Trouble connecting to radio RRC from free wi-fi spots

[K7FD]

Mitch, I did that. But I also then typed ipconfig /renew ...

Should I not do the /renew?

And after I type ipconfig /release should I restart anything? RRC? Laptop?

Thanks!

John K7FD

[dj0qn]

John,

That doesn't always work with wireless networks, so that is why I said to reconnect to the
network afterward. It wouldn't hurt to restart the RRC after you are booked back in.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[K7FD]

I have been operating remote this weekend and having fun! Connection is through a wi-fi connection at an RV park along the central Oregon coast. The connection has been 99% rock solid resulting in several QSOs on 40m cw. I think they have decent bandwidth here!

With my xyl N7SG on her iPAD and me on my XP laptop, we had time to fiddle with jitter settings. It may differ from connection to connection, but at this hot spot the best overall results (with little break up) was jitter buffer size at 7 and jitter delay set at 8. Packet size 20. Annette changed the radio RRC settings and I changed the control settings...it was great team work and made flipping back and forth between RRC settings a piece of cake.

One area I continue to have trouble with is the inconsistency connecting the control RRC to wireless networks. Nothing ever seems to work twice the same way, hi. Sometimes bridging the wireless card to the Ethernet card works, sometimes using ICS in XP and sharing the wireless connection works. I have yet to figure out a way of connecting that works the same way every time...

Yesterday bridging connected, this morning only ICS would connect. Same wi-fi. Strange.

Question: what's the best way to identify your station when remote? What do you tell the operator on the other end, too. So far, I've just sent "I'm operating my home station over the Internet from this QTH"...

Lastly, is there any legal FCC issues not physically being at the station; I guess I have control, so all is OK...

73 John K7FD

[dj0qn]

John,

You are "located" at your station, not where you are remotely located. It is as
if you had a long microphone cable.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[WW2DX (Lee)]

Hi Guys, I know this post is dated but I figured this would be useful for others asking the same questions.

Mitch is right on.


from the book>  "Remote Operating for Amateur Radio" published by ARRL

"As far as the FCC is concerned, the Internet is just a very long cable.  In this situation the FCC´s concern is limited to the issue of who controls the host station and how they identify themselves on the air.  It doesn´t matter where the operator is located; he  could be across the street or on the opposite side of the world"


73!
Lee
WW2DX

[W0SD]

Can the WI-Fi in the remote RRC box connect at 5 ghz or only 2.54 ghz.  I seem to be finding more and more hot spots are not using 2.54 ghz but only 5 ghz.

Ed W0SD

[dj0qn]

Ed,

It can only do 2.4 GHz.

You can't anyway use the internal card for open WiFi hotspots that require a web login (Radius Server),
like at a hotel. For these you would need an external WiFi bridge.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[W0SD]

Hi Mitch,

I am trying to use ICS as described below in a post but it does not work for me.  I am using Win7Pro.
I am having good results using ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) in Windows 7. Go into Network & Sharing Center and then to Adapter settings. Right-click the wireless connection, and under the sharing tab, enable sharing. Plug a CROSSOVER Ethernet cable from your notebook's Ethernet jack to the RRC-Control box. A standard Ethernet cable will NOT work.
Make sure to enable DHCP on the RRC box.

Connect to the hotel's wifi with the notebook's browser, and give it whatever info they ask for, like your room number, or sometimes just "agree" to their policies, and make sure the notebook is able to access the internet. Your RRC box should be able to get out to the internet now.

Charlie KB8BWE

So Mitch I believe you are telling me I need a hardware bridge external to my Laptop.  Can you give me some details please?

Ed W0SD

[W0SD]

More info from W0SD.  The information posted by Charlie KB8BWE is good information but for me it was missing something I probably should of understood and certainly if you read about  ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) in Windows you see it is necessary to have two adapter cards activated.  You need to activate/enable a LAN adapter card and a wireless card at a hotspot.   The LAN adapter card can be connected to a LAN switch or for a hotspot hook up it can be connected from your Computer LAN connection to the Control RRC box. For what I am trying to do with remote rig is to use the least amount of equipment possible so I don't want to use a LAN switch.   As Charlie says in this case with no switch it needs to be a cross over cable.  This LAN adapter will not be connected to the Internet but will say it is working properly and it should say "allow your computer to access resources on a Microsoft network".

The other thing I found was when setting up the wireless adapter you also need to choose the other LAN connection adapter we activated/enabled. You may have to chose it from a drop down menu if you have others.  You should now be ready to go but in case DHCP is not activated in the control DHCP box you can use the mini USB cable with Microbit manager and browse to the control box and be sure it is set to DHCP.

If you get an error try windows connection trouble shooter and they may resolve it.  If it is XP you can do the release and then renew as posted here.  As far as I know Win10 is pretty much the same as Win7Pro but I am going on what I read and I might not be understanding something correctly.

[dj0qn]

Hi Ed,

Just to give you some historical information: during the early years of RemoteRig, I was really pushing ICS on this
forum. That not only solve the bridging problem, but also solves the (mainly European) problem where they were
charging for internet access everywhere and that allows you to only be charged once.

