Journal

Good bye Kingswood…

It’s 29 June and we said good bye to Kingswood Basin and the people there. The sky was grey and so was the water. It wasn’t easy the last few days with Quintessence are upon us. The boater life is about to end, abruptly.

We started early and headed towards Hatton Locks, as a first hurdle we had to pass 21 wide locks, good we went downwards. We had a boat ahead of us, meaning we can team up with them. It’s easier to work those locks together, which we did and off we went, down the first lock.

It all went smoothly until we were supposed to start the engine to steer out of the lock. Only a sad puff puff puff was heard from ours. It wouldn’t start, Quintessence was on strike. This was a difficult moment, what now?

The only thing we could do was to double up with our fellow boaters who were really kind and agreed. It wasn’t best practice to do such a thing as it makes navigation in the lock basins difficult for boats coming from the bottom, but we had no other choice.

The good news was that we did the locks in just about two hours, that was probably some kind of a record breaking time. At least for our fellow boaters… for us navigating the Hatton Locks was the first and the last time.

We had to call the canal emergency and fix a point where a technician could come and look at the engine. We agreed to wait just before the Saltisford Arm where our fellow boaters had their fixed mooring, they kindly pulled us all the way there. The technician came and fixed the problem within 10 minutes! An electrical wire connected to the engine was loose, that was it. Silly but nonetheless – better such an easy issue than a major one. And we continued cruising. It was drizzling most of the day, the weather suited our mood it seemed.

We found a beautiful mooring, out in the country side, only one boat was there too. We kept a good distance so as not to disrupt the peace of the other boater. It was a chilly night and Natascha was cold. She could have done with the stove on even though it was the end of June.

Morning glory near Stockton, that’s what is truly beautiful about being on a boat, such sceneries. Simply divine.

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Log

Journey to Stockton

Summary

This is a trip of 16 miles, 3½ furlongs and 33 locks from Kingswood Junction to Bascote Bridge No 27.

This will take 11 hours and 21 minutes which is 1 day, 4 hours and 21 minutes at 7 hours per day.

From Kingswood Junction travel southeast on the Grand Union Canal (Warwick and Birmingham Canal: widened section – Main Line) for 7 miles, 2½ furlongs and 21 locks to Budbrooke Junction, then travel east on the Grand Union Canal (Warwick and Napton Canal) for 9 miles, 1¼ furlongs and 12 locks to Bascote Bridge No 27.

Route

Grand Union Canal (Warwick and Birmingham Canal: widened section – Main Line)
From Kingswood Junction (Junction of Grand Union and Stratford upon Avon Canals) to:
Shrewley Tunnel (Northwest end) 3 miles, 1 furlong, 0 locks
Hatton Top Lock No 46

@Dark Lane, Hatton, Warwick, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom

Having passed through Shrewley Tunnel.

1 mile, 7¼ furlongs, 0 locks
Hatton Locks Café ¼ furlongs, 1 lock
Hatton Yard 1¾ furlongs, 3 locks
Hatton Bottom Lock No 26 Having passed through Hatton Locks. 1 mile, 6 furlongs, 16 locks
Budbrooke Junction

Junction of Saltisford Arm and Grand Union Main Line
2¼ furlongs, 1 lock
Grand Union Canal (Warwick and Napton Canal)
From Budbrooke Junction (Junction of Saltisford Arm and Grand Union Main Line) to:
Cape Top Lock No 25 4¼ furlongs, 0 locks
Cape Bottom Lock No 24 Having passed through Cape Locks. 1 furlong, 1 lock
Leamington Winding Hole

Site of Frost’s Wharf and Basin. Also known as Frost’s Wharf
3 miles, 1½ furlongs, 1 lock
Fosse Wharf 2 miles, 4¾ furlongs, 3 locks
Bascote Bottom Lock No 17 1 mile, 6¼ furlongs, 3 locks
Bascote Staircase Locks No 14 and 15 Having passed through Bascote Locks. 1½ furlongs, 2 locks
Bascote Bridge No 27

Bascote Road
5½ furlongs, 2 locks

Totals

Total distance is 16 miles, 3½ furlongs and 33 locks. There are at least 4 small aqueducts or underbridges and 1 tunnel (Shrewley Tunnel. ).

This is made up of 16 miles, 3½ furlongs of broad canals; 33 broad locks.

This will take 11 hours, 21 minutes which is 1 day, 4 hours and 21 minutes at 7 hours per day.

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Journal

Family visit from Ellen and Nils

We managed to arrange a short visit of Adnan’s mum and brother Nils to come to see us. Albeit, they had to stay in a hotel near by, there isn’t enough space for two more people to stay over. Moreover it was such a hot weekend, it was baking inside the boat, this could have been a real issue for our two guests.

It really was two glorious days and the boater life showed itself from the most beautiful side. We were cruising from below Knowle lock back to Kingswood with the two of them. Halfway through we did a pit stop and had lunch.

Dyson’s other function, the cooling one, came into force once we were back from the cruising trip. We not only had to cool down ourselves but also the inside of the boat.

 

Adnan gave a brief mazizone workshop introducing our guests to the guest book and the NextCloud sharing functions of the Kingswood Basin mazizone.

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Research

boattr meets “7067 – It’s not a Test”

Today we launched the “7076 – It’s not a Test” art project on Quintessence.

