Trouble Maintaining HRD CAT Connection

[KR3JA]

Not sure if this discussion should be in the "Configuration, RRC 1258" section or in another section, so please correct me if this is the wrong area.

Equipment:
RRC1258 MkII (Firmware updated to v2.41 on Control and Radio RRC)
ICOM IC-746Pro
All running connected to internal network
HRD v5

First off, thanks to RemoteRig for a great product that has been fun to set up and will be a great experience to operate.

I've been trying to set this up in my internal network before testing remotely and have not had success with one aspect - maintaining a connection with HRD to the radio.

Here's what I mean: the configuration of the RRCs has been successful and connection from HRD to the radio can be successfully established.  I have made and connected the CI-V cable (RJ11 port) and AUX/MIC cable (RJ45 port) from the Remote RRC to the radio. The speaker jack on the radio is connected to the Radio RRC speaker jack.

On the Control RRC end, I am using the USB connection as a virtual COM port.  HRD reads the virtual COM port as COM5.  BAUD rate from hardware to radio all set to 19200.  A speaker is connected to the Control RRC speaker jack.  The microphone is connected to the Control RRC via the RJ45 connection.

When logging into the Control RRC and establishing a connection with the Radio RRC, everything is flawless.  Audio from the radio comes through the Control RRC end immediately and flawlessly.  The microphone works great and push to talk works and keys the transmitter almost immediately (.5 second delay).

Launching HRD and establishing a connection via the virtual COM port works almost instantaneously.  I have just been fiddling with changing frequencies on the HRD end and here's where the strange behavior comes in - everything works great for about 1 minute and then the HRD connection to the  radio seems to experience super lag.  A single frequency digit change takes 10 seconds to register on the radio and the HRD display refuses to update until the radio changes frequency.  It seems that HRD is waiting on the radio to respond.

The other clue is that once I disconnect HRD from the radio, I can not re-establish a connection.  Shutting down HRD and trying again fails every time.  The only way to re-establish a connection with the radio is to restart the Control RRC.  I don't need to restart HRD.  Once the Control RRC restarts and I re-establish a connection with the Radio RRC, HRD connection is established immediately and everything is fine for about one minute.  Repeat.

Lastly, once the frequency changes fail to track from HRD to the radio, the PTT no longer works.  The receive audio never experiences any delay or hiccups.

This makes me believe there is something going on in the Control RRC, possibly with one of my settings.

I am very excited to get this to work and have been impressed to no end with the quality of audio and ease of setup.  I am so close and have this last hurdle to overcome, so if there's any suggestions, please let me know!

Thanks so much in advance for your help!



If you need to see the RRC configurations, I have included them below.

--------------------------------------------------
CONTROL RRC SETTINGS
--------------------------------------------------
Info
Name    Value
Company    Microbit
Product    1258
PID    4
Hardware    6
Software    2.41
Bootloader    1.8
Compiler    4.1.1 (WinARM)
Build    Jul 6 2011 08:36:48
ROM/RAM    357304/50520
ETH-RAM    2944 (max 3kB!)
ResetSrc    0 [3]
Uptime    24
     
