[HamWAN PSDR] [Netops] Oregon and Washington HamWAN

Randy Neals randy at neals.ca
Tue Oct 30 14:12:56 PDT 2018


Scott,

That’s great news!

I’ve reached out to some colleagues in Portland/Hillsboro that work
professionally with Internet infrastructure, and passed along the details
of Oregon HamWAN to them.

Hoping that one or more of them might engage and lend a hand with your
efforts. Perhaps around space at a data center and IP Transit/Peering with
the Internet.

Randy
W3RWN
Seattle, WA

On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 12:01 PM Scott J. Burrows <sburrows97211 at comcast.net>
wrote:

> Nigel,
>
> Thanks for the reply.  The Oregon group (oregonhamwan.com) will be
> meeting on November 10th (9am-12) to discuss organizing efforts.
> Additionally, identify possible sector locations in Portland, OR and
> possibly Vancouver, WA.  The interest in this area is huge with many people
> waiting for action.  I have learned this past month, local radio clubs had
> purchased equipment in CY2014 to deploy when the Larch Mountain connection
> was completed.
>
> I attend the Clark County Amateur Radio Club (CCARC) digital group
> meetings in Vancouver, WA.  They are discussing pilot projects, funding,
> and other aspects for the State of Washington.  The idea is to have a
> Northern and Southern route in Washington for the emergency communications.
>
> I understand your concerns about limited resources and staffing to help in
> these efforts.  However, I would like to offer a solution to the problem.
> If PSDR could work with a small group of technical and strategic members of
> the PDX/Vancouver team, we could help each other.  In the military we
> called it "Train the Trainers".  We could help create procedures,
> documentation, and other artifacts that helps everyone involved.
>
> I hope your group will see the benefit of working together with others to
> deploy workable solutions for emergency communications.  We hams are very
> talented and have time to help.  Please discuss this topic at your next
> board meeting.  Thanks
>
> Scott, N7DOD
>
>
>
>
> *----- Original Message -----*
> *From:* Nigel Vander Houwen <nigel at nigelvh.com>
> *To:* Scott J. Burrows <sburrows97211 at comcast.net>
> *Cc:* Hamwan Network Ops Operations <netops at hamwan.org>, PSDR <
> PSDR at hamwan.org>, Tom Hayward <tom at tomh.us>
> *Sent:* 10/29/2018 8:31:15 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Netops] Oregon and Washington HamWAN
> ------------------------------
> Scott,
>
> To start, thank you for the feedback. I’ll see if I can form some
> responses to your notes below. Please note that for now these are my
> opinions and perspectives. I am on the board, and I am a long time network
> admin for the Puget Sound network, but much of this covers topics that
> haven’t really been formalized.
>
> With regards to Oregon+Washington, the Puget Sound team is stretched thin.
> We’ve got a number of new sites and growth opportunities in our region, and
> we’re having to pretty severely prioritize work based on very limited crew
> availability, particularly climbers. I don’t think we’re in a good position
> to “take charge” of getting Oregon deployed too. We’re more than happy to
> coordinate work for RF links, and provide as much technical support as we
> can, but I’m going to venture to say that local folks are going to need to
> get the boots on the ground work done.
>
> Along these lines, HamWAN as an organization has always been set up that
> it *shouldn’t* be reliant on us. HamWAN is a standard that anyone can go
> and build. You noted some of these sister networks before. Tampa, Memphis,
> (2x) BC, Spokane, are all set up by other folks who were interested.
> Depending on the situation, they have coordinated with us more or less.
> “HamWAN Oregon” would be the same, if we can link via RF, that’s fantastic,
> but that isn’t a requirement for getting a local instance going down there.
>
> With regards to documentation, you are correct, it is lacking, and it’s a
> known issue. We’ve had some folks volunteer to help, but you are also more
> than welcome to help too. We’ve recently improved some of the tooling to
> make editing the documentation easier (thanks Tom). If you are, please let
> us know.
>
> Aligned with both the “sister networks” and “documentation” topics,
> HamWAN.org <http://hamwan.org/> isn’t always the clearest as to what
> represents the “standard” that applies to everyone, and what is just of
> interest/specific to the Puget Sound network, since it started here, and
> Puget Sound is the flagship. Again, it’s been a known shortfall, waiting
> for some improvement.
>
> As chairman of the board, I often encourage representatives from our
> sister networks to run for the board as our yearly elections come around.
> Sometimes we get some, and sometimes we don’t. People everywhere are busy,
> and most of the folks running these networks aren’t retired and have their
> regular jobs, families, and other drains on their time in addition to the
> hobby of HamWAN. I look forward to getting a representative from the Oregon
> sister network in the not too distant future.
>
> So, the short answer here, and again this is my opinion, is that HamWAN is
> structured so that local teams can build their own, and the common standard
> allows for clients to move from place to place, and interoperation to be
> easy. Oregon will need a local team to head the operations down there, and
> the Puget Sound folks will be pleased to work with them to help get things
> off the ground.
>
> Thanks,
> Nigel
>
> On Oct 29, 2018, at 18:31, Scott J. Burrows <sburrows97211 at comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I'm curious, do the PSDR folks in Seattle have a plan for integrating both
> Oregon and Washington into their existing HamWAN network?   I have talked
> to folks within Washington State about their costing estimates and
> deployment strategies of their HamWAN initiative.  The proposed effort
> discussed deploying HamWAN technology both for the Northern and
> Southern routes of the state.  Earlier this month, the Clark County
> ARES/RACES group submitted a "2019 Grant Request Proposal" to the Clark
> Regional Emergency Service Agency to build out a prototype client station
> at the county EOC.  Also, the folks in Oregon have secured a large grant
> (possibly $30,000 dollar) for HamWAN and will be discussing HamWAN
> deployments this year.  They are organizing teams for fund raising, network
> administration, site installation, mentorship, and strategic planning.
>
> Much of the talk in the IRC group has been about technical suggestions for
> minor technical problems.  I have not encountered any serious discussions
> about large implementation efforts in expanding the HamWAN network,
> although perhaps that is occurring via another method.  The Memphis, Tampa
> Bay, and British Columbia seem to be small regional implementations in
> distant states/provinces.  However, I have not seen any serious discussions
> about statewide strategic and tactical implementations of HamWAN (i.e.
> Washington and Oregon).
>
> In my experience, technology folks get fixated on the nuts-and-bolts of
> the network technology and forget about strategic leadership, management,
> and formal documentation.  Much of the PSDR website has not been updated in
> years.  I regularly hear comments at digital meetings where folks are
> interested in HamWAN, but are waiting for more specific information.  This
> makes large scale deployments extremely difficult if you have to email the
> HamWAN Network Operations folks every day, assuming they have time to
> respond.
>
> I understand that the HamWAN folks in Seattle are busy with day jobs and
> unable to respond immediately to all questions.  However, if the PSDR
> leadership team was to reach out to the larger audience, I am sure they
> will find many talented folks to help with most aspect of HamWAN.
>
> Hopefully this message will not be considered slamming the HamWAN folks in
> Seattle.  Please don't shoot the messenger.  The technical folks (Tom
> Hayward and Nigel Vander Houwen) have been extremely responsive and
> helpful.  I respect the vision and work that PSDR volunteers have done to
> date.  If you talk to your customer base, you might be surprised the help
> you may get.
>
> Thanks
>
> Scott, N7DOD
>
>
>
>
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