Introduction This "How To" will show you how to connect onto the KimWUG network so you can enjoy the services it offers. This guide assumes you have some computer skills in windows, if you do get stuck you can join in our chat room. This is not only a guide on how to connect but also a great learning experience. You will learn a lot throughout this whole setup and also throughout your use on the wireless user group. On a last note we do not provide any internet access or charge a fee for usage to make any profit. This is a community based network and a non-profit organisation. This is also administrated by people who have families, friends and lives so when you ask for help please do not expect the best possible service as they are busy but they will attend or help out to the best of their abilities. Registration Please register yourself as a new user on our site before you begin to complete your installation. Not only will you be able to access a lot of KimWUGs services but there are also helpful tutorials on how to maximize your wireless connection or join in a game. Plotting Line of sight Before you go out and buy any equipment or register on our site you need to make sure you have "Line of Sight" (LOS) this will determine if you can connect or cannot connect to the wireless network. Don’t be worried if you cannot connect, there might be someone installing a node close to you as the network grows. Also if you’re interested in running a high site or being a node please don’t hesitate to contact an admin. To plot (LOS) Line of Sight you’ll need to check our forum. Hardware Once you have registered and you have determined you can get good line of sight you can then purchase some hardware to connect to our network. Here is a quick guide on the purpose of each piece of equipment used in the setup of KimWUG Brackets The brackets are used for mounting the mast that is going to hold the weather proof enclosures. There are multiple types of brackets and depending on the mast size will depend on the bracket size. These can be purchased at your local hardware store. small bracket tripod bracket These brackets are mounted to the wall with either Hilties or Rawl Bolts Rawl Bolts Hilties Masts Masts are attached to the brackets and also hold the weather proof enclosure up. The longer the mast the better the LOS will be. They come in many shapes and sizes but the standard we use is 50mm masts. These can also be purchased at your local hardware store Wi-Fi Equipment This equipment will allow you to connect to the KimWUG network and begin to use our services offered This can be purchased online and we will have the contact details after this tutorial. Enclosures These house the Mikrotik router board and the wireless radio cards. They provide a weather proof seal to protect your equipment from the elements. There are many designs for these enclosures but we will be looking at two standard designs. The integrated enclosure and the standard enclosure. Antennas Antennas allow the wireless signal to travel vast distances and they come in many different models depending on how far you want your signal to go. We will be taking a look at 3 types of antennas. Omni: Omni’s antennas are not very popular in many wireless user groups as they tend to cause more problems than solve them. We generally do not use these as they generate too much noise and this could disrupt communication for other wireless devices. Omni Directional Antenna Directional: Directional antennas come in different sizes from 60 degrees up to 120 degrees, they cover a much wider span but not so much of a distance, you will see either the high sites or nodes will have some of these up to get a wider coverage. Directional Antenna Grids or Satellites: Now these babies are the coolest :) They can cover greater distances than their counterparts and offer a better signal. Grid Antenna Satellite Antenna Router board This is the brains of the operation and allows the wireless radio cards to communicate with each other; they also calculate valuable routing information in order to get your network packets onto the network. Mikrotiks RB433 Router Board Radio Card These allow you add wireless capabilities to the router boards in order to connect to the wireless network. There are a lot of cards available and we will only be focusing on the 5ghz models and not the 2.4ghz (2.4ghz is standard off the shelf and KimWUG utilizes the 5ghz range.) Wireless lan radio card Power supply To power the wireless cards and the router board a POE adapter is recommended. This allows power to travel over a normal cat5e network cable and power the equipment. This also allows for easier installation as there is less wires. Although you can also run a 12volt power cable to the top if you prefer not to use POE Simple POE Injector Another example of a POE power supply Cable / Connectors There are many types of cable and connectors used in the setup of the wireless panels, we will not go to much detail about this and only talk about the most common connectors and cables used in installation. Cat5e: this is a common network cable used to join computers to a network. It normally has a RJ45 connector and a boot attached to either side to allow for connections to the network ports. These are normally crimped in a certain standard. It is preferred