The ORCA site is hosted by the Oakland Radio Communication Association (ORCA), currently on an experimental basis. The Griz site is on the amateur radio tower associated with the KPFA broadcast tower, close to the ORCA site. They operate as connected sites with complemetary capabilities.

Location

5172 Grizzly Peak Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94603

This location is in the Oakland hills, above the Rt 24 / Caldecot tunnel, about 1.3 miles SSE of Grizzly Peak.

Contact

Chris Adams, KJ6WEG
kj6weg@arrl.net

ORCA Nodes

The ORCA site currently (Jan 2021) has three Mesh RF deveices, with potential to upgrade or add more.

KJ6WEG-OAK-ORCA-PBM5

  • Ubiquiti PowerBeam M5
  • Channel 171 (5.855 GHz), Bandwidth: 10
  • Power (24v PoE) & data through a NanoSwitch.
  • Pointing West-SouthWest, aimed at the node on Twin Peaks.
  • This device is intended for the cross-bay backhaul link to the network in SF.

KJ6WEG-OAK-ORCA-SectorTi

  • Ubiquiti Rocket M5 Titanium
  • Ubiquiti Titanium Sector antenna with adjustable beam width (AM-M-V5G-TI)
  • Channel: 177 (5.885 GHz), Bandwidth: 10
  • Power (48v PoE) & Data through a separate ethernet cable from the shack (grid power).
  • Currently pointing West towards Berkeley
  • This device is intended to provide data connections to stations in much of Berkeley and parts of Oakland.

KJ6WEG-OAK-ORCA-NSM5

  • Ubiquiti NanoStation M5 (XW)
  • Channel: 177 (5.885 GHz), Bandwidth: 10
  • Power (24v PoE) and data currently provided through a NanoSwitch.
  • Currently pointing Southwest towards Oakland.
  • This device is intended for providing mesh connections to users in the East Bay flats.

KJ6WEG-OAK-ORCA-HAP

  • MikroTik Routerboard hAP ac lite
  • No Mesh RF.
  • In the shack, for providing local mesh access and device connections.
  • Power (24v) provided by grid power.

Wireless Wire

  • MikroTik Wireless Wire
  • 60 GHz wireless link, acts like an RF ethernet cable
  • Does NOT run AREDN firmware
  • Provides a trunk link between the ORCA site and the Griz/KPFA site (~100m)
  • Connects to the mesh nodes through a Juniper Networks switch with VLANs configured
  • Allows mesh nodes at the two sites to have DTD links to eachother

Griz Nodes

The Griz site on the KPFA tower was installed on 2020-12-31, and currently has 2 mesh RF devices, with plans for more.

KJ6WEG-OAK-Griz-PBM5

  • Ubiquiti PowerBeam M5-400ISO
  • Channel 171 (5.855 GHz), Bandwidth: 10
  • Power (24v PoE) & data through a NanoSwitch on the tower. Grid power for now.
  • Pointing West-SouthWest, aimed at the node on Twin Peaks.
  • This device is intended for the cross-bay backhaul link to the network in SF.

KJ6WEG-OAK-Griz-SectorM5

  • Ubiquiti Rocket M5
  • Ubiquiti 120 degree 5GHz Sector antenna
  • Channel: 177 (5.885 GHz), Bandwidth: 10
  • Power (24v PoE) & Data through a NanoSwitch on the tower. Grid power for now.
  • Currently pointing Southwest towards Oakland
  • This device is intended to provide data connections to stations across most parts of Oakland.

Wireless Wire

  • MikroTik Wireless Wire
  • 60 GHz wireless link, acts like an RF ethernet cable
  • Does NOT run AREDN firmware
  • Provides a trunk link between the Griz/KPFA site and the ORCA site (~100m)
  • Connects to the mesh nodes through a Juniper Networks switch with VLANs configured
  • Allows mesh nodes at the two sites to have DTD links to eachother

Note: The MikroTik hAP (KJ6WEG-OAK-Griz-HAP) at the Griz site has been removed as it was not needed.

Future

  • Planned additions include a high speed Part 15 link on the Griz/KPFA tower, for internet backhaul to the two nodes.
  • We hope to upgrade some of the node hardware at these sites, and update some of the existing nodes with different aiming and/or channels.
  • We are looking into he possibilities of using these sites to provide backbone links to Mount San Bruno, Mount Diabolo, the Penninsula, and Marin County.
  • These nodes currently rely on grid power. In the future We hope to provide a backup power system, possibly with solar.