Friday 12-08-09

Yesterday our team split up. I and some others went to Dhankuta to install all equipment at a post office. And Jos and others went to Hile. Today the plan was to finish both sites. We didn't split up because neither site should take all day. First we all went to Dhankuta. All we needed to do is make a proper, working ethernet cable, add a batery, crimb some telephoe cables and configure the telephone. This time we managed to make a working ethernet cable because we were aware of the bad quality of the locally bougth Jacks. (Many of them were missing pins) While we finished tie cables some others attached a second battery. Once this was done, we plugged in the VoIP Phone and configured it. We already did this during training so it wasn't that difficult. But because we were in a bit of a hurry Mark did it himself. It went without much trouble and soon we could make a test call. After that we fixed the grounding wire and crimbed the last tepephone jack. Then we packed up and went to Hile. The landrover went first but the Microbus where I was in left about half an hour later because of some other pressing business.

When we arrived in Hile Mark was demonstrating how to put a grid antenna together. Others were busy fixing a pole in a roof were we would mount the antenna. This took quite some effort because we didn't have the equipment to properly fix the pole and it took a trip to the local welder to find a solution. At the same time, we aranged Momo's for lunch. This time, someone went to get them at a place so we could continue working on other stuff and lunch didn't take the usual hour. Then, all equipment was in place and we started aiming the antenna. The day before, they already tried a patch antenna and though they could view Namjey they couldn't get a decent antenna. A grid antenna should solve this problem because it has a stronger signal. But it also has a narrower reach and we couldn't get a connection tol Namjey. Then we tried the patch antenna but the signal we got was simply not strong enough. We tried aiming it for about one and a half hour but it simply didn't work. And seeing as tommorow would be the last day of training it was no use finding another location. It felt bad that we had to give up on Hile but we got the wrong GPS coordinates for both Hile and Dhankuta, making the original link between them impossible. And though a link between Hile and Namjey should be possible it requires reaiming or an additional antenna at Namjey.

Late in the afternoon we teamed up with the other trainees and Andris who split at the beginning. They went to several hard to reach sites and setup two telecenters as well. We discussed the plans for tomorrow and wile we went back to Bhedetar at around six the others would stay at Hile, looking for a better location in Hile and would team up with us in Bhedetar in the morning. For tomorrow, the plan was to finish up Bhedetar and Dhandabajar.

So again it was a long day of work. And though it feld good to finish Dhankuta it was a disappointment that we couldn't get the link in Hile to work. But you can't expect everything to go smoothly.

Daan

13-08-09

After not quite getting Hilly up and getting Dancutta running properly yesterday today we worked on finishing up all the loose ends. Finalizing the installs in Dhandabajad and Bedethar so they were properly 'deep frozen' (Basically, unchangeable without a password from their installation due to modifications being made in RAM) as well as, the most fun part, optimizing the network!

Getting the PC's deep frozen was a bit of a hastle, people had been using it and so cookies and minor settings had been spread here and there. With a few hours of effort (and a very enjoyable Dolbot in between!) we got the PC's perfectly set up and frozen though. At least those will be running properly for quite some time.

As said before though, the main effort of the day was not just getting the images of the PC perfect, nor even wrapping and cleaning up (or a goodbye party in the evening).

The main part of the day we spend optimizing the network. Till now most links had been set to a 'low' 1 MBit/S link because this ensures the strongest signal and easiest aiming. However obviously we can get a lot more bandwith through there, and that's what we spend most of the time doing. Increasing the bandwith, playing with frequencies and signal strength to see how we could get the most effective throughput. Quite a delicate process. Links can interfere with each other if the radio's are close together, sometimes certain channels (especially down to Dharan) can have natural interference. And a bigger base bandwith is not always better.

It was a great deal of fun though, seeing the download speeds go from 10 KB/S to the MBit range of actual data transfer speed (lets not forget the large amount of overhead in there).

And of course there was the arranging of our trip back to Kathmandu, work on the paper there will be challenging enough!

11-08-09

Today Daan and I continued to work in two seperate teams. Daan went to finish the telecenter in Dhankuta, I went with Mark Pradip and Roshin (the guy who studied in Bangalore) to Hile to set up the telecenter there.

Arriving in Hile, and also having been in Dhankuta, we faced a rather interesting challenge to begin with. The GPS coordinate had been wrong before and there was no way there was going to be a link between the two. 70 meters off may not seem like a lot, but when that 70 meters is straight down the hill.... I think you get the problem.

