[Noisebridge-discuss] warflying

[Dr. Jesus]

On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 10:12 PM, Jake <jake at spaz.org> wrote:
> 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..

Cisco IOS doesn't let you put the Aironet APs into rfmon mode, and
getting beacon data out of them will require either SNMP or console
scraping.  That would probably work after some effort, but a rfmon
capable radio might be easier.