Getting Started
From JAWUG
Contents |
Getting Started Guide
In order to connect to JAWUG quickly and painlessly it is recommended that you follow the steps below carefully. Please note that JAWUG is run by volunteers - no one is going to do the setup for you. Ensure that you have attempted all the steps below "before" asking for help to avoid frustrating the Core Team and site admins.
If you have any problems then feel free to come chat to us but first follow the steps below and note what you've done as normally you will get asked question regarding what has been done by you.
Registering on www.wug.za.net (Step 1)
- You need to go to www.wug.za.net and create and active an account. Make sure that you set you WUG as Jawug – This site is used to manage WUGs and WUG users all over South Africa.
- You now need to download Google Earth to find your co-ordinates. Do this by finding your location in Google Earth. Once you have done it create a place mark on your location which will then give you your co-ordinates.
- On the left side menu of www.wug.za.net you will see “CONNECT HERE” under WugPlotter. (Make sure you are logged into the site first)
- For the location name use your nick name or something unique to you. Reason for this is we need to know what your location is. DO NOT use names like “Home” or “My location”.
- Copy the latitude and Longitude from Google Earth.
- Height from ground indicates the height at which you will be mounting your antenna above the ground. If you are not sure then a good estimate is 8m.
Finding a High Site to connect to (Step 2)
- Download the KMZ from www.wug.za.net. Click “DOWNLOAD KMZ”
- It will come up with a new page. Make sure Jawug is selected and click “Download KMZ”. Select your area, in this case "JAWUG".
- Once the KMZ is download; open it in Google Earth and find your added location. Here is a legend for the Jawug KMZ:
Operational client 
Operational Highsite 
Backbone only 
Planning node
- Ideally you would like to be in one of the areas covered by *RED* (5.8ghz) or *YELLOW* (2.4ghz) If you are check what HS the signal is coming from and skip to the next step. If you are not in an area covered then proceed to the next step.
- If you are in a situation like the above then you should still be able to connect, aim the antenna at the HS that is facing in your direction. It does however mean that you may need a stronger antenna. The maximum connectible distance in situations varies greatly. If you have good LOS (Line of Sight) then 10km is possible but pushing the limit. If this situation covers you then skip to the next step.
- If you are too far away from the HS or your nearby HS does not have an antenna facing your direction then you need to log on to IRC and ask for help. Chances are that they will get you to contact either nearby users or HS owners who are connected and can repeat the signal to you.
Line of Sight tool (Step 3)
To be able to connect to a HS you need to have LOS as building, trees and of course ground elavation will greatly reduce signal strength and chances are it will prevent you from connecting. To check LOS do the following:
- To check if you have LOS over land you can use the Line of Sight tool on www.wug.za.net Click Line of Sight (LOS) under the WugPlotter menu on the left.
- Put your location in the top box and make sure you select it from the menu that appears and then type the site you wish to connect to in the other box and select it from the menu that appears. It will then generate an image. The black area represents the topology of the land and the green line the line of sight. Remember that this tool is an estimate because it is a theoretical as it does not take into account buildings, other structures and trees.
Clear Line of Sight. You do not want the green line to cross the ground (Represented by black) as in the image above If you have an image similar to the above then you have a good chance of having LOS.
However if you image looks like the above then you do NOT have LOS because the green line crosses the ground. You will have to find an alternative site to connect to if it does.
Site Survey (Step 4)
Since the LOS tool is just an estimate so the next step is to get on your roof and take a 360° image of your surroundings. Once you have taken the pictures upload these images to www.wug.za.net under your location. Do this by logging into www.wug.za.net and selecting My Locations under WugPlotter. Then click edit next to your location which you will see on the right. Then finally select the pictures tab on top and upload the images that you took.
If you have a laptop with wifi it may be useful to use it to do a scan. Look for anything that starts with www.jawug.za.net/... Then it is your lucky day as it means there is very strong signal in your area. However please note that if you see any signals with a "BB" suffix, eg: www.jawug.za.net/xxyyBB, then that is a "Back Bone link" from site "xx" to "yy" and as such you are not allowed to connect to those. Also note that most laptops will only be able to pick up 2.4ghz signals however a USB wifi device such as DWA-160 Xtreme N Dual Band USB Adapter will be able to pick up both 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz signals.
Optional but extremely useful if possible: if you can get access to a wug kit then you can use it to search for JAWUG nodes. Start a wifi scan (See “Configure your router” if you don’t know how to do this) and then gradually turn it - taking note of any JAWUG SSIDs that appear and which direction they are in.
Chat to us on IRC (Step 5)
This step is extremely important if you are not sure if you have LOS, unsure if the HS is facing in your direction and if you do not have anywhere to connect to. We highly recommend that you use a software client like mIRC on your pc. Click here for a guide to setting up mIRC. However if this is not an option Click here to use the web based IRC chat. Please note that no one is paid to help you and chose to do it out of their freewill. Do NOT ask questions like: “is anyone here?” or “Can someone help me?” Instead type your question and wait for someone to respond, if no one replies try asking again in a few hours. If you are asking about where you can connect to or LOS you must tell them your location name on Google Earth so they know where you are and can help you.
