How you can access your Radio over the Internet (WAN) TODAY

Stu Phillips - K6TU

Neither OpenVPN or SoftEther route through a third party server.  They are both comparable from a security perspective.

When talking about security for this kind of application, I'm more concerned about a) not creating holes that let the bad guys get to other devices and b) robust authentication so that only the good guys get in.

I regularly look at the logs of both OpenVPN and SoftEther servers - I have both operational in my network.  There are many (MANY) script kiddies that knock on the doors but only the authenticated people get in.

Stu K6TU

Walt - KZ1F

Perhaps I was, inadvertently, a or the source of confusion earlier. I hadn't  paid much attention to VPN access as I haven't done Opus for XPSSDR as yet. It's not a critical path thing for me. But, when this thread was resurrected recently I got thinking about it again. I recall someone saying that they replaced their router as their prior one would not allow an on-board VPN. So I checked about mine, a Netgear 1750ac (R6300r2). The comment about the third party service was a result of what I had found on http://www.myopenrouter.com/article/how-set-vpn-netgear-r6300-openvpn-and-dd-wrt..

Specifically,
Step 1: Sign Up for VPN Service

I, whole-heartedly, agree with your concern about any vector that would allow a script kiddie access to any of my servers here. The easiest way to keep someone out of your home is at the front door, not the bedroom door.  Anyway, that's the background on why I asked the question I did below.

So if (or where) people running softether install its server on their computer, that would imply they open the firewall to atleast allow traffic on some port through to it.

Ali 9K2WA

Stu, I have what it takes to get me through pileups, it is not a big deal, I just wait for the DX to call outside Europe, J66CE had a good pileup running on 40m and I only called him 2 times on top of the Europeans with my 3 elements on 40m and 1 KW, that was a couple of days ago on the iPad app! I wish if the water fall could be turned off when I am calling CQ, it is not helpful at all in this case, slowing the rate and the FPS helps a good deal but still puts a burden on the internet bandwidth, when checking my speed test connection to my ISP back home, I am always below 1 Mb/s, but the upload direction is slightly higher, stations on the other side can hear me exceptionally well, but I still notice some jitters on the receive side depending on the internet connection traffic.

Walt - KZ1F

Ali, what happens when you full screen the spectrum pane, there by, effectively, closing the waterfall?

Stu Phillips - K6TU

Ali,

Using SmartSDR, make a note of your regular profile name.  Now using the profile manager, load the Global Profile K6TURemote and go to the Settings menu option. Under the transmit tab, at the bottom, make sure the option "Show Tx in Waterfall" is DISABLED.  Now save the global profile with the same name - K6TURemote.

Finally be sure to reload your regular global profile.  

Now when you connect K6TU Remote, the transmit will no longer display in the waterfall.

In addition, when you are at the radio chooser, you can use the Network Setup button on the lower left to select different connection types - this has the effect of reducing the frame rate for the pan adaptor and also reducing the line duration on the waterfall.

Both of these reduce the amount of bandwidth required from your radio. 

See:
http://k6tu.net/ipad/k6tur-chooser.html

Stu K6TU

KY6LA_Howard

@JIM Could you please run a benchmark between your OpenVPN Router. And SoftEther Use. Www.speedtest.net

Jim Gilliam

Would love to but my shut-off valve froze and burst and flooded my remote site under the cabin in Big Bear. It won't be till Spring when I can drive to my cabin to fix everything. After that, I would be happy to run the speed test. Good question!

Jim, k6QE

Ali 9K2WA

Stu, Thanks, I changed the network settings to low-speed data. I still would like to have the option to switch off the waterfall off when I am calling CQ on SSB it is not really needed. I got more ambitious trying to change the waterfall theme to gray scale thinking that it might reduce the amount of streamed data by setting that in SmartSDR and saving the K6TURemote profile just like the transmit disable method but the waterfall color stayed the same as before.

Stu Phillips - K6TU

Ali,

Please follow the instructions regarding setting the transmit NOT to show in the global profile using SmartSDR.  That will STOP the waterfall when you are transmitting.

There is currently no option to change the waterfall color - this is rendered in the client and does not affect the amount of bandwidth consumed.

Stu K6TU

Don Richardson

Hi Stan,
I too have setup the VPN server running in my NetGear router and setup a VPN connection between the house in NH and a remote PC in Maine.  I can keep a constant connection to the radio now that I made sure the IP address scheme is different at both ends.

My problem now is that the Pan Adapter do not show correctly and there is no waterfall showing.  The top of the Pan Adapter looks like an oscilloscope and does not show the frequency range correctly.  And of course, no waterfall.

I am running Smart SDR 1.9.13.  Did you have any of these issues, or anyone else out there have an tips or tricks that may help.

I am almost there!!!

spopiela

Don, I have since updated to the 6500 radio and the latest IOS. I have not run remote using the R7000, since Noember of 2016. It was from New Bedford, MA to Bedford, NH. My home R7000 can connect via VPN to either my IPAD or a Windows laptop when I am remote. This allows use of the IPAD or Windows laptop for Smart SDR hamming. . I was using my IPAD with the SmartSDR IOS installed last November. I typically update my SmartSDR to the latest version as soon as it comes out and also the IOS version. It was a flawless connection and I had none of the issues that you described. I had a good Internet connection based on speed testing. The IOS version allows one to reduce bandwith needs while using the radio but the penalty is usually in voice quality or other visual impact that is yours to accept or not. This is a nice feature. I suspect that the Internet connection is causing your problem. Try an experimant, whereby you connect with a quality connection from a selected remote location and see if you can get through with all visual features on. Keep trying! Stan N1THL

Don Richardson

Hi Stan,
Thanks for the complete steps for doing this.  I did do all of these steps as you suggested but in the end it was the connection speed at the radio Client end.  My Dad's internet speed tested at around 2.5mb and based on past comments it was said that you need a minimum of 3.  So, we are having Dad upgrade to a faster internet speed and things should smooth out and work great.

Thanks for the info and jumping in there.  I will report on our findings.

Ken - NM9P

I have been able to get performance with SSDR-IOS by turning off the Waterfall and turning the Display FPS down to about 6-7.

My shack uplink is only about 756 Kb Upload.  Which is on the edge of marginal.  
It works until my son decides to start watching something on YouTube or streaming Netflix on his X-Box!  Then I am out of luck.

But you CAN get an acceptable connection via VPN.  But the critical bandwidth figure is the Radio-end UPLOAD.  The download speed is almost irrelevant at the Shack, because it is usually very much higher than the upload speed..