Wherever
there is a reliable, fast Internet Connection, wireless or static, even
in Outback VK, you may be able to remotely control your Amateur Radio
station.
Whether it's drones, underwater unmanned vehicles,
robotics of all kinds, robotic army tanks for example, satellites, space craft,
radar systems or you name it, remote control has been for a long time now and always will be a part of our
lives. As we extend our reach into the Universe,
remotely controlling equipment in space will become ever more vital.
Thanks to the people who have developed the Internet, remotely
controlling and operating Amateur Radio stations worldwide is a reality nowadays too. My remotely
controlled Amateur Radio station
is located on our property, out in the middle of nowhere in the South
Australian Bush, about 10 miles or so
from the nearest town and about 100 miles away from home, from where the
radios are remotely controlled. The radio station is
unattended, solar powered and turned on remotely when about to operate
and then turned off again remotely when closing down. Other wise, if
left on all the time, the battery would soon become depleted and unusable. A 4G
Wireless Internet connection is used between the property and the town
and an ethernet Internet connection at home.
By writing this page, I'm trying to inspire you to give remotely
controlling your station a go. In my case, without it, I would hardly be
able to operate at all. I am no expert with this. If any thing, I am at
the other end of the scale. Personally, I found this difficult to achieve
but with perseverance, was eventually able to works things out. Perhaps
you can too and hopefully the information here may help you to do that and
at the same time, help Amateur
Radio too.
As an alternative to remotely
controlling your own AR station, you can pay money online to remotely operate Amateur Radio
stations
via the Internet which are located mostly in the USA. If interested, Click on this website link
RemoteHamRadio. It opens in a new window.
To see a basic remotely controlled FT-450D station
which is less confusing than that below, click on this image.
The page, 'Remote Green Shed,' will then open in a new window.
Having read it, if interested, come back to this page which gives more information.
This remote radio system, operated via
a cable Internet connection at the
Control End and a wireless Internet
connection at the Radio End, uses the 'RemoteRig'
configuration shown below. A desktop PC at the Control End
which uses the program Ham Radio Deluxe
(HRD)
controls the Amateur Radio station which
is about 150 klms away on our
property in the South Australian Bush. The Swedish made RemoteRig system enables various configurations to be employed so that you can
operate remotely. ie. there are a variety
of ways of going about it. If
interested, have a look at their
configuration page to see which would
suit you best.
click here.
The home Qth from where the station is remotely
controlled. It's 150 klms away, located on our
Bush property.
This system uses a Wireless Internet connection
(4G, 2.4Ghz) at the Radio End.
External Internet (mobile phone)
antennas are needed at our property to receive the
Internet signals from the nearest town, ten
kilometres away. The property
at the radio
end is fairly isolated so the background
noise level on the radios is strength
zero. Since the radio station at the
property is unattended, an SMS Relay switch is used
to turn the radio and wifi RemoteRig on and off when
I'm at home, 150 klms away. In my
case, the
SMS relay switch and wi-fi modem
are connected to a 12 volt battery and
left turned on all the
time. { Rik, VK3EQ, who uses the same NightHawk modem, was kindly telling
me that if you download the latest software for this modem, then you don't need
to leave the battery in the modem. You can use a separate power supply for it
and switch the power to the modem on when about to operate remotely, and then
turn it off again when finished. Apparently this modem draws about 170 or
180mA. This is what Rik has done with his RemoteRig system and IC7000. He was
saying that he needed to find this solution to the problem of the modem not always
staying turned on when using the inbuilt battery. - I haven't had this problem
with mine though - so far. Rik was
also saying that you can use an Ethernet cable between the modem and the
RemoteRig RRC, although I don't. } One of the radios in my case, the IC7600, draws around 3 amps on receive, so
the SMS switch is used to turn
on both the radio and RemoteRig when
operating and then afterwards, switch them
off again. This particular SMS switch has
4 separate switches. By using your 'smart'
mobile phone, the SMS switch is turned on
or off when you
send the appropriate SMS message to the number of the Sim card
within the SMS switch. A few seconds
later, an SMS message is then sent
back to you to let you know that
the relay switch has been turned on or
off, as the case may be. This SMS
relay switch was very expensive - about $600 Aus. This
particular one
works on the 3G network. Also, with most
modern radios, within the menu settings, you
can find the 'Time Out Timer' or 'TOT'.
For remote operating, I understand that this
should be set to 3 minutes. This is
a safety feature for remote operating (eg.
in the event of losing Internet connection)
whereby the transmitter having been turned
on for 3 minutes will automatically switch
off - from transmit to receive.
The wireless
Internet antenna and the SMS Relay switch external antenna
at the Radio End.
(You could
probably use a single antenna with a
'splitter.')
SMS Relay switch on the left and SMS text sent to and received from
the switch - click to see a larger image in a new window.
12 Volt Relays to turn the radios and wifi RemoteRigs on and off.
NightHawk, Netgear 4G wifi modem at the radio end. (not shown with
external antenna plugged in.)
The following only applies when using a wireless Internet
connection at the radio end. When I replaced my wifi router at the radio end
with a new one because I had had it for a few years and it had deteriorated and was no longer usable, I
ran into a problem which I thought was unsolvable.
