Internet connection

Don w2xb

I am new to sdr radio and have a flex6500. Very impressed with the way it works.

Couple questions :

Can you operate the  Flex rigs without the use of the internet connection? And why do you need the internet connection?

Thanks

Don...w2xb

Brent Parker

Don

You don't need an internet connection, but you have to have an ethernet connection from the radio to your computer. You computer has to be able to "talk" to it.

Simplest setup, radio directly wired (ethernet cable) to computer. Make sure computer's network card is set to "automatically obtain an IP address". Be sure not only is the radio off, but the power supply to it is off too!  Boot computer on first and up and running. Then power to power supply and then boot the radio.

The only issue with this setup is the computer is only talking to the radio, and is not on the internet.

The "big" way to have the setup is with a router. Most home type routers have a single port to the internet and 4 ports on the back for your home network, which means it's a router on one side and a 4 port switch (hub) on the other.

With the computer into one of the 4 ports and the radio into one, the computer will have access to the internet, the rest of your network (like printers) and the radio.

Typically the router is a DHCP server, meaning it will hand out internal addresses (like 192.168.1.100, 101, 102.......)

With this setup, you can boot the radio and computer in any order, and since the router is handing out the DHCP addresses.

The radio isn't actually using the internet (public WAN).

With release 1.4 the audio/mic is going to be routed over the internal network, meaning you can take your laptop (wireless) to the porch and run your radio.

With release 2.0 they are going to make the connections to the WAN, to be able to run your radio over the public internet. Now the radio will be on the internet. That has security issues to still be worked out.

Hope that helps.   73   Brent  NB4AP

Don w2xb

Thanks for the explanation Brent. Makes sense to me now...

73 Don...w2xb