Smartlink works Perfectly with StarLink

ShawnQuinn

We live out in the country and have no cable or fiber options for internet. In the past our internet has been expensive Lte hubs.

We have enjoyed Starlink for over a year now, for everything other then remote ham operations.

We recently upgraded Starlink plan from standard Residential to Business Priority 40GB plan. This cost approximately $40 Cdn more then the residential plan. The advantage is it comes with a dynamic public ip address. I have not seen my public ip address change in over 2 months.

It only takes a few days to exhaust 40GB of priority data, then the plan falls back to unlimited standard residential plan, BUT retains the public ip address. Make sure not to select to buy extra priority data that will add up fast at $0.65 per GB.

Steps:

Starlink router placed in bridge mode.

Public address turned on from Starlink app.

Use your router (Netgear Nighthawk RAXE 300) in my case.

At this point you can use Universal Plug and Play or set up port forwarding both work great in my case.

I setup dhcp in the Netgear router on an ip range ( 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.200).

Setup ip reservation on all the Flex radio gear on (192.168.0.205 to 192.168.0.240)

Setup the port forwarding 4994 TCP and 4993 UDP.

No DMZ

Flex gear always boots to the same ip address each time.

Internet Speeds do vary but here is the range:

Latency 30-60ms, Jitter 3-10ms, Download 100-320Mbps, Upload 10-30Mbps.

The on air SSB test have been flawless no packet loss. Starlink has been great during snow and rain storms. Now Starlink customer service is all done through a ticket service, lucky not needed it yet.

In the past I did try Tailscale vpn on my Lte hub, barely worked, Latency was too high and too much packet loss. Solved by a static ip address on Lte hub no vpn required but expensive.

I know other Flex users have posted their success with Starlink and I do agree it works great if you nothing better.

73

Shawn

ve3xyy

widowsson_N6ATC

I'm using the exact same setup, except my network great is Ubiquiti.

Do you have any problems when transmitting on 20 meters? How far is your HF antenna from your Starlink antenna?

When I transmit on 20, it will **** Starlink every time unless I use pretty low power. 80, 40 and other bands are no problem.

ShawnQuinn

Starlink dish and modem are about 100 ft away from HF antenna's, Buried outdoor shielded cat 6 runs through old garden hose to router inside the house. Can run Canadian legal limit 2250watts on all hf bands no issues, But usually only run 4-500 watts.

ShawnQuinn

UPDATE: As of 1 April 2025, Starlink has cancelled the unlimited Business Priority Plans. The Business Priority plans are the only plans that comes with a Public IP address. Now with Business Priority plans once you used your allotment of data 50GB, 500GB, 1 TB etc., the bandwidth is throttled to 1Mbps down and 0.5 Mbps up. If you want more high speed data you have to buy more and its gone way up.

The standard Residential plan remains unlimited, but does not have a Public IP address. Its (CGNAT) with a dynamic IP address.

I'm going to mess around a with VPS using OpenVPN, Tailscale with L2TD, or back to 5G cellular hubs with static IP.

Pastor

I can use my Maestro via my Home Network to connect to my own Flex Radio 8400. I can also connect using my Maestro to my friends QTH in California via my home network using the FLEX Smartlink.

Problem: I Can not use FLEX Smartlink to Log into my FLEX radio at my own QTH, nor can anyone else log into my radio using Smartlink. Apparently since I use STARlink it does not allow Port Forwarding and Smartlink is unable to work.

Suggestions from Flex Support, Flex forums and online YouTubes propose that I needed a router after my STARlink router and a VPN, for port forwarding. My understanding is that there is no IP address therefore I can get out with Smartlink, but I can’t get in to my system/network using Smartlink

I recently installed an Asus router after my STARlink router, and I purchased a plan for a VPN. I thought the second router would do something for port forwarding. Can anyone assist me on how to get my FLEX Smartlink to work at my home with my STARlink setup?