“7067 khz – it`s not a test” calls for daily transmission of automatically/manually generated radio signals from different stations around the world at scheduled time slots. Recalling the sputnik satellite’s outer space broadcast of radio pulses in the fifties, Eleonore’s 7067khz inverts the space signals to earth signals, calling for like-minded media/cultural spaces to sign on for signal sending. In honor of the first radio artists who were using the signals as a material for art, the 7067khz stands for independent information and communication bypassing the use of internet. We do not want to specify the content of the transmission, rather we consider the act of sending the signals an act of solidarity in this post-internet future present. We managed only to get two connect, due to issues with the antenna. We will have to fix this.

The PI should send on the antenna on pin4 (clkout). But only did so in the below mention connections. The problem might be the noise. We might have to look into getting a Band Pass Filter kit (between pin4 and antenna). The antenna seems to be the most difficult bit, we might want to look into a 1:9 Balun antenna (34 mm).

One can look it up by visiting WSPRnet and specify parameters and our callsign (qa5iqc). The two connects were on 16/6 & 17/6:

2017-06-17 17:26 QA5IQC 7.040128 -26 0 JO92 0.5 G4KRW IO92fv 1378 280

2017-06-16 18:10 QA5IQC 7.040124 -27 -1 JO92 0.5 G3JKV IO91uf 1325 272

Funny enough our boattr neighbor was also experimenting with radio, but on the aprs – Automatic Packet Reporting System.

The Automatic Packet Reporting System was designed to support rapid, reliable exchange of information for local, tactical real-time information, events or nets. The concept, which dates back to the mid 1980’s, is that all relevant information is transmitted immediately to everyone in the net and every station captures that information for consistent and standard display to all participants. Information was refreshed redundantly but at a decaying rate so that old information was updated less frequently than new info. Since the primary objective is consistent exchange of information between everyone, APRS established standard formats not only for the transmission of POSITION, STATUS, MESSAGES, and QUERIES, it also establishes guidelines for display so that users of different systems will still see the same consistent information displayed in a consistent manner (independent of the particular display or maping system in use).

“7067 khz – it`s not a test” is an Eleonore/stwst project that serves as cultural backbone for Stadtwerkstatt’s media art activities. As part of Stadtwerkstatt’s cultural initiatives, the 100 year old Station Messschiff Eleonore docked at the Danube harbor in Linz has since 2009 been powered by solar energy, equipped with radio components and modified to host artists in residency. Based on *Der Backensender – Automatic Beacon Transponder (ABT11)* proposed by Nina Wernhard, Armin Medosch and Franz Xaver in 2011, this year Eleonore/stwst launches “7067 khz – it`s not a test”, using the frequency of 7067khz in a new artistic and cultural contexts.

“7067 khz – it`s not a test” calls for daily transmission of automatically/manually generated radio signals from different stations around the world at scheduled time slots. Recalling the sputnik satellite’s outer space broadcast of radio pulses in the fifties, Eleonore’s 7067khz inverts the space signals to earth signals, calling for like-minded media/cultural spaces to sign on for signal sending. In honor of the first radio artists who were using the signals as a material for art, the 7067khz stands for independent information and communication bypassing the use of internet. We do not want to specify the content of the transmission, rather we consider the act of sending the signals an act of solidarity in this post-internet future present.

We call for artists to send in the signals in SSTV (slowscan TV) and CW (continuous wave) automatically or manually. With ham radio equipments and monitors at the exhibition space, the visitors can follow the signals sent from different stations with low-res pictures and amplified sound output.

HOW TO

We are broadcasting signals on the Frequency of 7067 khz. Like The signal of Sputnik – it is not important want you are broadcasting its important that you are broadcasting. Like the Signal of Sputnik 1957 the broadcast itself is the politcal message.

Each Participant is sending who am i, where am i and i im attendance. 7067 khz is a HAM-Radio Frequencies so if you want to be in the Network you have to make the HAM Licence or find a Ham-operator who is working with you.

How can i be participate:

  1. Find an Ham-operator who has the knowledge and the devices to do this.
  2. Make a Ham Licence and buy the devices
  3. We are temporarly operating your node.

Normal work during the year:
All nodes of the network are sending at diffrent time there callsign. The shedule is coordinated at the Website 7067.stwst.at. Each station should send not more then three times per day.

Working during Events, Festivals and Exhibitions:
The radio jam session : The nodes of the Network are trying to reach an designated destination (for Example an Exhibition)

What kind of signal we do prefer:
We prefer signals with small bandwith like cw or sstv. With sstv you are converting a picture into a audiofile and broadcast this audiofile with SSB technologie. We also supporting and featuring WSPRnet.org. Wspr means Weak Signal Propagation Reporte – In this technology you have very small power consumation. With 2 Watt you can boadcast 2 times around the world. The bandwith of information is also very low – about 32 bit in 5 minutes But the common is SlowScanTV. SSTV working with Pictures and Pitcures are very compatible to exhibitions with audience who has no knowledge about informationtheorie. Once more: it is not important what you are broadcasting its importand that you are broadcasting.

Which devices can i use:
You can buy and build your own devices. But you also can buy a device from us. We are offering a raspberry pi with a camera, touchscreen and sdr (software defined radio). SDR is making a softwareradio for 7067 khz. The cam on the system is automatically making the picture an broadcast it. You only need a RF amplifier to broadcast the signal.

Information technology is increasingly becoming a power factor in a globally networked world. Algorythms control the global information networks. We secure information about autonomous networks and offer the possibility of independent information transmission. We do not want to stand in competition with the global information players of the capital. That’s why we reduce the bandwidth of our information transfers to a few hertz. Independence has the price of information reduction and reduction does not mean total loss of control.

Funkfeuer.de is an autonomous information network based on WSPR and JP65 technology. The radio technology of John Taylor offers enormous ranges through small bandwidths. The transmission of information is thereby reduced to status messages. The aim of the project is to create a dedicated minimalist network in the freely available CB radio band.

