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Getting K6TU controller to work in my bodged together station...

Ken - NM9P
Ken - NM9P Member ✭✭✭
edited June 2020 in SmartSDR for Windows
I am trying to set things up this way. Will it work? And what do I need to change? I am running a 6500 directly connected to my Lenovo K410 and dual monitors. Things have been working well so far. I have Flex Control Knob and don't use DDUtil unless I need to also have my 1500 hooked up to record myself for audio testing purposes, or to monitor additional frequencies..... The Lenovo also has a WiBee WiFi dongle attached to the USB port, which also works. I have it this way for three reasons...1) lightning protection (One fewer line running to the 6500) 2) My DSL Modem & Wifi router are in another part of the house and I would rather not run another length of Cat 6 cable, though I will if I must.. 3) I figure not having a CAT6 cable run to the shack may cut don on one more source of interference. So... I just got my new Ipad Air and downloaded K6TU Control. I figured that I could "Bridge" the Wifi and Ethernet in my computer together so that I could access the 6500 via the wifi connection. K6TU Control is able to see the 6500, but when I try to connect to it, it times out and will not connect. Is there some firewall port I need to change here? I believe it SHOULD work this way, but what am I missing? Thanks for any help.
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Comments

  • George KF2T
    George KF2T Member ✭✭✭
    edited February 2019
    Nope, sorry - won't work through a bridged connection, just like SSDR. At least at this point, all clients need to be on the same network, no bridges or internet access. Have you tried a Wi-Fi access point with an included switch to run the radio and PC? No extra cable, works great. Less filling. I use K6TU Control, too. I use a TrendNet TEW680MB. Shack is upstairs, Wi-Fi router is in the den downstairs. No problems.
  • Ken - NM9P
    Ken - NM9P Member ✭✭✭
    edited June 2020
    Rats! I was afraid of that. In fact, right after I posted, I tried to fire up the rig and it won't work even locally with my Lenovo Desktop. The SSDR program shell comes up and the control panels on the right, but nothing in the middle. I guess I will have to go to the external access point method, or run some cable, which I don't really want to do..... Now to "Unbridge" my connection and hope it works... Thanks, George.
  • Stu Phillips - K6TU
    Stu Phillips - K6TU Member ✭✭
    edited May 2020
    Ken, I think i know why this didn't work... I just spent an hour with Dennis K0EOO trying to get this to work. I assigned a static IP address in the same network as the WiFi to the Ethernet interface and then bridged the WiFi and Ethernet together. When the radio was powered on, SmartSDR showed that it had an IP address in the correct network (ie the DHCP request from the radio was successfully bridged on both the request and the response) but nether the app nor SmartSDR could talk to the radio. When I was on the phone with Dennis I thought it was a firewall problem but turning the firewall off didn't solve the problem. Thinking about it now, I am pretty sure that it is a routing problem... Windows will have added a route for the network to which is is connected via Wifi... to when SmartSDR attempts to access the radio, the packet is sent out via the WiFi interface and not the wired one. Since I'm still a couple of days away from getting back home, I wonder if you could try something for me.... 1. Assign a static IP address that is in the same address block as your WiFi. 2. Bridge the WiFi and Ethernet interface together 3. Power up the radio, then run SSDR again to find its IP address - lets say that is 192.168.1.56 (a made up address for illustration purposes)... 4. Stop SSDR and open a Windows CMD prompt with Administrator level... 5. Type in... route add 192.168.1.56 MASK 255.255.255.255 [Static IP address from step 1] Now run SSDR and see whether it will connect to the radio... The route add step tells Windows to add a host specific route for the radio IP address and to send it out via the Ethernet interface (recognized by the static IP address you assigned to the Ethernet interface). The way the routing works, a more specific route will always override a less specific route... I think this will work... Stu K6TU
  • Ken - NM9P
    Ken - NM9P Member ✭✭✭
    edited June 2020
    Thanks for the suggestion. I tried it (After I figured out the syntax) and it doesn't seem to work. :( My 6500 lists an IP in the 169.254.****.**** range I assigned a reserved IP in my router connected to the MAC address of the 6500. I did: ROUTE ADD -f -p [6500 IP] Mask 255.255.255.255 [Static assigned IP] and rebooted and it still doesn't let me open the SSDR screen.... Any other suggestions? I will try them tomorrow. (I am going to bed now, it is VERY late for me) Thanks.