Serial number    3178
MAC address    00:50:c2:11:94:3a
IP address    192.168.1.13
Netmask    255.255.255.0
Gateway    192.168.1.1
DNS    192.168.1.1
Settings
Unit ID (Banner)    RRC Control
DHCP    1
IP    192.168.1.13
Netmask    255.255.255.0
Gateway    192.168.1.1
Dns server    192.168.1.1
Extern IP/Host   
Eth-type    5
Web page user   
Web page pwd   
Program mode    1
Control panel    1
Sip password   
Sip contact    192.168.1.10
Auto connect    0
Audio quality    2
Audio dual-rx    0
Codec out gain    255
Codec inp gain    18
Codec inp HPF Hz    3
Codec inp preamp    1
COM0 baudrate    19200
COM0 data bits    8
COM0 stop bits    1
COM0 parity    0
COM0 Program mode 3 char timeout    2
Use USB Com Port as COM0    0
COM1 mode    2
COM1 baudrate    19200
COM1 data bits    8
COM1 stop bits    1
COM1 parity    0
COM1 rts/cts    0
COM1 terminator (hex)    00
Use USB Com Port as COM1    1
COM2 mode    9
COM2 baudrate    19200
COM2 data bits    8
COM2 stop bits    1
COM2 parity    0
COM2 terminator (hex)    00
Use USB Com Port as COM2    1
UDP cmd port    12000
UDP audio port    11000
SIP port    5066
Web server port    80
Telnet server port    23
Rx jitter buffer size    4
Rx jitter delay    3
Audio packet size (ms)    20
Continuous RTP tx    0
Debug level    0
DynDNS check interval    0
Own host name   
Username   
Password   
Enable    0
Speed wpm [0/10-40]    0
Iambic    1
Paddle reverse    0
Weight [25-40]    30
Side tone hz [0,500-1500]    800
Side tone -db [50-0]    20
Lf delay ms [0-500]    0
Key delay ms [0-250]    0
IN0 mode    0
OUT0 mode    0
OUT0 mode    0
OUT1 mode    0
OUT1 mode    0
OUT2 mode    0
OUT2 mode    0
USB RTS as PTT    0
USB DTR as CW    0
Enable ping watchdog    0
IP address to ping   
Ping interval (seconds)    300
Startup delay (seconds)    300
Failure count to reboot    3
Status
Name    Value
Control panel    OFF
Radio    OFF
SIP status    Idle
Last SIP error    None
RTP Timeout    0
SIP Timeout    0
Rx Jitter buffer size    4
Rx Jitter delay    3
Dual Rx    0
SIP Out port    5066
SIP In port    5066
Audio Out port    0
Audio In port    0
Command Out port    12000
Command In port    12000
External SIP In port    5066
External Audio In port    11000
External Cmd In port    12000
Other party    0.0.0.0
Input 0    High
Input 1    High
Input 2    High
Output 0    Low
Output 1    Low
Output 2    Low
DNS status    Unknown
Active profile:    Home Profile - Same Net
PTT status:    OFF


--------------------------------------------------
RADIO RRC SETTINGS
--------------------------------------------------
Info
Name    Value
Company    Microbit
Product    1258
PID    4
Hardware    6
Software    2.41
Bootloader    1.8
Compiler    4.1.1 (WinARM)
Build    Jul 6 2011 08:36:48
ROM/RAM    357304/50520
ETH-RAM    2944 (max 3kB!)
ResetSrc    0 [3]
Uptime    243
     
Serial number    3157
MAC address    00:50:c2:11:94:25
IP address    192.168.1.10
Netmask    255.255.255.0
Gateway    192.168.1.1
DNS    192.168.1.1
Settings
Unit ID (Banner)    RRC Radio
DHCP    0
IP    192.168.1.10
Netmask    255.255.255.0
Gateway    192.168.1.1
Dns server    192.168.1.1
Extern IP/Host   
Eth-type    5
Web page user   
Web page pwd   
Program mode    1
Control panel    0
Sip password   
Sip contact   
Auto connect    0
Audio quality    2
Audio dual-rx    0
Codec out gain    255
Codec inp gain    0
Codec inp HPF Hz    3
Codec inp preamp    1
COM0 baudrate    19200
COM0 data bits    8
COM0 stop bits    1
COM0 parity    0
COM0 Program mode 3 char timeout    2
Use USB Com Port as COM0    0
COM1 mode    2
COM1 baudrate    19200
COM1 data bits    8
COM1 stop bits    1
COM1 parity    0
COM1 rts/cts    0
COM1 terminator (hex)    00
Use USB Com Port as COM1    0
COM2 mode    9
COM2 baudrate    19200
COM2 data bits    8
COM2 stop bits    1
COM2 parity    0
COM2 terminator (hex)    00
Use USB Com Port as COM2    0
UDP cmd port    12000
UDP audio port    11000
SIP port    5066
Web server port    80
Telnet server port    23
Rx jitter buffer size    4
Rx jitter delay    3
Audio packet size (ms)    20
Continuous RTP tx    0
Debug level    0
DynDNS check interval    0
Own host name   
Username   
Password   
Enable    0
Speed wpm [0/10-40]    0
Iambic    1
Paddle reverse    0
Weight [25-40]    30
Side tone hz [0,500-1500]    800
Side tone -db [50-0]    20
Lf delay ms [0-500]    0
Key delay ms [0-250]    0
IN0 mode    0
OUT0 mode    0
OUT0 mode    0
OUT1 mode    0
OUT1 mode    0
OUT2 mode    0
OUT2 mode    0
USB RTS as PTT    0
USB DTR as CW    0
Enable ping watchdog    0
IP address to ping   
Ping interval (seconds)    300
Startup delay (seconds)    300
Failure count to reboot    3
Status
Name    Value
Radio    OFF
SIP status    Idle
Last SIP error    None
RTP Timeout    0
SIP Timeout    0
Rx Jitter buffer size    4
Rx Jitter delay    3
Dual Rx    0
SIP Out port    5066
SIP In port    5066
Audio Out port    11000
Audio In port    11000
Command Out port    12000
Command In port    12000
External SIP In port    5066
External Audio In port    11000
External Cmd In port    12000
Other party    192.168.1.13
Input 1    High
Input 2    High
Output 0    Low
Output 1    Low
Output 2    Low
DynDns status    Unknown
Ping status (watchdog)    Off
DNS status    OK, remoterig.com = 193.202.110.185
Active profile:    Default
PTT status:    OFF

