> <pacman mode>
> </pacman mode>
>
> > Has anyone tried using modded (down to 10GHz) 11GHz Satellite
> TV RX & 10GHz
> > ATV TX for hooking up 10Mbit ethernet ports? - that's another
> one for you to
> > think about...
>
> I have been studying this idea for a while now (like intermittantly for a
> couple of years) and have arrived at the following conclusions:
> 1) Direct use of the 10base5 (the coax ethernet) is not appropriate, both
> transmit and receive data paths are on the same piece of wire and the
> actual signal is somewhat untidy.
> 2) Using the AUI interface (the 15 pin ethernet connector) is a
> better point
> to pick, the transmit and receive data paths are separate and
> the signal
> is cleaner.
You could probably use the RJ45 (modular UTP) connector to get separate
RX/TX signals as well. A third (and more expensive) option is to get a coax
to fibre converter for the signal.
The ID requirements could possibly be met by having a dedicated node on the
wired network side that sends a broadcast (in the ethernet sense) ID
somewhat more often than required (this will allow for delays due to
collisions). I'm not sure of the UK requirements, but in the US sending it
in plain ASCII every 8-9 minutes would generally ensure compliance.
If you want to use such a system on a network with multiple computers (that
is 2+ computers connected via wire) the radio<-->ethernet should probably be
on the other side of a packet forwarding firewall for several reasons.
1. The firewall will prevent network traffic intended for the wired network
from being transmitted over the air.
2. The firewall could be used to prevent other hams (or worse non-hams) from
gaining access to inside systems.
The firewall machine could also be the one that sends the ID packets, with a
UN*X firewall the command could be run by cron.
I am also very interested in the idea and have been thinking about it (as
opposed to actually studying it) off and on for the last two years.
Unfortuneatly I seem to have the same limitations--young family, limited
financial resources... :(
73
KF6LGN