Water and information: Information plays an important role in evolution. It is unclear if information was available before evolution or evolution evolved the information. The second important factor in evolution was and is the water. Water enabled life and thus information storage via the DNS.

At the moment, network nodes are operating on ships in Venice, Hamburg, Amsterdam and Linz.

 

Raspberry Pi bareback LF/MF/HF/VHF WSPR transmitter. The code can be donwloaded from GitHub.

Raspberry Pi bareback LF/MF/HF/VHF WSPR transmitter

Makes a very simple WSPR beacon from your RasberryPi by connecting GPIO
port to Antenna (and LPF), operates on LF, MF, HF and VHF bands from
0 to 250 MHz.

Compatible with the original Raspberry Pi, the Raspberry Pi 2/3, and
the Pi Zero.

!!!!!!
2017-04-21
Do note that some users have been reporting lockups with recent OS versions.
I have not been able to reproduce the problems on my RPI1 and RPI3 running
the latest Jessie-Lite.
https://github.com/JamesP6000/WsprryPi/issues/6#issuecomment-296233932
!!!!!!

******
Installation / update:
******
  Download and compile code:
    sudo apt-get install git
    git clone https://github.com/JamesP6000/WsprryPi.git
    cd WsprryPi
    make

  Install to /usr/local/bin:
    sudo make install

  Uninstall:
    sudo make uninstall

******
Usage: (WSPR --help output):
******

  If running from the console, recent versions of Jessie cause WsprryPi to
  crash when the console screen blanks. The symptom is that WsppryPi works
  for several transmissions and then crashes. The fix is to add "consoleblank=0"
  to /boot/cmdline.txt.
  https://github.com/JamesP6000/WsprryPi/issues/10

  Usage:
    wspr [options] callsign locator tx_pwr_dBm f1 <f2> <f3> ...
      OR
    wspr [options] --test-tone f

  Options:
    -h --help
      Print out this help screen.
    -p --ppm ppm
      Known PPM correction to 19.2MHz RPi nominal crystal frequency.
    -s --self-calibration
      Check NTP before every transmission to obtain the PPM error of the
      crystal (default setting!).
    -f --free-running
      Do not use NTP to correct frequency error of RPi crystal.
    -r --repeat
      Repeatedly, and in order, transmit on all the specified command line
      freqs.
    -x --terminate <n>
      Terminate after n transmissions have been completed.
    -o --offset
      Add a random frequency offset to each transmission:
        +/- 80 Hz for WSPR
        +/- 8 Hz for WSPR-15
    -t --test-tone freq
      Simply output a test tone at the specified frequency. Only used
      for debugging and to verify calibration.
    -n --no-delay
      Transmit immediately, do not wait for a WSPR TX window. Used
      for testing only.

  Frequencies can be specified either as an absolute TX carrier frequency, or
  using one of the following strings. If a string is used, the transmission
  will happen in the middle of the WSPR region of the selected band.
    LF LF-15 MF MF-15 160m 160m-15 80m 60m 40m 30m 20m 17m 15m 12m 10m 6m 4m 2m
  <B>-15 indicates the WSPR-15 region of band <B>.

  Transmission gaps can be created by specifying a TX frequency of 0

  Note that 'callsign', 'locator', and 'tx_power_dBm' are simply used to fill
  in the appropriate fields of the WSPR message. Normally, tx_power_dBm should
  be 10, representing the signal power coming out of the Pi. Set this value
  appropriately if you are using an external amplifier.

******
Radio licensing / RF:
******
  In order to transmit legally, a HAM Radio License is REQUIRED for running
  this experiment. The output is a square wave so a low pass filter is REQUIRED.
  Connect a low-pass filter (via decoupling C) to GPIO4 (GPCLK0) and Ground pin
  of your Raspberry Pi, connect an antenna to the LPF. The GPIO4 and GND pins
  are found on header P1 pin 7 and 9 respectively, the pin closest to P1 label
  is pin 1 and its 3rd and 4th neighbour is pin 7 and 9 respectively. See this
  link for pin layout: http://elinux.org/RPi_Low-level_peripherals
  
  Examples of low-pass filters can be found here:
    http://www.gqrp.com/harmonic_filters.pdf
  TAPR makes a very nice shield for the Raspberry Pi that is pre-assembled,
  performs the appropriate filtering for the 20m band, and also increases
  the power output to 20dBm! Just connect your antenna and you're good-to-go!
    https://www.tapr.org/kits_20M-wspr-pi.html

  The expected power output is 10mW (+10dBm) in a 50 Ohm load. This looks
  neglible, but when connected to a simple dipole antenna this may result in
  reception reports ranging up to several thousands of kilometers.

  As the Raspberry Pi does not attenuate ripple and noise components from the
  5V USB power supply, it is RECOMMENDED to use a regulated supply that has
  sufficient ripple supression. Supply ripple might be seen as mixing products
  products centered around the transmit carrier typically at 100/120Hz.

  DO NOT expose GPIO4 to voltages or currents that are above the specified
  Absolute Maximum limits. GPIO4 outputs a digital clock in 3V3 logic, with a
  maximum current of 16mA. As there is no current protection available and a DC
  component of 1.6V, DO NOT short-circuit or place a resistive (dummy) load
  straight on the GPIO4 pin, as it may draw too much current. Instead, use a
  decoupling capacitor to remove DC component when connecting the output dummy
  loads, transformers, antennas, etc. DO NOT expose GPIO4 to electro- static
  voltages or voltages exceeding the 0 to 3.3V logic range; connecting an
  antenna directly to GPIO4 may damage your RPi due to transient voltages such
  as lightning or static buildup as well as RF from other transmitters
  operating into nearby antennas. Therefore it is RECOMMENDED to add some form
  of isolation, e.g. by using a RF transformer, a simple buffer/driver/PA
  stage, two schottky small signal diodes back to back.

