Remote Operation like Smartlink

Poweruser
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Remote Operation like Smartlink

Postby Poweruser » Sat Nov 02, 2019 3:41 pm

Hi there,

I have my station in my weekend house, therefore I work often remotely. There I have an flex 6300 setup with smartlink,
So I’m don’t need an PC running, just the TRC, it works flawlessly!
I have also an Anan 100D what is from RX much better, but I can’t setup remotely like the flex, is there any development in the near future to have something like flex, otherwise the route is going to Flexradio, that would be painful, but if there is no other way, what we can do, I need this remote operation. Somebody now there is another solution like flex, as standalone not runnng pc.

Thanks,

73 de Martin, DL6AN
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w-u-2-o
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Re: Remote Operation like Smartlink

Postby w-u-2-o » Sat Nov 02, 2019 4:09 pm

There is absolutely no way to do this without a PC at the remote station site. Think about it: this is a software defined radio. In our case, the software portion of the radio (which, BTW, represents the bulk of the "radio" compared to what is in the box) runs on a PC. And, in our case, this software is known as a "thick client", i.e. it contains both the digital signal processing (DSP) software as well as the user interface. This means that high speed IF data needs to move between the box and the PC.

By contrast, the Flex architecture is thin client/server. The server side runs on a PC inside the hardware box and does all of the DSP heavy lifting. the thin client portion is only the user interface. The only data that moves between the box and PC/tablet/phone is display video, audio, and a little bit of control data. That's why the Flex is so much easier to remote operate, indeed they designed it for that specifically.

Unfortunately, nobody is currently interested in developing a thin client/server architecture for openHPSDR. This may change in a year or so as Thetis continues to evolve.

There are ways to remote your station, though. They are not simple, and they will require a PC setup at the remote site.
Poweruser
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Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2019 5:37 pm

Re: Remote Operation like Smartlink

Postby Poweruser » Sat Nov 02, 2019 10:48 pm

Hi Scott,

Thank you very much for your answer, actually understand the design and the problem there,
But it also means that, if Anan doesn’t change it to to the thin clients for smooth remote operation,
They will loose a lot of customers! I am really like my Anan 100d and the open source idea, but without remote operating service, they loose me as customer, for new Hardware.

Best 73, Martin
ea3aqr
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Re: Remote Operation like Smartlink

Postby ea3aqr » Sun Nov 03, 2019 4:58 pm

I have an Anan 7000dle working remotely without any issue. My setup is as follows:

-Anan 7000DLE conected to my home lan.
-Raspberry Pi working as a VPN (virtual private network) and USB server (for rotator control, take a look at http://www.virtualhere.com/).
-VPN Ports are open in my router.
-Remote power switch to start/stop radio (TPLINK HS-100).
-Remote PC with thetis and rotator control software running.

I just need to connect to my home network thru my VPN and then connect to my anan and the rotator the same way I do from my local lan.

You just need enough internet speed to support the "thick radio/client" data stream. It is quite bandwidth intensive.

I've just came back from a 3 days trip to C31 and I was using my radio setup back in Barcelona thru a 300mbps internet conection in the remote site.
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w-u-2-o
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Re: Remote Operation like Smartlink

Postby w-u-2-o » Sun Nov 03, 2019 5:50 pm

Most people do not have a reliable 100Mbps link over the internet. Running a thick client over a WAN connection is generally not very reliable even if you do.

I remote my station. I use a Ubiquiti VPN router for access. I make an RDP connection to the station computer for video, audio, and full remote control of my station. I will run VOX or MOX, as required. My entire station is remote controlled over the LAN (my studio is on the second floor, the station itself in the basement--see my qrz.com page) so no other additional setup is required for me. However others will need to engineer remote control of any other equipment they need.

That said, handling RDP audio is quite tricky, and the use of something like Voicemeeter audio software is required.
ea3aqr
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Re: Remote Operation like Smartlink

Postby ea3aqr » Sun Nov 03, 2019 6:32 pm

That's a different aproach... but I don't like the idea of having a running PC (like you in your basement) to control my radio.

My setup is working great for me. I always use my radio from another room in my house and not from my shack (look at my QRZ.com page).
And, of course, I also can use it from anywhere if I have enough internet speed.

It's a very cheap and solid solution (under $70) and quite easy to set it up. ;)
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Re: Remote Operation like Smartlink

Postby w-u-2-o » Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:06 pm

ea3aqr wrote:That's a different aproach... but I don't like the idea of having a running PC (like you in your basement) to control my radio.

My setup is working great for me. I always use my radio from another room in my house and not from my shack (look at my QRZ.com page).
And, of course, I also can use it from anywhere if I have enough internet speed.

It's a very cheap and solid solution (under $70) and quite easy to set it up. ;)

You setup is very similar to mine in some ways. For local LAN access it works perfectly, of course. Nevertheless, I would not oversell it for WAN access. Anyone that does not have a very high speed internet connection will be unable to use it the way you do, and that describes most people in most situations.

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