That's when it became time to become creative, so we started looking and found that we could probably get a link up to the Namje tower we'd repaired before. Repointing one of the patch antenna's there (spread of 18 degrees) should fix the problem. The azimuth of Hile was only 10 degrees off from Dhankuta so pointing the patch at Namje a few degrees off from Dhankuta, which shouldn't harm that link, would get us a solid signal at Hile.

After some experiments, while also setting up all the things such as batteries, cabling, lightning arrestor and what not inside, we found that we could indeed see the Namje tower. The signal wasn't great yet, but then we still had to adjust the antenna there. So quite a succesfull bit of improvisation.

And who knows, when we go back to Namje to repoint the antenna we'll probably get internet up and running for the soldiers guarding our tower there as well.

Obviously a lot of other things happened today as well. We decided (definetly) not to use the chargers from India anymore since they, to put it gently, suck. Using the invertors charge function seems to function far better. Bamboo poles may look good but bend just slightly too much for radio's. Getting nails is easy, finding a wall that doesn't crack when you put them in isn't...

A lot of small details that just made the day worthwhile. And of course the good knowledge that both the Hile and Dankuta center are virtually up and running. That makes 6 centers by now.

10-08-09

Today Jos and I split up. Jos went to Namjey to fix the tower because it had been hit by lightning. I went to Dhankuta and Hili together with three other guys to look at the sites and do as much as possible in Dhankuta. It was a long ride to Dhankuta down into the valley and then up again. Dhankuta was not that high up the mountain and the sun was shining so it was pretty hot. I thought Dhankuta would be similar to Bhedetar and other towns but it is much bigger. Mayba half the size of Dharan. The post office there already had PC's and I think it also has internet so all we want to install is a phone connected to the rest of the network.

First we looked around to see where we could place the equipment. The first problem we encountered was that it was not possible to get on the roof and the next best thing was the roof of a shed next to the building which wasn't all that high. Fortunattely we later found out the atic had a little hatch in the roof so we could get up. But we didn't install the antenna and radio yet. First, we placed the batteries, chargers ect. and connected them to the power grid. We added some grounding and placed a new phoneline. It doesn't look like much but stripping and connecting the wires and clipping them along the walls and ceiling trying to find a nice route is quite some work. We were quite happy with our result. If all we placed is ok, all that has to be done is add plugs to the phonelines and mount the antenna up the roof.

At around 13.00 we had a quick lunch in a place next to the site. We had some simple dalbat with eggs and spiced potatoes. It seems we were lucky because all the guys at Namjey had for lunch was some thea and cookies. Though I would really like a lunch with some bread like thing once. I am getting a bit tired of all the hot lunches with rice. I am not used to this and I really like my bread.

After we were done in Dhankuta we rushed to Hili to drop of some equipment ant take a look at the site. It was a nice ride up the mountain through some pine and bamboo forests. Hili was right in a cloud so we couldn't see much but what we saw worried us. The site is a low building and it is a little bit from the mainroad down. Apart from the fact that you can only get there by stairs it seems that there is no clear line of sight to Dhankuta what will be a problem. But we will look at it again with a compas.

Daan

08-08-09

08-08-09 First day of field work

Today was the first day of actual field work. But first, when we got up, we we enjoyed the wonderfull view around the hotel. It seems that it is much less cloudy early in the morning. We went to Dandabajar, where we were going to finish a telecenter. But first we went to the telecenter in Bheretar and loaded all necesarry equipment. We also lookt at some issues with the bateries and installed a clone image on a computer. After we had loaded the cargo and tight it up on the roof of our Land Rover we went to Dandabajar . It was a one and half our ride across a mountain dirtroad. There were some amazing views on the way to Dandabajar and some scary moments. Once we arrived in Dandabajar we found out that some equipment we expected to be at the telecenter in Dandabajar from the previous visit wasn't there. So we couldn't finish everything. First we got two earth wires installed as well as an ethernet cable. We couldn't connect all of the ethernet cable but we finished as much as we could. Unfortunatly the ethernet cable didn't work. We couldn't get a connection to the radio. It took us quite some time and quite some rewiring until we found out that we used the wrong type of cable. It was close to getting dark so we quiclky installed an outside cable and that worked. Then we drove back to Bheretar. On the way we discussed our plan for tomorrow and how we were going to leave early.

