WiGLE.net

I mostly run netstumbler on my laptop in my waterproof backpack as I bicycle around town.

Is everyone else wardriving? I'd love to hear what sort of hardware any warcyclists or warwalkers are using. If I could figure out a really low power system, it would be fun to bring a scanning setup on a multi-day long distance ride. Currently I am limited to my 3 hour laptop battery life.

I mostly run netstumbler on my laptop in my waterproof backpack as I bicycle around town.

Ah, Seattle, one of the few places in the US where you can cycle without being a kid or a sportsfreak, just to get from A to B.

Is everyone else wardriving? I'd love to hear what sort of hardware any warcyclists or warwalkers are using.

I'm also the cycling type. I do bring the setup on drives where there is time and place for laptop and antenna in the car, but I almost never specifically go driving for wardriving. The reasons: fuel prices are high, I rather drive cross-country than in dense towns and I like bicycling anyway.

The hardware is a laptopbag with the laptop with internal wireless antenna and sometimes an external antenna hooked up to a pcmcia card.

Pictures of the setup at http://pictures.idefix.net/random/wardriving.shtml

I bought a recumbent bike this summer, haven't completed the setup for the second antenna on it yet.

The laptopbag is quite hard on the external connectors of the laptop: I already killed the keyboard connector and the usb connector I use at the moment for power is also failing intermittantly. I should find time to open up the laptop completely and fix the usb connector and make some other connector for power to the gps.

My GPS is a SiRF Star III chipset compact flash card that has a PCMCIA to CF adapter and I have been running with the internal Intel Pro/Wireless 3945ABG adapter and internal antenna in my Sony Vaio FE550G.

I was worried about the shock to the hard drive going over bumps and with the road vibration if it was running in my saddle bags and I was worried about water damage since it rains on occasion in Seattle. Now I put the whole thing in an Ortlieb messenger bag backpack.

With no antennas sticking out, I look just like thousands of other cyclists in the city and in some neighborhoods I'll make a pass up the sidewalk on one side of the street, down the sidewalk on the other side, up the center of the street, and back down the alley for better coverage and triangulation. Occasoinally I run an earbud out of the backpack so I can hear my progress and get a reminder when the battery is going low.


Yes, Seattle is great for bicycling. Portland is excellent too.
Rural areas are a mixed bag, some are good and some are hostile.

Hey fellows, i know i'm bumping up after so long time apologies for that

i'm most interested towards the warcycling but i'm very new to it and i need some suggestion on what are the hardware's required for it and few precautions to be taken to protect my laptop while warcycling. Any suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks in advance

These days, when I warcycle or warwalk, I mostly just run the Android wigle.net app on my Android phone.
If you are going to run with a laptop, either use one that has a SSD hard drive, or keep it in your backpack, or both.
Spinning hard drives in panniers get a lot of vibration and shock that tend to reduce their lifespan.

For phones on bicycles, I have a clear vinyl map holder that velcros to my handlebars that is big enough to hold my phone, and the touchscreen works through the vinyl.
I like using it that way to see the map and status.

For laptops, I also recommend either one earbud (leaving you one ear to clearly hear your environment) or speaker on high to hear the status updates, and a backpack that doesn't hold the heat in too much. Your laptop will heat up while running in an enclosed space.