Pacific Northwest Digital Amateur Radio
There are several Amateur Radio activies in the Seattle and Pacific Northwest that are shirt tail relatives to Seattle Wireless.
WETNET
One group, WETNET - http://www.seatcp.net, has been actively building TCP/IP wireless networks in the area for 10+ years. What the WETNET lacks in speed compared to the new 802.11x equipment, it makes up for in range. Our goal has been a 56k system linking Vancouver and Olympia. It's not finished yet, but it's on the horizen.
Some of the WETNET members are branching in to using 802.11b equipment. Last weekend, at our weekly brunch, we had four laptops in the cafe connected to a SMC Barricade hub in a jeep in the parking lot. That hub was, in turn, connected to a mini-book Linux server which will hopefully this weekend be providing web server access and maybe a link to the Internet.
APRS
Another digital amateur radio activity picking up steam the past few years is APRS - Amateur Position Reporting System. It's a merge of unconnected data packets (ideal for radio) and GPS position broadcasts.
The local group is NWAPRS - http://www.nwaprs.org. More info and web links can be found at the founders page - http://www.aprs.org. There's lots more - but I'll leave it off this first pass and add to it later.
The core of APRS is plotting stations on maps. Following the advice of a SWN member, I took the xml data file for SWN nodes and wrote a converter to generate an APRS position file. That file can then be overlayed on maps using existing APRS technology. For example, I have it set up at my home page where it's displayed with javAPRS on a Terraserver satellite view of the Seattle area.
This map also show local APRS activity as it's heard on the radio. My station, aprsdRDM will be the first to appear. Other stations, both base and mobile trackers, will soon show up on the map.
It would be interesting to have additional data available in the node list data file to enhance the plotting. Node type - 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11e, etc. Is it a point to point link or public access point? Is it on the air, coming soon or just proposed? APRS provides a fair range of symbols that can be used to represent the different information.
This Wiki stuff is fun. I learned about it at the XP programming talk presented by Ward a couple weeks ago. Now I'm hooked. My Wiki grows by the hour. It's a great way to collect all those tidbits and gems of information that are floating by. http://wiki.jnos.org
Bill Vodall - wa7nwp - wa7nwp at jnos.org
