Monthly Update - October / November 2022
Did we mention that Pacificon was happening? Well, it happened, and we were there with our tables, posters, hardware, and presentations. So, what did you see or what did you miss?
Pacificon 2022
SFWEM table
I’m told our table was in a different spot than usual, but as the spot we had was a major thoroughfare between the hotel lobby and the main events, we got excellent traffic and lots of people interested in the Mesh. We displayed posters showing how we’d grown over the last year or so, and we also had an interactive map on a display which helped people find where to look for their most likely neighbor for a mesh connection (note to self - a touch screen monitor would be awesome next year). We handed out stickers, flyers, a random selection of Halloween candy and old radio valves (less tasty, more fun). We had a live mesh connection via Starlink, and plenty of nodes to show to potential new recruits.
People came by to ask questions and to discuss how they might help. We even had a few folk drop off nodes to be fixed (they’re all in the mail back to you!).
Thanks to all the amazing people manning the SFWEM table over the weekend, including NB6F, KJ6DZB, KN6KOO, NZ6J, N6HLZ and W6BI, and in particular to those holding down the fort while the rest of us were presenting.
Presentations
On Saturday morning we had the SFWEM, BAM and AREDN track with three presentations.
Opening things up was W6BI with his talk “An Overview of AREDN Software and its Capabilities”. W6BI is a veteran of the AREDN talk, and has introduced AREDN to many amateur radio enthusiasts around the world over the years (often AREDN will see a spike in new nodes from specific countries, and it’s usually traced back to a talk W6BI gave). This year one focus of his talk was the services people and groups are offering on the mesh; from chat servers to PBXs to video cameras. Video was particularly fascinating as he showed how various cameras in southern California had helped document wildfires over the last few years. But, as ever, W6BI’s talk includes so much more information, especially if you’re just starting out on the mesh. The slides of his talk can be found on the wiki:
http://kn6plv-wiki.local.mesh/images/1/1d/Mesh_Networking_Overview-5.0-.pdf
Next up was yours truly, KN6PLV, with my first talk at Pacificon. The talk “Cleaning up the Mesh: Making AREDN more usable, reliable, and fun” looked at how the AREDN software has changed over the last 12 months. It was roughly divided into three parts. First, how the update process was fixed, making it easier and faster to install new AREDN firmware. Next, how we made the mesh network itself more reliable, vanquished storms, and improved bandwidth. Finally, how we tackled keeping the mesh fresh, removing old nodes and services that either don’t exist anymore, or don't actually work. To illustrate … or possibly not … many of my points, I included AI-generated images. At best these could be described as interesting; at worst rather concerning. The slides for the talk can be found on the wiki:
http://kn6plv-wiki.local.mesh/images/9/92/Pacificon2022CleaningUpTheMesh.pdf
KJ6DZB kindly recorded my talk, so if sleep is ever elusive, you can watch it on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n1bGx_7ekk
Finishing up the session was KJ6DZB, with his talk “The Bay Area Buildout: What happened in 2019/2020 & beyond”. KJ6DZB provided an overview of how technology has changed, the obstacles when building networks (from mice to gunshots!), and how our needs change as our networks grow bigger and more complex. But amongst all this fantastic information, there was also the best mesh map porn you can find, with carefully generated animations showing how various meshes have grown over time; from humble beginnings to multi-county coverage. KJ6DZB’s talk can be found here:
And the animated maps here:
http://kn6plv-wiki.local.mesh/index.php/Pacificon2022_-_Animated_maps
AREDN Q&A
To finish off Saturday, W6BI organized a Question & Answer meetup in the later afternoon. We weren’t quite sure who would show up and why, and we half expected people to drop by with broken nodes to be fixed. In the event, it was a traditional and well attended Q&A. We did our best to talk about AREDN, the Bay Area and Southern California Meshes, solutions to problems and future development.
Wiki Feedback - last chance
Last chance to vote on whether to make the wiki available on the Internet or keep it as Mesh only. No login required and it only takes a moment to vote:
https://forms.gle/NLdupB4LFLP9Ymyu7
AREDN News
AREDN are always looking for people willing to pop the latest nightly build on a handy (handy meaning “not up a water tower”) node and provide feedback. Releases are only as good as the people who test them. Right now there’s a cool new feature to make searching for services super easy - check it out here:
https://www.arednmesh.org/content/nightly-builds
73,
Tim - KN6PLV - tim@sfwem.net