[dj0qn]

There is a bug in 2.41 that causes the problem with not being able to get it to reconnect
once your restart the problem as you described, see: http://www.remoterig.com/forum/index.php?topic=864.0

You may wish to change the control RRC to 2.40 and try it again. I had to change all of our users' RRC's to get it
to work properly with USB CAT.

This may not fix your problem with HRD slowing down, but is worth a try. I don't use HRD, but understand that
the default polling rate is way too high. You may wish to change that if you can.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[KR3JA]

Hi Mitch,
Thanks for the reply.  I have downgraded both Control and Radio RRC to 2.40 and no joy. 

I have changed HRD's polling speed from 500ms to 100ms and then to 1000ms, but no difference.

The frustrating thing is that the USB CAT is completely responsive at first and then rapidly develops delay.  There is no noticeable CPU load on the computer. 

Noticed this as well: after restarting the Control RRC, I can connect the initial HRD session and disconnect/reconnect successfully in the same time period available before the delay would have set in causing a time out issue.  I can get about 3 HRD session re-connects before seeing a connection failure (and needing to restart the Control RRC). 

I have tried restarting HRD, restarting the Control RRC and restarting the Radio RRC.  The only thing that fixes the issue is restarting the Control RRC.  Is there a particular way the Control RRC is buffering CAT commands that could be subject to overflow or blocking when using HRD or a certain polling frequency / refresh interval?

I have loaded WireShark to see if I can detect any collisions between the Control and Radio RRCs.  However, I can't seem to detect any traffic between the two RRCs even though I'm plugged into the router that both the RRCs are connected to and I'm hearing audio that is being transmitted from Radio to Control RRC.  I can see traffic between my computer and each RRC individually.  Are CAT commands being sent over IP or being multiplexed with another signal?  If it is, could some strangeness be happening in that communication process?

Let me know if there are any other suggestions and thanks for the help!

Jim
KR3JA

[dj4mz]

Hi Jim,

if get you correct you plugged in the PC with wireshark to an additional (third) port of your router. So then of course you can not see anything as the ports at the router are switched ports, i.e. traffic from the radio RRC is going only to the control RRC and the other way round but no traffic is going to your PC!

You will have to use either a hub or a switch with a configurable monitor port.

vy 73
Simon, DJ4MZ

[KR3JA]

Thanks Simon,

Of course you're right!  I'm just trying all I can think of on this end. 

Has anyone had success getting HRD to work with an ICOM-746PRO or similar over the RRC's?  Any tips/suggestions to suggest from that experience?

