[Battlemesh] Mounting gear

[Andrew Parnell]

> My questions are related to the physical mounting of point-to-point links,
> such as the Nanostation.
>
> Those things seem to be designed for mounting on poles of a standard size.
> What sort of mounting poles are these?  What kinds of sources can you get
> them from?  Do you get gear that's - like - articulated, so you can change
> how the antenna is aimed?

I don't think it matters terribly - whatever way you can make it
secure and pointing in the correct direction is fine.  Nylon zip ties
are your friends, also "O" clamps (eg for a car radiator hose) make
for a good, secure connection.  You may have noticed for our temporary
setup in the hacking space, we used a length of wood tied up to a
chair.  Of course this was temporary, but again, whatever works :)

You can definitely buy some purpose-built antenna poles, but with a
quick trip to the hardware store and a bit of creativity, you will
certainly find many ways to achieve your goal.

> Also, re getting power and data to the point-to-point links:  You use an
> outdoor power outlet and a POE device that is weatherproof?  What about
> getting data into the device?  You drill a hole in the wall of the building
> and run a cable up to it?  Special weatherproof cables are required?
>  Conduit?

The way I am thinking of doing this is to keep the POE adapter indoors
in the basement, and from there running a STP cable up the side of the
house to the roof.  If you happen to have an outdoor power socket
available, then you can probably use this, but of course you will need
to weatherproof it as the POE adapters are not meant to be used
outdoors.

Andrew