  • Stu Phillips - K6TU
    Stu Phillips - K6TU Member ✭✭
    edited May 2020
    Ken, The 169.254.x.x block is the "auto discover" network. This means that Windows assigned an address to your radio and not the DHCP server on your network. The first step is to assign a static IP address that is in the same network block as your wifi network. Now create a bridge by selecting your WiFi and Ethernet network interfaces, right click and create bridge. This gets your PC to bridge traffic between the two networks. Restart the radio... Now you should have an IP address for the radio in the same network as the PC and Wifi. Now add the route. If you need help assigning the address to the Ethernet interface, let me know and I can talk you through it. Stu
  • Ken - NM9P
    Ken - NM9P Member ✭✭✭
    edited June 2020
    I thought I knew my way around Windows, but apparently not as well as I thought... 1) I have assigned the 6500's MAC address to an IP address on my router.... didn't help... The 6500 still gets the 169.254 block ip. 2) I entered the properties of the Ethernet hardware and assigned static ports in two different places, 2 different ip addresses) and the rig still gets the 169.254.****.**** 3) I have rebooted the computer and cold-restarted the rig each time after making changes.....no dice. I know there must be something simple I am missing, like where to turn off DHCP on the computer card that is direct-feeding the 6500. I need to call for reinforcements! Talk me through it, step by step, I'm feeling like an idiot here! hi hi. Thanks... Ken - NM9P
  • k0eoo
    k0eoo Member ✭✭
    edited December 2016
    Hi George, OK, if I get the WiFi AP you recommend; I plug it into the Ethernet port on my Flex and PC and it WiFi's to my WiFi router up stares? Then I take it my iPad will connect to the AP on the radio?? Dennis, k0eoo
  • Ken - NM9P
    Ken - NM9P Member ✭✭✭
    edited December 2016
    Wait! I got it! Woo Hoo! I don't know which of the 50 steps I took did it, but it is working now! Thanks for the many suggestions above. I'll let you know what I think of the app.
  • Stu Phillips - K6TU
    Stu Phillips - K6TU Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    Ok but I need to know what you did! Dennis K0EOO has the same problem! I'm guessing you... 1. Assigned static IP address to Ethernet IF 2. Bridged Ethernet and wifi 3. Rebooted the radio 4. Found the radio IP 5. Added the route and Bingo! Both SmartSDR and iPad worked - am I right??? Thanks! Stu K6TU
  • Ken - NM9P
    Ken - NM9P Member ✭✭✭
    edited December 2016
    Yes they both work! But I don't have my mike hooked up to test whether or not the TX bandwidth in the profiles works. I am in the middle of hooking up a USB mixer in line so I can channel my Heil Mike over to Audacity and to FreeDV in order to do Voice Keyer and / or Digital voice without a 2nd mike. I need to bodge up a couple of TRS patch cables now. I am going to hook the 6500 to the Left output and the 1500 to the Right output and then I will only need to make a switch box or the PTT and CW Keyer. As far as the steps.... I did everything several times to no effect. Then I changed some settings on the bridge back and forth, rebooting every time, and it finally worked. Apparently there was some mystery parameter stuck that was being modified by two different "properties" windows, or something like that. I also had to do a "Route -f" to delete some improperly set routes from previous attempts. In any case.... It is working and I don't feel so dumb. (I would feel smarter if I could remember exactly what I did that made it work!) . Now I am out in the living room on my other laptop and downloading SmartSDR to see if it will work out here via the WiFi. I think it should. Thanks again for a neat program. it is nice to be able to set upper and lower filter specs and have them available instantly. That will save a lot of keystrokes! Now if it only had a tab for memories....
  • Stu Phillips - K6TU
    Stu Phillips - K6TU Member ✭✭
    edited May 2020
    Ken, Did you have to add a route for this to work or did you do something to the bridge configuration that made it work? Could you do me a huge favor and let me know the IP address of your Wifi adaptor and Ethernet cards on your PC plus do a route print and then send the results so I can try and figure out how to help Dennis? THanks Stu K6TU
  • Ken - NM9P
    Ken - NM9P Member ✭✭✭
    edited June 2020
    Hold the presses... bad news... I played with it in the living room for a bit on my slow laptop and it kept bumping to 100% CPU, so I closed SSDR there and came back to the shack. SSDR wouldn't open so I rebooted the computer and it won't work again... the 6500 isn't getting the reserved IP from my router. I am giving up for the night and will sleep on it. This is frustrating, especially since I know that the solution has to be something simple that I am overlooking. But I am going to play with my new mixer and see if I can get that working properly. Too many new toys! 73 Ken - NM9P
  • Greg
    Greg Member ✭✭
    edited May 2020
    Hi stu. New iPad is configured and running. Your app is installed and connected. How do I tell when the radio is in tx mode? I would have thought the tx button would turn red or something. Tnx Greg
  • Greg
    Greg Member ✭✭
    edited May 2020
    Stu, One thing I just noticed. From my house I open the app and create slice A. I close the app and go out to the shack. DDUtil which was running on a seperate computer showed the same slice freq from the app in the house. I start SSDR and there is no slice A. If I go to 20M (where the appcreated the slice) and click +RX a new slice somes up as slice B. Cannot seem to get to slice A. 73 Greg
  • Stu Phillips - K6TU
    Stu Phillips - K6TU Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    Greg, This is a known problem in SmartSDR 1.0.24 and will be fixed in the next release. SmartSDR must be open and running while the iPad app creates the slice. Stu K6TU
  • Stu Phillips - K6TU
    Stu Phillips - K6TU Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    When you go into transmit, the MOX button on the iPad app will toggle to blue. The TX Button is for selecting the currently displayed slices as the transmit slice. Stu K6TU
  • Greg
    Greg Member ✭✭
    edited January 2014
    Ok. Thanks for the updates Stu.
  • Ken - NM9P
    Ken - NM9P Member ✭✭✭
    edited June 2020
    I have given up trying to get this method to work and have ordered a multi-port media bridge so I can connect both my 6500 and computer to the wireless router with one box. This will give me better wifi for my computer and end the mickey mouse hook up problems I am having. It should arrive tomorrow, weather permitting and I will try it and report back.
  • Greg
    Greg Member ✭✭
    edited January 2014
    I've done the same thing. I ordered one and it arrived today today but I have not had a chance to do anything with it yet.
  • Stu Phillips - K6TU
    Stu Phillips - K6TU Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    Ken, Understand but it ought to work - I'll play around with this configuration after the NAQP contest this weekend. Will report back! Stu K6TU
  • Ken - NM9P
    Ken - NM9P Member ✭✭✭
    edited June 2020
    Thanks for your attempts, Stu. I have tried a variety of configurations.... setting static ports on the Ethernet, static port on the bridge, using internet sharing between the Wifi and the Ethernet port, going into hardware config, turning off firewall and Virus protection, you name it, and I can't get it to work. I do a computer reboot and cold restart of the 6500 before each attempt. I just can't seem to get the 6500 to get an IP address from the router.... This is very frustrating, but I know it should be something easy that I am not getting right. But life is short and $30 for a N300 speed media bridge should solve my problems. Besides that, I would lime to be able to remote this over my LAN without leaving my ham shack computer running anyway. This may be a better option. If I had lots of money left, I would put in a fiber optic link in order to isolate it from the router/DSL line and run a hard wire. But I don't, so I won't! ha. Perhaps I'll catch you on the NAQP circuit...
