SmartLink Finds Radio but Fails to Connect After Prior Success

Lawrence Libsch

New to SmartLink but not to the 6600. Previously registered with SmartLink, but modem/router had no UPnP so never able to get the green light. Recently bought a Netgear Orbi router that does UPnP. Two days ago used the old SmartLink registration with the new UPnP enabled router and got the green light. Copied the radio IP and ports info. Then successfully used Smartlink via my iphone hotspot  to connect to my 6600 on my laptop after disconnecting the laptop ethernet cable to the LAN, but leaving the radio connected via ethernet cable to the to the LAN.

Next day using the same procedure SmartLink found the radio but did not connect when the green connect button was pressed. SmartLink does not crash, but after multiple minutes says it has failed to connect and offers to try again. Same happens with SmartCat and SmartDax.
I tried connecting today from  the local library, bypassing the iPhone but SmartLink failed to connect just as it had the day before.

Rolling over the radio ID with the mouse cursor before pushing the green connect button shows SmartLink using the same ports but a different IP than the one I copied when I got the green ball in the SmartLink setup.

6600 is running SSDR v 2.4.9 for WIN10 on an XEON laptop with 32 GB memory.

Waited a long time to get this close to success. Feels like I'm really close. What's my problem, please.

K4KGG, Larry

VK7WH Winston

I’m guessing that your router DHCP is handing out a different IP addresses.. You can prevent this from happening by tethering the MAC address of your Radio to your current IP address. This is done in your Router. The Router manual should show you how to do this. Hope this helps Winston

Lawrence Libsch

Winston, thanks for your reply. I will investigate your proposed solution, but implementing it may be beyond my competence in configuring routers.
It occurred to me after I wrote the description of my problem that my network setup may contribute to the problem. My router is an Orbi RBR50 mesh router with a single satellite. The satellite is CAT cabled to the radio. Could this be contributing or causing the problem?

Steve K9ZW

@Larry - would someone from your club be able to help you set up your network to be stable enough for your station usage?  You are so close to having things nailed down and I understand where you are coming from.

73

Steve
K9ZW

Lawrence Libsch

Hi Steve,

That's a great Idea, but I am at my summer house in NY and my club is in FL where I spend my winters. I want to operate my NY station remotely from FL. So I don't think getting help from the FL club is a solution.

Do you agree with Winston's analysis and solution ? Is this a problem and solution you have seen before? Is the mesh router with satellite part of the problem?

Many thanks for your help.

Larry, K4KGG

Mauro HB9FBG

I had a similar problem and it was the antivirus that blocked the door. AVG support solved my problem online in 30 seconds.

Lawrence Libsch

Mauro, I disabled Norton antivirus and firewall and tried to connect with SmartLink. Problem is unchanged. I do appreciate your effort to help me.
 
Larry, K4KGG

Steve K9ZW

From what I'm reading I think your setup is not keeping the same exact IP address for your radio.

When the system boots it has assigned a different IP address than the one you had worked out port forwarding for previously.

These port forwarding things are arcane, and I personally had one semi-commercial AT&T rebranded device that despite being configured correctly, required all the Flex port forwarding settings to be removed, rebooted and then redone.  

Basically your radio's MAC-address gets paired with a LAN IP address, to which port forwarding is enabled for two specific ports to run SmartSDR.  They get enabled either automatically or manually.  

Not the part you are NOT going to like - since you have described your system as your radio is in FL and you are in NY, it is the FL network that needs to have the port forwarding sorted out.  I'm thinking your trouble is at the other end.

If you have a PC running in FL and do you have remote access to it, you may be able to sort this out remotely.  Would be helpful to be able to reboot things remotely as well.  If you are like so many of us who basically just leave their station running, you might need someone to help you sort it out in FL.

Can you tell us more about your FL network setup?

