<div dir="ltr">Before I vote, I'd like to learn more about our cashflows to ensure that the necessary credit could be promptly paid down.  How much in donations was received last month, and how much in donations was received in February and March of 2014? I don't want to spend more on this than we earn in a quarter.</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Mar 8, 2015 at 10:32 PM, Nigel Vander Houwen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:nigel@nigelvh.com" target="_blank">nigel@nigelvh.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">I agree with getting a long term antenna and one that continues our sectorized plan. YAY.<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div><br></div><div>Nigel</div></font></span><div><div class="h5"><div><br><div><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Mar 8, 2015, at 12:30, Bart Kus <<a href="mailto:me@bartk.us" target="_blank">me@bartk.us</a>> wrote:</div><br><div>
  
    
  
  <div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
    I didn't go, nor would I trust HamWAN money to sketchy antennas.<br>
    <br>
    I purchased the 3 modems recently approved (1 replacement 5GHz and
    the 2 900MHz modems) and saved money by combining shipping.  There
    is $118.12 left in approved funds to get a 900MHz antenna solution. 
    Baltic is asking for <b>$204.59 to make the OD9-8 antenna happen</b>
    (shipping included).  Laird's lower gain antennas also have crazy
    high shipping costs, and they quickly approach isotropic gain.  I
    don't think it's a good idea to spend $125 on shipping for what was
    supposed to be a low cost / low performance test antenna. 
    Longer-term, we would very likely employ a cross polarized MIMO
    system since bandwidth @ 900MHz is very limited and it's therefore
    important to maximize bit/Hz.  There is only one antenna on the
    market that I'm aware of that fits the bill: Ubiquiti AM-9M13.  It's
    a 13dBi 120 degree dual polarity sector.  I'm pretty sure they add
    the dBi from H+V polarizations to arrive at 13dBi, so it's probably
    10dBi / polarization.  Still, 2dB better than the 8dBi OD9-8.  This
    antenna is physically smaller, so the shipping is much cheaper.  <b>It
      costs $278.36 shipped</b>.  We'll also need a pigtail cable to
    adapt from the RP-SMA terminals on the antenna to the N-male on the
    modem.<br>
    <br>
    Now, there are a couple advantages to going this route:<br>
    <br>
    1) We can re-use this antenna if we do deploy a 900MHz service since
    it's the only one I'm aware of that fits the bill.<br>
    2) The experimental phase can test both vertical and horizontal
    polarity performance independently by simply switching a cable.<br>
    <br>
    So here's the modification:<br>
    <br>
    1x Credit from removing OD9-8 = ($118.12)<br>
    1x Ubiquiti AM-9M13 @ $252.00/ea = $252.00<br>
    1x RP-SMA to N patch cable (1m) @ $9.95/ea = $9.95<br>
    1x NF-NF barrel adapter @ $4.25/ea = $4.25<br>
    1x Shipping @ $36.60 = $36.60<br>
    <br>
    <b>Total additional funds requested: </b><b>$184.68</b><br>
    <br>
    If we don't end up doing a 900MHz service, or it doesn't use these
    components, we'll return or eBay the parts and credit the HamWAN
    balance.<br>
    <br>
    --Bart<br>
    <br>
    <br>
    <br>
    <div>On 3/6/2015 7:59 PM, Tom Hayward wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"><p dir="ltr">Try the swap meet tomorrow? </p>
      <div class="gmail_quote">On Mar 6, 2015 7:55 PM, "Bart Kus" <<a href="mailto:me@bartk.us" target="_blank">me@bartk.us</a>>
        wrote:<br type="attribution">
        <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
          <div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> Turns out the shipping
            on that 8dBi vertical is $125.<br>
            <br>
            I'm open to suggestions at this point.<br>
            <br>
            --Bart<br>
            <br>
            <br>
            <div>On 3/6/2015 11:23 AM, Bart Kus wrote:<br>
            </div>
            <blockquote type="cite"> I just sent you all the relevant
              invoices.<br>
              <br>
              Thanks, board!  I guess I'm placing all the orders now.<br>
              <br>
              --Bart<br>
              <br>
              <br>
              <div>On 3/6/2015 11:19 AM, Cory (NQ1E) wrote:<br>
              </div>
              <blockquote type="cite">
                <div dir="ltr">Bart,
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  <div>I also vote YAY on the contingency that you get
                    caught up on the paperwork.  I still don't have the
                    invoices on file from your last two purchases. ;)</div>
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  <div>That makes it unanimous, so I guess the voting is
                    complete.</div>
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  <div>-Cory</div>
                  <div>NQ1E</div>
                </div>
                <div class="gmail_extra"><br>
                  <div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 6, 2015 at 10:49
                    AM, Ryan Elliott Turner <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ryan.e.t@gmail.com" target="_blank">ryan.e.t@gmail.com</a>></span>
                    wrote:<br>
                    <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
                      <div dir="ltr">Thanks, Bart. I vote yay.<br>
                      </div>
                      <div class="gmail_extra"><br>
                        <div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 6, 2015 at
                          12:47 PM, <a href="mailto:gary.k7ek@yahoo.com" target="_blank">gary.k7ek@yahoo.com</a> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gary.k7ek@yahoo.com" target="_blank">gary.k7ek@yahoo.com</a>></span>
                          wrote:<br>
                          <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
                            <div>
                              <div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">
                                <div>I'd be interested in experimenting
                                  with 900 mhz gear at my Spanaway
                                  residence, and possibly at my Graham
                                  Hill repeater site. I believe 900 mhz
                                  would provide better overall results
                                  than 5 Ghz, which proved to be
                                  marginal to barely usable during our
                                  recent site survey.</div>
                                <div><br>
                                </div>
                                <div>Best regards,</div>
                                <div><br>
                                </div>
                                <div>Gary, K7EK</div>
                                <div><br>
                                </div>
                                <div><br>
                                </div>
                                <div>Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G
                                  LTE Smartphone</div>
                                <div>
                                  <div>
                                    <div>
                                      <div><br>
                                        <div>----- Reply message -----<br>
                                          From: "Bart Kus" <<a href="mailto:me@bartk.us" target="_blank">me@bartk.us</a>><br>
                                          To: "Puget Sound Data Ring"
                                          <<a href="mailto:psdr@hamwan.org" target="_blank">psdr@hamwan.org</a>><br>
                                          Subject: [HamWAN PSDR] VOTE:
                                          900MHz service experiment<br>
                                          Date: Fri, Mar 6, 2015 10:38</div>
                                      </div>
                                    </div>
                                  </div>
                                </div>
                              </div>
                              <div>
                                <div>
                                  <div>
                                    <div><br>
                                      <pre style="word-wrap:break-word;white-space:pre-wrap">Hello,

