Signature Series Connected Via Wireless Network bridge

Jay -- N0FB

I'm curious if anyone has successfully used their Flex 6000 series connected directly to a wireless bridge device (coverts physical Ethernet to wireless and then passes traffic through to the wireless router.) Does this method of connecting the 60000 to the network inject too much latency causing performance issues? My 6300 is on order and I want to have the environment to be as optimized to use my flex anywhere in the house. Wireless AC 5Ghz router in place. de Jay -- W0AVE

Richard G7EIX

I do this all the time for RX only.   As there is no official current way to do SSB over the network (only DAX for Digital) I use my Surface Pro for monitoring while sipping **** laced Ice Tea on the patio! :-)

And just FYI on my setup.  My 6500 is connected to a Gigabit Switch, which then connects to another Gigabit switch in which the 2 AP's (ceiling mounted - 1 upstairs and 1 downstairs)  and the SAN Devices are connected to.    

N4TTY

I concur, best to connect to a gigabit switch, so anything else with gigabit capability can get to to if at full throttle. Going wireless right at the radio will slow every connection to the wireless speed.

George KF2T

I do something similar. My PC and rig are attached to the wireless bridge, which provides network access to both. For most use, therefore, it's a wired gigE connection, but I can use a netbook, tablet, etc., elsewhere on the network for casual operation.

Ken - NM9P

I tried a cheap multipost wireless bridge with the radio and my computer connected to the port, then wireless to my router so I could use additional programs, such as K6TU's apple iPod utility. Neither the cheap wireless bridge nor my router with 1.5 MB DSL were fast enough to be usable for this function.  I kept getting "disconnected" errors.  I suspect that a better, faster bridge/router combination would work much better.  I am in the process of running a CAT6 cable from my shack to the router in the living room, and using a Gigabit switch in the shack to connect the 6500, my computer, a NAS drive and another piece of equipment to the router via hardwire.  Then I will try again.

Mike K5UX

My Uverse wireless AP and modem are on the first floor and my shack is on the 2nd floor, without hard-wired Ethernet. I'm using a Netgear WN2000RPT wireless range extender that, in addition to functioning as a range extender, provides 4 Ethernet ports. My 6500 and computer are connected to the Ethernet ports. I've had zero issues with this configuration. 73 Mike K5UX

Stan VA7NF

I concur with the above wired gigabit suggestions.  The constant data rate can be quite high.

Wireless is, by design, half duplex.  It there is any heavy traffic then jitter (delays) may become significant.  Wired Gigabit is both faster and full duplex.  The next step would be fiber which is both electrically isolated and keeps that nasty whole house network EMI away from your shack, except for some short cables which can be filtered.

K1UO Larry

I use the ASUS RT66U gigabit router with 450Mb transfers on both the N and G side  (newer Model AC66U is much faster and also more expensive!) and the ASUS EA-66N Wireless Ethernet adapter at 450Mb transfer rates and my Flex 6700 has been running just fine with multiple panadapters open on the N side of the Router link, multiple computers using the computer...although I put the Home computers and shack computer on the G side of the wireless router link.  There is an occasional NETFLIX streaming video through the Router to the main LR TV .  I haven't been on the Flex when doing this video streaming so not sure if that causes any problems.  So I guess the answer is  YES   it is possible to use a wireless EA link without problems.   

Jay -- N0FB

If the data stream is as high as implied, utilization of the Flex 6000 series over the internet (when released in 2015) will be all if not impossible without significant streaming compression technology being utilized.  Am I reading between the lines here that the voice/data stream is not compressed using the current software?  

The folks at Flex Radio will have a big conundrum to deal with when attempting to move to remote client connections outside the bandwidth rich environment of the home LAN.  The average cable modem connection only provides 10-20 MB of bandwidth (first hop.)   

Each one of us, I'm sure, stream HD movies over our internet connection with good/great results.  The 'high' bandwidth requirements of a HD movie streamed with good fidelity doesn't seem to stress most folks internet connection sufficiently.  Companies like Netflix and Amazon Prime have built their empires on less client bandwidth requirements. Therefore, even within the realm of a 100 MB LAN (wireless or wired) environment, its hard for me to believe that the Flex 6000 series would generate enough traffic to cause the network to become saturated....unless there is no compression CODEC used or the stream is wildly inefficient.

I currently use a Linksys EA6900 router (Wireless AC running on an 80 Mhz Channel Width in the 5GHz band with no neighbor SID's broadcasting).  It has a Gigabit backplane and 4 Gigabit switched ports.  Luckily, I also have Fiber direct to the house.  My internet throughput speed is throttled somewhere between 50-100MB (first hop).

Has anyone utilized some real network analytics tools which substantiate and/or quantify the high Flex 6000 network utilization as claimed here?  I would love to see the numbers.

Ken - NM9P's idea of running a Cat 6 from the Shack to the router sounds like the smart tact, causing fewest headaches.  

K1UO Larry

Hi Jay...I understand all you are saying but wasn't your question  about currently using a signature series radio successfully over an EA wireless connection?   Maybe I misunderstood and didn't respond correctly..  my apologies.

W5XZ - dan

me too, same setup; wally-world has them; seems to work fine.  73, w5xz

Jay -- N0FB

Hi Larry....sorry about that...it was a "String of Conscience" that played out in my reply.  I did indeed get off track.

The concept of connecting the Flex 6300 to a network bridge, while relieving the need to string Ethernet cable to the router, does on its own add to network latency.  I just didn't know if, everything being equal, it would injure the user experience significantly.