SmartLink Through a TP-Link Mesh Router

After losing my much-beloved 20+ year old AppleAirport Extreme WiFi routers I had to change. So, after much reading, hunting and pecking I finally got port forwarding to work. For those of us who aren’t network engineers, I thought I’d share what worked for me.

Wifi Router: TP-Link Deco BE13000 Mesh system from Costco.

Flex: 6600

IOS Utility for remote operation for the radio and TP-Link’s IOS utility.

I already had it working before but if you’re starting out:

Start SmartSDR and go to Settings => Choose Radio/ Smartlink Setup.., then yes to disconnect.

Select Smartlink Setup then hit the down arrow to expand the Network Settings.

Make note of the IP address eg. 168.****.XX.XX and the port numbers.

Go ahead and setup up the TP-Link Routers with the app.

Once that’s running go to the app and at the bottom and select More => Advanced => NAT Forwarding => Port Forwarding.

Hit the “+” to add a port and give it a Service Name (the Radio or whatever).

Enter the IP address from the radio and enter the port ranges like below. Protocol is TCP & UDP. Make sure you hit SAVE. Go back to the radio and hit the Smart Link test button. It should be green.

Hope it helps!!! 73’s Rick_ KJ5WO