Survey Ideas.

[Beebe]

I've been wanting to rig up my truck for a while with a laptop mount, GPS, hook my audio into the truck stereo, slap an omni on the roof for Internet etc. One thing that was stopping me was the need to constantly take my laptop in and out of the truck, I'd be always plugging and unplugging wires to do surveys or to configure the radio in the customer's house etc.

Another problem I've been having is surveys. I rigged up a war board with a switch to turn it on and off, and 3 9v pp3 batteries. It works, but the batteries only last for 2 or 3 surveys. I also have to carry my laptop on the roof with me along with the rootenna, which is awkward, trying to climb a ladder with all that stuff.

So... I was taking a shower today and I thought... Hmmm... the WAR has two radio card slots, why not link to the WAR wirelessly from the laptop instead of using a wire... and leave the laptop in the truck. Maybe use starutil to pull the signal level from the WAR every couple of seconds, and maybe use some text to speech thing to read me the signal levels. Or could even just beep if it's an acceptable (say over 75db) signal. Since the laptop is hooked into the truck's stereo, I could hear it from a rooftop.

I thought about the power supply problem and I came up with a solution, I think. Nicad cells. solder enough of them together to make a 24v supply. It'd last a lot longer than pp3 batteries. I found a website where they'll make the packs up in whatever configuration you want.

http://www.batterystation.com/configurations.htm

I thought I'd get two of the 12v and hook them up in series to get 24v for the WAR.

So I'd just need a power supply to plug into the inverter in my truck to charge them. I'll add a bulkhead mount barrel connector to the rootenna for charging purposes.

An advantage of this setup is that you can do a survey when it's raining, you don't have to worry about your laptop getting wet.

The first problem I've come across is with starutil

roger@roger-laptop:~/staros$ ./starutil 12.109.222.2 ******** -ci wpci1
Server reported an error: Command not supported

Is this a problem with starutil on linux, or is this a problem that -ci is not supported in v3 yet?

If anyone can add anything to this idea, go ahead... I thought about just using the flashing LED on the WAR and putting a clear plastic back on the rootenna so I could still see it.

Another neat idea someone mentioned is to get an old laptop and install StarOS on it and add an external antenna connector.

Thanks,
Roger

[David L. Vrablic]

Been there and done that.
I have a dual WAR box with 2 CM-9 cards in it.
I put it in the bucket of my truck and attach whatever antenna I need to test with on radio 1.
Radio 2 is on 5.x low power AP mode and talks to the computer in the cab that has a CM-9 in a pci adapter and a rubber duck.
I putty into the test radio and have all the comforts of a warm cab while I position the boom with a remote control.
I tuner has power supplies that work in an EPIA 1000 that will have an automatic gracefull shutdown built right in.
I have the truck extras on a master switch and a second battery bank that is separate from the starting bank.
I get the truck and turn the master on and the computer comes on boots up in XP and is ready to go.
I get ready to leave the cab, I turn the master off and it shuts down all by itself. This is one of the handiest things I have done to the truck.
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For drive testing I attach an external antenna and the use the cab radio computer and LCD screen with Netstumbler or the Atheros survey tool to see what is around.
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Sometimes I use a poe ROOTENNA and power it off the 12vdv via an injector and a hunk of cat 5 and plug right into the network port.
I stick it on a pipe and clamp it to the cone rack on the truck for on the ground test.
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I did buy some itronix 300mhz rugged laptops and had hopes of putting Star on those.
I pulled out the HD and replaced it with an adapter and a CF.
There is a problem that it looks for a license key before it loads the device the key is tied to. So I can't save anything or really set it up.
These things cost over 5 grand when they were new and are waterproof and you can drive over them. They are on ebay for under 200.
I would like to get them working to cart up a ladder or use on a roof.
Any ideas !

[Beebe]

Can anyone point me to a battery that will fit in a 14db Rootenna and drive a WAR board and a charger that will work with it? I'm sure someone has done this before...

I was going to go with Ni-cad cells but apparently you're supposed to fully discharge them before charging them back up, and I'm wanting something I can keep charged up and ready all the time.

Thanks,
Roger

[tog]

Hehe sorry, the only thing I've done before is two car batteries at the base where the PoE is indoors to provide better-than-UPS functionality for keeping things running for 1 - 2 weeks without utility power. When indoors, use AGM batteries, not standard sealed lead acid which vent hydrogen as they charge.

Keep in mind whatever battery setup you can come up with doesn't need to fit in the rootenna unless you intend not to have cat5 running outside of the box down to someplace. Also, any battery setup that will fit inside a roo will not provide very much run time.

One thing we do for surveys is either use the car power and an inverter or use a "booster pack" which I don't have very many details on. It seems to be a good-sized battery inside a chassis with a handle and provides posts for jumping a car as well as AC outlets.

[mrmike]

Dewalt XRP drills and impact drills come with 2 18 volt battery packs, and 1 pack will run the impact drill for about 20 installs. So, the extra pack can be jury-rigged to supply power for the war (and the computer, if required), in a pretty small footprint.