Is anyone using TeamViewer (or any other remote PC control s/w) to control their sat station remotely? I'm able to run SatPC32 remotely to control my Yaesu rotor, LVBTracker, 9100 sat system. Thanks to Erich I can view the actual and target az el position of the rotor with a version of serverSDX. I'm looking for a s/w program to remotely control radio functions like PTT, and also handle rx/tx audio. I will be heading back to Florida for the winter in October so I have plenty of time to set this up. I also have a small shore home that is 60 miles away to test from as I go down there every week for a few days. Any suggestions from experienced remote sat ops before I start looking?
73 Jeff kb2m
On 14/07/2015, kb2m@arrl.net kb2m@arrl.net wrote:
Is anyone using TeamViewer (or any other remote PC control s/w) to control their sat station remotely?
A few of us are using teamviewer for the HAMTV video downlink ground stations. Not for transmit but receive and streaming.
Upsides: -Free for non commercial use -Easy to use -Easy file transfer to get files to & from the PC. -Gets through firewalls and shows if PC is on line easily. -Other alternatives are expensive or have issues. -Teamviewer has some audio options to get sound from PC
Downsides -Uses monitor resolution, if monitor AC power is off resolution can change. I left my monitor sleep ALWAYS. (Fixed in other software using one virtual monitor -PC must be on, If PC fails to start up, no luck. Even if forced on in PC bios I have seen it fail to power up. I will try a UPS in line. -If teamviewer.com goes bye bye so does your link. Their site is needed for use.
In general You need a good internet connection with half decent uplink and downlink speeds that never needs to be physically reset once in a while. Any screen share type remote access is going to be more laggy than dedicated remote system.
I have also tested with relay remote control My tests used an arduino, with a serial terminal to turn on and off relays. The idea was that no matter the operating system, you just send a command to turn on and off relays.
From a rotator/antenna point of view you need everything bullet proof
-Top quality well maintained rotator, ideally with video camera view of direction. -Over rate everything for hurricane weather. -Lightning protection, everything fused, possibly self resetting fuses. -Possibly a way to power off all radios/disconnect coax etc. to reduce the chance of damage. -Time out timers on transmit etc. -SWR checking (e.g. with webcam) -Webcam for checking display on radio -Try to make switches fool proof and give feedback as to current state. -Expect people to move things or plug things out by accident.
For live transmit audio you may want a phone patch, as streamed audio may not be up to the job.
If at all possible some one available to reset everything. I would advise testing it remotely (locally) before leaving the site, for a week or two. Try operating it from another room. Try to document and photograph everything. My remote station is 3 hours each way/6 hours round trip with personnel on site, but it still requires regular visits. Most issues are with moving parts & power/internet glitches. There is no substitute to being on site yourself. Try to understand your equipment 100% before operating remote.
Jeff, You can remotely switch the radio between RX and TX (PTT). In the SatPC32 main window double click on the Statusbar at the bottom of the window. Three TX/RX "buttons" will appear in the corners of the map. If the remote link fails while the radio is in TX the program will automatically switch it back to RX after a selectable period (menu "Options"). Default is 60 seconds. If you set the value to 0 the functions is disabled. 73s, Erich, DK1TB
Am 14.07.2015 um 16:24 schrieb kb2m@arrl.net:
Is anyone using TeamViewer (or any other remote PC control s/w) to control their sat station remotely? I'm able to run SatPC32 remotely to control my Yaesu rotor, LVBTracker, 9100 sat system. Thanks to Erich I can view the actual and target az el position of the rotor with a version of serverSDX. I'm looking for a s/w program to remotely control radio functions like PTT, and also handle rx/tx audio. I will be heading back to Florida for the winter in October so I have plenty of time to set this up. I also have a small shore home that is 60 miles away to test from as I go down there every week for a few days. Any suggestions from experienced remote sat ops before I start looking?
73 Jeff kb2m
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Erich,
Is the version of ServerSDX that Jeff mentioned available? Sounds like a nice feature to be able to see target and actual positions.
Dave-KB1PVH
Sent from my Samsung S4
Lots of good replies to my question. A little background on my experience with remoting. I first tried remoting about 10 years ago. At that time my 100 watt system was composed of a Kenwood TS-2000, a Steppir 4L beam, several wire antennas for the low bands, and an Oscar class satellite antenna system. I used TXManager to control the radio on HF and the local repeaters, WiSP for sat work, and SKYPE for the audio. I worked HF, FM sats, and local repeaters. When I retired from my fulltime job that required a lot of travel I had no need for a remote system anymore. This time around I'm living in three different locations. The one in NJ near Philadelphia is the main station where the HF and sat antennas are currently located. At my shore condo also in NJ, there is zero places to put up antennas. At my recently acquired Florida waterfront home I plan on putting up a small tower, and a vertical grounded into saltwater. I'm also acquiring the antennas, rotors, etc to put up a smaller yet, sat antenna system. Right now I'm remoting a 600 watt K3 system with one antenna using Remoterig.com hardware. I use TeamSpeak to 'see' my panadapter s/w and to control the KPA/KAT500 600 watt tuner/amp system. I used this setup every day while in Florida for several months setting up the new QTH. I also use this setup while down the shore at my property there. I really missed working the sats when I was in Florida for three months, so I started to think about remoting my sat station also. It looks like I will be once again going to be using SKYPE for the audio, same as I did ten years ago. The lack of fullduplex audio seems to be an issue with the SSB birds, last time I did this I just worked the FM birds, thanks Dave PVH for the SKYPE info to try on the linear bird's. Thanks to Erich for the hidden tx/rx controls, and the added rotor info in his SatPC s/w. I was also thinking that it might be a bit easier to just put a sat station up in Florida, but then I thought it's a much better shot into EU from NJ then from FL so even if I got OTA from Florida I still might like to use NJ as a alternate TX site. Lots to think about, what a great hobby for a retired person :-) At QRZ I'm kinda tracking what I'm doing, along with some pictures, just goto kb2m.....
73 Jeff kb2m
-----Original Message----- From: Erich Eichmann [mailto:erich.eichmann@t-online.de] Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2015 12:30 PM To: kb2m@arrl.net; AMSAT-BB@amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] remote sat ops
Jeff, You can remotely switch the radio between RX and TX (PTT). In the SatPC32 main window double click on the Statusbar at the bottom of the window. Three TX/RX "buttons" will appear in the corners of the map. If the remote link fails while the radio is in TX the program will automatically switch it back to RX after a selectable period (menu "Options"). Default is 60 seconds. If you set the value to 0 the functions is disabled. 73s, Erich, DK1TB
Am 14.07.2015 um 16:24 schrieb kb2m@arrl.net:
Is anyone using TeamViewer (or any other remote PC control s/w) to control their sat station remotely? I'm able to run SatPC32 remotely to control my Yaesu rotor, LVBTracker, 9100 sat system. Thanks to Erich I can view the actual and target az el position of the rotor with a
version of serverSDX.
I'm looking for a s/w program to remotely control radio functions like PTT, and also handle rx/tx audio. I will be heading back to Florida for the winter in October so I have plenty of time to set this up. I also have a small shore home that is 60 miles away to test from as I go down there every week for a few days. Any suggestions from experienced remote sat ops before I start looking?
participants (4)
-
Daniel Cussen -
Dave Webb KB1PVH -
Erich Eichmann -
kb2m＠arrl.net