Sylmar Hang Gliding Association

Who should I give the money to? Chip ? The Club?

So far I am the only one contributing both time and money (although others have donated some materials). Any money donated will go to only recoup my cost of the equipment. Additional money will go toward the webcam (whack cam) portion of the installation.

It's going to take a server (which I am pretty sure will come my way), and some video capturing software. I'll tally my cost this week and post them on this forum so everyone is aware of the cost of the implementation.

Contributors so far:

Christian: Donated a wireless router which I still have and may use for the server. And $100 (a big Thank You!!!)

Rick Holman: Donated his time by helping me mount the antenna.

Sebastian Lutges: Donated 100' cat 5 cable.

Jose Lopez: Donated a 8x8x4 NEMA enclosure for the wireless router and power over ethernet converter.

Joe Greblo: Helped with the antenna installation and has given us permission to share his internet connection.

Don Donated $100 (Thanks a bunch!!!)

So now that the wireless is up (had to make a few modifications to allow Macintosh clients to connect this week), I'm planning on getting the camera setup for the whack cam.

This will be a bit more involved because we will need to put up a server so we can frame grab the video stream. Not sure about out uplink bandwidth at the moment. We need to be careful on our uplink bandwidth because we are sharing the internet with WindSports. If the uplink is to demanding then we may not be able to get the uplink required to get full motion video.

We'll test in the next few weeks but I kinda doubt we will have it up in time for the Dahlston Cup.

We will need some help with sheet metal so if that's your specialty let me know because I'm sure we could use your help.

Had to make some more changes to the security because if stability issues. Seems that since going to 128bit WEP security the wireless has been less than reliable. I changed over to WPA-TKIP security and things seem better.

The current code will be posted to an area in the LZ (I'll laminate the cover so it can last). From now on you can get the code here as well.

The type of encryption is inside the circle on top, to the left is the SSID, to the right is the type of network protocal. The passphrase or "code" is at the bottom.

Monish (spelling?) has donated a server for the whackcam. I am building it on top of Windows 2003 Web Server Enterprise edition. The computer is pretty nice and has mostly what we need. I'll need a capture card and a bit more ram (had 384mb). I put 768MB in it but need to get it all patched up. It's gonna take a few days to get this server ready and then some time for the capture card. Generally I think I can have it complete by the end of October. All in all though it's coming along. Thanks everybody that has donated time and money so far.

There's been some problems with the wireless availablity of late and we (Erwin and I) decided to get a new router to see if the problem will go away after we replace the router.

I've got the new router configured and will keep all the security settings the same as the older router. The security code will still be the same as well.

If you do not remember the code you can get it here.The old sign blew down so I'll print up a new one, hopefully our gale force winds are gone for a while.

Next steps are the camera. I finally got the capture card and the server working pretty well. I'll be creating the schedule soon so the video will capture to disk. Unfortunatly we probably will NOT have a live stream as the bandwidth from the windsports cable modem will not suport the upload speed. I will be pulling the capture video off the server and will edit the best footage of the day and post the whacks for "education" and entertainment. It'll likely help create a great whack video for the Christmas party this coming year.

Erwin has wired the power into the new storage container so I think we are nearly there with the infrastructure.

I know it's been a while since the last update but all has not been idle. I put together a "cantenna" with an old soup can and a direct TV satellite antenna to create a point to point link from the Windsports house to the LZ. You might have seen it in the LZ if you been there recently. After Erwin made a "pigtail" adapter for the setup, I finally got to test it today.

Testing was pretty good seeing how the alignment isn't all that good at the moment. I was getting about 73% signal strength (keep in mind this is from a soup can). Over the next week I hope to get a better (stronger) pole mounted and get the antenna alignment better so we can get around 90 - 100% signal strength (I'm pretty sure it's possible).

After this setup is up, another wireless access point will go into the LZ so we'll have no issues with the signal strength.

After that is up then we'll mount the camera and put the "WhackCam" server in the storage facility. This server has enough space to store 75 days worth of landings (the camera will be recording from 2 - 6pm). The plan is to have it pointed in the place where most people land to record good and "not so good" landings. I'm not sure we can get the cam on the internet, but the video will be available to computers using the LZ wireless. Still got a bit more to go but I think it can be finished soon.

Thanks to Erwin for making the pigtail and other support, Dave Teal for the camera and housing, JoseB for the electronics box, Christian and Don for their donations, Sebastian for the cat5 cable and of course Joe Greblo for the internet access.

Chip,
Sounds like your hands are full at the moment, but down the road let us know what it would take to get a whack cam on line. There may be enough fools here to make it happen. We would be the first hang gliding club in the world to have a live, user-controlled view of our LZ--the landings, the people, the gliders, the beer. For a look at what's possible:

http://www.mammothmountain.com/cams/ind ... cam=canyon

Hey Chip,

Where do I send my cash (check) donation. I'd like to mail it if I can.

Thanks

Some new devolpments this weekend with the help of David Froschauer we mounted the point to point "Cantenna" Dish. Yes that's right it's a soup can (tomato soup). Wanting to keep the costs down I decided to put together a dish with surplus parts. Earlier testing showed good promise. David Froschauer was a big help and the main designer of the mounting system, Rick Holman helped me get the pole the right size. It's up on the back side of the new storage container. It looks pretty good. Erwin came up with the mounting idea for the LZ omni antenna that will be hooked up to the LZ wireless access point.

The setback was my wireless bridge took a dump and I'll have to get it replaced. In the meantime I can "probably" get something together to finalize the testing and bridging.

Once this get up we'll not have to worry about the signal strength in the LZ any longer, although on Saturday there were 3 computers on line in the gazebo.

I printed up some placards for the wireless code but made a typo on them so I'll reprint them again. In the meantime here's the link to a page that has the code at the bottom, you might want to print it.

LZ Wireless Code

OK,
Finally I think the wireless portion is complete. The configuration that's working pretty well at the moment is as follows.

SHGA.ORG wireless is now considered the point to point wireless system (although it will work as a backup). SHGA.ORG gets it internet conection from the Windsports house and sends it accross the street. Up until Friday it was also our main connection to the internet in the LZ.

The problem with this setup was evident when a lot of cars started showig up in the parking lot. The signal would start to reflect and we would get iffy signal strength. By setting up the "cantenna" dish we are able to "bridge" the SHGA.ORG wireless network with the SylmarLZ wireless network and get better signal strength.

I've had a few setbacks trying to get this configuration working. But I think we are just about finished with all the problems. As of yesterday I had great signal strength all the way to the "barrio" (N end of the LZ) . I discovered the gazebo has a RF shadow from the omni and will likely need to be angled some way to change the poloraization slightly. Changing the polorization has worked everytime we've had a signal problem so I'm pretty sure it will work again.

The code is changing since it's a different wireless network. You'll be able to get the code in the box where the phone is or right here.

This step was important to the overall goal of getting the WhackCam up and running. The cam is ready as is the server. I do need a box that can be mounted to the inside of the stoage container to house the server, router, bridge, and power strip. If anyone wants to assist with that give be a shout.

Chip, let us know what you need. Whack cam is a good project for coming year and I think there are enough of us interested to help you make it happen.