******
TX Timing:
******
  This software is using system time to determine the start of WSPR
  transmissions, so keep the system time synchronised within 1sec precision,
  i.e. use NTP network time synchronisation or set time manually with date
  command. A WSPR broadcast starts on an even minute and takes 2 minutes for
  WSPR-2 or starts at :00,:15,:30,:45 and takes 15 minutes for WSPR-15. It
  contains a callsign, 4-digit Maidenhead square locator and transmission
  power.  Reception reports can be viewed on Weak Signal Propagation Reporter
  Network at: http://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/spots

******
Calibration:
******
  As of 2017-02, NTP calibration is enabled by default and produces a
  frequency error of about 0.1 PPM after the Pi has temperature stabilized
  and the NTP loop has converged.

  Frequency calibration is REQUIRED to ensure that the WSPR-2 transmission
  occurs within the narrow 200 Hz band. The reference crystal on your RPi might
  have an frequency error (which in addition is temp. dependent -1.3Hz/degC
  @10MHz). To calibrate, the frequency might be manually corrected on the
  command line or a PPM correction could be specified on the command line.

  NTP calibration:
  NTP automatically tracks and calculates a PPM frequency correction. If you
  are running NTP on your Pi, you can use the --self-calibration option to
  have this program querry NTP for the latest frequency correction before
  each WSPR transmission. Some residual frequency error may still be present
  due to delays in the NTP measurement loop and this method works best if your
  Pi has been on for a long time, the crystal's temperature has stabilized,
  and the NTP control loop has converged.

  AM calibration:
  A practical way to calibrate is to tune the transmitter on the same frequency
  of a medium wave AM broadcast station; keep tuning until zero beat (the
  constant audio tone disappears when the transmitter is exactly on the same
  frequency as the broadcast station), and determine the frequency difference
  with the broadcast station. This is the frequency error that can be applied
  for correction while tuning on a WSPR frequency.

  Suppose your local AM radio station is at 780kHz. Use the --test-tone option
  to produce different tones around 780kHz (eg 780100 Hz) until you can
  successfully zero beat the AM station. If the zero beat tone specified on the
  command line is F, calculate the PPM correction required as:
  ppm=(F/780000-1)*1e6 In the future, specify this value as the argument to the
  --ppm option on the comman line. You can verify that the ppm value has been
  set correction by specifying --test-tone 780000 --ppm <ppm> on the command
  line and confirming that the Pi is still zero beating the AM station.

******
PWM Peripheral:
******
  The code uses the RPi PWM peripheral to time the frequency transitions
  of the output clock. This peripheral is also used by the RPi sound system
  and hence any sound events that occur during a WSPR transmission will
  interfere with WSPR transmissions. Sound can be permanently disabled
  by editing /etc/modules and commenting out the snd-bcm2835 device.

******
Example usage:
******
  Brief help screen
    ./wspr --help

  Transmit a constant test tone at 780 kHz.
    sudo ./wspr --test-tone 780e3

  Using callsign N9NNN, locator EM10, and TX power 33 dBm, transmit a single
  WSPR transmission on the 20m band using NTP based frequency offset
  calibration.
    sudo ./wspr N9NNN EM10 33 20m

  The same as above, but without NTP calibration:
    sudo ./wspr --free-running N9NNN EM10 33 20m

  Transmit a WSPR transmission slightly off-center on 30m every 10 minutes for
  a total of 7 transmissions, and using a fixed PPM correction value.
    sudo ./wspr --repeat --terminate 7 --ppm 43.17 N9NNN EM10 33 10140210 0 0 0 0

  Transmit repeatedly on 40m, use NTP based frequency offset calibration,
  and add a random frequency offset to each transmission to minimize collisions
  with other transmitters.
    sudo ./wspr --repeat --offset --self-calibration N9NNN EM10 33 40m

******
Reference documentation:
******
  http://www.raspberrypi.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/BCM2835-ARM-Peripherals.pdf
  http://www.scribd.com/doc/127599939/BCM2835-Audio-clocks
  http://www.scribd.com/doc/101830961/GPIO-Pads-Control2
  https://github.com/mgottschlag/vctools/blob/master/vcdb/cm.yaml
  https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/vm/pagemap.txt

******
Credits:
******
  Credits goes to Oliver Mattos and Oskar Weigl who implemented PiFM [1]
  based on the idea of exploiting RPi DPLL as FM transmitter.

  Dan MD1CLV combined this effort with WSPR encoding algorithm from F8CHK,
  resulting in WsprryPi a WSPR beacon for LF and MF bands.

  Guido PE1NNZ <pe1nnz@amsat.org> extended this effort with DMA based PWM
  modulation of fractional divider that was part of PiFM, allowing to operate
  the WSPR beacon also on HF and VHF bands.  In addition time-synchronisation
  and double amount of power output was implemented.

  James Peroulas <james@peroulas.com> added several command line options, a
  makefile, improved frequency generation precision so as to be able to
  precisely generate a tone at a fraction of a Hz, and added a self calibration
  feature where the code attempts to derrive frequency calibration information
  from an installed NTP deamon.  Furthermore, the TX length of the WSPR symbols
  is more precise and does not vary based on system load or PWM clock
  frequency.