Jim KR3JA

[Pedro]

Hi,

just reading this issue because I'm facing the same problem with my setup.

Rig: Icom IC-7000
at control side: HRD v 4.1


When I was testing the setup in the same network all worked ok.


Now just got remote and after pass all the issues with RRC's connections TX and RX are 100%.....but a last problem came up .....HRD is just working for a few seconds (10-30 secs) before freezes and I'm not able to control the rig anymore.

In my side I'm using the standard Icom connection sugested in the manual, so at the control side I just get CAT signal via COM2 and I use a RS232 coverter to USB port of the computer.


After reading the above posts I just tried to downgrade my RRC version from 2.41 to 1.38 (because all was working inicially with this version....but as far as I can concluded  it was due I had all the gear in the same network) but the problem is the same.

I also verify that if I disconnet the control and connect it again the HRD gets working again for a few secs and then get blocked and stop working.

Hoppe to get an idea how to fix this...thanks,

73's
Pedro

[KR3JA]

Pedro,
No luck using HRD with the 746Pro.  To get this to work, I've switched CAT programs.  One I've found that works is Commander (http://www.dxlabsuite.com/commander/).  Their list says they support IC-7000 as well.  

This program is not as nearly full featured as HRD, but it allows me to do what I want to do.  To connect, click the CONFIG button in the interface and change the values under the GENERAL and PORTS tab to match your radio, etc.  One thing I've found that helps is to change the "Command Interval (ms)" to "50."  I am still all on my local network, so that may be too quick for a remote configuration.  I will be testing remotely for the first time today and will report any changes.

The one thing I don't like about Commander is that there are not a lot of software controls for the radio's specific hardware.  When connecting to my 746Pro, I can't control the AF Gain when first starting Commander.  The good thing is that Commander allows you to load in "Slider Definitions" which allow you to tie Commander's 8 sliders to hardware controls on your radio.   To see the sliders, open the config window of Commander, go to the GENERAL tab, locate the General panel, and make sure the "Show User-defined Controls Panel" check box is checked.

Instructions for programming the sliders in Commander can be found here: http://www.dxlabsuite.com/commander/Help/CommandSequences.htm and the reference I used to locate the structure of the CI-V commands is found here: http://www.plicht.de/ekki/civ/civ-p0a.html (specifically section 4.2).  Many thanks to Commander and Ekkehard Plicht and his great reference!!

Commander experiences none of the issues I've seen with HRD.  I've had great success with HRD in other configurations, but I've had no luck with HRD and Remote Rig boxes. 

If you test Commander out, let me know how it works for you.

The problem was probably due to the way HRD was sending/receiving commands.  It is probably not an issue with the RRCs as once HRD experiences its "timeout", Commander has no problem establishing a connection.  

Good luck with your setup!

73
Jim KR3JA

[KR3JA]

Pedro,
Everything works remotely using Commander!  The only issue I ran into was that I didn't poke holes in my firewall at first for ports I used for SIP, Audio, and Command.  Once I directed that UDP traffic through the firewall to the Radio RRC, all worked flawlessly. 

Hope you have success as well.

73
Jim KR3JA

[Pedro]

Hi Jim,

thaks for your posts. In my side I just gave up on trying the HRD (ver 4.1 and 5 on Windows 7, 32bits). In my setup I'm running the remoterig boxes 100% in diferent networks (tx and rx functions).

I've tried the Commander software and it worked and did not crashed but I felt some latency in changing freqs (worked better than HRD for me). I should say that HRD is a great product when I worked it in the same network at my home.

Meanwhile I just decided to try another program for my IC-7000 (http://www.iz2bkt.com) and this one works almost perfectly and is far more userfriendly. The problem, it' just for IC-7000 and there is also a version for the IC-706.

In conclusion, I just don't know what's causing the freezing with HRD/RRC's connection.....Windows 7? I just disabled all firewalls and the problem didn't desapeared. Also tried the RRC USB com port for CAT control (v 2.41) but almost the same...it freezes after some seconds of normal operation.


Best 73's
Pedro
ct1eky