On Saturday July 3rd 2004 I get a phone call out of the blue
from Greenpeace. Seems their vessel Arctic Sunrise is
moored on the west side of the Morrison Bridge here in
Portland Oregon.
They have Inmarsat for data communications, but it is
very expensive and only runs at 56Kbps. They want to
know if I can hook them up with free Wi-Fi and VoIP for their stay in
Portland as well as outfitting the vessel for Wi-Fi so they
can use the technology as the ship moves around the globe.
How could I say no? The crew just got back from South America and were
desperate to call and Email loved ones.
IT guru
Thom Looney plied me with sugary sweet orange pop they'd just
brought back from their recent trip to South America.
Yes, they have their own helicopter (Tweetie), and thanks to clever
hydraulics, it lives downstairs when out at sea. They
ran the chopper up several times to charge the batteries.
That's me standing at the bottom of the tower that leads
to the crows nest, and yes I did climb it, the CAT5e cable
for the wireless AP runs all the way up to the top for maximum
range.
Looking down from the crows nest, the Inmarsat dishes
look tiny.
The crows nest
A view from inside the crows nest, I have no head for
heights, but being inside as opposed to outside seemed to
make it ok.
The spare piston, yes it really is as big as appears.
The engine is called Pamela.
Running up the chopper. Note the Convention center
in the background.
They've clearly had some very colorful visitors on board
in the past.
Greenpeace activist Jennifer Kirby Surfs the net using my
ThinkPad.
Sarah is a master of the kitchen, er galley which
includes a gimbal frying pan as the ship can list up to 55%
when in rough water.
A crew member was wearing this t-shirt in the mess,
worthy of a picture I thought.
A life jacket locker, these puppies have seen action and
a lot of CNN airtime.
The Chief Engineers cabin door.
Me in the engine room, noisy? You have no idea.
The setup:
In the crows nest is a wireless bridge, there is the
option to switch from an omni to a directional Vagi (not
Yagi) antenna, should the host be far away. That runs
to a switch in the radio room. Also running there is a
standard 802.11b AP used by the crew and anyone else who
wants to check their Email in the proximity of the moored
vessel.
Then we have an Cisco VoIP box coming off the same
switch, that interfaces directly to the ships Panasonic PBX,
so by simply hitting '9' on any phone on board, you get dial
tone and the ability to make free phone calls anywhere in
the USA.
I ended up spending the entire 4th of July on board with
the crew. We played with the radio gear,
prepared food, ate together in the mess, had a beer and
sangria party on the deck and then watched the firework
display. They are without doubt, an awesome group of
people.
This former sealing vessel, ironic no?, leaves for
Antarctic on Tuesday, but this time it is equipped with
Wi-Fi bridges, clients, access points, pigtails and is ready
to hook into wherever free Wi-Fi is available.
If you are in a location where the Arctic Sunrise is
headed, and you know where there is free Wi-Fi in direct
line of sight to their intended mooring, or you are a
supporter with a little bandwidth to share (Thom will put in
a wireless bridge for the duration), please go ask for
Thom on board and let him know.