  Michael Tatarinov for adding a patch to get PPM info directly from the
  kernel.

  Retzler András (HA7ILM) for the massive changes that were required to
  incorporate the mailbox code so that the RPi2 and RPi3 could be supported.

  [1] PiFM code from
      http://www.icrobotics.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Turning_the_Raspberry_Pi_Into_an_FM_Transmitter
  [2] Original WSPR Pi transmitter code by Dan:
      https://github.com/DanAnkers/WsprryPi
  [3] Fork created by Guido:
      https://github.com/threeme3/WsprryPi
  [4] This fork created by James:
      https://github.com/JamesP6000/WsprryPi

Wir sind drauf und dran ein weltweites Radionetzwerk aufzubauen. Das Netzwerk soll vorerst auf Basis der wspr Technologie starten. Angelehnt ist es auch die Amateurfunkideologie: “Es geht nur um den Kontakt und den Report der einzelnen Nodes zu verifizieren” Eine autonomes physikalisches Netzwerk im Zeitlalter des Internet zu schaffen. Politisch für die Kunst zu agieren. Wie der Sputnik-Satellit der mit seiner Nachricht in den 50iger Jahren “ich bin hier” doch eine politisches Erdbeben erzeugte.

Starten würden wir das Netzwerk vorerst nur auf Booten. Stubnitz HAmburg, Illutron Kopenhagen und Quintessence, wir haben noch 2 boote in amsterdam und hamburg. Wir haben auch schon temporaere Nodes bei Picksel in Bergen und APO33 in Nantes aufgebaut — Raites und Rasa in Riga haben auch Interesse gezeigt.

Die Antenne ist meist der groesste Aufwand. Als HArdware genuegt ein Rasbperry mit dem man ohne Verstaerung direkt aus einem IO-Pin heraus auf die Antenne bis 1000km senden kann… super technik, aber nur 6 hz bandbreite.

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Log

Journey to Knowle bottom lock

Summary

This is a trip of 3 miles, 3¼ furlongs from Kingswood Junction to Knowle Bottom Lock No 47 travelling north on the Grand Union Canal (Warwick and Birmingham Canal: widened section – Main Line).

This will take 1 hour and 2 minutes.

Route

Grand Union Canal (Warwick and Birmingham Canal: widened section – Main Line)
From Kingswood Junction (Junction of Grand Union and Stratford upon Avon Canals) to:
Knowle Bottom Lock No 47 3 miles, 3¼ furlongs, 0 locks

Totals

Total distance is 3 miles, 3¼ furlongs and 0 locks (not counting Knowle Bottom Lock No 47).

This is made up of 3 miles, 3¼ furlongs of broad canals.

This will take 1 hour and 2 minutes.

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Research

MAZI Monday

Ongoing MAZI research into DIY networks and complimentary solutions has turned up many great options. Our current favorite is Sandstorm.io a a collaboration suite of open source software which continues to develop and swell with features.

Three new servers in centres of activity, have been introduced where the rising need for safe, secure and stable alternatives to corporate cloud is called for by subscribers and collaborators.

We looked into the MAZI portal and MAZI guest book to be used on boattr.

MAZI Portal

This repository contains the Portal of the MAZI toolkit. It is comprised of the user interface which enables users to interact with the available applications and the admin interface which enables the administrator of the Mazizone to customize the appearance of the Portal, configure important networking parameters (network name, SSID etc.), observe statistics of the Mazizone and much more.

You can find a detailed documentation for the usage of the Portal in the wiki of this repository https://github.com/mazi-project/portal/wiki.

Or in the MAZI guides repository https://github.com/mazi-project/guides/wiki.

Prerequirements

Install the following packages:

$ apt-get update
$ apt-get install build-essential git-core libsqlite3-dev ruby ruby-dev libmysqlclient-dev

Also install the following gems:

$ gem install sinatra sequel sqlite3 rake thin rubyzip mysql --no-ri --no-rdoc

And download the back-end scripts

$ sudo su
$ cd /root
$ git clone git@github.com:mazi-project/back-end.git

Installation

$ sudo su
$ cd /root
$ git clone git@github.com:mazi-project/portal.git
$ cd portal
$ rake init
$ rake db:migrate

Execution

$ ruby -I lib -I database mazi_portal_server.rb

Update

Since version 1.6.4 there is an update function to the admin menu. In order to update using the command line, you need to execute the following commands:

$ sudo su
$ cd /root/portal
$ git pull origin master
$ rake db:migrate
$ cp /etc/mazi/config.yml /etc/mazi/config.yml.bu
$ cp etc/config.yml /etc/mazi/config.yml
$ cd /root/back-end
$ git pull origin master
$ service mazi-portal restart

MAZI Guestbook

Mazi-board or MAZI Guestbook is an application part of the MAZI toolkit for sharing ideas, photos and more, related to the specific place where a MAZI Zone is deployed, a form of digital Guestbook.

See here for more details and documentation: https://github.com/mazi-project/guestbook/wiki

And try it out here: http://demo.mazizone.eu:8081/

Server Requirements

  • mongodb installed
  • npm installed
  • node installed

Installation

  • go to src/node directory
  • run npm install
  • install pm2 globally : npm install pm2 -g
  • cp config.default.js config.js and change database credentials and username and password in auth section

Testing

  • start your mongodb server with mongod --dbpath <path_to_your_db>
    • create two alias within your .bash_profile:
    alias stop-mongodb='mongo admin --eval "db.shutdownServer()"'
    alias start-mongodb='mongod --fork --logpath <your_db_dir>/mongodb.log  --dbpath <your_db_dir>'
  • run npm test

Deploying

  • create startup service for mongodb
  • create startup service for pm2
    • if you are using systemd, type: pm2 startup systemd then follow the instructions
  • pm2 start main.js and pm2 save
  • standard port for server is 8081, configure nginx or apache to forward http requests on port 80 to node server

Credits

Mazi-board is an application developed initially by https://github.com/lutzer, to complement the Hybrid LetterBox: http://www.design-research-lab.org/projects/hybrid-letter-box/, with a local offline application to view, comment, and add new cards through a device.

