Mt Vaca East

Sac-AREDN

Mount Vaca East is located at a radio site on the eastern side of the ridge line, slightly below the peak of Mount Vaca (map)(photos).

Part of the Bay Area Backbone.

Nodes

W6AK-MTVACA2-5

• Radio: Mikrotik RouterBOARD 912UAG-5HPnD (Basebox 5)
• Antenna: 120° sector
• Location: 38.392, -122.096
• Altitude: 2,800 ft
• Bearing: -

Backbone

MtVacaE-to-CarpHill

• Radio: Ubiquiti airFiber 5XHD
• Antenna: 34 dBi dish
• Location: 38.392, -122.096
• Altitude: 2,800 ft
• Bearing: 71°

MtVacaE-to-Twitchell (proposed)

• Radio: Ubiquiti airFiber 5XHD
• Antenna: 30 dBi dish
• Location: 38.392, -122.096
• Altitude: 2,800 ft
• Bearing: 127°
• Notes: This connects to a low-site at Twitchell, which in turn connects onwards to Mt Diablo.

Cameras

• Camera: Sunba Performance P525 5MP 25X
• Login: http://mtvaca-camera.local.mesh/
  • Username: guest
  • Password: guest!000
• Camera: http://mtvaca-camera.local.mesh/images/snapshot.jpg
• Video: rtsp://MtVaca-Camera.local.mesh:554/media/video1

Site Details

The site is home to the Sac-AREDN club.

Noise

Mt Vaca has many towers and is an extremely noisy environment.

Future Plans

• Realign dish for best signal now we have a connection.
• Switch out the Basebox5 radio for a Rocket 5AC Lite (the Basebox5's wifi is broken).
• Install a second sector.

Completed Work

October 2024

• Installed a Sunba Performance PTZ camera.

February 2024 / 2

• Re-flashed the airFiber radio with PtP firmware (rather than PtMP) and successfully established a connection to Carpenter Hill.

February 2023 / 1

• Repointed dish to try for a consistent connection to Carpenter Hill. Signal strength improved but connection still mostly fails.

December 2023

• Install the backbone equipment, including an airFiber 5XHD and 34 dBi dish antenna, pointing at Carpenter Hill.

Contacts

Site Admin

• Tom Preston - KQ6EO - tpkq6eo@gmail.com

Mesh Admin

• Tom Preston - KQ6EO - tpkq6eo@gmail.com