Sunol Ridge

Sunol Ridge Repeater Group (W6SRR)

Site is located off Palomares Road, Castro Valley at Sunol Peak (map)(photos)

The Sunol Ridge is geographically located between Union City and Pleasanton. The ridge line separates the Fremont area of Alameda County from Dublin, Pleasanton, and Livermore on the east side of the ridge.

Nodes

W6SRR-SR-HAP

• Radio: Mikrotik hAP AC2
• Frequency: -
• Bandwidth: -
• Antenna: builtin
• Location: 37.620065,-121.922218
• Altitude: -
• Bearing: -

W6SRR-SR-LIVERMORE

• Radio: mANTBox 19s
• Antenna: 120° sector
• Frequency: 5.855 GHz (channel 171)
• Bandwidth: 10 MHz
• Location: 37.620065,-121.922218
• Altitude: 660m
• Bearing: 38°

• Downtilt: 2.5°

W6SRR-SR-FREMONT

• Radio: mANTBox 19s
• Antenna: 120° sector
• Frequency: 5.905 GHz (channel 181)
• Bandwidth: 10 MHz
• Location: 37.620065,-121.922218
• Altitude: 660m
• Bearing: ~228°
• Downtilt: ~2°

W6SRR-SR-SQX

• Radio: Mikrotik SXT 5 High Power
• Antenna: Built-in
• Frequency: 5.895 GHz (channel 179)
• Bandwidth: 10 MHz
• Location: 37.620065,-121.922218
• Altitude: 660m
• Bearing: ~334°
• Downtilt: 0°

Backbone

To San Carlos

Dish to San Carlos

• Radio: airFiber 5XHD
• Antenna: airFiber 30 dBi Slant 45
• Frequency: 5965 MHz (FCC OET Experimental License WO2XAS)
• Bandwidth: 40 MHz
• Location: 37.620065,-121.922218
• Altitude: 660m
• Bearing: 246°
• Read Only Access: mesh / aredn-back-bone

To Mt Allison

Sunol Ridge to Allison

• Radio: airFiber 60 Long-Range
• Link Name: sunol-to-allison
• Frequency: 68.040 GHz
• Bandwidth: 1080 MHz
• Mode: AP
• Antenna: Built-in
• Location: 37.620, -121.922
• Altitude: 667m
• Bearing: 161°

Site Details

Configuration

Sunol Ridge hosts an Edge Router X SFP and an EdgePower 24V 72W, an airFiber 5XHD, a hAP AC2 and various other AREDN nodes.

Devices

Device	IP	Notes
EdgeRouterX SFP	AREDN LAN	Management on VLAN 1004
EdgePower 24V 72W	AREDN LAN
airFiber 5XHD	AREDN LAN	Management on VLAN 1004

VLANs

VLAN	Description
1	AREDN WAN
2	AREDN DtD
1000	Backbone
1100	San Carlos Backbone
1101	Mount Allison Backbone

Edge Router X SFP

Port	Description	VLANs	PoE	Notes
0	AREDN	2	24v	W6SRR-SR-Livermore
1	AREDN	2	24v	W6SRR-SR-Fremont & W6SRR-SR-SXQ
2	AREDN	2,1101,1102	24v	to W6SRR-SR-HAP
3	AREDN	2	24v	(unused)
4	airFiber 5XHD	1101	24v	to San Carlos
5	airFiber 60 LR	1102	-	to Mount Allison. Uses 48v PoE injector.

airFiber 5XHD

Port	Description	VLANs	Notes
Data	to EdgeSwitchX	1100	Management VLAN 1100
Mgmt	(unused)

Edge Power 24V 72W

Port	Description	PoE	Notes
1	AREDN	24v	Provides a 100Mbps AREDN PoE port
2	to W6SRR-SR-HAP	Off

W6SRR-SR-HAP

Port	Description	VLANs	Notes
1	to EdgeRouterX	(U), 2, 1000, 1100
2	EdgePower	(U), 2, 1000	Custom vlan1000 passthrough
3	AREDN	(U), 2, 1000
4	AREDN	(U), 2, 1000
5	AREDN	(U), 2, 1000

Power

Power is provided on site. A backup generator is also included. However, we include our own backup power using an EdgePower 24V 72W and two 24Ah LiFePO4 batteries. The batteries are mounted on a 2U shelf mounted towards the bottom of the equipment rack and provide ~1 day of backup power. The rack already contains other batteries for separate equipment so this is compromise between space, weight, and runtime.

Coverage

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Future Plans

• Replace 60G LR dish with 60G XR dish
• Replace faulty Fremont sector

Completed Work

February 2024

• Repointed airFiber 60 LR dish at Mt Allison
• Repointed airFiber 5XHD dish at San Carlos

September 2023

• Remount the San Carlos dish with 5"-to-2" bracket and post (part MS-100)
• Repoint the W6SRR-SR-SQX toward K6ORI-LPD-WIEDMANN-OMNI (334°) which would provide a better backup link.
• Install airFiber 60 Long-Range dish pointing at Mt Allison.

February 2023

• Completed initial installation

Commercial Neighbors

Etheric Networks, Inc. shared tenancy at Sunol Ridge. They license (WQUA557 WRJT283) spectrum in the 5.96 GHz (60 MHz), 6.09 GHz (30 MHz), 6.21 GHz (60 MHz) and 10.8 GHz range. Unlike many microwave tenants, the licensed band overlaps with the WiFi 6E spectrum which must defer to their use. Care must be taken when running a backbone link through this site, although we are unlikely to be run links in similar directions.

Other Neighbors

The site also contains many other radios, including radios for Alameda County, the emergency services and Alameda County OES. The primary EOC is located in Dublin. (map)

Local Radio Clubs

• Sunol Ridge Repeater Group (W6SRR)
• Livermore Amateur Radio Klub (LARK)
• Hayward Radio Club (K6EAG)
• South Bay Amateur Radio Association (KU6S)

Points of Interest

• Livermore area mesh radio nodes reporting as of Jan 2023. (KML)
• 

• Livermore Airport (HAT)
• Alameda County Dublin EOC (map)

Contacts

Site Admin

• Ian Parker - W6TCP - w6tcpian@gmail.com

Mesh Admin

• Tim Wilkinson - KN6PLV - tim.wilkinson@me.com