Documentation

• 1: Overview
• 2: Getting Started
• 2.1: Served Agencies
• 2.2: Amateur Radio Operators
• 2.3: General Public
• 3: Link Configuration
• 3.1: RF Connection Configuration
• 3.2: Tunnel Connection Configuration
• 4: Anchor Node Sites
• 4.1: Park Tower
• 4.2: Resilience Tier Rating
• 5: Services
• 5.1: PBX Phone System
• 6: Work in Progress
• 7: Contribution-Guidelines

1 - Overview

Why does CAREDN need its own documentation?

AREDN, the technologies that supports and powers CAREDN, has fantastic documentation. This site does not intent to document AREDN hardware, softwere, or any of the functions of the technology. For all of that documentation, see the official AREDN documentation here. This documentation page is intended to help CAREDN users get connected to the Chicago AREDN deployment, familiarize themselves with the hardware and services available in the Chicagoland area, and access those resources.

What can I find here?

This site will help you learn about

• What backbone nodes are in the area?

  • Discover hardware that is deployed in the Chicagoland area at locations where others should be able to connect to them.

• How can I connect to them?

  • Learn about the technical details of these backbone nodes.
    • What channels are they?
    • What bandwidth?
    • Where are they located?
    • How can I connect to them?

• What services are deployed on CAREDN?

  • What software and or services are currently deployed on the CAREDN network?
  • How can I utilize them?
  • Who do I talk to about registering a phone with the PBX?
  • Who can I talk to once I do so.
  • What feature codes are enabled on the PBX?

Where should I go next?

If you are new to CAREDN, here are a few pages that might get you started:

• What is CAREDN
• What is AREDN
• Getting Started

2 - Getting Started

Getting Started with CAREDN

Served Agencies

What is a served agency?

How Can a Served Agency Benefit from AREDN?

Amateur Radio Operators

What is an Amateur Radio Operator?

Why would an Amateur Radio Operator be Interested in AREDN?

General Public

If you are not one of the above, you are this. Check out how you can get involved and get active. You might also look into getting a amateur radio license (often referred to as a ham radio license). It is inexpensive and very accessible. There are more amateur radio operators in the US today than ever before. To learn more, check out these links:

• What is Ham Radio?
• Getting your Ham Radio License
• Find a Class in Your Area
• Find an Exam Session in Your Area
• Join the North Shore Radio Club

2.1 - Served Agencies

TODO

This section is a work in progress.

2.2 - Amateur Radio Operators

TODO

This section is a work in progress.

2.3 - General Public

General Public

If you are not a served agency nor an amatuar radio operator, this section is for you. Check out how you can get involved and get active. You might also look into getting a amateur radio license (often referred to as a ham radio license). It is inexpensive and very accessible. There are more amateur radio operators in the US today than ever before. To learn more, check out these links:

• What is Ham Radio?
• Getting your Ham Radio License
• Find a Class in Your Area
• Find an Exam Session in Your Area
• Join the North Shore Radio Club

3 - Link Configuration

3.1 - RF Connection Configuration

TODO: Fill in this page

3.2 - Tunnel Connection Configuration

TODO: Fill in this page

4 - Anchor Node Sites

4.1 - Park Tower

Site

Located roughly 520 feet AGL on top of the Park Tower condominium building.

DMS: 41° 58’ 48.6912 N -87° 39’ 16.6752" W

DD: 41.980192 N, -87.654632 W

Click Here for Maps

Nodes

Park Tower currently houses a single node.

NS9RC-5G-PARKTOWER

Description

This is the anchor node in the mesh system, and was the first permanent node to be deployed in a publicly accessible location.

Equipment

Transceiver - 5GHz - Ubiquiti - Rocket M5 Antenna - 5GHz Sector - 19 dBi - 120 degree - Ubiquiti - AM-5G19-120

Coverage

Antenna is pointed at roughly 305 degrees and down 1 degree. Coverage should be up to 20 miles between ohare and the lake front.

Services

There is currently a camera hosted on this node. This camera is a proof of concept only, and is sitting in the rack pointed at the front of the winlink server. This may be moved to a more useful location at a later date.

Power Source

This site is covered by the NS9RC repeater system battery backup power.

Future Plans

CAREDN plans to add a second node at park tower pointed southwest to cover the gold coast and near west sides of downtown. This project is pending funding.

Images

Images taken of and from the Park Tower site. They may be helpful in identifying if you have line of the site to the tower by locating landmarks in these photos.

4.2 - Resilience Tier Rating

TODO: This entire concept is a work in progress by Casey KV3T. Your feedback is encourages and appreciated.

Concept

The resilience tier rating (RTR), is an objective systems of ratings to determine which nodes are most likely to continue to serve the network during various types of outages or failures. It is a system of 10 key metrics, which can be objectively evaluated, to determine how reliable a node is during adverse conditions. These factors can be summed to determine a final RTR, which can be used to quickly evaluate relative resilience.

