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Unusual AP
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 9:44 am
by arizonajon
BroadbandHamnet-20-v3
2E:1E:2D:33:76:B7
I was going through my uploads and saw this particular SSID. Since the term "Ham" was in there, I'm assuming that it might have something to do with amateur radio operation. However, its coverage as evidenced by all the locations at which I've detected it is very interesting. It appears to be homed somewhere in south Scottsdale, but I've picked it up 10 miles away in different directions...
Anyone seen anything like this before? Or is there a simple explanation?
Unusual AP
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 12:01 pm
by arizonajon
a little while ago i went down to where the wifidb.net reports as the position of "BroadbandHamnet-20-v3".
Very interesting. Two different houses on the same street, about 3 houses apart. The first has a diagonally polarized panel antenna, aimed SW, on a mast. The second house, just to the east, has what appears to be one of those all-in-one outdoor Wi-Fi APs (long vertical rectangle) aimed to the SE.
- Img_3337_cropped.jpg (176.38 KiB) Viewed 17584 times
- Img_3340_cropped.jpg (92.71 KiB) Viewed 17584 times
Not sure which one is which right now, but will keep looking...
Unusual AP
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 12:33 pm
by arizonajon
i tried to get all the lat/lon/RSSIs for this AP, but there doesn't appear to be an easy way to do that. If I select the AP and export the kml, all I get is a single location. Right now it appears that I have to do this manually with cut and paste into Excel, then reformat it to my purposes. Is there a way to get the lat/lon/RSSI directly from the db?
Unusual AP
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 9:06 pm
by ACalcutt
Maybe try exporting to a detailed csv file. this will give you all the history in an easy to use format that could be imported into excel. detailed csv has multiple lines for each access point...one for each piece of signal history.
Getting the data right from the DB is possible, but not easy. AP Data, Gps data, and Signal History are separate tables that would need to be joined back together. You would get the AP ID, Search for the gps points with that AP ID in the signal history. DB is stored in %temp%/Vistumbler and is just an access MDB database.
Unusual AP
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 9:43 pm
by ACalcutt
In the WifiDb you can also go to the ap page (like
https://live.wifidb.net/wifidb/opt/fetch.php?id=290217) and click the "+" next to the signal histories
You van also search for all the "BroadbandHamnet" APs (
https://live.wifidb.net/wifidb/opt/resu ... bandHamnet ) and export them to kmz (though you wouldn't get signal history that way)
Unusual AP
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 10:57 pm
by arizonajon
attached is a kml file that includes all the positions recorded for this AP from 12 JUN through today. I don't know what to make of it. The apparent signal strength (scale of 0-100) is coded as the elevation above ground in meters.
Unusual AP
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 10:58 pm
by arizonajon
well, i thought i'd attached it. Here is it this time.
Unusual AP
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 11:00 pm
by arizonajon
every one of these positions reports the same mac address. Maximum signal is in south Scottsdale, at 33.47 by -111.92.
Unusual AP
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 11:18 pm
by arizonajon
ok, now the elevation above ground is the RSSI - (-94 dBm) as -94 dBm was the weakest signal. There seems to be a bit more resolution using dBm.
Unusual AP
Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 5:42 am
by ACalcutt
Did you see this page Jon?
http://www.broadband-hamnet.org/
Broadband hamnet seems to be some type of mesh network using linksys hardware.
Broadband-Hamnet™ (formerly called HSMM-Mesh™) is a high speed, self discovering, self configuring, fault tolerant, wireless computer network that can run for days from a fully charged car battery, or indefinitely with the addition of a modest solar array or other supplemental power source. The focus is on emergency communications.
In its current form it is built using the Linksys WRT54G/GL/GS wireless routers and operates on channels 1-6 of the 2.4GHz ISM band, which overlaps with the upper portion of the 13cm amateur radio band. Other platforms and bands include several types of Ubiquiti equipment in the 900MHz, 2.4GHz and 5.7GHz band. Adidtional features let signals come in on one band and leave on another without additional configuration. All mesh nodes on all bands exchange data so long as they are within range. We will be adding support for Ubiquiti 3.4GHz gear as well.
OLSR is used for auto linking of the mesh node radios.
OpenWRT firmware tools are used for firmware development.
Broadband-Hamnet™ is currently being designed, developed and deployed as an amateur radio broadband communications system. It originated in Austin, Texas but has spread all across the USA and many other countries around the world.
Glenn KD5MFW, David AD5OO, Bob WB5AOH and Rick NG5V are the gents spearheading the efforts, while yours truly, Jim K5KTF keeps the website up and running to provide information about the project. There is a distributed development community with users in a number of areas of the USA and other continents.
If you have questions, our forums would be a great place to research and ask questions. You will need to register and login to post to them but reading online is available without an account. Expanded search abilities are now available to find topics and keywords. Just use the search option at the top of most pages.
Unusual AP
Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 6:00 am
by ACalcutt
Looks like maybe its these guys
http://www.phxmesh.com/nodes.php
I think you would notice this station
http://www.phxmesh.com/k7cqx.php
Unusual AP
Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 10:26 am
by arizonajon
wow, thanks for tracking this down, Andrew. I've registered at the site and hope to find out more about what they're doing.