As part of the MAZI toolkit is being further developed to be used as a generic application.

Friends at Brookmill Park and Deptford Creek currently share access to their Sandstorm tools installed onto an Atom powered mini PC which is well suited to the task. Demands on the server is still very modest at this point but with new friends gaining skills and interest this will change. They have started making use of the Etherpad (whiteboard), Davros (file store) and Weekan board (list manager) tools. Both groups are still practicing with their respective wordpress based websites at commercial webhosts though these too could be hosted within Sandstorm.

Mazi is well on track to present combinations of network and collective development tools in 2018, a pick and mix of hardware, software and scenario conditioning, though we are not there yet! Adoption of ultra low power ARM based pc’s like Raspberry Pi for a multitude of tasks is on a rocket. On the flipside, a mountain of small format, legacy laptop and powerful low cost / free desktop i386 hardware is in great abundance, a glut even, these are perfect hosts for Sandstorm.

SPC are working with OU and Creeknet friends to establish a network of interactive installations along the tidal creek, that forms a DIY networking trail from Brookmill Park to the Swing Bridge. Using a combination of low power computing and mesh wireless technology, this initiative aims to support existing neighbourhood activity and inform Mazi toolkit development. Follow it along the length of the tidal creek from beacon to beacon, each point presenting locally sourced and augmented information.

Each Mazizone consists of a reconfigured Rasbian operating on a Raspberry Pi that hosts, webserver and database tools that are arranged and refined to suit local conditions. They are connected to existing broadband internet or as standalone ‘offline’ systems. Each offers ‘Creeknet’ wireless access, which responds to your web request by presenting a captive ‘portal’ page loaded with guides for use, selected collaboration tools,  and a view on each neighborhood.

The current MAZI toolkit release is V1.6 with the project sources bug tracking and development notes at Github. We invite all those interested to get in touch, download and install the development images and contribute feedback and follow our progress. The details of how best to configure and deploy a mazizone are being accumulated as we experiment.

Project partners at Univesity of Thessaly in Greece have the job of building and managing the development of the toolkit software, adding and adapting to the evolving requirements. You can preview the default Mazi toolkit, but for better insight into how progress is being made in London please visit one of the Creeknet Mazizones and try out the options. We now also have berryboot versions of the toolkit hosted by Alex Goldcheidt alongide the hundreds of alternative OS for the Raspberry Pi at Berryserver.

Our UK partners at Open University have set up a mazizone installation of their own to demonstrate to their colleagues and experiment with new features whilst in their work space in Milton Keynes.

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Reflections

Reflections at the end of the Year 2016

Autumn in the Warwickshire country side was stunning, it’s considered an old landscape, meaning people have been occupying this part the the UK for centuries. Some of the hedgerow are kind of elevated, layers and layers of roots. And stories, we guess. There are many old oak trees, really stunning ones and we keep wondering during our walks, what have they witnessed? If they could talk, or say, if we could understand them, what stories would they tell?

Early autumn, the landscape still saturated with green and lush trees and bushes.

 

 

If things don’t go right in life, a walk through nature is usually helpful. In the case of this nature it is borderline to therapeutic. Now that we have settled, work was causing stress, a never ending rotation of issues in life. We went tree hugging, wondering if an answer could be found?

The weirdest rain cloud we’ve ever seen. It took only a few minutes and finished was the shower of rain.

Autumn light and changing colours.

Friends come and go, for a day or a weekend to absorb the fresh air and long walks in nature.

Rob, who is a friend of Adnan and works with him at Uni, is staying over night regularly. Natascha prepares food, he brings the booze, quite often two bottles of Prosecco… As we all know, Boris Johnson hapless approach with Brexit negotiations resulted in an insult against the Italians in regard to the UK’s Prosecco consumption. Rob and Nat definitely belong to those who would be badly affected by a strained Prosecco relationship. Why does Johnson keep dropping his mindless gibberish? We can live without Prosecco, of course, the point is, does he [BoJo] honestly think this is getting the negotiations on a constructive trajectory?

But for now, this is the result after one too many… Rob’n’Gucci…

The winter arrived with golden light, frozen canal and mushrooms still growing. It’s difficult to see, but the duck was sliding on a slightly submerged icy layer… duck ice-skating. Rob and Barbara made the photo of us on the bridge, we went to our local pub “The Navigation Inn” for a meal, being hungry after a long walk. As we didn’t know whether the mushrooms are edible we left them, rather than making a mushroom stroganoff on the boat. We wanted to start the new year without stomach ache. Talking of the new year, what will it bring?

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Research

MAZI pilot – Creeknet

We set out on the second phase of neighbourhood engagement and activity around our Mazi pilot – Creeknet. It explores use of DIY networking methods and promotion of ‘offline‘ information systems, that express awareness, sustainability and determination for greater data autonomy.

To date, we have met with a wide range of local people living and working alongside Deptford Creek, each with a view on local issues and an intensity to shape outcomes in whatever form of public campaign or personal agenda they may fix on. Help us identify the tools for success in such situations and to foster the development of home grown options to introduce into the MAZI toolkit.

