Sneak Peak of Smartlink

VE7ATJ_Don

The one thing I noticed missing from the documentation provided was any sort of description of how to hook up the radio to use Smartlink from a hardware PoV (i.e. what cables go from what jacks to where).  I know this may seem obvious to a majority of us here, but for newbies, there is no hint/nor diagram of how to hook things up.  Is this going to be in another doc?  It would make sense (to me at least) to have a 'how to connect your radio for SmartLink" section at the beginning of the doc, with a diagram.

KY6LA_Howard

You do not need any additional or new physical cables to use SmartLink Same as the existing connection as long as your radio is connected to the Internet

David Decoons, wo2x

As long as the radio and PC or Maestro are on a network with Internet nothing else needs to be connected. Your router needs to either support uPNP or you will need to do manual port forwarding in the router to the radio.

Tim - W4TME

There is nothing to hook up.  If your radio is connected to your network and your network has access to the Internet, you are 1/2 there.  If your router supports the very common UPnP feature and your Internet upload bandwidth is at least 500 kbps, it's a done deal, you're good to go.

NX6D Dave

A simple block diagram showing a radio connected to a home LAN, operated by a PC in the LAN and also connected to by a PC outside of the LAN (one at a time right now) would do the job, I think.  It's a good point.  Some of us are so close to topics like this we can't imagine that it's not obvious to others.

ka7gzr

I wonder how many ports will need forwarding? I only have a couple free currently.

NX6D Dave

Two, one TCP, one UDP.  The radio uses ports 4994 and 4993 respectively in the internal net.  I've forwarded the same ports on my router to the radio and it works just fine.

David Decoons, wo2x

You do not forward physical ports on the router. Ports in this case refer to TCP protocol. Look at the model of your router and search online if it supports uPNP. If it does then no port forwarding needs to be done. Dave wo2x

NX6D Dave

Confusion of terms unfortunately.  We're talking about this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_forwarding and this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall_pinhole.

None of this will be an issue for users whose local router/firewall supports Universal Plug N Play (UPnP).  

Ria

An easier way of saying all of this:

Plug in the radio straight to the router like you would do a Roku or other internet appliance then follow the quick start guide for SmartLink to enable the radio's remote capability. This is really all you need to do for most consumer routers in the default, out of box configuration.

Unless your radio is connected directly to your computer, it should have been set up this way already.

If you're having problems, look in your router documentation for instructions to enable UPnP.  For most people that would fix most SmartLink issues. 

Of course, you're more than welcome to ask questions here... but I think for most this should be easy pickings.

Ria

VE7ATJ_Don

Thanks, Ria... but for the complete newbie, we need to be even MORE precise as in "Connect an Ethernet cable from the LAN socket on the back of the radio to an available socket on your router. Then, you may either connect your PC directly to the router using a similar cable and available port on the router, or you may connect your PC to the radio using a wireless connection."  << and include a diagram >>.  BTW, my router has 2G and 5G capability.  I'm assuming 5G would be better?

Tim - W4TME

BTW, my router has 2G and 5G capability.  I'm assuming 5G would be better?

Maybe.  5G has higher throughput but is more susceptible to signal attenuation due to things like walls.