8600 Delivery/LANs and range extenders

charlesjacobsen · May 25

I live in the UK and am considering buying an 8600. Can you please tell me the delivery time for this.

Remote access is very important for me. Can you please say if the LAN setup must be wired. I live in a large house and have it networked everywhere by using Powerline Adapters as Range extenders. Direct connections would be difficult. Would my system be OK?

Regards

Unknown · May 25

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Erik Carling EI4KF · May 26

Delivery time in UK is short. The 8600 is in stock at Martin Lynch & Sons. You would receive it in days I would say.

As with Russ, I use Power Line extenders and never had a problem.

John KB4DU · May 27

I also use power line extenders. Mike indicates that some Flex testing has produced some interference, but I have not had any problem.

Jerry W2TXB · May 27

I would avoid using a power line extender, and initially used a PC connected directly (CAT5) to my radio.. When I upgraded my network at home to the Netgear Orbi (mesh) system, I directly connected the Flex to a RJ45 port on the node, and connected my PC to another port on the same node. The mesh network has surprisingly good range and coverage, neither my radio nor my PC ever misses a beat.

My only other option (not my best one by any means) was drilling holes and running cables for a "hard wired" connection; the mesh network does what I want, and then some.

charlesjacobsen · May 27

Russ/Erik,

Thanks for the detailed comments. My house sounds not unlike yours, Russ, as far as connectivity is concerned. I converted an upstairs bedroom into a shack a couple of years ago. It worked well, unlike my knees which decided that they did not like stairs any more, so I converted the downstairs dining room into a bedroom. I have little need to go upstairs apart from the shack and the remote capabilities of the 8600 are very tempting.

It is good to know that at least two people have no problems with extenders. I tried them many years ago but the walls in my house are very thick and reception was poor so I used adapters instead. I know that range extenders have improved a lot over recent years and will give them a go.

Thanks again.

charlesjacobsen · May 27

John/Jerry,

Thanks for adding your information to the ****. I now feel even more comfortable about buying the 8600.

charlesjacobsen · May 27

I don't know why there are asterisks in my last message. The missing word is "****".

charlesjacobsen · May 27

I give in. I'll let you know when I buy one.

Unknown · May 27

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charlesjacobsen · June 23

I finally succumbed to temptation and bought an 8600 with a Maestro. I have hooked it up to my adapters and it seems to work very well.

Understanding how it all works and how best to optimise it is going to take some time. Based on what I have done so far, it will take a long time! I anticipate spending a lot of time on this channel.

I had not really thought about having the radio upstairs while using the Maestro downstairs. I quickly discovered that in order to get the Maestro working, the radio had to be switched on. This involved a trip upstairs, so negating the whole point of the exercise. I need a remote on/off switch and see that there is a lot of stuff on this on this channel, so I know where I shall be starting.

Charles

Unknown · June 23

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David Decoons, wo2x · June 24

I would highly recommend you check out the new users playlist of videos on Flex’s YouTube channel. They answer a lot of questions a new user may have and offer tips and guidance to familiarize yourself with the radio and SmartSDR. There are many other videos on the site.

73 Dave wo2x

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJteC7p59ZU&list=PLcubIF34IGQsV_G1p1JiCNhEzxwlsKHRN

8600 Delivery/LANs and range extenders

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