How much data rate does smartlink consume?

Lars Pettersson

when i was to Germany i used my maestro and 5G internet, it seems to consume a lot of Gb

is there a known amount that smartlink consume?

Erik Carling EI4KF

An interesting question Lars! I think SmartLink itself is irrelevant as it is only an authorisation tool. It is the data the radio consumes that matters. I do not use SmartLink and have until recently been using SoftEther VPN which was working well until a few months ago when glitches became more frequent. So I changed to ZeroTier which is great and during that change I took measurements.

Running the radio with the same settings as if I was at home consumed 1.2GB an hour approximately. It did vary 700MB - 1.5GB, depending on type of operating. However I have cut that in half by changing Panadapter FPS set to minimum + Waterfall rate set to minimum.

DAX - seems to be the major user of data. I am using a remote desktop tool on the local PC, to avoid using the remote link, to connect for digital modes. This will give you a much more reliable experience, less data consumption and trouble free communications on FT8.

I suspect every one will have their own very different data consumption figures but anyway something to compare with what you found.

Connections via SmartLink use compressed data I believe. That might make a difference to consumption. It will be important to see further replies, perhaps from Mike and also others who do use SmartLink.

Lars Pettersson

Hi Erik

thanks for the info!

i did the same and the most affecting was the rate i lowered FPS and rate to minimum and total rx rate went from 1220 kbps to 262 kbps hugh different

Big thanks

73 Lars SM4IVE

Mike-VA3MW

Hi Lars

It varies with the minimum of about 300kb/sec when you open a single slice, no DAX for digital modes and reduce your Display FPS and RATE to minimum.

With SmartLink, the Audio is compressed for further data reduction.

As you add more slices, increase your FPS and RATE, more data is used.

What was your setup?

Mike