Posted: 3/13/2013 5:09:52 PM EDT
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I thought I would be able to connect remotely, but my remote connecting skilz suck!
I can connect to the radio, but I can't receive any signal..... BTW, I'm running HRD & DM780 Looks like my soundcard input is the problem. The only way I get a signal is from my microphone and that is only the sounds from my laptop mic. |
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Let's start with a better description of your setup and what you are trying to accomplish.
Are you remoting just in your house, or do you want to run the shack from anywhere on the internet? I'm assuming that you have a computer dedicated to the radio and you are connecting to it from another computer. Yes, no, maybe, something else? |
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I want to remote from in the house AND anywhere on the internet.
I have an Icom 746 (non Pro) hooked up to a dedicated windows machine. HRD server is running and HRD is closed on the machine hooked to the radio. I can connect to the radio from my laptop (Itronix GoBook III) from a remote location via the internet and can control the radio via HRD. The problem is that DM780 doesn't get any signal from the radio and I have no way to tell if the radio gets the signal from DM780. I tried sending a test cq earlier when I was at the radio and it keyed the radio and acted like it was sending data, but now I wonder..... |
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Ah ha! The problem is that you don't realize that the HRD server provides for remote radio control ONLY. It does not move sound over the network for you.
In order to move sound from your dedicated shack PC to your remote PC you will have to use Skype or something similar. Not wanting to rely on a cloud-based service like Skype, I've tried putting some very lightweight VOIP clients on my machines and setting the server machine for auto-answer. The one I like the best so far is "PhonerLite". Another option is to simply run everything on the shack PC and connect to it using RDP, VNC or the like. I much prefer RDP because it is much faster, but it does require you to be running XP Pro, 7 Pro or 8 Pro on the shack PC as, while the RDP client is in all Windows builds, RDP server is only in the "Pro" OS versions. Of the two options I use the second one. I run HRD and Fldigi on the radio machine and just connect to it by using RDP in full screen mode. Other than the obvious screen latency issues I find it works better and is certainly more reliable, particularly over slow internet connections. If your internet connection burps during the session the instances of HRD/DM780 or whatever remain stable and when the connection is restored your receive buffers are still good to go and, if it happens while transmitting, your transmission is undisturbed. Just remember to put the correct end-of-transmission character in your TX buffer, just in case your connection goes down for a while! |
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I got a RDP session running on the LAN. Still haven't figured out how to get it working over the internet...
Even though I can control everything on the desktop, the audio is not making it to my laptop and I see no way of changing the input/output source. I set up Skype & I still have the same problem. 
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If you are using the native Remote Desktop (mstsc.exe) you will need to go into the "options" drop down. Here you can go to the "Local Resources" tab and configure the audio under Remote Audio.
In order to remote into your machine outside your home network will require you to open port 3389 on your firewall. |
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Quoted:
I got a RDP session running on the LAN. Still haven't figured out how to get it working over the internet... You need to set up port forwarding on your router for port 3389 to your radio PC. Your radio PC will need to have a static internal IP to do that. If this is all Greek to you let me know and I can probably point you to some websites that will help. Even though I can control everything on the desktop, the audio is not making it to my laptop and I see no way of changing the input/output source.
Why do you need to forward sound to your remote PC? Just use the waterfall to see the signals. I don't even run with sound on when I'm sitting next the radio and operating digital. |
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Quoted:
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I got a RDP session running on the LAN. Still haven't figured out how to get it working over the internet... You need to set up port forwarding on your router for port 3389 to your radio PC. Your radio PC will need to have a static internal IP to do that. If this is all Greek to you let me know and I can probably point you to some websites that will help. The computer has a static IP & port forwarding is no problem. I opened the port in the firewall on the computer, but didn't open the router. DOH! Quoted:
Quoted:Even though I can control everything on the desktop, the audio is not making it to my laptop and I see no way of changing the input/output source.
Why do you need to forward sound to your remote PC? Just use the waterfall to see the signals. I don't even run with sound on when I'm sitting next the radio and operating digital. The laptop I used to connect with remotely just shows a blank waterfall. There was no input device in the soundcard setup and the output device was something to do with remote connection device??? I did have the setting to send audio to the remote, but switched it to not send it. I'm pretty sure I got the same result, but I'll check it again tonight after work. I was in a rush at the time so I could have missed something. Another thing I noticed was that any time I accessed the desktop remotely, I got a warning that the administrator would have to log off, which would not be an issue, but it would not proceed until I clicked OK on the desktop. Does this mean that if a user is logged on, I'll be locked out remotely or does this only apply to the admin account? |
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The laptop I used to connect with remotely just shows a blank waterfall. There was no input device in the soundcard setup and the output device was something to do with remote connection device??? I did have the setting to send audio to the remote, but switched it to not send it. I'm pretty sure I got the same result, but I'll check it again tonight after work. I was in a rush at the time so I could have missed something. Am I correct in assuming that you are using the built-in sound card on your shack PC? I use a separate sound device dedicated to the radio. I suspect setting up a dedicated sound card or device would help this problem a lot. However even with my setup I have to set RDP to NOT forward audio to the remote, otherwise things stop working. Another thing I noticed was that any time I accessed the desktop remotely, I got a warning that the administrator would have to log off, which would not be an issue, but it would not proceed until I clicked OK on the desktop. Does this mean that if a user is logged on, I'll be locked out remotely or does this only apply to the admin account?