5.9GHz is awesome when it works.  The speeds are great, and it carries 
as far as the eye can see with very low ambient noise floor.  It does 
however have problems when it needs to penetrate trees and buildings.  
To alleviate this, I'd like HamWAN to offer a slower but deeper 
penetrating 900MHz service.  900MHz is the lowest frequency ham band 
without bandwidth or modulation rate restrictions.  Before we deploy a 
full cell site, I'd like to get some real-world experience with 900MHz 
penetration, propagation and ambient noise conditions.  Here's the 
cheapest appropriate hardware we can use for this:

1x Vpol omni antenna @ $79.50/ea = $79.50 
(<a>http://www.balticnetworks.com/laird-antenna-omni-8dbi-900mhz-n-female-integrated.html</a>)
2x 9HPn modem @ $108.00/ea = $216.00 
(<a>http://www.balticnetworks.com/mikrotik-metal-9hpn.html</a>)
1x Shipping @ $UNKNOWN (quote not showing?!  Need to call them.) = 
$40.00 ???

Total: $335.50

I already have a 900MHz high gain Yagi-Uda in my inventory and can use 
that to do various field tests.  These can be directly compared against 
5.9GHz performance since the gear will be deployed to one of our 
existing 5.9GHz cell sites.  The results of such comparisons will give 
us a good idea of how well 900MHz might do for HamWAN.

Disclaimer: These may not be the right modems or antennas for us 
long-term.  A real deployment might use Ubiquiti Rocket M900 with their 
sector antennas.  These Ubiquiti items are far more expensive though, 
and their software doesn't integrate as easily into our network, so for 
the purposes of the test I believe the set of hardware I proposed will 
do well at deploying fast and keeping costs down.

NOTE: If both the votes are approved, I will combine shipping from 
Baltic to save money.

--Bart

_______________________________________________
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<a href="mailto:PSDR@hamwan.org" target="_blank">PSDR@hamwan.org</a>
<a>http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a>
</pre>
                                    </div>
                                  </div>
                                </div>
                              </div>
                            </div>
                            <div>
                              <div><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
                                PSDR mailing list<br>
                                <a href="mailto:PSDR@hamwan.org" target="_blank">PSDR@hamwan.org</a><br>
                                <a href="http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr" target="_blank">http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a><br>
                                <br>
                              </div>
                            </div>
                          </blockquote>
                        </div>
                        <span><font color="#888888"><br>
                            <br clear="all">
                            <div><br>
                            </div>
                            -- <br>
                            <div><p><font face="arial, helvetica,
                                  sans-serif">Ryan Turner</font></p>
                            </div>
                          </font></span></div>
                      <br>
                      _______________________________________________<br>
                      PSDR mailing list<br>
                      <a href="mailto:PSDR@hamwan.org" target="_blank">PSDR@hamwan.org</a><br>
                      <a href="http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr" target="_blank">http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a><br>
                      <br>
                    </blockquote>
                  </div>
                  <br>
                </div>
                <br>
                <fieldset></fieldset>
                <br>
                <pre>_______________________________________________
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<a href="mailto:PSDR@hamwan.org" target="_blank">PSDR@hamwan.org</a>
<a href="http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr" target="_blank">http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a>
</pre>
              </blockquote>
              <br>
              <br>
              <fieldset></fieldset>
              <br>
              <pre>_______________________________________________
PSDR mailing list
<a href="mailto:PSDR@hamwan.org" target="_blank">PSDR@hamwan.org</a>
<a href="http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr" target="_blank">http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a>
</pre>
            </blockquote>
            <br>
          </div>
          <br>
          _______________________________________________<br>
          PSDR mailing list<br>
          <a href="mailto:PSDR@hamwan.org" target="_blank">PSDR@hamwan.org</a><br>
          <a href="http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr" target="_blank">http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a><br>
          <br>
        </blockquote>
      </div>
      <br>
      <fieldset></fieldset>
      <br>
      <pre>_______________________________________________
PSDR mailing list
<a href="mailto:PSDR@hamwan.org" target="_blank">PSDR@hamwan.org</a>
<a href="http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr" target="_blank">http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a>
</pre>
    </blockquote>
    <br>
  </div>

_______________________________________________<br>PSDR mailing list<br><a href="mailto:PSDR@hamwan.org" target="_blank">PSDR@hamwan.org</a><br><a href="http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr" target="_blank">http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a><br></div></blockquote></div><br></div></div></div></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>
PSDR mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:PSDR@hamwan.org">PSDR@hamwan.org</a><br>
<a href="http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr" target="_blank">http://mail.hamwan.net/mailman/listinfo/psdr</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><p><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Ryan Turner</font></p></div>
</div>