This page will help you build a very simple ground station for AirWhere. Connection to the Internet is done by Wifi .

Required Knowledge & Equipment

The install and setup procedure just requires basic computer knowledge, how to download files, install software and make a brew while you wait.

Hardware needed is a esp8266 board, rf solutions lora board, case, sma connected, 2 leds and 2 resistors ( check the shop site if your struggling to find one. Also needed is a USB power supply ( mobile phone charger ) and an antenna. The antenna can be any from the standard one we use for flying with, to a large 2metre antenna which covers up to 130km on good days!!.

Step One.

Firstly before you start you will need to register an ID for your unit.

1.1	Proceed to the registration page and type in your email and choose a password and press sign up. You will then receive an email asking you to confirm your email address, if you dont receive one, check spam to see if its there or any other issues - contact us.
1.2	Once you have verified your email proceed to log in and then press add ground station and add your details Your AirWhere manufacturer should stay at 04 and you can choose an ID for yourself, its 4 digits from 0001 to FFFF, but dont worry about the letters, just choose a 4 digit number if you like - eg 2345. This will now be your ground station number.

Step Two.

Follow the following pages to build :- ESP8266 Build This page will help aswell :- ESP8266 Build - detailed



Step Three.

i	Install the airwhere setup into a box now and then prepare to install.
ii	Installing the antenna is usually straight forward, choose the highest point where it can be physically located Most people just attached to the tv mast and then run cable through the slates to the roof space where the airwhere unit can live.
iii	Please visit the antenna page for more info on antennas.

Step Seven. (Optional)



PreAmp

i	A preamp can be added to your ground station setup.this usually doubles the range of your ground station, it is definately worth adding and its not too expensive. The site selling these is UPtronics. Contact us for a discount code for our project !

Please if you do build an AirWhere in this way, as it is so cheap and easy to do please do donate a contribution to the project, the project has taken 2 years and thousands of hours of work to get to here and we have to pay for server fees - many thanks. Our paypal is phil@air-ware.co.uk for any donations to keep this project alive :)




Have fun with the project!