Thanks and 73

Steve
K9ZW

Lawrence Libsch

Steve,

My 6600, Orbi router which has UPnP and successfully got me the green ball in the SmartLink setup and one time successfully connected to my 6600, and I are all presently in NY. Operating the NY station from FL is the goal. Testing of the internet remote capability is all taking place in NY. FL is not involved. If I'm successful with a SmartLink internet connection in NY, I'll know how to setup to work the NY station from FL.The need to do port forwarding has prevented me from using SmartLink in the past. Recently I upgraded in NY from a DSL to a fiber connection which gave me the opportunity to use the ISP modem only and buy a UPnP router. UPnP worked perfectly on the first try here in NY. But now SSDR finds the SmartLinked 6600 but will not connect.

The NY network has a Netgear Orbi RBR50 mesh router with a single satellite. Both the primary and the satellite have CAT ports. The satellite is connected directly by CAT cable to a switch at the station. From that switch one CAT cable goes to the 6600 and one to the laptop running SSDR 2.4.9. When I test the SmartLink connection I disconnect the CAT cable from the laptop and connect it to my iPhone hotspot. I hope that's what you need to know.

I apologize for the lack of clarity on who and what's where and appreciate your help.

Steve K9ZW

Gotcha - to repeat back what I have taken away is your set up is presently all local to you in NY.

Your Flex-6600 is cabled to a switch (type?) 
Your Laptop is also cabled to the same switch
That switch is cabled to an Orbi Mesh-Point (Satellite)
The Orbi Mesh-Point is wireless to an Orbi RBR50 Mesh-Router
The Orbi Mesh-Router is cabled to an ISP supplied Fiber Modem (type?)

The ISP Fiber Modem is a recent change from a DSL modem.

The setup worked once via an iPhone hotspot for you but then hasn't worked, and you no longer get the Green Light when checking port forwarding.

Did I get this correct?

Now some questions about how you have configured things:

What is the ISP Modem?  Has it been checked that it has your needed ports are open/forwarded?

How have your configured the Orbi Mesh-Router?  Is it creating that double-NAT situation the creates problems?  Have you opened the ports on it as well?

Is the Switch a truly simply switch or something that needs to be configured as well?

Can you access your 6600 from everywhere on your mesh system wirelessly and cabled?  

As an FYI I've found SmartSDR for iOS able to see radios that it cannot connect with because of port forwarding issues at the radio.  So you are not alone.  I'm presently sorting out an issue at one of my installations where this is happening because of a security device upgrade erasing my working port forwarding configuration.  

You can email be directly if you'd rather, though it is sometimes helpful for other to explore problems and solutions on the community.

73

Steve
K9ZW

Lawrence Libsch

Will try to answer questions in the order you asked them:

Re my setup, switch is a CTC SW-2104. I believe it is a true switch with no router function. For completeness I have a 6 foot run of fiber inserted between the switch and the CAt run from the Orbi satellite.

The ISP supplied fiber modem says Spectrum (the ISP) . It does have some numbers on the bottom, but no clearly marked model #. What actually attches to the modem is TV type coax. Fiber runs to the pole outside my house. From there it's a cable run.

My problem is failing to connect to the 6600 after SmartLink finds the radio and offers the green connect button. I got the green light on the SmartLink setup using UPnP via the Orbi when I setup SmartLink. I have not gone through that setup again because SmartLink finds the radio, it just can't connect to to it after it finds it. I have not tried again to see if I get the green light when going through the SmartLink automatic setup for port forwarding.

Re how I have configured things

I described the ISP modem above. If SmartLink worked once then the modem must have allowed the UPnP assigned ports to be open and forwarded. I don't know how to check that the ports in the modem are open and forwarded othe than to get the green ball rather than the hamburger. I did get the green ball. I made a note of the ports and the ISP in use when I got the green ball if that's helpful.

I configured the Orbi via the app that is has for setup. The ports were assigned by the UPnP when SmartLink was setup and I got the green ball. If I were doing double NAT would I have had initial success? There's a way to check IP for double NAT, but I don't remember how to do it.

The switch required no configuration.I believe it is a switch only and not creating double NAT problems.

I can access my radio CAT cabled to the Main Orbi router or the satellite. I can access the radio wirelessly. Not sure if he signal is from the main or the satellite.

Thanks again for your help.

K4KGG, Larry

Lawrence Libsch

Steve, Went back to SmartLink Setup screen. My set up now fails. So the problem is back there. No green ball now, though I did have it before.

Larry, K4KGG