Daan

09-08-09

Today was another hard day of work. The day started quite interesting, at around 5 am in the morning our link to the Namje tower died, and we had no idea why. So, instead of going to Dandabajar early in the morning to finish work there we went (even earlier) to the Namje tower to check out what had happened there. What we found was that we were really glad we'd put in all the lightning arresters. The tower had been hit, several times, by lightning and the aresters and a few of the power supplies had met the end of their life rather quickly and rather suddenly. The equipment to replace it wasn't with us just yet so we noted what we needed and continued on to Dandabajar to finish our work there (ensuring the other team could continue their work as well). The intention was to return to do it that night.

After another ride across the road to Dandabajar we arrived there, still quite early in the morning, and set to work. Mounting and aiming the final antenna as well as sealing it up nicely. Finding out our power over ethernet cables were being quite problematic and placing outdoor wire (and installing new power outlets in a new room to get them power) that could power the radio's. At the same time a lot of smaller things had to be taken care of as well. Neatly working away several newly laid wires, cleaning up and rearranging all the tools of the day before, enjoying another lovely lunch at the local restaurant / cooking place. And of course the things we really had had to go back for, installing the lightning arresters (quite necesairy as the Namje case showed) and getting the link with Patibhara fine-tuned / precisely aimed.

The work continued, fairly smoothly although there was a lot of it and the ethernet cables were a real pain (we're getting very good at crimping...). Still, it wasn't till 3 PM we were done.

At that time, also considering we still had to go back, we decided it was too late to go to Bedethar, get equipment, and then go back to Namje to carry out the repairs. Instead we returned to Bedethar and decided tommorow we'd split up into two teams. One team is going to be repairing things at Namje and finally getting the internet flowing across the network (hopefully). The other team is going to Dancuta to start installation and sight survey there and also, if they have time, to survey Hilly. Hopefully it'll go smoothly tommorow, we'll see.

07-08-09

Today was a day that consisted of, a lot of travelling and preparation and little actual 'work'. Although really, lugging equipment and travelling is a lot of hard work in itself, especially if you want to be well prepared for everything to come.

We started early this morning (Waking up at 6.30'ish in the morning) to get our last 'certain' shower in Dharam and get everything packed up to be ready to head into the hills. In the morning we met at the DPO and started organizing everything with everyone. All the equipment was already ready to be packed (we took care of that last night) and the starting packing into the vans quickly began. After lugging all the heavy metal pieces outside we started fitting all the bagage into one van and we were the ones who, faith seemed to have decided, were to go up with the luggage and arange the first hotel in Berethar. The drive up was a smooth drive, smooth and wonderfull. Really heading into the higher hilled areas of Nepal for the first time we got some beautifull sights, gorgeous landscapes, and a few interesting half landslides on the way. Especially when we drove up through the clouds and got the first big scenic pictures we couldn't do anything but just enjoy the ride up. In Berethar itself things went quite smoothly.

The hotel was easily arranged, by our Nepali speaking colleague Dhambar who'd come along, and the luggage was quickly stashed into one room. From there we had a few hours of rest up here in the hills. Packing was still going on down in Dharan and all we really had to do was, be in Berethar. After having a short drink we decided it was time to go explore Berethar. The first place we went was the Telecenter, looking around at the place we'd be setting up our 'base of operations' in. The first real thing we noticed was the humidity. Clouds were slowly drifting up hitting us full force and the place was wet and humid, an interesting challenge for the equipment for sure.

After looking around the telecenter we visited the post office, were kindly greeted by seemingly everyone in the village and got another few beautifull pictures as well as a nice view of Nepali life in a village like this. Some soldiers in the street were an interesting curio (even seeing them up here) but it really doesn't stand out all that much anymore.

About when we finished our lunch at the Himalaya hotel (what a fitting name) the rest of the equipment and people arrived. Moving to the telecenter we quickly started sorting out things. It had indeed gotten very wet and some of the equipment that had already been there needed to be dried off, furthermore we had to ensure our own equipment wouldn't run into similar problems. Obviously it should be able to withstand the humidity, but best not test it too quickly or rigorously here in the field without replacements....

Unpacking went smoothly enough, moving what we needed to to the second group (which is heading deeper into the hills) as well organizing everything. Mark took charge very well and with everyone chipping in we were actually done well before 6, earlier then expected.

The equipment all neatly sorted, plans thought out for the coming days, and wiring and such that still needed to be made taken care off, we're now ready to rock.

Nothing truly 'special' today perhaps, and yet still an exciting day. Up in the hills, everything prepared, and ready for an early night and then an early morning to actually head out and set up the first new set of telecenters and radio's tommorow.

Jos