I'm limited in my knowledge of what to do next. I thought that once I had the VPN and the ASUS router it would provide me with port forwarding.

QUESTIONS: Do I need to change settings on my ASUS router, or FLEX Smartlink or my STARlink or my VPN? I'm thoroughly confused, not enough detailed information out there on what to do next.

FLEX Support was vague and not detailed enough, thus no Joy.

KJ6YXI

John KB4DU

Well, for starters SmartLink only works for remote operation. Local operation only needs an Ethernet connection.

Mike-VA3MW

@Pastor -

Thanks for bringing up Starlink—it's a topic we've discussed many times internally, and we absolutely recognize the interest in using it for hosting a radio.

The short version: yes, it's technically possible. But no, it's not simple.

Unlike typical home or business internet setups, Starlink uses CGNAT (Carrier-Grade NAT), which complicates direct remote access. SmartLink was designed to work seamlessly with standard WAN addresses, but adapting it for Starlink’s network architecture would require a very different approach—and that comes with significant development and infrastructure costs.

Unfortunately, there’s no turnkey solution that FlexRadio can offer today without introducing additional costs or complexity.

If you're not comfortable setting up custom networking solutions, the easiest route might be using Starlink's Business plan, which provides a public IP address. That makes remote access much more feasible. Others in the community who’ve successfully set this up can hopefully share what’s worked for them.

Hope this helps clarify why it’s not quite a plug-and-play situation with Starlink!

Karsten Meissner

Hello, just posted this in an other post!

from experience the best working setup and overall the cheapest one is the solution from D4Zero!
So fare it worked for me with every possible provider. It works with an option even with the Maestro and of course with Smartlink for WIN or Mac.
Running it for more then 2 years without any issue.
Also the support and the setup from Mike is brillant.
73 Karsten

Mike-VA3MW

https://d4c-shop.myshopify.com/products/d4zero-vpn-service-revolutionizing-remote-contesting-connectivity

It is certainly worth looking at

WX7Y

Does D4ZERO require a monthly subscription or maintenance fee?

Does it use a management off site WEB setup and registration?

I wonder if it requires a authentication server like Smart Link?

There is little detail on the D4ZERO web site that I can see and if someone has used it for a while should know.

Mike-VA3MW

https://community.flexradio.com/discussion/8031112/perfect-solution-for-remote-access-without-a-ipv4-adress

Reach out to Hanno, DK3HV.

dm5xx

hi guys,

this is mike, dm5xx from D4C. thanks mike to pointing me to discussion. some words abt "d4zero". D4Zero is a VPN setup service for all hams who are not a network specialist or linux ****. for people who want to have a working solution in a few minutes - aka a videocall with me :p. i take care about configuration and after our call, you are having a working vpn solution, who work with DSL, Cable Internet, Firbre, Mobile or Starlink. You just need a normal uplink speed. This setup service uses zerotier and a pi4/5 as a bridge with some tweaks for administration. we did not reinvent the wheel and are not related to zerotier. The main pros are: no problems with cgnat, ipv6, etc. and you dont have the "fun" setting things up... even after setting up many d4zeros for example in europe, canada, usa or the caribbean, believe me, no connecrion is like the other and its IT - everything strange can happen,hihi. this is why we offer this kind of service. the "fee" is one time only - and its not just a fee, its actually a 100% donation to take care about our contest station d4c in cap verde island.
d4maestro is a special configured mobile router for connecting maestros or other non-zerotier-clientable devices. same game - fun with dm5xx in a videocall :)
if u have furrher questions, you can write me anytime dm5xx@d4c.cc

WX7Y

Great information Mike, thanks for the quick reply and doing this for the Amateur community, Yes the cost is Minimal for what is involved for getting the Raspberry Pi set up for the Station and then the setup for the Travel Router for the non IT guy, after just doing this exact thing, I would have gladly paid the cost to have it ready to go with a possible install script for the Pi, and the Travel router configuration information and someone to talk you through things.

Thanks again