It’s been an incredible month of growth for SFWEM. We’ve nearly doubled the size of the network as we approach 70 nodes, and we’ve added 3 new cross-bay links. One of our most noteworthy additions is the Chabot Space & Science Museum in the Oakland hills.
Chabot is located in an area of Oakland that is no stranger to disaster, having suffered from the 1991 fire storm. It’s for this reason that particular & deliberate attention is paid during high wind periods, hot weather, and power outages. Chabot stands up a “fire watch” during these periods, where a human must be on the campus 24 hours a day to watch for fire spark-ups. Unfortunately during the recent Public Safety Power Shutoffs, a gap was exposed in the inability to communicate into and out of this area during a power outage, in particular, if a fire spark-up is witnessed, the “fire watch” must drive to the closest fire station for help.
SFWEM addressed this gap by deploying a cross-bay wireless link to Chabot. Additionally, a wide-angle remote-control PTZ IP camera was installed to allow remote-viewing of the woods surrounding the campus, as well as a VoIP phone to allow staff to call out over the wireless mesh.
Special thanks to: Martin W6MRR, Kiley KD8DRX, Isaac NB6F & Ryan KN6EOK for their help getting this site setup, as well as Jim @ Chabot for enduring what seemed like two marathon install dates!
We’re looking forward to doing more with Chabot, including adding a science exhibit featuring the Mesh.
As always, all individual operators, agencies and organizations are welcome to contribute to the mesh.
