9’4 1/2″	9′ 4 1/2″
10	4.500	3.569					8.069	8’0 13/16″	8′ 2 7/8″
Base	4.500						4.500	4’6″	4’6″

3’6			1’3	1’6
20	4’6″	13/16″	11/16″	15/16″	1’11 3/8″	3’5 3/4″
		3’6	1’3	1’6
17	4’6″	13/16″	11/16″	15/16″	1’11 3/8″
		3’6	1’3	1’6
15	4’6″	13/16″	11/16″	15/16″
		3’6	1’3
12	4’6″	13/16″	11/16″
		3’6
10	4’6″	13/16″
Base	4’6″

Edd also contributed his illustration on how he configured the assembly of the antenna to suit his needs

 

 

  

 

 

 

I have made several launches, lost 2 balls, but the launcher seems to work great. I have put 22 pennies in the ball to help it fall back down when caught in tree branches.  The only thing left to do is tie the line from the reel to the ball. I will do this sometime this weekend and I will try to get some video of it in action.

I am getting closer to completing the launcher. I bored out the end cap for the transition from 1.25 PVC elbow to the 2.5 PVC pipe. All that is remaining is to get some JB Weld for the before mentioned joint.

Here I am getting ready to bore out the hole in the cap:

The highlighted part is what I am making in the above picture.

Antenna launcher, step 1

Started on my launcher for Field Day. I did as much as I could tonight. I will have to wait till Tuesday for my shipment from McMaster-Carr to finish it up(had to mail order the right pvc pipe). I will post up more pictures as the project progresses. I am using these instructions as the bases: http://www.antennalaunchers.com/csv19/csv19asm.html