Hmmmm, you've got me on that one. I log into my shack PC as admin and I've never seen this. When I attach remotely the local screen goes blank. When I'm attached remotely and want it back locally it just makes me put in the admin password and it snaps back to local, dumping the remote connection. It must be a setting somewhere. I'll look when I get home from work today. |
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OK.
I got the router port opened up and can now access the radio via the internet. HRD, Logbook, & DM780 all open up & work over the remote. DM780 is FREEEKIN SLOOOOOOW!!! The waterfall jerks along at about half speed and the upper part of the window (the QSO screen) just shows whatever was in the last window open. HRD & Logbook windows work fine and are not slow at all. Task Manager shows that the CPU usage stays pretty much in the 90's to 100% with Digital Master.exe using most of it. (63% to 97% +/-) The host computer System Properties gives the following info: Windows XP Pro Version 2002 Service Pack 3 Pentium 4 CPU 2.40Ghz 2.39Ghz, 2 GB of Ram |
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Excellent!! So if the waterfall is jerking along, that means you are processing sound on the shack PC and can have QSO's, correct?
This is one of the reasons I use Fldigi. It is just so much more lightweight and doesn't suffer from the horrible waterfall performance that DM780 exhibits. I use the "third party serial port" feature of HRD to integrate Fldigi with HRD. I just tell Fldigi that there is a Kenwood radio on the virtual serial port that connects to HRD and it works perfectly. I use the in-built Fldigi log for digital and the HRD log for voice. I don't bother to integrate them. Both will upload to eQSL if you use it. Try Fldigi and let us know how it works, even if it's just an experiment and you don't have it fully integrated with HRD. In the house it's almost as good as being in front of the shack PC. On the road it can be a bit shaky depending on how good the internet connection is. I've actually worked the arfcom digi net over a 4G cellular data connection! 
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...now if I could just figure out how to get fldigi to key the radio or play nice with HRD.
I tried using the XLM for an Icom IC-746 to control the radio and tried using HRD, but neither one works. I can, however, hit the TX in HRD, then swith to fldigi to send the msg & switch back to HRD to un-key the radio. Probably not the best idea unless I'm near the radio to un-key it if i lose my connection... |
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...now if I could just figure out how to get fldigi to key the radio or play nice with HRD.
I tried using the XLM for an Icom IC-746 to control the radio and tried using HRD, but neither one works. I can, however, hit the TX in HRD, then swith to fldigi to send the msg & switch back to HRD to un-key the radio. Probably not the best idea unless I'm near the radio to un-key it if i lose my connection... Easy peasy... First, did you install the virtual serial port stuff so that HRD can talk to Fldigi through its "third party serial port" feature? If not, do that first. Next, download the xml file for a TS-850 from http://www.w1hkj.com/xmls/kenwood/ Third, put that file into C:\Users\--your user name goes here--\fldigi.files\rigs Fourth, fire up HRD and activate third party serial port in HRD. Fifth, fire up Fldigi, set rigcontrol to be RigCAT, select proper XML file, point it at the correct virtual serial port, select "CAT command for PTT" Should work after that, plus probably a few other settings I forget  Fldigi will report tuned freq, you can QSY from Fldigi, and key the rig, of course.
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Got it running! Whoo Hoo! 
Still having issues with the sound card changing over to the RDP sound and loosing access to external sound card that the radio works with. Re-Booting resets it back to the correct setting, so at least there is a fix...... Sweet! Now you have to be on the Wed digi net no matter where you are
That sound card thing sounds very annoying! I can't fathom what would cause that. You can reboot remotely in RDP by calling up the task manager via right clicking the taskbar. I like to use Process Explorer instead of the standard task manager. Best to test this locally first, of course! You may also want to test if your PC can automatically restart after a power failure. I've got mine on a UPS now so my XYL never gets a "Honey, would you go start up the shack PC for me" call again 
Watch out for shack EMI/RFI. It can cause fatal station lock-up if you are not local. Make sure everything is rock solid. Program an appropriate transmit time-out if your rig supports it. I just bought a new shack PC so I have to go through all this again myself. The old one is running XP Pro at 1GHz. It was cheaper to upgrade to 7 Pro by buying a whole new refurbished machine from Newegg $250 got me a real nice 3GHz/64 bit/4MB machine with 7 Pro. I might even put a "real" graphics card in it if I like it enough
I wonder if anyone else is following this thread? |