What are the LAN requirements to run a Maestro?

James Charlton

I am a casual CW contester and used my Maestro+6600M to work part of the WPX contest.  I noticed that there was a lot of clicking sounds when using the Maestro that were not present when operating the radio directly.  The units are on an in-house LAN with no need to use the Internet.  The Maestro is wireless but the radio is hard wired to the router.  The Maestro was running off its power supply, not battery.  I am running V3.x in both the Maestro and radio.  I don't recall if I had the clicks when running V2.x or not.   

I suspected LAN dropouts but checking the stats in the Maestro, latency and dropouts were both very low and signal strength was very good.  I hardwired the Maestro directly to the router and the clicks almost (but not entirely) disappeared.  As far as I know, the only other things on the LAN were a PC running N3FJP logging program and an Alexa.  Turning them off did not seem to greatly affect the clicks.  The router is a Nighthawk X10.

Since the 6600M and the Maestro work well (nearly click-free) when hardwired to the router, but not when the Maestro is operating wirelessly, the problem must have something to do with my wireless LAN, but what, bit errors, maybe?  

So, my question is, what are the specs for the wireless LAN that Flex radio + Maestro needs to operate CW without a lot of clicks.
Jim Charlton  AD0AB   

Duane_AC5AA

I'm not sure this will help.  I just took delivery on a Maestro this past week, and I used it with my 6600 over the weekend on the WPX CW contest.  Since the CAT6 cable provided would not reach to my router (Technicolor unit from Spectrum) I just used the Maestro over a 2.4 GHz WiFi connection with many other devices in the house also idling there.  There was no clicking sound that I was aware of, and while the network indicator on the Maestro occasionally showed only one or two yellow bars, it all seemed to work ok (with maybe  a slight lag in tuning rate on those occasions.)  I was running N1MM+ on the shack PC along with CAT and DAX.  Keying was done from N1MM+ or a paddle attached to the 6600.   SDR software is 2.4.9.   
Edit: Forgot to mention that, like you, the 6600 and shack PC are wired connection, while the Maestro was on the WiFi.

Steven WA8Y

I always run the Maestro via WiFi and haven't noticed any clicking.  During the WPX, I did get something like that (occasionally) via SmartSDR when I stopped transmitting.

Duane just confirmed something I suspected but did know; the bars on the Maestro and Smart Link indicate the network connection and not WiFi signal.  And when operating remote, a slight curve of my laptop (running the rest of my station) and the Maestro helps improve the network throughput (position laptop and Maestro on the edge of a 1 foot radius).  I've been told a 5GHz connection (Maestro) also helps the network throughput.