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running laptop and a dipole antenna
Wednesday, August 7 2002
I was up on the roof again this morning to paint the wires leading into my microwave installation. I did this out of concern about the kind of wire used, which is probably not intended for outdoor use. The insulation on unsuitable wire becomes brittle and develops cracks after a few months of exposure to the sun. Luckily, though, most of the length of the wire run is not in direct sunlight.
I also did further testing of the range of the signal, walking around cradling a running laptop like a total dork. I found I could get weak signals in some places along Union Street and some distance down President Street, though neither of these places have line-of-sight to the rooftop installation. I also tried to find a signal over in Prospect Park in the narrow sector defined by President Street as it slices between the two tall buildings on the north end of Prospect Park West, but I found nothing. This got me thinking about possibly setting up other wireless access points. A really interesting idea (as demonstrated by Nathan back in Charlottesville) would be to have one that acts as an earth-bound "satellite" and simply repeats the signal without having any wires at all. With all due respect for the importance of squandering fossil fuels, it could even be solar powered. I could somehow talk my way to the top of one of the tall buildings around Grand Army Plaza and hide it in an outdoor planter, or else drop it from a kite. The James Bond scenarios are endless.
Speaking of James Bond, I wonder how long it would take for me to end up a "material witness" in an army brig somewhere if my name was Sayed Amir Hashimi and I was wandering around with a running laptop and a dipole antenna like I was doing today. I'm sure Ashcroft and his boys could think up something suitably evil for me to have been doing by the time they held their press conference.
Two views of my new wireless internet access point.
The spires of Park Slope, viewed from the deck-free part of our brownstone's roof.
I hadn't realized I could see the Statue of Liberty from my rooftop.
What this means for my freedom, I can only speculate.
If she was around, Gretchen would answer this scene with a "You guyzar ca-yute."
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