SmartLink over Cruise Ship Internet

Neil D Friedman N3DF

I will take a two-week transatlantic cruise next spring and and will buy the ship's premium internet access.  It is 25 mbs downlink and 1.75 mbs uplink.  I would like to operate FT8 via my 10 inch iPad Pro.  Are the ship's internet speeds sufficient for this?

KY6LA_Howard

Henning - DL6DH

Hi Neil, the given speeds will be fine. A ship does not have a „lan“ connection to the internet, they will use satellite links. I guess due to the high latency on the satellite link you will not have fun, especially with FT8 or other time critical modes. 73 Henning

Neil D Friedman N3DF

Henning,

Do you think SSB and CWX will work satisfactorily?

John - K3MA

You might want to check first to make sure they do not block the ports and UDP packets that you will need.  I have some friends that only have Satellite internet and have issues.

Henning - DL6DH

Hi Neil, maybe SSB and CWX will work. My last cruise was in 2016 and I need to do a little bit remote work on a linux terminal and it was not fun. The other mentioned showstopper maybe will be any firewall, I do not know if you have a VPN backup. I would give it a try before buying any package. And trust me, there will be lot of fun also without ham radio. But if you are for example a serious DXer... 73 Henning

John - AI4FR

KY6LA_Howard

I have talked my way into the radio room on cruise ships. They have HF SSB radios. Nobody uses CW anymore Worked /MM.

Steve K9ZW

I’ve found the internet while cruising high latency, jittery and buffered to the point anything real-time was a no-go. I saved up anything critical for either shore time or the marginal improvement when docked. In some places like off the beaten path Greenland and Iceland ports it was a struggle to make things work. On ship there is a pecking order too - on some ships we didn’t get much internet in our regular balcony rooms, but had very much better when we had one of the top end suites. Even in the same cruise line the internet seems to vary by ship and by location. While I’ve been in the radio rooms and on the bridge on some of the ships I haven’t operated there. I did make arrangements at some shore destinations to operate from historic club stations, which was a lot of fun. I’ve dragged my own kit and secured permission while on one cruise ship to make no contacts and I really couldn’t get decent reception. Didn’t try too hard though. Was glad I tried. 73 Steve K9ZW Blog: http://k9zw.wordpress.com

Neil D Friedman N3DF

Lionel

Bob - W7KWS -

As long as the transmitter remains in U.S. territory, I can't think of any reason to do any of the above except to follow the FCC rules in Part 97 regarding "Telecommand of an amateur station". Permission to use your iPad and the ship's Internet is implied or detailed in your purchase of the Internet package. I doubt it forbids your remote activities. The transmitter in the U.S. falls under FCC rules which allow for remote operation as long as you maintain control and effective methods are in place to cease transmitting within 3-minutes if control is lost. Usually accomplished with a timer. Here are the FCC rules: §97.213 Telecommand of an amateur station. An amateur station on or within 50 km of the Earth's surface may be under telecommand where: (a) There is a radio or wireline control link between the control point and the station sufficient for the control operator to perform his/her duties. If radio, the control link must use an auxiliary station. A control link using a fiber optic cable or another telecommunication service is considered wireline. (b) Provisions are incorporated to limit transmission by the station to a period of no more than 3 minutes in the event of malfunction in the control link. (c) The station is protected against making, willfully or negligently, unauthorized transmissions. (d) A photocopy of the station license and a label with the name, address, and telephone number of the station licensee and at least one designated control operator is posted in a conspicuous place at the station location.

Bob - W7KWS -

I don't know if my problem with cellular Internet translates to satellite Internet on a ship but here's the trouble I have here in the seattle area. Using SmartSDR for IOS over Verizon cellular, unlike AT&T which works better here, Verizon suffers from severe data jitter. This results in short, frequent spaces in the audio and waterfall on my iPad. I call it stuttering. Other remote software such as RCForb, Icom's RS-BA1 and even SmartSDR for Windows work better. The first two include adjustable data buffers which bridge these data gaps. The adjustable buffers in the first two apps permit a balance between latency and good audio. I have set them at around 250 milliseconds up and down. Even the RemoteRIG features this adjustable data buffer in their hardware solution. I look forward to an adjustable data buffer in SMARTSDR for IOS some day so I don't have to give up the great Verizon coverage.

Steve K9ZW

Neil D Friedman N3DF

Stephen Linton

 my advice, leave it all at home, and enjoy the cruise  steve g8jut

KY6LA_Howard

bahillen

I brought my remote laptop and operated remote from an RCL cruise ship. It did not go well. The problem is that there are 4,000 other people on the same WiFi channels. It would keep disconnecting me every few minutes. I was using FT8. It disrupts the QSO when you just disappear and restart the connection. If you think people are always on there texting at home, when on the ship it is a major pastime. It may be better when in port and most have vacated the ship. Try it from midnight to 6 in the morning and maybe better. There were two grades of service an the indicated that the premium was twice the speed. It would be nice if we could maintain the SmartLink connection during extended delays or immediate recovery of link. 73 Bill W9JJB

Norm - W7CK

Most cruise ships no longer have radio rooms.  They have VHF on the bridge and that's about it.

Norm - W7CK

I agree.  Life doesn't evolve around FT8 or ham radio for that matter.   I use to operate remote, but gave it up to spend more time with XYL and meeting people while traveling.

Carl N8VZ

What Icelandic port were you in? Reykjavík has great cellular coverage, perhaps you were using a carrier they don’t have. As I recall two biggies there are Vodafone and Siemens. I used an Icelandic SIM card In my iPhone for a week there and could tether it to my computer all over the place, including my hotel room with unlimited data for a total of about $20 USD! Iceland ain’t no third-world country! 73 de Carl Jón Denbow (US Citizen, half-Icelandic descent)

Steve K9ZW

Carl N8VZ

Steve, I appreciate your detailed response.  Ísafjörður is, as you know, not a very large town, even by Icelandic standards, in the northern part of the country.  I'm not surprised that you might have had some WiFi difficulty there. I apologize for being a little overly sensitive to what I thought was a slight of my maternal ancestral homeland. You've obviously travelled extensively in Iceland and have a pretty good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the infrastructure.  For the record, my mother's mother came from Hóll north of Borgarnes (Hóll, Dalasysla, Hörthudalur), and her father came from Mássel, a cotter's farm next to Sle∂brjótur in the jökulsár district in Nordur Mölasysla.  You've probably never heard of any of those places, but perhaps you have.  You seem to have a good command of Icelandic geography, not an easy undertaking.  Again, thanks for your response.  Hope to meet you on the air sometime.  73 de N8VZ