Node Hardware

Building a connection to Bristol Wireless Backbone

Connecting to the Bristol Wireless backbone gives you access to the whole of our network, and the internet (not gauranteed, but so far pretty reliable). The following equipment is required:

• Linksys WRT-54G wireless router (currently around £50)
• Directional antenna (currently around £30)
• Cable to link the above (currently around £2/metre)
• Connectors and fixing hardware

Building a Access Point

Please ask us if you want to put up an access point in an area where there is already one. You could seriously damage our network. You will need:

• Linksys WRT-54G wireless router (currently around £50)
• 8dB omni-directional antenna (currently around £30)
• Cable to link the above (currently around £2/metre)
• Connectors and fixing hardware

You can cut costs by building your own antenna, but this is not recommended, as you may impact the connectivity of clients accessing your node (they would get a bad, unreliable connection).

General Requirements

Of course, you will probably need to get your antenna mounted, which will probably cost around £70 to be done by a professional installer. You might not need to if you have a fortuitous aspect regarding your nearest transmitter. You can cut costs by mounting your own antenna, but this is generally not advised as climbing roofing is dangerous!

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