This concept is inspired by the FEMA ICS resource categorization concept. Where resources are rated type I, II, III or IV depending on its capabilities. Each category class has objective metrics used to rate functionality in a given situation. This allows a single simple language to used throughout the entire incident command system. Its consistency allows for Note that higher is not always better. Some factors apply more or less to various use cases. A portable node with a 500AH battery backup is impractical. A client tunnel connection only serves its purpose if it has an internet connection. Therefore its entire use case relies on the internet and is not resilient against internet outages by design. This is not a single metric that will rate all client nodes, it is simply a tool that can be used when evaluating link connections. Additionally, the concept can be utilized via a simple math equation to calculate a link resilience tier rating (LRTR), or the rating of your link connection reliance from node A to node B.

This concept is to help others understand the relative resilience of each network component, and encourage members to increase the resilience of their deployed assets for the betterment of the network in the face of adverse operating conditions.

Metrics

Hardware Suitability

Memory

• 63MB or less: 0 pts
• 64MB or more: 5 pts

MIMO

• no: 0 pts
• yes: 5 pts

Mounting Suitability

This rating assumes the unit is mounted outside. If it is mounted inside, it receives a rating of 0. If unit is exterior rated, it receives a rating of 5.

If the mounting point is secured against sustained winds in excess of 100mph, an additional 5 points is awarded.

Power Resilience

How resilient is the node against power abnormalities.

If not battery backup is supplied, it receives a rating of 0.

If the node is on generator backup use figures below for how long the generator will run without human intervention (IE, how much gas is in the tank connected to the generator, not how much is on site.) If the generator will reboot gen-start subtract 2. If a combination generator and battery is used, use the combined length of how long the node will stay up without human intervention.

• 1 day of power backup: 3 points
• 3 days of power backup: 5 points
• 7 days of power backup: 6 points
• indefinite power backup (solar, wind, hydro): 10 points

Network Resilience

How resilient is the nodes network connection.

• If the node is not RF connected, it receives a resilience score of 0.

• Average S/N Ratio: If the average link connection between this node and its link into the network (or other backbone nodes) is between:

  • 0-15: 0 pts
  • 15-20: 1 pts
  • 20-30: 3 pts
  • 30-40: 5 pts

  • 50: 10 pts

Accessibility

• How accessible is the node?
  • Unknown or unreliable access: 0 pts
  • Accessible with prior scheduling, required notice more than a day in advance: 1 pts
  • Easily accessible within four hours notice, access controlled by others: 3 pts
  • Easily accessible by the control with certain time frames (IE, 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday, gate is locked dusk to dawn, etc): 5 pts
  • Easily accessible by the control operator. If need, the site could be accessed at any time, with no prior schedule or approval. Control operator “has the key”: 10 pts

Total Score

The current maximum possible score is 50. Add up the scores, and divide by 50 to get your nodes RTR rating.

Park Tower

As a reference, this is how park tower is calculated.

• Hardware
  • 128MB: 5 pts
  • MIMO YES: 5 pts
• Power
  • 1 day of battery backup (estimated): 3 points
• Network Resilience
  • 20 to 30: 3 pts
• Accessibility
  • prior scheduling required days in advance: 1 pts

17 out of 50: 34%

5 - Services

5.1 - PBX Phone System

Extensions

• Casey Diers - KV3T
  • 5811 - Main Extension
  • 5812 - Testing / Soft Phone
• NS9RC Phones - Testing and Demos
  • 6711 - NS9RC 1
  • 6712 - NS9RC 2
• Randy Smith - WU2S
  • 8811 - Main Extension

MeshPhone Info

This PBX is connected to the N2MH MeshPhone network. We have the 847 prefix as our NPA (number planning area, or “Area Code”). So all local extensions above are available at that extension with the 847 prefix. So for example, from the local pbx you can reach Casey at 5811, or from a different MeshPhone connected network, you can reach Casey via 847-5811.

Setup Instructions

Register with the PBX

The first step in getting connected is to get an extension[s] registered with the PBX. This is currently managed by Randy - WU2S. He can be reached on the CAREDN groups.io page, or via his email address which is accessible via QRZ.

Phone numbers are assigned via the first four digits of your callsign, via the letter to number mapping on virtually all phone number pads. As an example, Casey’s callsign is KV3T. K = 5 and V = 8, therefore Casey’s phone extensions begin at 5811. Let Randy know how many phones you plan to register with the PBX, and he will setup the extensions and send you the credentials to get connected.

Hard Phone Setup Instructions

FIXME: Fill in this section

Software Phone Setup Instructions

Linphone or similar Setup (on phone, tablet or PC) Go to account assistant, click on use a sip account, and fill in the following information:

SIP Address: [Your Extension]

SIP Domain: wu2s-pbx.local.mesh

Password: [Your Password]

Transport: UDP

Voicemail

The PBX system has the full capability to do voicemail just like any other phone system. Upon activation of your line, dial the voicemail system “*97” or there may be a specific button on your phone to do so. You will be prompted to record your outgoing messages and to save a pin code. After the system is setup, your mailbox will accept and store messages, and your phone will notify you when you have voicemail waiting for you.

