Emergency Antenna Platform System (EAPS)

I will see your Roomba and raise you an Emergency Antenna Platform System (EAPS):

"The Emergency Antenna Platform System was designed by Amateur Radio operators (Hams) to assist in providing emergency communications during times of need, specifically natural disasters that disrupt normal communications. During an emergency Hams can be called upon to setup an ad hoc communications post for a shelter or medical station, EAPS can be used to raise radio antennas to an optimal height using an available lamp post, flag pole, or most any vertical structure."

Yaesu FT-991: FCC

Out of my price range...

New Yaesu FT-991 HF/50Mhz, 144/440Mhz Portable Transceiver Approved by FCC http://t.co/fzdI4WWAYh via @worldwidedx #hamradio
— moleculo (@moleculo) November 25, 2014

Forced Charity

Knoxville Utility Board to force all customers to participate in charity - unless they opt-out.

Unreal. KUB is my utility - not my conscience.

Leixen VV-898: Free Mobile Antenna

I don't have a VV-898 and I've been tempted a couple of times... BuyTwoWayRadios is sweetening the deal at $150, free ship, and free mag mount mobile antenna:

Get a FREE mag mount mobile antenna with purchase of a Leixen VV-898! Details http://t.co/Ph6y4XE60h @brickolore @amatradio #hamradio
— BuyTwoWayRadios.com (@2wayradios) November 25, 2014

Baofeng UV-82: Real Camo Edition

Just in time for the holidays, Baofeng Tech has the UV-82 Outdoor Edition in real camo.

Wouxun KG-UV8D: Free Speaker Mic with Purchase

Holiday #HamRadio! Free speaker mic with purchase of Wouxun KG-UV8D! Details http://t.co/WnfBIQQ0vW #amateurradio @brickolore @amatradio
— BuyTwoWayRadios.com (@2wayradios) November 24, 2014

Yes, our Wouxun KG-UV8D is now factory set to go up to 520MHz! http://t.co/WKRebQj3nA #hamradio #amateurradio #buytwowayradios
— BuyTwoWayRadios.com (@2wayradios) November 24, 2014

Eduroam

I've recently learned about the Eduroam service and I must say it is a cool idea. Basically, a bunch of schools got together to allow wireless access at each other's locations:

"The eduroam initiative started in 2003 within TERENA's Task Force on Mobility, TF-Mobility. The task force created a test bed to demonstrate the feasibility of combining a RADIUS-based infrastructure with 802.1X standard technology to provide roaming network access across research and education networks. The initial test was conducted among five institutions located in the Netherlands, Finland, Portugal, Croatia and the UK. Later, other national research and education networking organisations in Europe embraced the idea and gradually started joining the infrastructure, which was then named eduroam. 

eduroam allows any eduroam-enabled user to get network access at any institution connected to eduroam."

So say, I was a student at the University of Tennessee here in Knoxville. If I were to visit London, I would be able to connect to the LSE's (and many other's) wireless network. That's pretty slick.

CWNP: CWTS - Service Sets

My study guide/notes... my definitions may not be perfect, but they help me with concepts.

Service Set (SS) - all the devices connected to a wireless LAN.

Basis Service Set (BSS) - a single access point and all of its connected devices

Independent BSS / Ad Hoc / Peer-to-peer - devices talk to each other without a central authority like an access point

Infrastructure BSS - an access point that connects to a larger distribution network

Extended Service Set (ESS) - a collection of BSS that are working together to provide wireless service in an area

Basis Service Set Identification (BSSID) - the MAC address of the access point

Service Set Identifier (SSID) - the unique identifier for a BSS or ESS, what we commonly call the name of the wireless network

Intel Wireless AC 7260 Problem and Work-around

I got a new laptop at work and it has the Intel AC 7260 wireless card. Apparently, it does not like our AC access points here. With the default settings, my iperf tests look like this:

iperf\iperf.exe -c server -r -i 2 -w 524288

------------------------------------------------------------

Server listening on TCP port 5001

TCP window size:  512 KByte

------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------

Client connecting to server, TCP port 5001

TCP window size:  512 KByte

------------------------------------------------------------

[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth

[  4]  0.0- 2.0 sec  24.0 MBytes   101 Mbits/sec

[  4]  2.0- 4.0 sec  24.1 MBytes   101 Mbits/sec

[  4]  4.0- 6.0 sec  30.2 MBytes   127 Mbits/sec

[  4]  6.0- 8.0 sec  30.8 MBytes   129 Mbits/sec

[  4]  8.0-10.0 sec  28.1 MBytes   118 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec   137 MBytes   115 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0- 2.0 sec  6.67 MBytes  28.0 Mbits/sec

[  4]  2.0- 4.0 sec  6.87 MBytes  28.8 Mbits/sec

[  4]  4.0- 6.0 sec  4.33 MBytes  18.2 Mbits/sec

[  4]  6.0- 8.0 sec  6.17 MBytes  25.9 Mbits/sec

[  4]  8.0-10.0 sec  6.05 MBytes  25.4 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0-10.1 sec  30.4 MBytes  25.2 Mbits/sec

If I change the HT Mode from VHT Mode (AC) to HT Mode (N) in the driver properties, then my results get much better.

[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth

[  4]  0.0- 2.0 sec  33.4 MBytes   140 Mbits/sec

[  4]  2.0- 4.0 sec  30.6 MBytes   128 Mbits/sec

[  4]  4.0- 6.0 sec  33.0 MBytes   138 Mbits/sec

[  4]  6.0- 8.0 sec  33.0 MBytes   138 Mbits/sec

[  4]  8.0-10.0 sec  34.4 MBytes   144 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec   164 MBytes   138 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0- 2.0 sec  25.8 MBytes   108 Mbits/sec

[  4]  2.0- 4.0 sec  30.9 MBytes   130 Mbits/sec

[  4]  4.0- 6.0 sec  29.6 MBytes   124 Mbits/sec

[  4]  6.0- 8.0 sec  30.7 MBytes   129 Mbits/sec

[  4]  8.0-10.0 sec  31.3 MBytes   131 Mbits/sec

[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec   149 MBytes   124 Mbits/sec

I see the same sort of results with Speedtest.

Trouble with Tribbles GIF

Pretty funny GIF version of the Trouble with Tribbles episode.

Via Ace of Spades