[Noisebridge-discuss] warflying

Jake jake at spaz.org
Wed Dec 15 06:12:25 UTC 2010


At Noisebridge currently there are a bunch of Cisco Aironet 1200 series 
Wireless Access Points.

These are heavy-duty high-quality WAPs with RS232 management and two 
RP-TNC antenna jacks.  People have not been using them because they don't 
know how to power them - but it's simple - at least 20-25 volts (up to 50V 
or so) but less than half an amp.  They're made for power-over-ethernet 
which is why the voltage is high (so the current can be low)

I haven't hacked on one yet but i assume it's pretty easy to set them as 
client bridges, sending loggable data back to whatever shark program 
you're using.  You would plug it into the RJ45 ethernet jack of your 
EEEpc, and possibly to a USB serial adaptor if you wanted to manage it 
while using it.

If you want to try one out, there is one at NB with a power adaptor 
plugged into it - ask me or Karl or look in the server closet.  There are 
antennas to plug into it too.  Also i have a couple of high-quality RP-TNC 
to N-connector RF cables, so you could use fancy antennas (i have a panel 
square antenna which would be good for what you're doing).

If the plane's body is nonmetallic you can keep the antennas inside (you 
probably have to anyway) and aim them down.  As for GPS the plane almost 
certainly has it but if you don't have access to the serial output of it 
(which you probably won't) I recommend a high-quality unit like a Garmin. 
Better GPSs will update your location faster and in a plane, why bother 
unless you're getting good data..

sounds like fun!
-jake

P.S. some of these Ciscos have the expansion module for 5GHz "A" with 
their own two RP-TNC antenna connectors.  I think you can use normal 
antennas because it's twice the freq, especially for receive...

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A friend has a Cessna 400 and we're thinking of going warflying, possibly
in Jan.  Anyone got any suggestions on what gear to use?

I've currently got a Asus EEE 1215n running Ubuntu, but its WiFi card
is built-in.  I don't see any obvious slots for PCMCIA &c... perhaps
a USB WIFI card makes sense?

Also, I'm looking for recommendations on GPSes.




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