We begin a series of weekly meetings and workshops at venues up and down the creek this month, to channel some energies into discovery, discussion and expression on subjects closest to heart. The quality of lived environment tops that chart, as any local resident, worker or student will assert. Unbridled property speculation, deteriorating air quality and wealth disparity, contribute to the sense of dis-empowerment, isolation and anxiety for the future.

Much we have learned, as the storm of chaos around us builds, reminds us that we can never again take personal freedoms and privacy for granted. As of 30th December, the Investigatory Powers Act permits targeted interception of communications, bulk collection and interception of communications data by UK government and intelligence agencies.

Educating and informing ourselves on conditions of change are now critical steps for us to take for future health of communities, cultures and capital. Our faith in each other, open collaboration and social justice are at stake. Your insight, inventiveness and expertise are key to unlocking neighbourhood value and identifying solutions to act on locally.

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Journal

Two long journeys, two short ones and finally at home

Natascha thinks we beat all the boater records in the last two days, ever. Pure sarcasm, of course, but at this point she’s allowed.

The first day on our way to Kingswood Basin we spent some 9 hours cruising. That was already challenging for us, and the cat. Although it was September, the thermometer climbed up and it was rather warm for this time of the year. We found a tremendous spot to moor up for the night, cat went out straight away and we caught the last sun rays. It was a beautiful moment.

Day two of the journey turned out the be a back breaking nightmare. There were many locks to work, 27 in total in one day! It was apocalyptic to cruise through Birmingham from the side we did, we came from the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal section and we had to pass under the spaghetti junction. Heavily industrialized landscape for miles on end and then this junction. We had to turn left into the Grand Union and shortly afterwards was a CRT mooring which we both didn’t approve of to stay overnight, silly as we were. We cruised through Birmingham at night, the canal not looking good at all, cranky old locks to work. And we continued cruising, it was getting later and later, we finally had Birmingham Centre behind us, generally it was really dark along the canal and we could hardly see a thing, apart from a massive incinerator at one point. We didn’t have a clue where we were.

The clock was hitting 11pm and we had to moor up, we have been cruising since 9am! We finally saw a boat and we decided to stay near them for the night. By that time it was already 11.30pm. Quickly something to eat, the cat went out, we were surrounded by forest, or at least it seemed.

The next morning we got up, knackered as hell, the cat nowhere. Great. So, we had to wait, had a coffee outside, it was a lovely day again. Then we discovered the mess on the roof of our boat. Blimey somebody dropped a rather big shit! Was it a pigeon or a squirrel? Quickly, we had to wash the roof, the white paint wasn’t fully dry at this point and we just didn’t wanted to have some weird green colour seeping through. The cat arrived, we grabbed her and off we went.

When we arrived at Knowle Wharf we wanted to fill up our diesel tank. Sorry mates, no diesel here…! We had to go all the way back to Copt Heath Wharf, adding another 40 minutes of extra cruising. We got there, got the diesel and went back. On the way back we saw dark clouds in the distance, it really looked like something was brewing. At the Knowle flight of locks the storm was pretty close. Still we decided to do the locks, those are massive ones, doing them alone and under pressure was hard work. Yet again! Natascha’s biceps were getting bigger by the bloody minute.

We arrived at the bottom and the famous sky opened. It was a beautiful storm, the cat unfortunately managed to get out of the boat and had to endure some serious lightning and thunder. When the storm was over we continued with cruising, thinking we will manage to reach our new home. But we slowed down the boat to the lowest gear and quietly cruised the last stretch of the cut. It was a stunning moment & Natascha didn’t make a single photo… Probably because the scenery was so overwhelmingly beautiful, we were so happy to have made the decision to move to the country side, we were in awe of it all.

Then night fell and we just couldn’t get ourselves to go up the last lock and trying to find our spot and quite possibly disturb the neighbors. So we stayed near the railway bridge for the night and discovered that we had a dead Coventry rat on our boat! Yes, bloody hell, we noticed a strange smell when passing the fridge and we thought it was the cabbage we bought… but no, a dead rat under the fridge! Out we threw it in the bushes, got the anti bacterial cleaning out and whipped everything franticly. Then we prepared supper, not the last one, but the first in our new home.

The next morning we did the last lock, filled up the water tank and moored at Kingswood Basin. It was a glorious moment. No more enforcement team, no more clogged Elsan disposal, decent water pressure. And great neighbors. Heaven.

 

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Log

Journey to Solihul

Summary

This is a trip of 28 miles, 6¾ furlongs and 27 locks from Grendon Wharf Long Term Moorings to Damson Lane Bridge No 78B.

This will take 15 hours and 20 minutes which is 2 days, 1 hour and 20 minutes at 7 hours per day.

From Grendon Wharf Long Term Moorings travel west on the Coventry Canal (Main Line – Hawkesbury to Fazeley) for 8 miles, 2¾ furlongs and 2 locks to Fazeley Junction, then travel southwest on the Birmingham Canal Navigations (Birmingham and Fazeley Canal – Main Line) for 11 miles, 5½ furlongs and 14 locks to Salford Junction South, then travel south on the Grand Union Canal (Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal) for 2 miles, 4¾ furlongs and 5 locks to Bordesley Junction, then travel south on the Grand Union Canal (Warwick and Birmingham Canal) for ¾ furlongs and 6 locks to Camp Hill Top Lock Winding Hole, then travel southeast on the Grand Union Canal (Warwick and Birmingham Canal: widened section – Main Line) for 6 miles, ¾ furlongs to Damson Lane Bridge No 78B.

