Tue, 29 Nov 2005

SeattleWireless Tower Fundraiser

SeattleWireless has been presented with the grand opportunity of collocating on top of a large radio tower on top of in the Seattle area at no cost! But we need your help to make this project a reality.

One of the most difficult engineering obstacles when building a community wireless network is access to high locations. WiFi signals require line-of-sight between two locations in order to function properly. Building a network within a juggle of large, concrete apartment buildings and steel high rises, even over a couple blocks is a monumental task. This is especially true when noting that SeattleWireless projects are solely financed on a need-by-need basis by members. Our nodes are built with inexpensive, off-the-shelf hardware, and we even climb rooftops in the pouring Seattle rain.

However, a radio tower is not your typical roof top. There is no elevator to the top of this structure! Skilled and insured tower climbers need to be hired, weather hardened gear needs to be purchased, and care needs to be taken on hardware selection so that we only need to hire a climber once.

A tower location, such as this one located on Capitol Hill, not only helps expand our network in the Seattle area, but ultimately opens access from many other locations in the Puget Sound area. It will provide our community network with a high, central location to bring our network to a critical mass required to foster further growth.

We have budgeted $2500 to purchase the required hardware, contract a climber to install the gear, and cover any additional hardware costs and future site maintenance.

Due to the significant costs of this project, we need your help! We have been offered the unique opportunity of free tower space with no recurring costs. We have the technical skills, the facilities, all we need now is your generosity.

Please visit http://www.seattlewireless.net/fundraiser/ to help out -- even if you just want to donate a couple bucks.

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