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Wireless Networking Hardware

2003 Seattle Wireless Field Day 71

propellerhead writes "Today is 2003 Wireless Field Day for Seattle Wireless. 'Similar to amateur radio field day, a mock emergency network will be created this summer using off-the-shelf 802.11b hardware, computers, and battery/gas power supplies. Network applications such as VoIP (Voice over IP or Internet Telephony), streaming audio and video, file sharing, chat, network games, and others will be implemented across a multi-hop wireless infrastructure. If resources allow, the goal is to connect this mobile network to the existing Seattle Wireless network, which currently exists in the Seattle area. This network can also provide access to the internet and our community network partners like Seattle Pacific University and Council House Projects.'"
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2003 Seattle Wireless Field Day

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  • by poptones ( 653660 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @09:05PM (#6835829) Journal
    You're kidding, right? All three of those things would be extremely useful in an organizational structure. The only thing I see mentioned in the article that would NOT be "needed" in an emergency is one thing you didn't mention: games.

  • Sniffing? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Mrs. Grundy ( 680212 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @09:12PM (#6835858) Homepage
    I'm no expert when it comes to this stuff so I'll just ask...

    Are most people who enjoy using these giant, free, wireless networks still checking there mail with good old, send the password plaintext, POP? Are networks like this just a giant smorgasborg a free information floating around for anybody to grab? Considering your average Joe uses the same password for everything I would think this would be problematic.

    What security mechanisms are place that makes this difficult?

  • by LibertineR ( 591918 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @09:22PM (#6835886)
    Went to the Fry's grand opening, got the Linksys 802.11G/B Router and the G card for my laptop. Setting it up today, so how about some advice from those of you familiar with this stuff?

    I did set the MAC address filter and I'm using WEP and planing to PPTP into my other firewall in front of my home network, instead of putting the Linksys behind my firewall. Any advice would be welcome.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 30, 2003 @09:34PM (#6835920)
    Like people are really going to need to chat, share files, and watch streaming video during an emergency.

    I think that the activities are ment to stress test the network a little. YOu can build all the 'roads' you want but if they get jamed up they are usless. But i can still think of others real reasons one might need all those services. Chat would be extremly helpfull for real time information unlike raido's you can all talk at the same time. Streaming viedo from remote points might also help depending on the emergency, maybe as a way to see if traffic is moving like in the ny black out. THat would be usfull for routing emergency viechles. As for as file sharing you might want to share a list of addresses, contact names, what ever information they want avaiable.
  • by interiot ( 50685 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @10:15PM (#6836020) Homepage
    It's true that you can get a reasonable amount of information across with a minimum amount of power and complication with ham radios.

    But ham radios don't provide as much low-latency networked on-the-fly information access that data networks do. Eg. imagine a city could query every stoplight to see if it's out... and the computer could sumarize the findings on a map... you'd never want to do this sort of tedious data mining over voice or morse code. And things like video-streams from street cameras are nearly impossible without having a separate ham sit next to each camera.

    I don't know that this sort of broad information access is necessarily required in an emergency now in most places, but still, there are a few parts of cities that are currently blanketed with street-cameras. And emergency information like this will only become more prevalent in the future.

  • by loraksus ( 171574 ) on Sunday August 31, 2003 @12:30AM (#6836443) Homepage
    I drove up from Portland w/ a friend to attend - and we attempted the first ground to air to air to ground link - the intent was to get alki connected with the air craft, which would link to the heli which would link to magnolia. The two are a good distance apart - and were eventually connected using a couple ground based antennas.

    Best part was when we got clearance to circle right in Boing Field's takeoff path. ATC was diverting 737s, etc around us. t'was great.

    However, laptop batteries and equipment died and the idea with it. It was really fun, we learned quite a bit and have ideas to make it work the next time. We had taped an omni to the step of the airplane, and that was pretty interesting, worked surprisingly well.

    I'd post pics as I was flying in the front passenger's seat, but I like my upstream bandwidth, thank you very much. I'm sure someone will provide a host eventually.

I tell them to turn to the study of mathematics, for it is only there that they might escape the lusts of the flesh. -- Thomas Mann, "The Magic Mountain"

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