Found a way to give my PC access to the AREDN 10.x.x.x mesh network and still have access to the Internet:
I have an ethernet cable going to the house router, and the PC gets with DHCP a 192.168.1.x IP address from it, and
I have, on an AREDN node, via its LAN, a regular Linksys router with a part 15 (non AREDN) 2.4GHz WiFi, the same PC getting another IP address
(also DHCP) from my AREDN AirRouter, 10.x.x.x. The PC has a built in WiFi system. The PC seems okay with having two IP addresses.
The AirRouter has a tunnel connection to other AREDN nodes elsewhere in the world.
Now I can access AREDN sites as well as regular Internet web sites without having to connect and disconnect cables. I was hoping to be able
to get a router to direct 10.x.x.x traffic from the PC to say my AREDN nodes and other traffic to the Internet cable modem, but I never could figure
out how to do that. Maybe the key is the PC having two IP addresses?
I've heard that another way to do this is to put say the AirRouter between the house router and the cable modem, but the
cable modem and house router are in teh basement, and the ham shack is in a room on the 2nd floor of my QTH.
I have an ethernet cable going to the house router, and the PC gets with DHCP a 192.168.1.x IP address from it, and
I have, on an AREDN node, via its LAN, a regular Linksys router with a part 15 (non AREDN) 2.4GHz WiFi, the same PC getting another IP address
(also DHCP) from my AREDN AirRouter, 10.x.x.x. The PC has a built in WiFi system. The PC seems okay with having two IP addresses.
The AirRouter has a tunnel connection to other AREDN nodes elsewhere in the world.
Now I can access AREDN sites as well as regular Internet web sites without having to connect and disconnect cables. I was hoping to be able
to get a router to direct 10.x.x.x traffic from the PC to say my AREDN nodes and other traffic to the Internet cable modem, but I never could figure
out how to do that. Maybe the key is the PC having two IP addresses?
I've heard that another way to do this is to put say the AirRouter between the house router and the cable modem, but the
cable modem and house router are in teh basement, and the ham shack is in a room on the 2nd floor of my QTH.
Try multiple network NICs in the same machine (actually that's what you're doing now with WiFi) - works great. Most people don't think about it, but your WiFi connection *is* another IP. The way I have access to my LAN/WAN *and* to/thru my Mesh Node is to:
- use a normal ethernet cable connection from router to computer RJ45 jack with normal DHCP from router; and,
- connect an ethernet cable from my AirRouter/MikroTik/VLAN to my computer using a ethernet-to-USB adapter.
(another way to do this is to add in a separate NIC card into your desktop computer with its own RJ45 jack)
Depending on the mesh node firmware level I turn off "Gateway" or whatever setting it is that controls "default route", so that the Mesh Node only handles the 10.x.x.x traffic (and tunnel) thru the USB connection. That way everything except 10.x.x.x goes normal thru to the LAN and internet, and only traffic on 10.x.x.x space gets routed thru the mesh/tunnel. Works great with XP, Win7 and Raspberry PI linux.
BTW; with the new Nightly Builds, you can change the 2.4 radio in your AirRouter (or MikroTik,etc) to a 2.4 WiFi AP point and connect in with 2.4 WiFi from your computer, laptop, phone, whatever - just like that device was hard-wire connected to the Mesh LAN. The AREDN team is doing great things, hopefully coming to the Stable release soon. Of course, with the MikroTik hAP, you also have that neat little 5g WiFi AP already available.
Hope this makes sense,
- Don - AA7AU
Here's a GREATLY simplified way to do it....
Using my web cam pointed at the street where I live, this connection offers more continuous play of the camera video than the wifi did. Wifi is in heavy use in my neighborhood.
Just to clarify what I've been doing, I borrowed this diagram to explain further.
(grin)
- Don - AA7AU
ps: above stolen without actual permission (but with much admiration) from https://xkcd.com/license.html
Once you've mastered the network, don't forget the various node and antenna mounting options....
