The obvious device to connect to a mesh network is a smartphone. We should be able to do most things on the mesh that we do on the Internet as long as we can interconnect and use appropriate apps. Send and receive audio, video, email, files and programs/apps. Is anyone doing this?
Utilizing smartphones on amateur radio can be the next big thing and it can move Hamnet from geek territory to the mainstream ham community. It can even entice young people to become radio amateurs...
Rod Fritz, WB9KMO
Mesa, AZ & Santa Barbara, CA
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Randy, are there any detailed How to's for the rest of us Technically Challenged Ham's?
Assumptions:
1. There is a WiFi access point (AP) enabled associated with the mesh network that your smartphone can reach. This is easily done using a Ubiquiti AirGateway attached to a POE injector and configured with some easily found SSID and password (example SSID = arednmesh, password = arednmesh). Make sure that your smartphone is connected to this WiFi AP before continuing. On our homepage, picture #9 in the banner is the AirGateway that I use.
2. You have a smartphone with a VoIP application such as Linphone installed. Some VoIP applications may not work unless you register with a VoIP service provider or register with an Asterisk PBX server on your mesh network. Linphone will let you dial an IP address directly without any fuss.
3. You have a VoIP phone on your mesh network – example IP address is 10.179.83.215 which it received from one of your mesh nodes.
Before continuing, setup a new contact on your smartphone for the VoIP phone you wish to call. For example, the new contact is Demo1; its phone number is 10*179*83*215 and its homepage URL is sip:10.179.83.215.
Now just open Linphone, go to the Contact icon and select your Demo1 contact and touch the dial icon. Your IP phone on the mesh network should now be ringing.
I just setup a demonstration like this in my office today in under an hour just to confirm that all works as it should. As usual, much of the time was spent getting the pieces gathered up from various hiding places and very little time spent configuring things once everything was connected and powered up.
My config from the i-net down is: Inet -900mgz WISP - ARHP in standard part 15- Netgear 108E w/ 4 VLANS - Nanostantion M2 POE w/ AirGateway.
I set the Airgateway to "BRIDGE" mode, set the SSID, set the time.
Set my WiFi on the laptop to auto connect to the AirGateway. Set my phone to the AirGateway.
This has been great as the RJ45 for the mesh has gone away. i.e. I can see the mesh nodes via Wifi. I no longer have to disconnect the RJ45 to get my laptop to connect to my WiFi printer.
Downloaded Linphone and did not config any accounts. I did set it to share my contacts. It does not work with my IP contact.
I can set the address in the "Enter a number or an address" sip:10.xx.xx.xxx and it will ring my Mesh IP phone. I can talk into my mesh phone and hear it on my Samsung S6. The microphone icon on the Linphone is shown as muted and I cannot talk on the S6 and hear it on the IP phone. I have not been able to unmute the microphone on the S6.
Disclaimer - I have seen numerous errors between the chair and the keys. :)
Thoughts appreciated - Vance - KC8RGO
Now working another problem where my AirGateway does not always have I-net. One problem at a time - thanks for your help!
\Vance - KC8RGO
Vance - kc8rgo
Thank you Randy, I will try to prevail in my endeavors. We would love a detailed write up, as many of us are technically challenged, I am quite sure there are many hams out here that would be interested in getting started with BBHN or AREDN if we knew how. If we had the various how to's (step by step) on setting up IP Phones, file servers, how to tunnel etc.. I have read through every post in the forums here, and still struggle. You guys do ROCK with what you do, please try to remember us little guys down here that are less endowed.
Regards
Rick AJ4FW
See the link here for info:
http://www.aredn.org/content/airgateway
http://www.firstnet.gov/
Then we run Linphone in the cell phones and they can call one anther as well as any IP phones, Macs or PCs on the mesh
Linphone also provides chat and video capability.
Bob W8ERD
Do I need accounts, provisioning etc? What are the Linphone parameters - THANKS.
Vance - KC8RGO