Node Atoys

[Bill Vodall]

On Fri, 27 Jan 2006, Matt Westervelt wrote:

> Node Atoys is live.  
> 
> http://seattlewireless.net/NodeAtoys


In the spirit of Atoys, and other great node adventures, I'm
comtemplating putting up a WiFi "radio station!" 

Not a full time AP -- but should be capable of running as one if
so desired.  Also not a dedicated client -- but should be
capable of running as one.

The idea is I would calculate the bearing towards ATOYS, rotate
the direction antenna and listen for packets.  I'll probably never
hear it as I have a little hill (aka Kirkland - Hi Todd) in
the way.

I'm thinking of a decent outside directional antenna -- one
of the plastic saw shapped beams - on a rotator slightly over
the roofline.  That will be connected by a very short run of
LMR-400 (or better) to a BOX which might even be mounted on
the mast.  From there it's Ethernet and POE to the home network.

The question is - what's in the BOX?   Ideal would probably be
a cpu (Hi Metrix) with the 200 mw Senaio card.  Unfortunately
that's outside the current budget so I'd like to do it with
a modified WRT54G.  Is that possible?  Does the software available
for the WRT54G allow using the tools available for looking
for packets and running in all the possible configurations?
Does IWCONFIG run on a WRT54G like it would on a basic LInux
box with an old Orinoco card?

Any other suggestions for a reasonably flexible and economical
set up for the radio box?

Thanks,
Bill