Connect to HRD wirelessley

Ken Golubski

I'm a noob......
I was told that using my 6600 with a Maestro, that my laptop running HRD would connect using wireless. I can't find how to do it. Help ???

Matt (K0KB)

Thats right The laptop doesn’t connect to the maestro, it connects to the 6600 using smartcat and the maestro also connects to the 6600 and so in that manner they’ll be in sync. Make sure smartcat is running on the laptop and I’m not sure if HRD requires ddutil to play the HRD server role or not but hopefully someone can clarify as I don’t run HRD.

Ken Golubski

Ok....First, I can't use SmartSDR Cat because it always says "no radios available"...
I am definitely out of my "wheel house"
The Maestro is connected to my local WiFi.... and I connect to the 6600 with the maestro using the CAT cable from the maestro to the radio......

Ted VE3TRQ

For this to work locally, all of your devices need to be on the same network, whether WiFi or wired (wired and wireless can be the same local network). It is usually best to wire everything first before trying wireless, if you can. The 6600 must be connected to a switch, and the Maestro needs to be connected to that same switch (it can be the switch in a wireless router to which the Maestro is connected wirelessly). Connecting the Maestro to your network wirelessly, and connecting your 6600 with an Ethernet (Cat5/6) wire to the Maestro will not work, as you have no way to force the Maestro to forward packets from the radio to your wireless network - it will not bridge the traffic from radio to WiFi (a PC can be forced to do this, but the Maestro is not a general purpose PC). I hope that makes sense to you. [Edit]
Just editing this to make it clear that it is the PC CAT/DAX connectivity I was addressing here - if you only want to operate the 6600 with the Maestro, and don't want to update the radio software or otherwise put it on your network, your setup will work.

Ted VE3TRQ

Matt (K0KB)

The 6600 needs to be hard wired to your network. The same network that your wifi access point (likely just your wireless router) is on. Then you can either wire the maestro to the same network or connect it via wifi. Then you can either wire the laptop to the same network or connect it via wifi. You can’t daisy chain these devices together via ethernet cables unless you really know what you’re doing and even then its a terrible solution versus sending the traffic through a switch or router via ethernet or wifi.

Ken Golubski

Okay. Thanks to all for responding. I guess I didn't investigate this enough and "assumed" the 6600 could connect to a wireless.
I'm at a disadvantage here because we live in a motor home and have no hard wire internet access. I have a wireless router/receiver on the roof that all our devices connect to using wireless.
I guess I'll try something like this and see what happens.
Thanks again.
Ken

Ted VE3TRQ

Use a WiFi extender / access point connected to your wireless. This will bridge from your wireless to a wired network for your shack. Just make sure the AP has as many RJ45 connections as you need for the shack - two minimum.

Ken Golubski

Thanks again. That looks like the route (no pun intended 'router') I'm taking.

Mike-VA3MW

I might tinker with this tonight to help Ken out.  You will need a WiFi adapter that supports Bridging to the LAN adapter and will pass L2 packets.   

If someone has done this in OpenWRT, can you share your notes?

Ted VE3TRQ

Every WiFi access point I have ever used has supported bridging between WiFi and LAN ports. I always look for a router that supports Tomato (a variant of dd-wrt) and flash it before using it. That said, I don't see why any of the many available WiFi routers won't just do the job without much trouble. Are you aware of WiFi access points / routers that operate separate broadcast domains on wireless and wired parts, Michael?

Mike-VA3MW

We want to make sure we are seeing the same problem... and I might be the one seeing it incorrectly.   

I thought the ask was to make the radio to actually work on a WiFi connection and not have to be cabled.   To do so, will require a device to be LAN connected to the radio and WiFi connected (as a Client) to his Router's wifi.  

This is not an uncommon ask for some customers since many have internet in their QTH that is 100% WiFi and zero LAN connections.  

Ted VE3TRQ

You are right that you do need an extender which bridges from wifi to copper and do bridging. It is ALWAYS easier to have at least one RJ45 connector available to use a more generally available WiFi router without worrying whether it will act as an extender. But as you say, some just do not have that option.

Ken Golubski

Well, finally success !! I now have the maestro working on the wireless network. I'm not sure how I did it, but now HRD is talking thru wireless also. Life is good again.