How to set up Remote over internet

[N0YSN]

Ok I'm trying to get this figured out and think I have most of it straight in my head.  I'm looking at setting up a remote station.

First I get the computer control working correct on the station computer.  Then I set up remote software on the station computer so I can operate it from a laptop or other remote location.

Now how do I get audio from my station to the remote computer and vice-versa?  I see skype being mentioned but guess I'm clueless on how to get this working can anyone do a writeup or point me in the right direction.

Thanks
Travis N0YSN

[N3OX]

Skype's really easy to set up.  It's just a way to make two-way audio links between computers like making a phone call.

Download and install.

Make two accounts.

It'll walk you through audio setup, you will have a chance to pick devices if you want to use something like an external USB sound card to interface with the rig audio...

Log in to Skype on the shack computer, and in the options, set it to only accept calls from people on your contact list, and set it to auto-answer.  

Add your other account as a contact.

Now you can call yourself over the internet and have your station computer pick up.  Skype is full duplex so it'll handle transmit and receive audio.  In my case, my radio supports a software command to go into transmit... so I just hit the "TX" button in Ham Radio Deluxe and talk into the computer mic... and I'm transmitting...

I still haven't figured out if you can turn the noise canceller off for the received audio though.  So maybe there's a better VOIP solution than current Skype for ham radio remote use... it makes the recieved audio pretty wonky when you're tuning the bands.

Here's some info from someone else who set this up, including instructions on getting a fixed domain name to point to your computer (an important step if, like most people, you're on a cable modem or something else with dynamic IP):

http://www.k6br.net/HRD_remote.pdf

But honestly, if you can get the rig control running, you can get the Skype link running.  It's the easy part.

73
Dan

[N6RK]

A better solution than Skype is "IP Sound" by
SM5VXC.  It is used by many remote base stations.
It is especially advantageous on CW, which Skype
doesn't handle well because it is optimized for
voice.

[N3OX]

I'm going to try IP Sound...

[VU2LID]

If you are using GNU/Linux ihu (I hear You http://ihu.sourceforge.net/ ) works well.  

It is very relliable, easy to setup, audio can be encrypted (while it is transported througn Internet), works through firewalls in a lot of cases, does not depend on any external service (like Skype), can work from commandline (without a GUI) if required, ...

I use ihu with my remote setup.

[W9AC]

IP Sound is an excellent VOIP program and allows the op to change bit-rate and algorithms on-the-fly.  However, it is subject to firewall problems where Skype does a better job with connectivity.

To circumvent the firewall problem when using IP Sound, any VPN program (e.g., Hamachi) will manage to route past the firewall in about 90% of the connections I've tried.  I keep both IP Sound and Skype ready.  When I cannot connect through IP Sound, I then default to Skype.

When there's a reasonably fast connection, audio quality from IP Sound when using PCM is excellent and far better than that attained through Skype.  I typically use PCM Mono at 11 kHz.  Latency with this CODEC is very low.

Paul, W9AC

[K5TED]

There is an old (2002) open source program out there called "Speak Freely" that does the job of audio mule quite well, and is direct IP to IP or hostname to hostname, no Skype type proxy involved. You do have to know the actual IP's on both ends, and obviously for it to work properly on a cable modem and wireless router or the like, you have to know how use port translation, permissions and such. The attractive part of the app is adjustable parameters from very low latency under 1 second, jitter control, codec used, compression used, etc. It goes well with HRD and is a miniscule footprint.

I've used it for several applications including surveillance, remote receiver, intercom and simple VOIP telephony.

http://www.speakfreely.org/

[N3OX]

"To circumvent the firewall problem when using IP Sound, any VPN program (e.g., Hamachi) will manage to route past the firewall in about 90% of the connections I've tried. I keep both IP Sound and Skype ready. When I cannot connect through IP Sound, I then default to Skype. "

Yeah, that's the next step here.

[KB0HMP]

Hey all,

I was looking at using "Teamspeak" (http://www.teamspeak.com/) for the fact that I could setup a server where others could "listen" in over the network.

Right now I'm looking at setting up a remote K3, TeamSpeak, and hopefully a good antenna switchinng option... so far, I've done a local test and I like thee results of Teamspeak.

Thanks,
KB0HMP