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Hi,<br>
<br>
I've been fiddling around for the last month, trying to get a routing
node up in Carlton (JDS). After putting up an 8m rooftop mast with a
25dbi parabolic and a 15dbi Omni, figuring out the vagaries of OpenWRT
etc, I have been looking for a node to connect to. While I have found
a lot of APs, I could only find one MW node (HVC) and am at too oblique
an angle to get a good signal.<br>
<br>
So despite being in a central location with good line-of-sight North
and South, a high mast, decent antennae etc, I can't find a node to
link to. Looking at the link maps, there are a lot of isolated nodes
with relatively few operating links. That got me wondering if MW is in
danger of being limited to a clique of enthusiasts, and what needs to
happen for MW to achieve critical mass. If this navel-gazing topic
hasn't been broached recently, it would seem to be a worthwhile
discussion.<br>
<br>
Some possibilities I've thought of (my relative ignorance may mean
these are infeasible):<br>
<ul>
<li>Provide a more compelling offer for people to join. I don't
understand why providing Internet access seems to be poo-pooed on the
MW site; while it has obvious challenges (e.g. finding an ISP- APANA?),
it's the most obvious reason for people to invest the time and $.</li>
<li>Identify tall structures that members have access to and invest
in panels etc to create perhaps 5 'core nodes' (perhaps fund with
higher member fee that includes free access as above- e.g. I think most
would happily pay $50 pa; maybe higher fees for those acting as a leaf
only).</li>
<li>(maybe a bit far out) Approach Universities etc to act as
wireless.org.au routing nodes- similar to their role in forming the
core Internet. I'm next to Melbourne University, which has a lot of
802.11 infrastructure.<br>
</li>
</ul>
Thoughts? Sorry for dropping such a huge eMail in the festive season...<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
<br>
Lee<br>
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