Advances in Remote Site Control without Computers
Contents
1. prompted by hardware and soft ware options on hand today The IP ini tiative for hardware radios has been presented to the radio manufacturing industry and the RJ jack with related circuitry soon will allow you to hook up each piece of your station gear with the internet Realizing the magic of SM20 s approach Radio Arcala had the vision to incorporate this smart concept into full featured radios and devoted its applica tion knowledge for the common good Remote Radio Controller RRC A Technical View RRC is an intuitive way of utilizing existing VoIP technology The connection established between the control end and the radio end ic networking digital put aer Poe anc ETUGW and audio channels transmit receive uie RR SR E tosses Lov leony as there is really no processing power available to do compressed audio coding which would add audio coding decoding but save network bandwidth Several audio quality levels are available even for low network speeds below 100 kbit s Better audio quality means more network bandwidth highest quality consumes over 300 kbit s network band width but offers very good audio and dynamics The latest quality version of Remoterig devices also feature dual audio channels to deliver both main and auxiliary receiver audio to the control end IP network Internet or local RRC comes with three serial ports which are tied together with the corresponding ports on the device at the oth2. The latest RRC has added CW capability including a keyer so that smooth CW would also be available in remote operation Monitor ing CW sending at the operating site is part of the RRC thus there is no prob lem to deal with latency issues It now is even possible to have dif ferent radio models on each end as long as they use the same CAT proto col and have essentially corresponding front panel controls This new concept applies initially to the Yaesu family of radios sharing the same serial commu nication command base Applying the same approach to other manufacturers radios should be easy and believe that future radios will incorporate these fea tures or offer them as an option Amplifier and Rotator Remote Control Until now operating a remote site amplifier or beam rotator typically has involved your logging computer at the operating site But even here new winds are blowing so it is reasonable to have an amplifier than can be truly controlled and monitored over the internet using an HTTP approach Here you should have web browser based software on your logging PC that enables the PC to communicate with an amplifier having an IP address to set and show its oper ation on a real time basis Radio Arcala OH8X a Finnish high tech consortium jointly undertook with Advanced Remote Station FT SERIES FT SERIES The overall station layout connects all necessary building blocks together in a simple way
3. that today s ham operators are bound to know in the contemporary internet dominated world Changing between local operation and remote operation is as easy as changing the microphone and headphones No RF or data related cables need to be touched 32 CQ e July2011 Visit Our Web Site the European OM Power amplifier manufacturer to work out such a con cept the first of its kind Itlets you com municate with the amplifier over the internet and see its functions just as though the amplifier were sitting on your operating table Here the amplifier is not connected to a local computer as cur rently is often done through an RS 232 port rather it is hooked up directly with the internet Radio Arcala http www radioarcala com offers the needed open source software Only a few commercial rotators cur rently fit into the remote control scheme although Yaesu s DXA series can be an integral part of the radio and therefore can be controlled from the radio itself While IP addressed inter face boards are just becoming available for standard rotators all requisite tech nologies and building blocks are avail Several of the hams working to make traditional amplifier technology and latest IP technology talk to one another From left Toni Linden OH2UA Martti Laine OH2BH Tibi Ferenec OM3RM Ivan Miroslav OM3LZ and Jozef Lang OM3GI Adding an IP based radio controller and amplifier interface to your st
4. SHORT TAKES Radio Remote Control 1258Mkll As often happens with OST Product the package directly from Mikasl sWetrshe Not Plug and Play evens and Short Takes some af the basedinswaden wwnuremotrigcom std Once had the 1258M lls completly i suggestions far new product reviews tarived within a week configures they worked pares Te nae meom ou readers In this instancethe One of the mast elegant approaches to erarkatle ta hesr the auto from e remete SugeesoncamefomiikHldng RtVVA Intermatrenoteconeoi stouseatarstever adia pounn out of ire speaker BY he same Who wanten usto takealook at me Remote tatffersadeachabefontpansicasan Den oral meer af ny wong aslo Aig units being manufacture and soid by ICOM IC 706 series Kenwood TS 480and were outstanding In ac ro ane guessed Mikael Styrefors 5H 20 Sa on Thefrort pane resides with thet yi tld mem tat was 10 miles rom Intestin remote station operating is wise the pest of me nig remains at ehose erae Thel M can reuse aC an the upswing driven by the fact that so The 258M klis arespacifically designed is capably that functions surprisingly wel many hams ar facing resrictions on their make this type of instalation as seamlessas You sey plug yout key inio he unitat Pe Gi sese sten sime poastie Bypigno nietoneieabEa diet erdardaijua Pe ontmand nl its a matter af loca Saour keying speed Since these rina or lack oF m ibant onthe client side eal esate uo oh You re able a operate sit s h
5. ables one is supplied We ordered ino the SBM Kl Witad s V site using PayPal Slave Ford WBSMY QST Edo serd ariog m If only you could operate at home with your station out at the lake or maybe the club s big contest station on the mountain But you don t like the idea of operating over a computer screen Well says renowned DXer OH2BH that no longer has to be a problem Advances in Remote Site Control without Computers BY MARTTI J LAINE OH2BH he personal computer and the 1 internet made possible the ability to remotely control an amateur radio station and continued fine tuning has made this capability ever more available This benefits radio amateurs who live in antenna restricted neigh borhoods poor radio locations or places where noise issues persist Still many who may have wanted to take advantage of remotely controlled amateur radio operation lacked an extensive knowledge of computer and or internet architecture A recent ap proach using relatively simple intercon necting devices having their own inter net protocol IP addresses see First Takes May 2010 QST has eliminated the need for a PC on each end of the remote control circuit The SM2O Re mote Radio Controller RRC now opens the door to controlling a remote amateur radio station virtually from anywhere there s an internet connection WLAN or Ethernet with or without a PC For several years now various radio specific o
6. ation will not change the traditional layout or assume extra space or heavy wiring but will keep your station s operating convenience and ergonomics intact It is noted that in some cases the operator has reappeared among the family members with his laptop but is still on the air The Standard By Which All Others Are Judged MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE WITHOUT COMPROMISE XSIQHON amp X510HDM High Power Antenna Diamond Antenna s best base antenna Designed tor strength and performance D Series is pretuned to jaximum gain in both th 2m amateur bands is an excellent choi re is required in a met ase repeater application For detailed specifications on Diamond s Base amp Mobile Antennas please go to ww diamondantenna net Available through selected quality dealers 770 614 7443 RE PARTS Diamond Antenna Division www cq amateur radio com July 2011 CQ 33 Remote Station Vocabulary Remote Radio A remote site controlled from elsewhere Control Head Where the remote radio is controlled by radio software or with another radio IP Address An Internet Protocol Address is a numerical label assigned to each device participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication An IP address serves two principal functions host or network interface identification and loca tion addressing Its role has been characterized as follows A name indicates what we seek An address indica
7. do so with the flip of a switch from the kind of radio station they cannot build them selves Ultimately Radio Arcala mem bers will gather in a virtual world club house from which they can make con tacts as well as socialize and learn from each other in a 3D virtual world Many have wondered whether the internet is a threat or an opportunity for amateur radio Clearly itis the latter and recent innovations such as I ve described clearly illustrate the coexis tence of both worlds where one bene fits the other With many current sup portive tools available on the web it is time to appreciate the internet as a pow erful tool that can enhance amateur radio and help make the younger gen eration more aware of its existence Yasme Foundation Director and this arti cle s author Martti Laine OH2BH presents the 2010 Yasme Excellence Award to Michael Styrefors SM2O at a ceremony on board the cruise ship where two remote sta tions were operated as part of a live demon stration Michael is only the seventh person to be so honored Remote Radio Interface Developer Honored by YASME Foundation The2010 Yasme Excellence Award was pre sented to Michael Styrefors SM2O who devel oped the Remote Radio Interface The ability to connect radios and operators transparently and robustly over the internet is a key technological elementin putting top grade remote HF stations on the air something which is more common every day Re
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9. er end serial port traffic flows multiplexed in the control data stream among PTT and CW information RRC functions well over firewalls and NAT technology which is takes care of directing the inbound return traffic from the internet to the right machines A session is always established by the control end which creates all connections to the remote end RRC is also capable of announcing the IP address it is assigned to a DynamicDNS service making it reachable even with a dynam ic IP address which changes periodically Erik Finskas OH2LAK Remoterig Technology Review Control RRC Connections and data paths between the Remote Radio Controllers at the control end and the remote end of the circuit The two ends may be located anywhere that a broadband internet connection is available 34 CQ o July 2011 Visit Our Web Site If amplifier noise and heat bother members of the household in a local operation the small remote unit is all that is needed at the traditional station The amplifier itself can be placed some 10 meters 30 feet away from the station connected over the internet Whatis now reality is so called Plug and Play Fixed Remote at the highest level connecting full featured radios remotely to similar radios or using economy radios as their control heads The Mother Ship Today Radio Arcala members all are connecting to the OH8X Mother Station allowing those desiring to operate to
