Author Topic: bad internet connection?  (Read 8677 times)

Mike Cotton - K4RUM

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bad internet connection?
« on: 2016-10-14, 14:35:55 »
Hi all  --

I've been having some problems recently; I think they all stem from a poor or intermittent internet connection between the Radio RRC and the Control RRC.  Here are the issues:

1.  While using the WJST modes (with a Signalink), the red LED on the Control RRC comes on, and if receiving, the waterfall goes blank.  Sometimes the control head of my TS-480 goes dark and sometimes it does not.  A reboot of Control RRC usually gets everything working again (for at least a little while).

2.  Occasionally while using the WJST modes, my power out appears to fluctuate; when it fluctuates, it appears to spike higher and then go to 0. 

3.  While using CW (using the Winkey emulator and N1MM+), sometimes some of the characters are not formed correctly.  For example, a character or two may be dropped, or a dah may be elongated.   It does not seem as if my CW becomes complete jibberish.  I have never seen the Control RRC red LED illuminated while operating CW.

4.  Occasionally (but rarely), I cannot access the Radio RRC program from my control computer.  Problems 1-3 above are often present even when I can access the Radio RRC program from my control computer.

Several weeks ago there was a lightning hit at the remote site.  While no ham equipment was damaged, some electronics elsewhere in the house were damaged. 

I have tried rebooting both the router on the radio side and the router on the control side.  This does not appear to have any effect.

An ethernet cable connects the Radio RRC to the router at the remote site.  These problems continue whether I use we-fi or an ethernet cable to connect the Control RRC to the router at the control site.

Rebooting the Radio RRC and the Control RRC seems to help for at least some time, but the problems eventually reoccur.   It seems to me as if the problems are becoming more frequent.

Both the Radio RRC and the Control RRC use software version 2.90.

Does anybody have any thoughts about what is causing these problems and what can be done to address them?

All thoughts are welcome!
« Last Edit: 2016-10-14, 15:57:40 by Mike Cotton - K4RUM »

dj0qn

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Re: bad internet connection?
« Reply #1 on: 2016-10-14, 18:45:14 »
Mike,

The first thing I would do would be to move the control gear to another good location and see if it works.
That way you can determine whether the problem is on the radio or control side. Only when you know that
100% can you then start to find the problem.

Once you do that and know, we can start a more detailed process of elimination to find the problem.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

Mike Cotton - K4RUM

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Re: bad internet connection?
« Reply #2 on: 2016-10-16, 16:19:01 »
OK Mitch.  That makes sense.  I'll try another location at the control end and report back.

Mike Cotton - K4RUM

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Re: bad internet connection?
« Reply #3 on: 2016-10-20, 21:38:10 »
Hi Mitch  --

I've had no luck in moving my control-side equipment to test things out.  I have tried to have the Control-RRC access the internet through the public wi-fi available in parts of my apartment building without success.  I turned off my firewall and that didn't help.

The green power LED flashes slowly, so I know it's a wi-fi connection issue.  The Microbit Setup Manager finds the public wi-fi but won't allow me to use it.  In addition, the Microbit Setup Manager can't find the device, even though the computer knows it's there. 

My computer connects to the public wi-fi without a problem.

Do you have any thoughts?  I've read other threads that suggest that using public wi-fi with Remote Rigs can be problematic.

Thanks.

dj0qn

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Re: bad internet connection?
« Reply #4 on: 2016-10-20, 22:31:54 »
Mike,

Public WiFi will never work using the RRC internal card. This is because you must authenticate on a web
page, which obviously the RRC can't do.

I always use an external bridge, such as the WNCE2001. You first connect it to your PC and then connect
it to the WiFi network, then authenticate it. Then you move it to the RRC's ethernet port.

If you are using either a K3 or TS-480, I can offer to get the settings from you and try from here.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

Mike Cotton - K4RUM

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Re: bad internet connection?
« Reply #5 on: 2016-10-20, 22:35:24 »
Thanks Mitch.  Now I know not to waste any more time trying to connect to public wi-fi!

I am using a TS-480.  What settings do you need from me?

dj0qn

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Re: bad internet connection?
« Reply #6 on: 2016-10-20, 22:43:09 »
Mike, just send me a mail with the settings exported as HTML to dj0qn (at) darc.de and I
will edit a profile and try it out.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX