Flex 6300 and Maestro remote wan

Kjell Erik Haug · April 2018

Hi, I have been on for 3 weeks to drive remote with flex 6300 and Maestro.
I have read and tried most of what is about routers and remote.
I can log in to use Maestron locally trashlessly. Can also view it via smartlink,
but can not contact. It will be red on the test. I do not know what's wrong,
I've tried different IP addresses but it's the same all the time.
Is anyone who can give me the exact information for running remote with Maestro.
De LA5FGA Kjell

Mike-VA3MW · April 2018

Hi Kjell

If you look in your router, there should be a page that shows the ports in use and the devices those ports are attached to.

You also want to make sure that uPNP is turned on. Again, this is a setting in your router.

Your other option is to set up the 2 port forwards manually. When you sent up SmartLink near the test button, you can do a manual setting and then set those up in your router.

This will help you out a bit: https://portforward.com/

Mike

Kjell Erik Haug · April 2018

Hi thanks for the reply, I have set up port forwarding on all possible ports and IP addresses. but I get no authorized network connection.
uPNP is enabled. I have tried most so I have a more specific explanation of the hock one should be set up. Which IP address should I use? Radio's, Smartlink Radio IP ?, Router IP Address? I have tried most of the time.

Mike-VA3MW · April 2018

Hi

You need to ensure that you have 1 TCP port and 1 UDP port forwarded from the router to the radio IP address. You can get the IP address from SmartSDR.

I am concerned that you might not have the port forwarding set up correctly based on your last comments.

I would recommend you go over this video starting at the 3:00 minute mark just to make sure you haven't missed anything obvious with the login and the PTT Registration.

Also, you don't say what version of the software you are at, but you MUST be at 2.1.33 or higher. Previous versions of SmartLink will fail.

http://www.flexradio.com/downloads/smartsdr_v2-1-33_installer-exe/

Mike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umt3q0Uwk0Y

Kjell Erik Haug · April 2018

Hello again, I've done all that and have registered but get red light when testing smartlink.

Kjell Erik Haug · April 2018

Mike-VA3MW · April 2018

Ah, that really helps, however, I think I see the problem.

Is your ISP a Cellular provider? If so, they may block connections.

Mike

John - K3MA · April 2018

Additionally some providers (I know nothing about yours but ran into a couple here in the USA) really have a two layer firewall and you need to have them bridge the ports thru from the WAN to your LAN. Doing it only on your router does not always work. To determine if this is required you would need to call the technical support from your provider and tell them you want to forward ports from you LAN to the WAN and ask if they can assist.

Kjell Erik Haug · April 2018

Ok, I'll call ice.net to hear what they say.

Kjell Erik Haug · April 2018

Thanks for the help, dynamic IP address had to be set up from the cable moderator, now it works. Thanks Thank you.

Rick Clark · December 2019

If you have ATT cellular as your wifi provider, you cannot forward ports thru their system. I have confirmed this with a phone call to them. Had this issue when attempting to set up remote in remotehams. It had previously worked ok using verizon dsl. Also, if you have remote hams working properly, see if it works in HomeDepot. They use ATT for their free wifi and I am told remotehams doesn't work there.
Rick, KC3DR

Bob - W7KWS - · December 2019

My Maestro works just fine connected to my 6300 via my AT&T cellular hotspot feature on my AT&T LG-V35 phone. Also, the RCForb app from the Android app store published by www.remotehams.com works fine on the same phone.

My experience is that many cellular phone company representatives will say almost anything if it will end a support call. I have learned to take their information with a grain of salt.

When I had difficulty connecting my Maestro via AT&T a couple of years ago, it turned out to NOT be AT&T but was rather the inflexible Maximum Transfer Unit (MTU) setting in the Maestro. Flex has now made this setting adjustable in SmartSDR, SmartSDR IOS & Maestro.

The default MTU setting of 1500 is often to large to pass through a typical Internet connection. Setting it to 1200 solved my particular problem. Maybe it will do the same for your situation or it may be some other detail.

I'd be skeptical of information from cell phone representatives.

Rick Clark · December 2019

I am not referring to the "hotspot"feature on a cellular phone. I was commenting on a WIFI account through ATT's cellular system. It will not allow port forwarding thru the zeke "hotspot modem".

Bob - W7KWS - · December 2019

The same MTU adjustment solved the same problem connecting via a 1000 mile Comcast to Comcast connection. I guess that I'm not familier with the AT&T Wi-Fi system you refer to except that, RCForb works well at my Home Depot store using my phone connected to their AT&T Wi-Fi.

Bob - W7KWS - · January 2022

I've discovered a new (to me) arrangement to bypass the Double NAT roadblock that often cause me trouble connecting my Maestro to my Flex 6300 via a cell phone's Wi-Fi hotspot.

The Maestro is Embedded Windows but has no VPN client like a Windows PC has, so it is blocked in a double NAT network, at least in my experience. If it had a VPN client, there would be no problem getting past the double NAT. Although possible, introducing a VPN between the Maestro and a cell phone network has required introducing a device such as a VPN router between the Maestro and the cell phone.

The other day, I discovered that the free Android OpenVPN client in the play store appears to distribute VPN data to connected devices as well as on-device apps. Other VPN clients, including the native Android client, appear to limit data to apps on the phone only.

This only seems to work with Android phones. Unfortunately, my iPhone doesn't seem to work the same way.

I connect my Maestro to my cell phone Wi-Fi hotspot after I've started the OpenVPN app and completed the connection to the VPN Server.

To skip having to run my slow VPN server at home, I use the OpenVPN Cloud Service (https://openvpn.net/cloud-vpn/) which is very high speed and is free for up to three simultaneous connections. As best as I can tell, there are no limits on data quantity, so it's probably also good for a lot of other things.

This VPN service connects to the Internet beyond the cell phone network and thus avoids the NAT in the phone and the second NAT in the cellular network. The result will use SmartLink to complete the connection to your radio.

Flex 6300 and Maestro remote wan

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