  • Stu Phillips - K6TU
    Stu Phillips - K6TU Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    Will look for you in NAQP! Maybe I'll send the name as 'FLEX' :-) On Dennis's machine I was able to get the radio assigned an IP address correctly with the following... - Static IP address in the correct subnet - Bridge the Ethernet and Wifi networks - Boot the radio The radio correctly appeared in SmartSDR and the Radio Chooser in the iPad app. But neither one of them would connect to the radio. So clearly the DHCP request and response were correctly bridged but the TCP connect to the radio didn't. I think the answer is to add a static route for the IP address assigned to the radio. Otherwise, the outbound TCP packet gets sent right back out of the WiFi interface. At least, that's my theory... Even with this theory, I don't understand why the iPad cant connect - in theory, a bridge is a bridge is a bridge and shouldn't concern itself with level 3 trivia like IP addresses... Well, it IS WinDoze... Stu K6TU
  • Ken - NM9P
    Ken - NM9P Member ✭✭✭
    edited June 2020
    The radio isn't getting a 192.168.****.**** IP from the router. When I have it bridged, my local computer sees it but cannot connect to it. If the local radio cannot, then the K6TU program won't either. The only thing I haven't tried is doing a "factory reboot" of the 6500 (Press the round button while powering on). I was trying to avoid that since I don't want to mess up my hard-earned mike settings. (The only setting I really care about) Does the "Hard Reboot" erase all the persistence for EQ, etc?
  • Ken - NM9P
    Ken - NM9P Member ✭✭✭
    edited June 2020
    Well, I just did the "Factory Reset" and it works! ... When in doubt.... **** it and start over! I don't know what glitched the DHCP routine in the Flex, but apparently that was what it took. I have my mike levels reset... Or at least I did until I activated the K6TU controller, and then it sent all of them back to what I had saved them the one time I was able to get it working! I had saved them using the BAL input with my mike direct, but since then I have hooked things up via my mixer using the "Line" input through the BAL connector. I had to reset all the mike gain levels to make them work.... At first I thought I was getting some gosh-awful RF feedback induced distortion until I saw the mike gain WAY too high! Thanks for your support, Stu! Ken - NM9P
  • Stu Phillips - K6TU
    Stu Phillips - K6TU Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    So the bridged configuration in Windows works??? :-) hopefully??? Stu K6TU
  • Ken - NM9P
    Ken - NM9P Member ✭✭✭
    edited December 2016
    I set a static IP in my router. Set a static IP in the Ethernet Card Bridged the connections. Rebooted the computer, Hard Rebooted the 6500 (Because it had stopped responding to the DHCP, I didn't need to use ROUTE command. The K6TU Controller is working. I haven't gone into the living room and tried to run the rig from my other laptop yet. AND... I haven't rebooted the computer or turned the rig off yet.... We will see what happens then.... But at least I may know how to fix it again...
  • k0eoo
    k0eoo Member ✭✭
    edited March 2017
    Stu, the night you worked to get mine working I remember we did a hard reset and it didn't resolve the problem, so is Ken doing something different than we did? Dennis, k0eoo
  • Ken - NM9P
    Ken - NM9P Member ✭✭✭
    edited June 2020
    Update.... It worked about an hour. Then I tried access from another computer on my my wireless network. That worked half an hour then I lost the connection and it wouldn't reconnect. I rebooted counter and nothing... It isn't getting I.P. Address from router. I turned the rig off and went to bed. I will try another hard reset of the rig later today. And then set up the route command to see if that helps. Now I have to go to work. Good luck!
  • Stu Phillips - K6TU
    Stu Phillips - K6TU Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    Ken, Do you have your computer set to sleep or hibernate after some time? If so the Ethernet link to the radio will be lost and when the PC wakes up, I believe the radio will NOT re DHCP for a new address. I've seen this myself where if you pull the Ethernet cable from the radio, it won't recover when the cable is reinserted. Stu K6TU
  • W4EY
    W4EY Member
    edited May 2020
    K6TU..Stu do you have a K6TU controller for Win 8.1 OS?? All my remote laptops run Win.. Bill W4EY

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