to use a UV Shielded cat5e cable as it will be in the harsh elements. You can purchase pre made cables at your local IT shop. Non Shielded RJ45 Shielded RJ45 Pigtails: These are used to connect from the wireless radio card to the LMR jumper cable. They have a Ufl connector on one end and a N-type connector on the other. LMR: This cable is used to connect from the outside of the enclosure to the antenna and is designed to be protected from the elements. It is also shielded so to not loose and valuable signal strength. LMR 400 with N-type connectors Kits Now the nice guys at Scoop and Miro are kind enough to of have built up some pre made kits for the wireless user groups springing up all over the country. You may take a look at the kits on their websites. www.scoop.co.za www.miro.co.za They have some nice kits that are perfect for connecting to the network. Mikrotik has just released the SXT kit that is easy and simple to install. I would recommend this. you can check it out here Scoop and Miro do stock these. Setup / Install It’s as simple as setting up a TV or dish Mount, Align and Configure Software. Equipment needed Drill and Masonry drill bits Ladder Power leads Pliers and Side Cutter Spanners Carpet Knife Hammer Cable Ties (to neaten up the installation and cables) ** some friends willing to help and willing to learn, this way it makes the installation a lot more fun :) Mounting brackets, Mast and Panel Before you go out and just start drilling holes into you walls start to plan your installation. This will not only prevent your walls from looking like Swiss cheese but also help you better to setup and run your cables. You will be looking for a spot easily accessible and away from trees that would grow and cover up your signal. Mount the Bracket, Mast and Panel in a place where you are able to see the High site or Node. This must be sturdy as you do not want your wireless panel to fall to the ground. Frankenstein’s Install Striders Setup Running cable When running the cable down from the mast to your power supply, be sure to hide it away from the elements as much as possible, also look into the easiest route to your power supply Get connected Once you have all the equipment up and it is powered on you may now sit down in from of your computer and begin to connect to the network. Connect to RouterOS RouterOS is the software installed on your router board and you need to connect to this in order to configure it to connect to KimWUG. You will be needing Winbox in order to connect to Mikrotiks routerOS. This can be downloaded at www.mikrotik.com. Once you have downloaded that you may then fire it up and connect to your router. Step 1: Press the magic button Step 2: Select the routers details Step 3: Press connect. Step 4: Go to System -> Identity Enter in your Nickname on how the Wug will identify you Step 5: Enable the wireless card Go to wireless on the left and select the wlan1 and press the green tick button Step 6: Setting up the radio card 6.1 Double click on the wlan1. 6.2 Again enter in your Nickname on how the Wug will identify you 6.3 Set your country details. 6.4 Press apply Scanning / connecting In order to connect you need to initiate a scan to search for the KimWUG high sites or nodes. This can be done by pressing the scan button. Once you have found a SSID (this is the name given to a wireless network to identify it) with the KimWUG name in you may press the connect button. Here you can see you signal strength and noise levels. Choose the best signal possible. Ask for IP address Once you have established a connection you may then get in contact with an admin in order for them to create a route and allocate IP addresses to you. Give them your equipment’s identity and await a IP address Entering in your IP Address and Route Log onto winbox again 1.IP Addresses Go to IP -> Addresses 1.1 Click on the red plus button and add an ip address for the wlan1 and enter in your wlan ip address given to you from the WUG admins 1.2 Again click on the red plus button and add an ip address for the ether1 and enter in your ether ip address given to you from the WUG admins 2.Routes To add a route click on IP -> Routes Click on the red plus button and add a route, 2.1: Under Dst-Address add 172.23.192.0/18 2.2: Under Gateway add the IP you were given by the WUG administrator. Connecting your PC To connect your computer to the network you need to setup your IP address to the IP range handed over to you from one of the WUG admins. If you get stuck in any way please ask one of the admins for help. Congratulations Congratulations you are now connected to the Kimberley Wireless User Group. Please take a look on our website where you will find other information on how to use the services KimWUG has to offer. Also take a look at the Legal Stuff section on what or what not to do. Again on a last note we do not provide any internet access or charge a fee for usage to make any profit. This is a community based network and a non profit organisation. This is also administrated by people who have families, friends and lives so when you ask for help please do not expect the best possible service all the time as they are busy but they will attend or help out to the best of their abilities. Please help us to keep the WUG a pleasant experience. Have fun on KimWUG