Route

Coventry Canal (Main Line – Hawkesbury to Fazeley)
From Grendon Wharf Long Term Moorings (Permit holders only. @Green Lane, North Warwickshire, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom) to:
Bradley Green Bridge No 48

Spon Lane
¾ furlongs, 0 locks
Railway Bridge (Polesworth to Atherstone)

Trent Valley Line
1 mile, 7¼ furlongs, 0 locks
Mill Bridge No 53

Footbridges both sides of bridge. @Fairfields Hill / Market Street, Polesworth, North Warwickshire, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom
6¾ furlongs, 0 locks
Polesworth Bridge No 54

Footbridges both sides of bridge. B5000. Also known as Bull’s Head Bridge
1¼ furlongs, 0 locks
Pooley Hall

Once the home of the late Edwin Starr, American Soul and Motown Singer.
2¾ furlongs, 0 locks
Motorway Bridge No 55A

M42
3 furlongs, 0 locks
Samuel Barlow Winding Hole 6 furlongs, 0 locks
Alvecote Marina

With towpath basin bridge No 59A. Also known as Dorothy Wharf
¾ furlongs, 0 locks
Glascote Road Co-op (Formerly The Anchor PH)

48 hour moorings
2 miles, 1 furlong, 0 locks
Glascote Top Lock No 12 1¾ furlongs, 0 locks
Glascote Bottom Lock No 13 Having passed through Glascote Locks. ¾ furlongs, 1 lock
Fazeley Junction

Junction of Birmingham and Fazeley and Coventry Canals
1 mile, 2¾ furlongs, 1 lock
Birmingham Canal Navigations (Birmingham and Fazeley Canal – Main Line)
From Fazeley Junction (Junction of Birmingham and Fazeley and Coventry Canals) to:
Drayton Manor Bridges

There are two bridges here, a foot bridge and a swing bridge. These days the swing bridge is usually open
6¾ furlongs, 0 locks
Fishers Mill Aqueduct

Also called Langley Brook
1 mile, 2¾ furlongs, 0 locks
Bodymoor Heath Wharf

Bodymoor Heath Road
1 mile, 5 furlongs, 2 locks
Bodymoor Heath Bridge

Bodymoor Heath Road
¼ furlongs, 0 locks
Curdworth Lock 6 No 33 1 mile, ¾ furlongs, 3 locks
Curdworth Lock 2 No 29 3 furlongs, 4 locks
Dickens Bridge

Minworth. Also known as Minworth

Having passed through Curdworth Locks and through Curdworth Tunnel.

2 miles, 5½ furlongs, 2 locks
Minworth Services

Also known as Minworth Sanitary Station
7½ furlongs, 2 locks
Butler’s Bridge [see navigational note 1 below]

Kingsbury Road (A38)

Having passed through Minworth Locks.

6¾ furlongs, 1 lock
Bromford Bridge No 1 [see navigational note 2 below]

Wheelwright Road (A4040)
7½ furlongs, 0 locks
Salford Junction South Having passed through Factory Tunnel. 1 mile, 0 locks
Grand Union Canal (Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal)
From Salford Junction South to:
Bordesley Junction 2 miles, 4¾ furlongs, 5 locks
Grand Union Canal (Warwick and Birmingham Canal)
From Bordesley Junction to:
Camp Hill Top Lock No 52

Also known as Bordesley Locks

Having passed through Camp Hill Locks.

¾ furlongs, 5 locks
Camp Hill Top Lock Winding Hole a few yards, 1 lock
Grand Union Canal (Warwick and Birmingham Canal: widened section – Main Line)
From Camp Hill Top Lock Winding Hole to:
Tyseley Wharf 2 miles, 2¾ furlongs, 0 locks
Damson Lane Bridge No 78B

Elmdon Heath. Damson Lane
3 miles, 6 furlongs, 0 locks

Totals

Total distance is 28 miles, 6¾ furlongs and 27 locks. There are at least 1 moveable bridge; 9 small aqueducts or underbridges and 2 tunnels (Curdworth Tunnel and Factory Tunnel. ).

This is made up of 22 miles, 6 furlongs of narrow canals; 6 miles, ¾ furlongs of broad canals; 27 narrow locks.

This will take 15 hours, 20 minutes which is 2 days, 1 hour and 20 minutes at 7 hours per day. For initial calculation purposes (before adjusting for such things as overnight stops) this is taken as 2 days of 7 hours and 40 minutes each.

Overnight stopping places

This is calculated based on 2 full days travelling starting at Grendon Wharf Long Term Moorings.

Each full day will be approximately 7 hours and 40 minutes travelling.

First full day of trip
On the Birmingham Canal Navigations (Birmingham and Fazeley Canal – Main Line), at Winding Hole above Curdworth Top Lock (half way between Curdworth Lock 2 No 29 and Dickens Bridge). This is 14 miles, 2 furlongs and 13 locks of narrow canals and will take 7 hours 40 minutes. Today’s journey involves at least 1 moveable bridge and 4 small aqueducts or underbridges. You will pass through Glascote Locks and through Curdworth Locks.
Last day of trip
On the Grand Union Canal (Warwick and Birmingham Canal: widened section – Main Line), at Damson Lane Bridge No 78B. This is 8 miles, 4 furlongs and 14 locks of narrow canals, and 6 miles, ¾ furlongs of broad canals; a total of 14 miles, 4¾ furlongs and 14 locks and will take 7 hours 40 minutes. Today’s journey involves at least 5 small aqueducts or underbridges and 2 tunnels. You will pass through Curdworth Tunnel, through Minworth Locks, through Factory Tunnel and through Camp Hill Locks.

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