Railfan Technology > the wolf ate my internet

Oh, there are just so many ways this thread might go. For railfanning we could stake a WiFi sheep at the top of the hill to upload live video to the Cloud.

All I can say is Apple users found it interesting enough to post.

http://www.macworld.com/article/2883911/call-it-80211baaa-rural-broadband-experiment-could-use-sheep-as-wi-fi-hotspots.html

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/15 17:58 by fbe.

Ewe could make it work :)

You can't pull the wool over my eyes, this is clearly a scheme to fleece us.

Be Well,

Tim Colbert K3HX

I can't rest, That is one Baaaaaaaad idea.

Are you sure it's not April?

Technically, it has some merit, maybe not a lot, but some. Each sheep could be a node capable of repeating packets through an ever changing network of sheep, relaying the signal to a gateway into the internet. As a ham, I ran around town for a few days with a digital repeater in my car. I actually had people use my mobile repeater to get into a world wide e-mail network and a regional network with a range of nearly 200 miles in some directions. If hundreds of others in the region had done the same thing we would have had a robust network. It wasn't practical but it could be done.

As for the sheep network, just watch your step as you walk around town.

John

wa4umr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can't rest, That is one Baaaaaaaad idea.
>
> Are you sure it's not April?
>
> Technically, it has some merit, maybe not a lot,
> but some. Each sheep could be a node capable of
> repeating packets through an ever changing network
> of sheep, relaying the signal to a gateway into
> the internet. As a ham, I ran around town for a
> few days with a digital repeater in my car. I
> actually had people use my mobile repeater to get
> into a world wide e-mail network and a regional
> network with a range of nearly 200 miles in some
> directions. If hundreds of others in the region
> had done the same thing we would have had a robust
> network. It wasn't practical but it could be
> done.
>
> As for the sheep network, just watch your step as
> you walk around town.
>
> John

Do you remember the RC-85 and its bigger brother the RC-850? They were fun to use and set up.
I lived in San Francisco just south of Sutro Tower on the last street before the hill. Actually moved there for ham reasons. My close friend Bob, lived in Alameda, but had an agreement with a friend on Skyline Drive. We put up 2 RC-850's with Speccom radios (I know, not quite the best!). We were both on 440 frequencies, and had a link on 220, allowable back then. Both also had 2 meter radio links. We had a lot of fun with that. Both had phone patches.

One time a big east bay 2 meer repeater went down. I think is was the 22/82 split. Bob called me and real quickly, we put up a temporary repeater on those frequencies. We used the 2 meter downlink radios -- his was on the input, and mine was on the output, going via our 220 repeater link radios. We fooled a few people; "I dunno, I hear it real well, it must be up again..."

Fun and games.

73,
Norm

I didn't remember the RC-85 or 850 right off the top of my head so I googled it. Instant memory refresher. A friend had one of their products on a 440 machine. As a user, it seemed to work pretty good. The repeater I had in my car was just a packet repeater, a TNC, a 25 watt radio, and the antenna and hooked it to an extra battery I had in the backseat floor. It just looked like a digipeater. Since I had the PBBS for the area and everyone knew my call, I guess some though I had a digi up on some hilltop when they saw it.

73's John

wa4umr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Technically, it has some merit, maybe not a lot,
> but some. Each sheep could be a node capable of
> repeating packets through an ever changing network
> of sheep, relaying the signal to a gateway into
> the internet. As a ham, I ran around town for a
> few days with a digital repeater in my car. I
> actually had people use my mobile repeater to get
> into a world wide e-mail network and a regional
> network with a range of nearly 200 miles in some
> directions. If hundreds of others in the region
> had done the same thing we would have had a robust
> network. It wasn't practical but it could be
> done.

Wasn't there an idea for creating a network of free nodes using special wifi access points? I recall that the idea was that these devices would be constructed so that there could be public, unprotected access to the internet without access to a private wifi network. In a typical neighborhood this would mean that one could access a neighbor's access point if he/she were using one of the special devices.

There is technology to offer community wide WIFI but I don't know what they are using. Living in Louisville, Ky., I have access to several sources of high speed Internet. Many restaurants and other businesses offer some access also. Our Governor has announced a plan to cover Kentucky, starting in the impoverished regions of East Kentucky, and area where they get sunlight in a CARE package and sell service by Pony Express. E.KY is a technology void. It's a coal rich region but the current administration has a dislike for anything "coal." Mines are closing and there are no jobs and kids in school often don't have decent access to the Internet... 56K is high speed. The network will be extended through the state in about 2 years. So, either they are going to use sheep (maybe some thoroughbreds since we are Kentucky) or something that I'm not aware of, probably the latter.

And if they do cover the state like a blanket, maybe those sheep can get on the net. (Train content: You'll even have WIFI on Amtrak's Cardinal as you travel from Cincinnati to Ashland, KY.

John