[committee] Camp Stuff

[Dylan Kerr]

Tuesday at 3 is fine for me.
Are you going to keep the mast at UCC for the next 6 weeks or so? My house
is not all that far off Great Eastern Highway as you're coming back from
Chidlow, so I can let my parents know there may be someone dropping stuff
off after the camp if necessary.

Things I don't have at the moment are stakes; you'll need to acquire
something to tie the guy ropes to. 3x 600mm star pickets would do.

[DTK]

-----Original Message-----
From: Sam Moore [mailto:matches at ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au] 
Sent: Sunday, 23 June 2013 12:03 PM
To: Dylan Kerr
Cc: committee at ucc.asn.au
Subject: Re: [committee] Camp Stuff

Ok, can we do Tuesday 3pm?

I'll volunteer to be personally responsible for not being stupid.

If you're willing to lend us the cables as well, that would be great.

[SZM]

On Fri, 21 Jun 2013, Dylan Kerr wrote:

> Yes, you can still use the mast. I would like to give it to someone 
> and have them be personally responsible for not being stupid.
>
> I filled out timetable.py - I can do any afternoon or evening except 
> Thursday.
>
> In the spirit of oneupmanship, I have a roll of Cat6 (*gasp*) and all 
> the necessary bits.
>
> I have power cables you can use, like last year. POE is one more thing 
> to go wrong - by all means try it, since it would be great if it 
> worked, but
> *please* take power cables with you.
> I know you've probably worked it out already, but remember that having 
> one or two USB devices on the router for uplink will increase the power
usage.
> Each USB device can in theory draw up to 5W.
>
> In regards to length, the mast was about 50m from the door last year, 
> and we managed with two of my long cables (which are between 25 and 30m).
>
> See you next week!
> [DTK]
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 
> committee-bounces+blackknight=ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au at ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au
> [mailto:committee-bounces+blackknight=ucc.gu.uwa.edu.au at ucc.gu.uwa.edu
> .au]
> On Behalf Of Sam Moore
> Sent: Friday, 21 June 2013 3:10 AM
> To: committee at ucc.asn.au
> Subject: [committee] Camp Stuff
>
> 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]
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>