Network 'health bar graph'

Roy Stiegler

Network 'Health Bar Graph' on the panadapter display varies all over the map from off to excellent.  Looking at the network diagnostics tab, it show latency less than 1msec and no dropped packets.  Radio runs without breaks.

So exactly what does this bar graph tell me?

Running Win 10, Smart SDR 1.6 on a Flex 6500 and I have a Netgear GS105 switch between the radio set up and the internet router.  Switch pilot lights show the radio box and computer are both connected at 1gbps  and steady.

Roy  W5TCX

KD4Y

My Maestro does the same thing

Thomas Sorensen

I use shielded cat 6. Solved my issue's. AF5WO. Tom

DH2ID

I concur. CAT6 IMHO is a must in HF environment. No dropouts here although
antenna is only 3 m away on the balcony. My max HF output is only 10W though...
Alex - DH2ID

Tim - W4TME

The network health indicator is an indication of the audio stream quality.  If it is varying, your network connection is dropping packets and is not well suited for streaming data between the radio and SmartSDR.  I would do what Thomas indicated and check or change your Network cable first.  If that does not help, then it may be your Ethernet switch.  Not all switches are created equally.  Particularly consumer type Ethernet switches.  Where they tend to fail is when data is streamed at a constant rate with no breaks, which is the data flow characteristics of the FLEX-6000.

Eric-KE5DTO

Note also that even if packets aren't lost, but are arriving out of order, this counts against you in the network health meter.

Roy Stiegler

One more time.  

No one explained exactly what this "health bar graph" does.  Measures a ping delay? ??What??

The bar graph in this instance can go to zero for up to 3 seconds or so then gradually recovers to max green bars, the network status says it is disconnected, but the data keeps getting passed through the switch according to "the blinking data lights" and the radio works normally.  Never drops out on receive or transmit.  If I call up the internet on the computer while running the radio, it runs fast and the radio is unaffected.

So maybe it is the swtich.  So I connected the ethernet cable straight from the computer to the Flex.  Does exactly the same thing.  No switch in the loop.  So I tend to think switch has no impact. Still says latency is less than 1ms and no dropped packets.  And I still don't know what this bar graph tells me.

Waiting for an explanation but I keep using the radio.  Works OK

73  Roy  W5TCX

Norm - W7CK

I sat out on the back patio the other night with my laptop running wifi back to my shack.  I use a LG wireless headset, which I absolutely love (no wires at all).   I had 2 panadapters open and chatted on 6 meters for a bit then switched to 40 meters.  My connection never missed a beat and that's with an old Linksys WRT54G wireless router running Tomato.  I sure hope the Maestro can perform that well.  I was about 60 feet from the wifi router.  I had the FPS set about 5 and the rate was down to about 10.

With the laptop on the patio, I also had full control of my amplifier, tuner, log book and was cruising around on the internet.  I was looking stuff up on Google while I was on 6 meters with some friends.  I realize the Maestro won't let me do that, but It will really come in handy during contesting and such.  I only hope it arrives before Field Day.

Norm 

Steve (N9SKM)

Sounds like you are a smart user and turning the data rate down to ensure lower latency. I bet you wont have any issues with Maestro. I have a newer router which I am thankful for, Seems like networking equipment is hit or miss as far as home use stuff. A good example is when docsis 3.0 came out. All of the 2.0 modems were supposed to be backwards compatible but even with firmware updates i had issues a couple of places. But why not upgrade, the parallel channels on 3.0 are worth it.

Eric-KE5DTO

There are a number of data points that contribute to the network health bar.  Today, I believe we use some combination of ping, lost packets, packets arriving out of order and jitter.  We hope to expose more of these details at some point in the future for those that are familiar with these issues for easier diagnosis of networking issues.