Remote Station Operation

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Remote Station Operation

• WithHam Radio Deluxe

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Executive Summary

• Connect to a remote IP address instead of a local
  COM port.
• Golf anyone?

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Why A Remote Station?

• Share costs
• Local noise
• Location
• Planning permission (neighbours, XYL)
• Listen to amateur radio from the other side of
  the world

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Suggested Radios

• Must have good CAT control
• TS-480SAT (100W, ATU)
• TS-2000
• FT-2000 (excellent CAT from Yaesu)
• Icom 7800
• Elecraft K2 personally works great

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Networking Requirements

• Remote station must have a public IP address,
  does not have to be static.
• If the address changes dont worry use DynDNS
  to alias a dynamic IP address to a static
  hostname.http//www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dynd
  ns/

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The Requirement

• Control
• Radio(s),
• Keyer,
• Rotator,
• Wattmeter (Elecrafts WMI, N8LP LP-100)
• Switch antennas
• All use serial (COM) ports

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Dont Forget LatencyWhat is it?

• The time taken to send a command and read the
  reply. Most CAT commands return a value,
  especially when setting the frequency. Value must
  be read even if they will be discarded (good
  practice).
• If the remote station is close to you (not many
  hops) then latency will not be much of an issue.
• If the station is further away latency becomes
  very important.

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LatencyWhy is it important?

• When tuning the remote radio a fast response is
  essential.
• Examples of latency
• Laax (CH) ? California 250ms
• Laax (CH) ? Essex 35ms

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Remote ConnectionEthernet ? serial port server

• Example ESPSX3 Serial Port server, supports 3
  ports.
• 299 not too expensive
• Very simple to install and configure
• Latency issues
• Connect to virtual COM ports on your local PC.
• Sound ?

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Remote ConnectionDedicated Windows PC

• Securely administer remote users inside HRD
• Username / Password
• Disable TX, Tune-up
• Allow service restart (get rid of connections)

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Using Ham Radio DeluxeRadio Control (frequency
etc.)
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Sound

• SKYPE with auto-answer
• IP-Sound

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HRD Remote Server

• Standard Windows service
• Listens on port 7805
• Validates connection attempts with own username /
  password database
• Configuration in local .cfg file
• Runs async or sync (async for fastest tuning)

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HRD Serial Port Client/ServerKeyer, Rotator,

• Map local virtual serial ports to ports on the
  remote PC
• Uses N8VBs vCOM solution to connect client to
  HRD
• Supports any serial protocol
• Uses port 7806
• Fully configurable

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Connecting
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Connecting
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Connected!
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Now Youre Cooking

• On air, lets show a live demo
• Well do a local station
• A West Coast (California Kilowatt)
• A European Station
• Thanks