You should probably ask that question over on the arm-allstar list but the short answer is we don't have a lot of data on it. The USB wifi on the BBB works fine if you follow the directions and use the prescribed hardware. There are Ethernet wifi adapters but they are more expensive. The BBB would see that as just another Ethernet connection and I am sure work fine. The problem is the connection to the Internet, whether it is a USB adapter or some other means, often does not work well in a mobile environment. Some questions would be, how good is the connection? Does the IP address change when moving between cells or when moving over greater distances. You could possibly use a VPN to eliminate that problem. I suppose you could test the circuit by using your smart phone to connect to your node using iaxrpt or even echolink while you are traveling around and see how well it works. My guess is that since we are use to good connections and not very tolerant of anything less the breakups and disconnections you would encounter would probably be more aggravation than its worth. 73 Doug WA3DSP http://www.crompton.com/hamradio Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2014 22:05:29 -0500 From: N1XBM@amsat.org To: app_rpt-users@ohnosec.org Subject: [App_rpt-users] Portanode I've had this vision of making a portable simplex node that I could take anywhere and use my wifi broadcast feature on my Android phone. I figured a BBB would fit the bill. I'm not totally up in everything available networking wise. Would it make more sense to use something that plugs into the ethernet port of the BBB that would pick up the wifi? Does such a device exist? Or just plug some sort of wifi device into the USB of of the BBB. Thank you _______________________________________________ App_rpt-users mailing list App_rpt-users@ohnosec.org http://ohnosec.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/app_rpt-users To unsubscribe from this list please visit http://ohnosec.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/app_rpt-users and scroll down to the bottom of the page. Enter your email address and press the "Unsubscribe or edit options button" You do not need a password to unsubscribe, you can do it via email confirmation. If you have trouble unsubscribing, please send a message to the list detailing the problem.

On a side note to this I see Forf is offering wifi in some of their models this year. I suspect others will follow. It will be interesting to see how well that works out. 73 Doug WA3DSP http://www.crompton.com/hamradio Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2014 22:05:29 -0500 From: N1XBM@amsat.org To: app_rpt-users@ohnosec.org Subject: [App_rpt-users] Portanode I've had this vision of making a portable simplex node that I could take anywhere and use my wifi broadcast feature on my Android phone. I figured a BBB would fit the bill. I'm not totally up in everything available networking wise. Would it make more sense to use something that plugs into the ethernet port of the BBB that would pick up the wifi? Does such a device exist? Or just plug some sort of wifi device into the USB of of the BBB. Thank you _______________________________________________ App_rpt-users mailing list App_rpt-users@ohnosec.org http://ohnosec.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/app_rpt-users To unsubscribe from this list please visit http://ohnosec.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/app_rpt-users and scroll down to the bottom of the page. Enter your email address and press the "Unsubscribe or edit options button" You do not need a password to unsubscribe, you can do it via email confirmation. If you have trouble unsubscribing, please send a message to the list detailing the problem.