Unfortunately, no one could seem to get it working. Many complained and gave-up in frustration. Then a white knight
came on the scene: the Netgear WCS2001 and that 35€ investment solved the problem nicely.

The bottom line is that I at least tend to help people go the route of least resistance. ICS has potential, but is a huge
PITA to get working and at least I am not able to support it well enough. That is why I recommend using an external
bridge.

Now you know the rest of the story.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[W0SD]

Hi Mitch,
I understand.  Can you sent me a check list for using the netgear bridge router?
Thanks!

Ed W0SD

[dj0qn]

Hi Ed,

To use any bridge, such as the Netgear, just follow the general directions:

- Best to shut off the PC's WiFi card first to be on the safe side
- Plug the bridge into the PC's ethernet port
- Call-up the bridge's web server using the directions on the bridge (an IP number or alias, e.g. the Netgear uses www.mywifiext.net)
- Use the bridge's web interface to connect to the WiFi you want to use
- Log into the Radius Server using a browser if required (i.e. agree to terms or to pay)
- At that point, the bridge should function as the PC's WiFi card. Test out a web page or two to make sure it is working
- Unplug the bridge from the PC's ethernet port and plug it into the RRC's ethernet port
- Turn on the RRC and test it out - it should work fine
- Turn back on the PC's WiFi and use as usual

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[W0SD]

Great!  I will look into this as a back up to my ICS plan.  I also am looking at using my smart phone as a hot spot and using the control RRC box with Wi-Fi and connect to my cellular hot spot using 2.54 ghz.  It obviously will use some data so I have to see how well it goes.  In my case I am retired so I would not be doing this from a lot of places and data useage is rapidly coming down in price.

As you know a lot of the motel hot spots are not so great!!!!  Some like McDonalds seem to work well but are not so secure.

Again thanks Mitch!  Down the road a bit I will report on my findings!

Ed W0SD

[W0SD]

Hi Mitch,
I will post again in case someone is searching for solutions to using remote rig from hot spots.  Another alternative to free hot spots is to create your own hot spot with your cell phone.  I am using a Verizon Hot Spot as part of my Verizon Cell Phone Plan.  The down side is there is the cost for the DATA but the cost of DATA is coming down with many having unlimited DATA.  I don't have unlimited DATA with my plan but I can stay under my allocation with limited hot spot useage. The upside is that it is secure, the speed is very good and as long as you have a good cellular connection you don't need to "fight" a poor Wi-Fi signal at a hot spot, dead spots or no Wi-Fi signal, lack off connectivity, being very slow, security, etc.  You just activate the hot spot on your phone and lay the phone nearby and connect to it using wi-fi in your remote rig control box and your password.

One simple option is to install the Wi-Fi option in the remote rig control box.  You can then connect your control box to the cell phone hot spot you use via wi-fi.  The speed seems very good.  This gets away for the public free wi-fi problem of connecting your control box which requires a LAN connection.  If you don't want to get the Wi-Fi option for your remote rig control box then you can use ICS or a Bridge.  You could use ICS or the Bridge to the free Wi-Fi hot spot or you can set up your own hot spot with your cell phone and use your DATA allocation.  Information on ICS and using a bridge is posted in this same thread.

It goes without saying but you can now set up your own hot spot where ever you want or even mobile as long as you have good cellular coverage where you are at.  For boats or RV's  or camping or places that don't have Wi-Fi this is a way to do it especially if you already have an unlimited DATA plan.  I have found remote rig does not take a lot of DATA when used in a limited fashion.  You can plug in your phone if battery time is a concern.  In the case of Verizon I can increase the DATA for that month and any extra carries over.

Verizon blocks SIP port 5060 so as remote rig says don't use port 5060.  I am no network Guru so if I can make this work you can also!  I have done ICS.  I have not done bridging but I am sure Mitch can answer any farther questions you might have on bridging. 

The easiest is the Android phone app but it is limited in use.  What I have been able to do with the Wi-Fi cell phone hot spot is to use my Mini K3/0 is not limited and now I can do RTTY, sound card digital, CW, SSB and repeaters with my K3.  If you use different radio's you have similar options.  I also do it with my TM-V71A dual banders.  It would also works well with HF remote head radios like the TS-480.

Ed W0SD

[dj0qn]

Hi Ed,

I have been using my phone as a hot spot with mixed success, mainly to give demos. You basically need
to know for sure beforehand that you will have a good enough connection to make RemoteRig work. I
simulate my home WiFi network through my phone for that purpose. Unfortunately, I have fallen on my
face a couple of times where the coverage let me down, so I try to use WiFi whenever possible.

You also need to take the latency into account. It has gotten much better over the last couple of years,
especially on LTE (4G). I highly recommend that you focus only on using LTE for this reason.

Never, ever use port 5060 for your SIP port. In Europe, virtually all routers have built-in VoIP that blocks this
port for internal use. Also, many hotels now use VoIP and port 5060, as well as providers like Verizon block
this port completely. Luckily, Microbit changed the default a couple of years ago, as this is what was causing
most support problems. My Networking Checklist also has mentioned this from day one.

Good luck and have fun!

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX