[committee] Camp Stuff

[Sam Moore]

There are now so many people in the CC list that I think I'll just send to 
committee@ and damn the consequences.

If you want to come to a meeting next week, fill in our magical timetable
script: http://www.ucc.asn.au/cgi-bin/viewtable.py

tl;dr Camp

Wireless stuff
--------------
This is probably the most important, since people will undoubtably 
complain a lot if they find themselves stuck in the middle of nowhere 
without internet, and less so if they find themselves stuck in the middle of 
nowhere with bad salad.

I'm no expert, but POE sounds like a lot of extra hassle (from the 
phrasing it sounds like custom circuits are involved?) when we could just 
run a power cable. [BG3] if you or someone else want to "do the circuitry" 
then go ahead.

Dylan already offered to lend us the mast two weeks ago, and I failed to 
arrange a meeting, for which I apologise (I honestly forgot, due to 
committee drama). Dylan, if you aren't already in Europe, are we still 
able to borrow your mast?

I can look into the plans and the extra long extension cable (exactly how 
long? I've never seen the site) and hopefully be done by the next 
committee meeting.

Advertising Stuff
-----------------
I've been criticised for not advertising this event enough, which is fair. 
Since no one wants to do a poster, I'm working on
redesigning the 2006 poster to have less questionable ascii art.

I don't really think putting the poster up around the guild will 
accomplish anything at this point, and we can't do it until the EMP is 
approved anyway. But it will be at the GigaLAN and around Cameron Hall.

As for all the events the camp clashes with... I guess we could sabotage 
them?

We have 11 people registered so far.

Food Stuff
----------
[BOB] has offered to coordinate cooking, and done a menu, which looks good 
to me. Since people haven't volunteered for cooking, I think I'll just conscript committee members. We'll start buying 
ingredients the week before the camp.

Since I put it on the form, we should probably remember to have meals for 
people with legitimate special dietary requirements.

Tech Talks
----------
Sunday evening sounds like a good night for tech talks, because that's 
when Zanchey can do his. If you want to do a tech talk, let me know, and 
start preparing it in the week before the camp.

Gaming Tournaments
------------------
I personally have no interest in organising tournaments, but presumably 
someone will complain if it isn't done. Does anyone want to do this?

Risk Assessment
---------------
Refer to the EMP.

I need to work out how easy it is to get a generator to see whether it's a 
better idea to hire one for the duration of the camp or just run and get 
one if we need it.

[SZM]

On Fri, 21 Jun 2013, David Gow wrote:

>
>
> On Thu, 20 Jun 2013, Mitchell Pomery wrote:
>
>> As mentioned on IRC:
>> Instead of running a power cable and a data cable we could set up POE. We 
>> would use a higher powered power supply to inject it at one end, and throw 
>> some circuitry at the mast end to filter the power before plugging it in
>> to skywhale. I have an injector, splitter and PSU that we could use, we 
>> would just need to do the circuitry and test that it is a stable output. We 
>> can of course keep the long power cable as a backup. Thoughts?
>> 
>> I have a roll of CAT5E cable in my car + crimping tool + ends if we need to 
>> make a new cable. Best that I know by/at the GigaLAN so I can do it then.
>
> ( [SLX] blearily emerges from the exam cave )
>
> I'm happy to supply the long cat5e cable we used last year again. God only 
> knows if POE will actually work over it, though. Personally, I suspect that 
> POE will just be one more thing that can go wrong but it's probably worth 
> looking into, particularly if you have all the gear.
>
> I take it there's going to be a network setup night?
>
> -- [SLX]
>
>
>> Also: /me pesters blackknight
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> Mitch P
>> 
>> > Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 22:27:56 +0800
>> > From: bob at ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au
>> > To: blackknight at ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au
>> > CC: bobgeorge33 at ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au; committee-only at ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au; 
>> sulix at ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au
>> > Subject: RE: Camp Wireless
>> >
>> > Ok, so here's where we're at:
>> >
>> > The club has purchased, and received:
>> > - a DIR-825 router
>> > - a Huawei E182 USB modem
>> >
>> > These two items are identical to last year. Mitch (bobgeorge33) and I 
>> have
>> > already set up openwrt on it and tested the usb modem using my virgin sim
>> > card.
>> >
>> > What I will be supplying:
>> > - A directional antenna (same as last year)
>> > - Adapters to go from the usb modem to the antenna
>> >
>> > What we still need (to source or confirm):
>> > - a mobile broadband plan or two. Last year we went with two 12G 
>> internode
>> > plans. The double plan meant we had a backup in case something went rogue
>> > and ate up all the data on one plan
>> > - pester sulix for his long ethernet cable to get us inside the building
>> > from outside
>> > - pester blackknight for his mast. Last year's mast would be great, but
>> > we need a better base for it to stop it rotating. Or we can just tape a
>> > shovel to it like we did last year. *shrug*
>> > - pester blackknight for his box to attach to the top of the mast that 
>> the
>> > router goes in
>> > - pester blackknight for his really long extension cables (or the club
>> > should just damn well get a couple, we need them for the megalan anyway)
>> > - pester blackknight some more. Just because
>> >
>> > This will leave us in the same position as last year, and we know it's
>> > something that works and works well. Which means we can afford to try
>> > out some more cool stuff and try making things faster...
>> >
>> > Ranz has offered one of his devices, which has the benefit of being able
>> > to take dual antennas to get more speed. As far as I know, it hasn't been
>> > set up on openwrt , but whoever wants to is welcome to try it. I have a
>> > second antenna that would work on this, but I would need pigtails to suit
>> > both ports. I don't think it would work all that well in chidlow without
>> > external antennas, and we would certainly get more speed with them 
>> anyway.
>> > We would need to check it can operate at the frequencies of whatever
>> > carrier we go with, especially 850MHz for telstra or 900MHz for Optus. It
>> > could also be worth investigating failover and such, though I should 
>> point
>> > out that the DIR-825 only has one USB port.
>> >
>> > Like last year, I suggest we have a night about 10 days before the camp
>> > where the full setup and network is assembled and tested (we even mounted
>> > it on the top section of the mast last year and tested it up on the
>> > balcony).
>> >
>> >
>> > Andrew Adamson
>> > bob at ucc.asn.au
>> >
>> > |"If you can't beat them, join them, and then beat them." |
>> > | ---Peter's Laws |
>> >
>> > On Mon, 10 Jun 2013, Andrew Gozzard wrote:
>> >
>> > > Hi Dylan,
>> > >
>> > > Regarding the antenna, I am pretty sure we sourced another of the same 
>> make
>> > > and model and may have even bought it, though I have never seen it show 
>> up so
>> > > I guess not. Also, Ranz and Bob were talking about having a 
>> single-modem
>> > > dual-carrier system, and I believe ranz may have a 4G dual-carrier 
>> capable
>> > > device, though I am really not sure. I am CC'ing them both on this as I 
>> do
>> > > think they know the current state of play better than I.
>> > >
>> > > Ranz was also talking about taking a drive up to Camp Lesch to see if 
>> his
>> > > modem got Telstra 4G out there, though I don't know if that happened.
>> > >
>> > > While I doubt I would be much help at the face-to-face meeting you 
>> suggested,
>> > > I will say that I am unfortunately unable to make Wednesday due to the 
>> need to
>> > > study for an exam on Thursday. However, I will be in tomorrow for the
>> > > committee meeting and on Thursday shortly after my exam finishes at 
>> 4pm, if
>> > > you can make either of those times.
>> > >
>> > > Best,
>> > > Gozz
>> > >
>> > > On Mon, 10 Jun 2013, blackknight at ucc.asn.au wrote:
>> > >
>> > > > Hi Sam,
>> > > >
>> > > > My involvement last year was primarily the mast, which I'm happy to 
>> help
>> > > > with again this year. I was just thinking this morning that I should 
>> get in
>> > > > touch and see how the plans were progressing...
>> > > >
>> > > > Looking in the tool cupboard the other week, I saw we have a "new"
>> > > > second-hand wireless home router modem of the same model as last 
>> year, which
>> > > > definitely works with OpenWRT and USB dongles. I am however slightly
>> > > > concerned by the dongle that was purchased this year - it doesn't 
>> seem to
>> > > > have an external antenna connection based on my very brief 
>> inspection. It
>> > > > would be great if someone could have a closer look at it and confirm 
>> that it
>> > > > will operate on the 3G network of whichever provider we go with. Not 
>> all
>> > > > providers use the same frequency band.
>> > > >
>> > > > Even if the dongle has an external antenna connection, we don't have 
>> an
>> > > > antenna at the moment. The one we used last year belongs to Bob and I
>> > > > believe is currently providing wireless broadband to his family on 
>> the farm,
>> > > > and so may not be available. It may turn out that we don't need a
>> > > > directional antenna, but by the time we get the system together 
>> enough to
>> > > > find out that we do need one it will be too late to order one.
>> > > >
>> > > > If we want dual carrier we'll need a second dongle, a second antenna 
>> and to
>> > > > make sure that the router accepts two USB devices. The box may get 
>> squishy.
>> > > >
>> > > > I will be in Europe for the majority of July, so I will miss the camp 
>> this
>> > > > year. I'm hoping we'll have the wireless hardware sorted before I go 
>> so we
>> > > > can make sure it all fits in the enclosure. To that end, any chance 
>> we can
>> > > > have a face-to-face meeting at UCC one evening this week? Wednesday 
>> is ideal
>> > > > for me, but negotiable.
>> > > >
>> > > > [DTK]
>> > > >
>> > > > -----Original Message-----
>> > > > From: Andrew Gozzard [mailto:gozzarda at ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au]
>> > > > Sent: Monday, 10 June 2013 1:43 PM
>> > > > To: Sam Moore
>> > > > Cc: blackknight at ucc.asn.au
>> > > > Subject: Re: Camp Wireless
>> > > >
>> > > > I actually wasn't involed lsat year in any way. I have been taking a 
>> bit of
>> > > > interest this year, but it is all a bit over my head. Bob specced 
>> most of
>> > > > the stuff. Ranz has some useful hardware to provide maybe. I remember 
>> they
>> > > > were discussing having a 2-carrier system, for which we would need to 
>> buy a
>> > > > second directional antenna I think, though I don't think anything 
>> came of
>> > > > this judging by the hardware that UCC then bought on bob's 
>> recommendation.
>> > > >
>> > > > I would very much like to be kept in the loop, but I don't have the 
>> clue in
>> > > > this field to be of much assistance, I am sorry to say.
>> > > >
>> > > > Kind Regards,
>> > > > Gozz
>> > > >
>> > > > On Mon, 10 Jun 2013, Sam Moore wrote:
>> > > >
>> > > > > Hi,
>> > > > >
>> > > > > I understand you guys were in charge of the wireless setup at last
>> > > > > year's camp.
>> > > > >
>> > > > > Would you mind giving me an overview of the setup, since I wasn't 
>> there?
>> > > > >
>> > > > > Gozz: I know we've bought hardware for the camp already, but is 
>> there
>> > > > > anything else needed?
>> > > > >
>> > > > > Thanks,
>> > > > > [SZM]
>> > > > >
>> > > >
>> > >
>> 
>> 
>