The SharkRF OpenSpot is a neat amateur radio tool, that begs for interesting use case tests. With a background in disaster relief, I wanted to develop a portable system for DMR, that could be easily transported and use multiple Internet connections with a minimal amount of administrative action.
To be a success the system must be easily portable, use off the shelf parts (Amazon shelves count). The first model, OpenSpotLite v1, is shown below.
Required Components
| Qty | Description | Link |
| 1 | SharkRF OpenSpot | https://www.sharkrf.com/products/openspot/ |
| 1 | Mikrotik MapLite | https://mikrotik.com/product/RBmAPL-2nD |
| 2 | Short USB Micro cables | Parts bin |
| 1 | Long USB Micro Cable | Parts bin |
| 1 | Short Cat5e Patch Cable < 1ft | Parts bin |
| 1 | Pelican 1060 Case | http://amzn.to/2CluTWK |
| 1 | USB Portable Battery Pack | http://amzn.to/2EE9Q74 |
How does it work?
When the Mikrotik and Openspot are powered up, the Mikrotik will look for one of the pre-defined wireless networks. I have several configured including, home, a wifi network at a friends house, and my iPhone hotspot. There is very little limitation to the number of connections that can be preconfigured. The key to these connections are that they are on a network I assume to be secure. I would never use this on a public wifi connection in the current configuration. The ability to connect to insecure networks will be in the next version of the package.
More details can be found on my github repository.