Remote (over WAN) access without VPN?

Michael Hojnowski

Hiya.  It seems threads on this topic are over two years old.  I'm just checking to see if there are new developments.  I purchased a Flex 6400 for use in a remote shack.  I had intended for myself and other club members to access it via clients on machines across the WAN.  I was stunned to find that it doesn't appear to be supported.  Launching the SmartSDR client, it doesn't appear all that "smart", as it offers me no way to enter an IP address to reach the radio.  The "recent" threads, from two+ years ago, had suggestions for setting up a VPN to do this.  Do I really need to set up a VPN tunnel and put my club members through all that nonsense to use this radio remotely?

Thanks for any suggestions,
Mike / KD2EAT
Advisor, Amateur Radio Club at Cornell / W2CXM

Bill -VA3WTB

No, just setup your Smart Link account, give them your log in info and they need to download and install SSDR on a computer from were they are. Done
Now we can use Dax as well.

Multi client is comming soon.

Rick - W5FCX

Have a look at SmartLink: https://www.flexradio.com/downloads/smartlink-quick-start-guide-for-smartsdr-pdf/

SmartLink is "single user", so may not be a perfect fit for what you want to do with your club.

Our club uses RemoteHam.com for club shared access. It's not the native SmartSDR client, but it does provide great access to the radio remotely and works well. It also provides control over rotor, amplifier and antenna switches, if needed.

Hope that helps.

John WA7UAR

I can’t seem to access RemoteHams.com — but I did find this link that was accessible and seems to talk about the same remote service: http://www.n8mdp.com/remotehams_pcr.php

N5CQ

Mike,

I am doing this successfully on SSB and CW using SSDR 2.3.7 and SSDR 2.4.9. You have to set up the remote Flex unit in Smartlink, then log into your Smartlink account to access it. I have no experience with RemoteHams.  I am still working on getting FT8 to work - that seems to be a little more complicated.  73 John N5CQ

Rick - W5FCX

http://remotehams.com/

Michael Hojnowski

Thanks, Rick.  I think smartlink is the secret sauce I was looking for.  I dunno.  It seems like they've spent a lot of effort to make an easy thing hard, here.  I would rather just be able to figure out the IP of the radio and key it into the client.  Call me old school. lol

David Decoons, wo2x

Michael,

By doing that it potentially opens your radio to hackers. SmartLink prevents unauthorized access to your radio by brokering the connection.

David Decoons, wo2x

By the way, I have a remote 6500 being shared by myself and several RACES officers. You are not restricted to a single user.

Dave wo2x

Michael Hojnowski

Ya, I intend to set up a "Club" userid and share the password to club members.

Regarding "opening the radio to hackers", I'm a software engineer by trade.  It's just a matter of implementation.  They've encrypted the connection to the radio, meaning there are keys stored there anyway.  If they're storing security keys to talk to the "mothership' for authentication, there's no reason the radio can't store keys/passwords to talk to a **** client directly.  I'm not a big fan of solutions which require me to authenticate to an outside entity to talk to my own equipment.  I've NEVER set up a Microsoft ID, for example, on my computers.   From a "disaster support" perspective, I may have internet access to my radio, but if my **** client can't reach Flex Radio's authentication site, I can't talk to my radio remotely.  That's a liability, in my mind.