iGate at the airport

[rpellicciotti]

I would like to set up an iGate at my airport (2M8). This would allow tracking of aircraft on the ground and down low in the pattern. I have a couple of iGate built and tested, one running on an old laptop and another running on a Raspberry Pi. These work fine at my house where I have internet access. I have electricity at my hangar but I don't have internet or phone line. Anyone have an idea on cheap, slow, internet access for at the hangar?

[VHS]

Rick,

How about running a Digipeater instead of an I-gate? With a high enough antenna, you are probably within range of a high level digipeater that can make it to the web via other I-gates, and you provide the value added feature of fulling in a hole to "real-time" operators (Those running on just the RF side) Of course, you could take your PC out there and see if anyone within range has WiFi active, and point a directional Wifi antenna to their network ( with their permission of course) Cellular data links will eat you alive with all the data flowing through your gate. (FYI, Don't forget that Hams can run more power on Wifi then mere mortals, although you have to clip out part of the band that we don't share.) Dial up? Fuggitaboudit!

Allen

[PaigeHoffart]

I think a digipeater is the way to go, but you might need some elegant path settings. The standard settings that most use for airborne APRS won't make it through a digipeater hop. You could configure the digi to repeat a set of callsigns, or perhaps a fixed geographic area without regard to the path setting.

[rpellicciotti]

Originally Posted by VHS

Rick,

How about running a Digipeater instead of an I-gate? With a high enough antenna, you are probably within range of a high level digipeater that can make it to the web via other I-gates, and you provide the value added feature of fulling in a hole to "real-time" operators (Those running on just the RF side) Of course, you could take your PC out there and see if anyone within range has WiFi active, and point a directional Wifi antenna to their network ( with their permission of course) Cellular data links will eat you alive with all the data flowing through your gate. (FYI, Don't forget that Hams can run more power on Wifi then mere mortals, although you have to clip out part of the band that we don't share.) Dial up? Fuggitaboudit!

Allen

Allen, this is an excellent suggestion. My only concern is whether or not the airport will let me get an antenna up high enough. Maybe they will let me put it on the beacon tower?

By the way, I finally remembered to post pictures of my Micro trak RTG installation on your yahoo page.

[VHS]

Rick,

I saw the photos, very nice! If you can hit another digipeater with brute force, you may be able to get by even with a low hanging antenna, although I am sure that tower looks like a tempting home for a digi antenna.

Allen