Remote RX only site

Don, VE2HJ

Hi, I am planning to put beverage antennas on a remote site one mile from my QTH. My gold is to RX from the remote site and TX locally.

What would be the best way to get the received signals to my qth and integrate it within SmartSDR for TX via my F6500 ?

At both site high speed inthernet is avalable.

With Smartlink coming soon, i thouth i couls use a 6700R receiver. But i think this would force me to run two SSDR on two computer.

Does anybody has configured Something like this ?

Any suggestion would be appraciated.

73,

Donald, VE2HJ

Mike va3mw

Hi Donald

What if you used SDRPlay as the remote RX and the SDR Console so that it tracks your Flex radio.
http://www.sdrplay.com/
http://sdr-radio.com/

RadioWorld sells the SDR Play receivers.

You could make the 6700R track I guess, but I am not sure there is software for that at the moment.

Mike

Jim Gilliam

1, It depends on the type of router you have. Some are great for OpenVPN operation others like Linksys are not. Most hams have had success with the Asus router. It supports layer 2 VPN (TAP) and you can access the radio directly.

2. If you do not have a supporting router, you will need a computing device working with the Flex. Most people are using Softether on a PC. This will serve as your Server, compensating for the lack of VPN support on most routers.

3. If you are going to use an Apple device, you can access via softether but it has to be configured to use L2TP. Apple IOS does not support OpenVPN layer 2.

Hope that helps.

Jim, K6QE

Tim - W4TME

You can run SmartLink for the receiving station on a different client. like Maestro or SmartSDR for iOS.

Watts - K4QJZ

I have had as many as 10 remote sites running at once using SmartSDR But each required they be run in a separate window's environment. SmartSDR will only run one instance at a time as it currently stands. The good news it's very reliable and even appears to have a limited ability to recover from short drop outs. I have run a past version for over 30 days 24/7 with no issues with a radio many thousands of miles away (6700R). Unless you need diversity reception or more than 4 slices, a 6500 is a cheaper selection and offers you an alternate transmit site. Especially with potential trade ins in the future.. How to talk/control it? The softeither solution so well documented on the community board works well or a Remote Desktop solution. I have used Log me in and Parallels with Parallels being the much preferred of the two for performance and reliability after testing over time. However there tech support is almost non existent ! By the way, your link bandwidth becomes critical as you add slices. If you do not need to use DAX, don't. Don't even fire it up as it uses more bandwidth than the radio. Hope this helps, Watts K4QJZ

Larry Loen WO7R

Thanks to a peculiarity in DXCC rules, you can't use any contacts made at this site for DXCC.  Look it up, strange but true (probably some bit of flotsam from contesting rules that made it into DXCC rules)>  BTW, illegal for contesting, too.

My suggestion is to go "full remote".  That is legal for all purposes.  In other words, put up the beverages _and_ a transmitting antenna.  It's not significantly harder to do both.

Since 2.0 was a distant dream when I got started in this, I've been using remoterig with success for many years.  It's about a 500 dollar cost, but it greatly simplifies the whole thing.

K1DLM

Donald - I think Mike Walker has the right idea here.  You will need a second radio of some sort located at the remote site.  Personally, I would connect an SDR Play to the receive array, and build a long-range WiFi network to connect it back to my home QTH.  That way, I wouldn't have to pay for broadband at the remote site.  Ubiquity makes some nice Wi-Fi gear that is purpose built for this type of application.  Alternatively, you could use a Flex at the remote site, but I'd probably only do that if I intended to use the transmitter at some point in the future. 

73,
Dave, K1DLM

Don, VE2HJ

Hi David, TU for your comments.

I have concidered the WiFi link, but i touht it would be too far. Also can you tell me about the reliability onder ice condition ? Here we regularly get ½ inch of ice on the antenna.

73,

Donald, VE2HJ

Mark Erbaugh

If you can get line of sight between the two sites, WiFi is definitely a possibility. My home internet access is via WiFi to an access point on a tower about 5 miles away. I have a Ubiquity radio with a small dish (about 18") mounted on the side of my house. It's worked well for several years. While this is a commercial solution, I'm pretty sure the ISP is just operating Part 95. You may also want to look into amateur mesh networking, though that would limit your recmote reception to the amateur bands as is violates amateur radio regs to transmit other radio services iover amateur frequencies.

Marc Lalonde

Hi  Donald
look for Ubiquiti  Nanostation , i use a pair of M3 for my remote station ( 3.4Ghz)
it work over 20Km line of sight  and have a dish option  , M2 @ 2.4G may handle bit of ice , not sure for the 5Ghz version   

the 3.4GHz is really hard to find (i knot were to got it )  ,but noise floor was extremely low and secure since no Wi-Fi  hacker may reach it  -)  

not forgot that in Canada IC not permit to use any form of encryption or security 
so 3.4G is a nice option 

Marc VE2OLM

Michael Coslo

What bands do you plan on operating, Donald? And how remote is the receiver?

Don, VE2HJ

Hi Michael,

I'm doing this to improve my receiving on 80 and 40m. The remote site is one mile from my QTH.

73

Donald, VE2HJ

Michael Coslo

Okay - just was concerned about 20 meters. And I see you posted the location in your original post - Doh!, That's what I get for posting while the game is on.