Wellington?

What's happening in Wellington?

I don't mind being a "node" (a node is a place where lots of people connect, right?), and I live on a slight hill, so quite a few people can find it around me, what's needed?

take a look at http://www.nodedb.com/newzealand/ni/wellington/? and see if there's a node near you

i think redevil's keen to get something up, you might want to talk to him

no-one in my area - what sort of hardware + software am I looking at?

taking a look around the nodedb site now, just in case theres some stuff there

Hi Madman,
A couple of us working for a large (unnamed) IT company have imported quite a bit of gear to set up a community network in Wellington. I'm in Strathmore - my partner in crime is over the water in Island Bay area.
I'm just waiting for a couple of parts that a guy from a Perth wireless group is sending to modify some Sky dishes for wifi links. I already have a couple of bi-quad antennas and some very good "cantenna's" built and working (parts from the Warehouse and Dick Smith).

Let me know if I can help in any way. My buddy is on an OE at the moment. He's due back in March and the project will be in full swing from there on.

Cheers - Colin.

When you get the plans for the Sky Dish over haul can you post them on this site or email them to me as i was planing the same thing. At this stage it was going to be a bi-quad where the LNB is at the moment.

Also for the Auckland crowd I have been told that a couple of 19dbi odd parabolics are coming my way for a loan. Stand by to see the first Auckland personal wireless link!

Certainly will.
I have 2 bi-quads built for the job but thought that they may be difficult to mount and waterproof successfully. I have 2 "Brick" antenna's on the way from a guy in Perth to try as feeds also. Have a look here for the design.

http://www.erlang-software.com/FreeNet/Brick

What would it be costing me to get this kind of stuff?

(aerials probably, we don't have Sky)

Madman
Depends what you are looking for -

Access Points are about USD$80 - USD$120.00 depending on the make. The 2 wap11s I just got in were USD$82.00 each

Antennas - well where do I start. I have made VERY good Cantennas for about NZ$20.00 or less. The materials for a slotted waveguide are about NZ$90.00 and for a bi-quad about $NZ20.00. Sky dishes are free if you know where an unused one is or about NZ$50-80 on trademe.co.nz, but they then need a feed of either a canteena, bi-quad or "brick" antennas.
I an trying (in vain at present) to get an old galaxy grid antenna sent over from Australia to play with. They are about AU$40.00.
Pigtails to connect to the many and varied connectors are about NZ$40-50 depending on where they come from. I have purchased from the US and Australia.

All of this is plus shipping costs which vary greatly depending on supplier and location. For stuff from the US (eBay is may favourite source) you can pay USD$20.00 per item or more, but it still works out very much cheaper than anywhere else I have found.

Hope this helps. I'm happy to help with arranging gear if anybody is interested. I've collected quite a few contacts in the past months.

Cheers - Colin. :idea:

So what kind of range can you expect from a home made antenna?
Would love to give all a try