Feature Codes and Functions

FreePBX Feature Codes

The Mesh PBX system is a standard install of the open source FreePBX system. Basically anything that FreePBX can do, this system can do. Feel free to explore the system, and reach out to Casey with any questions or additional features you would like to have included. Below are some of the most common features codes you will use:

• *97: Access the voicemail of the extension you are calling from.
• *98: Access the voicemail of any extension on the system. You will be prompted to enter a mailbox number.

Test Kit Functions

The PBX as current configured provides a number of test functionalities:

DTMF Test - Extension xx91.

When you call this number you will be prompted to enter DTMF digits. When finished entering digits, dial #. Alison will read back the DTMF digits she decoded. This is useful if you have trouble getting your dialled DTMF digits through the network. If you do have problems, it is sometimes useful to repeat the test and hold the dialpad keys down a little longer.

Date and Time - Extension xx92.

Dialling this number will give you your local date and time as set in your Linux operating system.

Echo Test - Extension xx94.

Dialling this number will loop your audio back to yourself. This is useful for estimating network delay as well as dropouts. It is also useful if you like talking to yourself.

Milliwatt - Extension xx95.

Dialling this number will return a steady 1000 Hz tone. This is useful for setting analog levels or for determining network dropouts. (If you hear anything but a steady, constant tone, you have dropouts.) It should also be useful for estimating distortion. However, no information is available as to the tone’s actual level, frequency, or distortion spec.

Tone Slope - Extension xx96.

Similar to milliwatt, this number will return 3 tones: 300 Hz, 1000 Hz, and 2804 Hz, each lasting for about 10 seconds. This pattern will continue for about 5 minutes. This is useful in the analog world for estimating equalization of a circuit.

PBX Identification - Extension xx97.

This number will return a CW message with the PBX identification.

Extension Identification - Extension xx98.

Allison will read back your extension number. A similar block of utility extensions is present on every MeshPhone PBX. See the Network Test Numbers page for the list of PBX’s and their test numbers.

These tests, especially the tone test, milliwatt tone slope and DTMF tests enable a PBX manager to determine the quality of the voice circuit.

Hardware Recommendations

AREDN has some guidance on hardware to be used available here:

https://www.arednmesh.org/content/ip-phones-used-mesh

Also, old analog phones can be used on the mesh using the grandstream Analog Telephone Adapter (such as the Grandstream HT502).

Many of the phones on the AREDN recommendation list are available inexpensively on eBay.

What is MeshPhone

MeshPhone as explained by Mark N2MH, June 18, 2018.

MeshPhone can simply be called any phone (hard, soft, or adapter) that is on the Mesh and can call another phone on the Mesh.

Or, it can refer to the MeshPhone VoIP Network that connects a number of PBXs networked together with a common number plan. It has more than 15 PBX’s networked together on many different Mesh networks. Any one user can dial any other user on the Network by dialing a unique 7 digit number. Most PBX’s are running some variant of asterisk (FreePBX, AllStar, raw asterisk). Little known is the fact that asterisk can also be used as a network device in addition to being a telephone server. Thus, each PBX does not need to have connectivity into every other PBX. It can funnel its traffic through a common PBX (or PBX’s) to set up the end-to-end call.

Thus, MeshPhone is not an App but clever use of many copies of an App to make something bigger and provide service to a number of people or organizations. Already, there are a number of extensions installed in Red Cross Chapters, county EOC’s, and other first-responder agencies. Some people have put together portable / mobile PBX’s for field use which connect back to the main network when needed. \

Additional MeshPhone information can be accessed here: http://n2mh-meshphone2.local.mesh/meshphone/index.html

In order to reach outside lines beyond the CAREDN PBX, you simply dial “78#” you will then receive another dial tone. This is the MeshPhone dial tone. You can now type in a MeshPhone planning area number, or MeshPhone “Area Code” and then the extension you are trying to reach on that PBX.

For example, to call Casey from within CAREDN, you simply dial the [extension], or 5811. However, from a different PBX on the MeshPhone network, you would dial “78#” …and pause for dial tone. Then dial [number planning area] or “847” then [extension] “5811”. So 78# pause 547-5811. You can test this by dialing the local time test function on the N2MH PBX by dialing 78#, wait for dial tone, then NPA 973 then extension 2192. So 78# pause 973-2192

6 - Work in Progress

This documentation is a work in progress. Documentation is the hard of any effort. It is the first thing you read to get started, the thing your look to when something is wrong, and the place to hide information so that no one ever finds it.

CAREDN is an ongoing effort, and this documentation is as well. If you are interested in participating in the enhancement of the CAREDN, please reach out to Casey Diers KV3T

7 - Contribution-Guidelines

CAREDN Documentation

CAREDN documentation is currently maintained by Casey KV3T. But your help is very much wanted. For now, the assisted thing to do is to email your contribution to Casey for inclusion. The site is generated using markdown, so if you are able to generate your contribution in markdown, even better.