Still here, still active

Hi fellow geeks.

I haven't disappeared off the face of the RF spectrum just yet...but have been skirting around the edges a bit.

Last month had the wok-style antennas in Silicon Chip magazine here in Oz, looked basically like a reprint of Stan-the-Man's NZ webpage (See link somewhere below, if you didn't already jump here from there)

Latest project is a repeater setup for Darwin Wireless. It's going to have 2 * Minitar APs, 1 * Linksys AP/router (running Linux). This setup will do away with the need for a dedicated router PC, as it all gets routed through the Linksys.

I am building a weatherproof enclosure (gets kinda wet up here) with a custom power-over-ethernet solution (PoE).

Basically it will go: 240VAC>>30VAC>>240VAC>>12VDC

Souund overly complicated and inefficient?

It probably is, but it will also be super-reliable and easily repaired with off-the shelf parts.

I thought about passive PoE, but it sounds too dodgy for my liking, especially when you consider stuff like line regulation under differing load conditions.

The general consensus amongst DW members is that PoE should be avoided, but I personally think that this is just a product of past experience with badly conceived homebrew setups, or one of the many cheap off-the-shelf solutions.

Hopefully I will be all finished and actually wirelessly connected with the next 2 weeks.

(The repeater is to be sited on the top floor of a 5-storey apartment building near to me)

I am documenting the build as I go...so I will post a summary here when it is finished.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to drop me a mail.

Dave