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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The nearest high ground is Mt. Burrumboot where
Telstra have their base station which is indeed used to cover the Elmore field
days site. There are also a few other towers on the hill for local two way
radio services etc. Mt Burrumboot has excellent views over some pretty
flat country. It is fully cleared with a good track to the top but alas it
is on private property, the track starts next to the farmers
house.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>So to use the site, one would either have to swing
a deal with one of the existing tennants or get permission from the farmer to
set up in the paddock where we would need to arrange our own power.
(Multiply this by at least 5 sites if we want to bring it up all the way from
Melbourne)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Given the distances involved I think the only real
option would be to pull intermet from DSL somewhere in Elmore. Relay it
(if required) to the Jamboree site and then do some hotspots
etc. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Then again, things have changed a lot in the last 5
years and you may find the big T (or other carriers) are involved. I would
be very surpised if there were no phones on site and given that, how hard would
it be to get DSL directly to site.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Telstra Countrywide are big into making a name for
themselves these days and thrive on getting involved with events like
this. They even set up a temporary base station (free to the organisers)
at the Meredith music festival. So if we are serious we'll probably
need to make an offer to the scouts early before someone else jumps in! Or
at least check if they already have a sponsor or are interested at
all.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Rtabaggy.</FONT></DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=melbwireless@gnieslaw.com
href="mailto:melbwireless@gnieslaw.com">Simon (NodeIRC)</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=melbwireless@wireless.org.au
href="mailto:melbwireless@wireless.org.au">melbwireless@wireless.org.au</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, February 08, 2006 12:45
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [MLB-WIRELESS] Proposal: MWRP at
Scouts Jamboree</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Introduction:<BR>The Scouts are having their Jamboree (National
Camp) next year in Elmore, Victoria (North of Melbourne, near Bendigo). Having
been in Scouts and having been to the Jamboree in Sydney(2000), I remember
that the Internet access was totally unreliable and unbearably slow. The idea
before I left for Sydney was to post the Scout Troop's activities and photos
for the parents to see at home from our Troop's website. In practice I had to
queue in front of a small portable room for an hour, just to get five minutes
of Internet Access. (A Scout Troop is a contingent from a Scout
Group)<BR><BR>The portable room consisted of the most unstable recycled
hardware which caused constant crashes (which seemed like every 5 seconds).
The Internet connection consisted of a Satellite connection downstream, and a
28.8k modem connection upstream (shared with 15 PCs). I am not exaggerating,
and it definitely wasn't enough to get anything done. <BR><BR>The Scout are
expecting 13,000 scouts. I'm not sure how many Troops are going to be there
(each one would probably have 1 or 2 leaders that would be using the Internet
Access to communicate back to the families). I don't know how large the site
is either (I'm guessing at least a few square kilometers). <BR><BR>Melbourne
Wireless currently has a relationship with the Hawthorn Scouts. We use their
hall and we helped them run a Wi-Fi wide game.<BR><BR>Proposal:<BR>I propose
that Melbourne Wireless initiate a partnership with the Scout Association to
deploy MWRP nodes to blanket the camp site with 802.11b/g, deploy a long
distance Bi-Directional link back to Melbourne. The Scouts (with all of their
influence) could organise an Internet backbone with a large ISP (Like how
Telstra provided the poor Internet connection and hardware in Sydney 2000).
Implementing filtering/proxy/cache/authentication (Open Source/Free ie:
ICRAplus <EM></EM>, Squid, ChilliSpot) shouldn't be too hard, but let's not
count our chickens before they hatch.<BR><BR>If this proposal is popular with
Melbourne Wireless, is successfully presented to the Scouts, and they accept
our proposal, we will be building a stronger relationship with the Scout
Association. In return for providing a wireless network for a the Jamboree,
the nodes can be redeployed at various Scout Halls to help with our 'Backbone'
upon conclusion of the camp. The equipment would belong to the Scout
Association (and is theirs to redeploy at their Scout halls), so it would be
expected that they pay the equipment costs. <BR><BR>It would also be a
practical testing opportunity for the MWRP nodes, under real load
conditions.<BR><BR>Benefits to us: <BR>- MWRP testing opportunity<BR>- A way
to get financing for MWRP nodes (even if we don't own them) <BR>- Relationship
with a large organisation with city wide physical infrastructure (scout
halls)<BR>- Exposure to scouting members (potential MW members with expertise
in Linux/Networking/RF)<BR>- Exposure for regular members to connect to the MW
network <BR><BR>Benefits to them:<BR>- Complete infrastructure to provide
Scout Troops (Scout Leaders and permitted Scouts) with Internet Access using
their own equipment (Laptops with Wi-fi - Troops can source one to borrow from
one of the families if none of the leaders have one) during Jamboree to
communicate with parents and keep a Diary of their Adventure. <BR>- After
Jamboree, the Scouts will have direct access to the MW network for their own
uses (ie: Wi-Fi Wide Game like Hawthorn Scouts, Reduced Internet Access costs
by not having to subscribe to an ISP for low-level usage 4 times a month).
<BR>- A mutual relationship with another community organisation (Melbourne
Wireless) which is a positive thing.<BR><BR>I would also like this bring this
up at this Friday's meeting, if there is a positive response from the list.
<BR><BR>Opinions? Feedback?<BR><BR>- Simon Gnieslaw.<BR><BR><BR>Useful
Links:<BR><A onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://www.getinthegame.com.au/content_new_photos.htm"
target=_blank>http://www.getinthegame.com.au/content_new_photos.htm </A>(Site
Photos)<BR><A onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://www.aj2007.org.au/"
target=_blank>http://www.aj2007.org.au/</A><BR><A
onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://www.getinthegame.com.au/"
target=_blank>http://www.getinthegame.com.au/</A><BR><A
onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://www.vicscouts.getinthegame.com.au/"
target=_blank>http://www.vicscouts.getinthegame.com.au/</A><BR><A
onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://www.scouts.com.au/"
target=_blank>http://www.scouts.com.au/</A><BR><A
onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://www.scouts.asn.au/"
target=_blank>http://www.scouts.asn.au/</A><BR><A
onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="http://www.vicscouts.asn.au/"
target=_blank>http://www.vicscouts.asn.au/</A><BR>
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list<BR>Melbwireless@wireless.org.au<BR>http://wireless.org.au/mailman/listinfo/melbwireless<BR>
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