Choosing Hardware (Step 6)
There are many different ways and types of hardware that can connect to the Jawug network. However we are trying to standardise and encourage people to get the standard Jawug Kit. This kit has been put together for its features and flexibility. This basic kit has all the components that are needed to get connected to Jawug. It makes it easier for you to install and easier for the admins to set up. It will also give you optimal signal and speed for the price. The hardware in the kit is available through our Suppliers.
Hardware notes Check with the JAWUG people in your area to confirm weather the equipment you are planning to purchase is in line with their technology requirements
JAWUG North: The standard JAWUG kit is applicable.
JAWUG South: The standard JAWUG kit is applicable.
JAWUG East: The standard JAWUG kit is applicable.
JAWUG West: JAWUG-West uses the standard JAWUG kit however as they are looking to mesh all the sites together it would be wise to check if you need to get an additional radio card as well as a sector antenna.
Alternatives: Wifi Router: If you have LOS, the next step is to buy your equipment, we strongly suggest buying one of our kits. However any wifi equipment that can do client (managed/infrastructure) mode may be used. The node you wish to connect to most likely uses one of two frequency ranges; 2.4 or 5.8 Ghz and this ultimately determines the equipment you need.
It is recommended to use Power over Ethernet to power the devices as you will need to mount it on the roof. This eliminates the need to run separate power wires to the units. In a network cable there are 4 wires that are not used, these are used for power. Check out Power over ethernet (PoE) for further info.
Other Options: If you wish to attempt using other hardware then here are a few guidelines: Any home router such as a dlink, netgear or linksys only does 2.4 Ghz. Please make sure the router supports OpenWRT OpenWRT OR can do client mode and an external antenna can be fitted to the device. The Mikrotik RouterBoard running RouterOS supports both 2.4 and 5.8 GHZ depending on the type of radio fitted to the routerboard. RouterOS may run on almost any platform so it is possible to convert an old PC you have lying around into a full blown wug router.
Choosing your Antenna Every antenna has its strong and weak points. Directional antennas such as grids, dishes and flat panels (low beamwidth, high gain) are used for users connecting to a highsite. Sector antennas and other antennas with wider beamwidths are used to allow other nodes to connect to you.
Recommended distance and antenna: 0 - 2km: flat panel, yagi or grid(small gain) 2 - 5km: flat panel, yagi or grid(medium gain) More than 5km: grid(medium to high gain)
Panel 
Grid 
Yagi 
Please note: Omni directional are the worst performing antennae and should generally only be used as a weapon. If you have only one radio and need to cover an area all around your node then an omni may be an option. Omni's should never be used to connect to a node. They should only be used as an Access Point providing access to others.
Setup (Step 7)
Hardware Install: A few concepts need to be introduced; In order to maximise signal strength the router is usually situated within 1m of the external antenna as longer cable leads to signal loss, which means the routerboard needs to be housed in a waterproof external enclosure usually also mounted to the pole the antenna is mounted to. As can be seen from the following picture all routers are kept as close as possible to the antennas.
If you bought the recommended Jawug kit you simply need to follow the instructions supplied for mounting the unit to your TV pole.
Software Install
If you are not using a routerboard or a WugKit then you will need to follow the instructions specific to your device. Here is the guide if you are using a Router OS device. If you are using the standard Jawug kit or a Mikrotik RouterBoard then this also applies to you:
- Download WinBox
- Ensure that your laptop is connected to the routerboard via an Ethernet cable.
- Open Winbox and click on the button with dots, you should see your router MAC address in the list.
- Click on the MAC address (not the 0.0.0.0 ip) put admin as the Login and leave the password blank, click Connect. If you do not see your router in the list, check your cable and power connections.
- Once you are connected with winbox click on *Wireless* in the side menu bar, double-click *wlan1*, then click the *Wireless* tab at the top.
- Click on "Advanced Mode"
- Select the tab "Wireless"
- In the "Country" field, select "south africa". Click Apply.
- Verify you are in 'station' mode and that you have selected the correct frequency range for the node you are connecting to (2.4GhzB/G or 5Ghz) click apply.
- Click on the Scan button in the same window on the right hand side. You should now see your routerboard picking up sites. Among the SSIDs you should pick up the WUG SSID. All WUG SSID's start with the web address such as www.jawug.za.net/Xxxxx for the Johannesburg Wireless User Group or www.ptawug.za.net for the Pretoria Wireless User Group. Try rotating your antenna and see what you can pick up. Please not that you need a signal of -75 or more to connect (eg. -69) Click on the ssid and click connect. You can then close the scanning window. Note that SSID's with the letters 'BB' in them are generally backbone links and these can't be used to connect to.
- If the bottom of the wlan1 box says 'connected to ess' then you have associated to the highsite and you are in luck. You will then want to click on the 'Status' tab. Take note of the values of 'SSID', 'Tx/Rx Signal Strength', 'Tx/Rx CCQ' as you will be asked these by the admins.
- Ensure that you have signed up for Membership before you ask for IP addresses. You will only need to pay your membership fees after a month has passed.
- You then want to come an chat to us on IRC. Ideally you should use mIRC or kvirc but here is a web based alternative chat to the admins. They will confirm that your connection is sufficient for a connection.
- IP addresses will then be assigned to your connection and you will be assisted through the full configuration of your router.
- You can give yourself a pat on the back. You have connected to Jawug. Now you should help contribute to the success of Jawug.