10. led at the remote site The latest RRC wrinkle now takes advantage of a radio s serial port CAT to command and control the same or Similar radio at the remote site The radios communicate with each other with thehelpofthe RRC unit This means that Radio 1 at the operating site can control The latest version of laptop based Remote employs an RRC PC Client which packages the needed software audio codec and PTT function into one slick unit the size of a USB memory stick You just have to download the radio software from the web and you will be in control of your radio wher ever you are 30 CQ July 2011 Visit Our Web Site Control and remote RRC units utilize three communication channels a simple text based SIP protocol is utilized for radio to radio communication while a UDP datagram protocol is used for control and audio streams The RRC unit also pro vides two additional serial ports for connecting devices such as an amplifier and a rotator control all functions of Radio 2 at the remote i e antenna site just as if the entire station were at the operating site When Radio 1 switches or tunes the bands so does Radio 2 But hold on It gets even more exciting The radio at the operating position can even display S meter readings from the remote radio by using a calibrated S meter table Even the power switch turning the radio on or off at home will turn the radio on or off at the remote site
11. mote stations will undoubtedly be important and popular in making and keeping amateur radio available to urban and suburban amateurs as they deal with mounting antenna restrictions and an increasingly noise filled and interference prone electromagnetic environ ment For more information on the Yasme Foundation visit lt http www yasme org O Reprinted with permission from Yasme Foundation website REMOTE CONTROL This is how the remote amplifier appears on a local computer screen With HTTP technology you can control each func tion with your mouse see the actual power and monitoring LEDs plus receive a stream of messages on amplifier tunc tionality You need not worry about the amplifier being away where it will not cause noise or interference www cq amateur radio com July 2011 CQ 35
12. r general purpose radio pro grams such as Ham Radio Deluxe have let you use your PC to remotely control a station Audio was routed via the PC s sound card with third party software such as Skype used to carry it over the internet For many however operating a station via a PC display with a mouse does not offer the same satisfying look and feel of operating a real radio Employing the IP address based con cept consolidates all signal paths except RF of course within a single path The RRC acts like a server at the radio end with its own IP address allow ing the remote site unit to engage in direct two way communication with the Savasundintie 4C 02380 Espoo Finland e mail martti laine kolumbus fi This is all that Jaakko Silanto OH1MA has at home while operating his power ful remote station where large antennas and quiet reception help h m work major DX All photos courtesy of the author radio The SM2O PC client lets you operate while on the road using nothing more than a laptop and a small USB stick An audio codec optimizes and digitizes speech with good voice quali ty and minimized latency all with less than 500 kb s internet speed Look Ma No PC As described in the First Takes article last year the RRC concept took advan tage of transceivers having separable control heads such as the Kenwood TS 480 or ICOM IC 706 The head re mained at the operating position while the body was instal
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14. tes where it is A route indicates how to get there HTTP The acronym for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web HTTP defines how messages are formatted and transmitted and what actions web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands For example when you enter a URL in your browser this actually sends an HTTP com mand to the web server directing it to fetch and transmit the requested web page Latency Latency is simply defined as the time delay observed as data transmits from one point to another Usually 1o determine network latency the origin and destination points are used A so called participants UDP Universal Datagram Protocol a protocol to transfer sequential data over data networks URL Uniform Resource Locator the technical name for the address where a specific web page is found VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol general definition of voice services delivered over IP networks able to allow the remote station to play simply and efficiently Once again none of the elements used here suggest that you have to communicate with a PC at the remote site an issue that typically has been a source of many shortcom ings and hassles IP Addressability is King The key to a remote world is having all radios and station accessories IP addressable This permits the operator to control them locally or remotely in the same fashion This scenario is coming soon
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