August 9, 2006 Meeting Minutes

Meeting Attendees

Chris Verges, Tim Utschig, Bill Dale, Al Whaley, Mustafa Mussain, William Estrada, Craig Anderson, John Amos, Andreas Ott, Ian Kluft, Heather Stern

Old Business

SVWUX charter approval from SBAY board

Ian Kluft explained the SBAY board's decision process behind accepting the SVWUX charter and gave updates on the modifications being proposed to the SBAY By-Laws.

Obtaining BGP AS number

T.R. Fullhart was not at the meeting, so this agenda item was postponed until next meeting.

Obtaining IPv6 address block

T.R. Fullhart was not at the meeting, so this agenda item was postponed until next meeting.

Linux Picnic plans

Chris Verges gave an update on the recent activities at Finisar. The end result is that SVWUX now has an 802.11a bridge on top of Finisar pointing towards the Sunnyvale Baylands park. The antenna is a 60-degree sector centered on the park's main entrance.

William Estrada reported his test experience in the park itself. He was able to get to the Internet through the link, with great ping times.

We have a follow-up test scheduled for Sunday August 13, 2006. Volunteers who want to show up should meet at the Baylands Grove Amphitheater for 5pm. Please contact Chris Verges or William Estrada to let them know you will be coming. Communications for the test event will be on 146.52 MHz (simplex) for any amateur radio operators.

New Business

Power source issue

After much discussion, we created a few action items that need to be considered by the group. Chris Verges will put together a two policy proposals for consideration by the SVWUX members:

1. One policy will establish a safety committee of three (3) volunteers who will review the design and implementation of all home-brew experimentation prior to the equipment being allowed for use at an SVWUX event.
2. The other policy will establish two required volunteer positions at all SVWUX events, the Event Coordinator and the Safety Officer. The Event Coordinator will be responsible for the general logistics of the event, while the Safety Officer ensures that all equipment used and all work done follows established safety standards.

These policies will be written and e-mailed to the group within one (1) week. Feedback will be open until August 31, 2006. Voting will be scheduled shortly thereafter.

Andreas Ott also proposed the concept of looking into marine equipment, as it is usually highly weatherproofed.

SVWUX wireless network

Chris Verges gave an overview of the SVWUX network design presentation given to SVCUG. There was great reception by the SVCUG members. Chris is currently looking into ways to combine training presentations with both SVCUG and SVWUX, as SVCUG has access to networking experts and provides free pizza at their meetings.

Chris also talked today with the Cisco 3200 team about a potential partnership. They recommended talking to the Cisco "demo depot" to checkout sample equipment for a select period of time. This might be useful for any proof-of-concept testing that we need to do. This being said, it was reiterated that SVWUX has no technology religion; any partnerships formed must be non-exclusive.

Chris reintroduced the contest for naming the SVUWX wireless network project for the Bay Area. There was a question of project scope in terms of geography; and it was generally agreed that if the proposed name wants to include geographic information, it should focus on the macroscopic level. For instance, "Santa Clara County" or "Bay Area" versus "San Jose" or "Milpitas." However, all entries will be accepted and listed for consideration by the SVWUX members.

There were three action items created for all SVWUX members to consider:

1. Review the Business Model for the wireless network project. This should include information about how this project integrates into SVWUX's overall purpose, how it integrates with SBAY, who its target customers are, and how to relate to those customers.
2. Review the Statement of Work for the wireless network project. The SOW should identify the project's scope, goals and expected deliverables.
3. Review the Work Breakdown Structure for the wireless network project. The WBS should identify the different subsystems of the project and the tasks that need to be performed to create each subsystem.

In reviewing the WBS, if you find any specific tasks or subsystems that you feel passionate about, we are accepting volunteers to lead those positions. Let Chris know if you are interested in any specific items.

Please review all three documents before the next monthly meeting. Comments and changes can be sent to Chris for integration. Discussion can take place on the svwux@svwux.org mailing list for larger issues, but minor corrections (i.e. typos, etc.) should just be sent directly to Chris to avoid spamming everyone.

Part 97 Liason

Bill Dale has identified several excellent opportunities for SVWUX to work more closely with different amateur radio groups in the area. Included in these are:

1. Different club meetings, talking about both the SVWUX network and, more specifically, what's happening with the AMPRnet addresses
2. AMTech (run by FARS) hosted at Stanford on the first Saturday of each month from 8am-9pm
3. ARRL Pacific Division conference from October 13-15, 2006 in Concord

Chris Verges proposed to create a "Part 97 Liason" position to aid in coordination of activities between amateur radio groups and SVWUX. This person would be responsible for identifying and scheduling opportunities for SVWUX to market the network concept to amateur radio groups, as well as advertising different SVWUX activities and events to these groups. Any nominations for an SVWUX volunteer to fill this position should be sent to Chris before the next meeting.

Errata

Before the meeting, there was a general discussion about what members want out of SVWUX. Bill Dale suggested training sessions specifically focused on IP-based networking and wireless networking concepts. If you have any additional ideas for activities, send ideas to officers@svwux.org. If it is possible to pull together, we will try to make it happen.

After the meeting, Chris, Ian, Heather and Craig talked about a few things:

1. There should be a "Tower Coordinator" volunteer position created to act as a point of contact for any sites that are willing to donate a tower location.
2. Craig is going to solidify nibbles on two potential tower sites: Adobe and K6FB. He was asked to identify contacts at both of those sites and schedule initial meetings between SVWUX officers and the site contacts to work out arrangements.
3. Given the latest network intrusion on the SVWUX server, it has highlighted the need for an online backup system to be created. This system should be able to provide survivable e-mail support and ideally should provide survivable web support. Chris will e-mail the org@sbay.org mailing list to get discussion started on how to create such a system. Any SVWUX members interested in working on this project should join that mailing list to get involved.
4. As SVWUX starts to become more active and looks forward to installing equipment on towers, safety becomes a larger concern. Ian is already researching getting insurance for SBAY, and has December 2006 as the ETA for when insurance coverage is expected. Chris also raised concerns that tower climbing is a signifantly high risk activity, and would like to find ways to mitigate that risk. Initial thoughts were (1) to hire a professional installer, (2) to recruit professional installers as SVWUX members or (3) to work with amateur radio operators/groups to provide us tower climbing expertise. This topic is open to all SVWUX members for input, however; send comments to svwux@svwux.org.