Nowadays, most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) use a
function called 'CGN' on their wireless Internet connections. This means that
the wireless IP address is no longer public and therefore, when, at the control
end, trying to find
the remote modem at the radio end (using a dynamic website address), this RemoteRig system will not work. This caused a lot of problems whereby I had
to cease remote operating for about a year, when as luck would have it, a fellow
Ham here in Adelaide, Matt, VK5HZ, who is a network technician, sent me an email
to say that he had helped VK3SSB who, not long ago had suffered from the same problem. The following applies
for my Service Provider here in Adelaide, South Australia, which is 'Telstra'.
It would probably be a little different for your Provider if you live outside of
Australia.
If using a wireless Internet connection at the radio end, you will probably need to look into this matter to resolve the problem of CGN.
{ For
more information about CGN,,
click here. } In my case, I had to ask Telstra to switch off the CGN function on my account
(according to the SIM number used in the modem). However, they would not do that
unless you have a business account with them, whereby you need to supply them
with an Australian Business Number (ABN). I am retired and have been so for a
few years now, so there is no way that I could obtain an ABN. Here in VK5 with Telstra, it is a matter of getting access to a
special 'APN' called telstra.extranet which is enabled on the Telstra end
of your account (Sim card numbered account) and then set up in my wifi modem at the radio end. The code
that was needed to be
put on my account is 'GPTEXB3'. I am hoping that this information will be useful
for Amateurs here in Australia and possibly overseas. After having sent my Internet Service
Provider - Telstra - a kind letter via snail mail, not email, explaining my
situation, they agreed to switch off the CGN function on my radio end, wireless
router account (the Sim number account within the router) and I am more than
happy to say that this remote system is now working again. For VK Amateurs, the
address that I sent the letter to is: 'Telstra. Locked Bag 20026, Melbourne. VIC.
3001.' Probably one of the reasons that they agreed to do that, without an ABN,
is because we have been a customer of theirs for probably 40 years or more.
The radios shown are the
IC-7600 and IC-7300. It may look
confusing but of course only one remote
radio is used at a time. This
particular SMS
relay switch has 4 separate switches. Individual 30A,
12V relays are connected in
series with the SMS relay switches to
turn each radio and wifi RemoteRig on and off.
When the wifi RemoteRigs are first turned
on, they automatically connect to the modem
and soon become reachable (usually within a
minute or so) from the control end by
use of their dynamic
website addresses. If
you intend to use this system and are using only one radio, then use
the free RemoteRig's dynamic address.
Every thing here is
powered by the large lead acid, deep
cycle battery (670AH) as seen above. Power Line
Interference at my home Qth is often
strength nine but the background noise level
on the remote radios is close to strength zero,
depending on static and over the horizon radar.
This is one of the greatest
benefits of remote operating. In my case, there is
plenty of room for antennas at the
radio location too. I should think
that you could do this sort of thing
with a satellite Internet connection too and
the military would have more sophisticated
systems. The system here is working well now.
The 4G modem in use now at the radio end is very reliable and receive and
transmit on SSB work very well. The old 3G modem which was previously in use,
was not as reliable. This does not mean that 3G wont work for you. You
may have a better 3G modem than I had, for example.
You may
like to download and print this PDF -
Remote Control Your HF Rig via the Internet By ... - ARRL. If you are
an ARRL member, you might be interested
in this page -
http://www.arrl.org/link-remote-control
. Also, have a look here at
Mike, K6YNP's system. To see the settings in my Control Remote
Rig device,
click here.
To see the settings in my Radio
Remote Rig device,
click here. The settings used may be helpful to
you. Also, the APN which my ISP, Telstra put
into my wifi router remotely via the Internet can be seen
here.
They turned off
the CGN function at their end too. Kevin at Ham Radio Deluxe has been very
helpful with configuring their program but I would
especially like to thank 'Matt', VK5HZ, without whose help the CGN problem would
not have been overcome.
The home Qth from where the solar powered Amateur
Radio station is remotely controlled via the Internet. It's located
on our Bush property which is fairly isolated and about
150 klms from home. A wireless 4G Internet connection is used at the
property to the nearest town which is about 10 klms away.
Remote Control of Amateur Radio stations is a Reality these days and
they can be remotely operated via the Internet even if on
the other side of the world from you. So, it could be said that you
as the operator are 'on the other side of the planet.' Of
course you need a fast reliable Internet connection.
You may also be interested in this remotely
controlled $100 camera which is located near the radios, positioned behind a
window in the shed. If interested, click on the picture. The page will open in a new window.
Setting up this remote radio system was
a learning experience for me. I found that it paid to do things slowly,
otherwise it could be very frustrating at times.
My hope is that this page may be helpful
to you in acquiring information which can enable Amateur Radio operators
to remotely control their stations,
whether in your own country or just about anywhere on planet Earth.
To view feedback from fellow Hams
about this Remote Control Amateur Radio system,
click here. The page opens in a new window.
As an alternative to remotely
controlling your own AR station, you can pay money online to remotely operate Amateur Radio
stations
via the Internet which are located mostly in the USA. If interested, Click on this website link
RemoteHamRadio It opens in a new window.
I've recently bought this low profile, pop top caravan and intend
to travel around Australia in my retirement. I would like to set it up so that
the Amateur Radio Station shown above can be remotely controlled via the Internet in most
places where ever I may stop.
I
think these days, availability of Internet access is fairly well covered in this
country. For one thing, you don't have to erect antennas each time you stop and
for another, you wont interfere with other campers. Of course, you have the use
of antennas which are back home on the property with very low noise level and
also the radios there are able to output full power. Will keep you posted as time goes on.
Am considering giving classes about Amateur Radio
wherever I may go. Also may produce videos of my travels and upload to the
Internet.
Our Property.
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