General Information
Introduction
Features
Supported TNCs
User Interface
Registration
Copyright
Program Setup
Radio Port Mgr
. Edit TNC/modem Port
. Edit Sound Card Port
- Tuning Aid
- Volume Settings
. Edit Parameters
New Port Setup
Network TCP/IP Settings
Radioport Sharing
Auto Start Clients
Other Settings
Views
Program Status
Port Activity Status
Shared Radio Ports
AX.25 Status (Stations)
Connected Programs
Heard Stations List
Monitor
Other Features
TCP/IP Over Radio
. Driver Install
. PE Pro Settings
. Windows Settings
Registration
HTTP Interface
Live Update
Launch IE Browser
Go to AGWsoft web site
Send Error Report
Tips, Tricks, & Trouble
Tips and Tricks
Problems?
Sound Card Use
. Sound Card Interface
. HF Operations
. 9600 Operations
. Receive Problems
. Transmit
Problems
Help Date:
21 June 2004
|
Radioport Sharing
Server Configuration
(grant access to some or all of your radioports)
Client Configuration
(access the radioports of others
With Radioport Sharing you can let other users
access some or all of your radio ports over a LAN or
the internet. Likewise, you can access some or all
of the radio ports of other users' PE Pro instances!
First, some definitions:
If you let others access one or more of your
PE Pro radioports, then your PE Pro is acting as a
radioport sharing server.
If you access a remote PE Pro radioport sharing server,
then your PE Pro is acting as a sharing client.
The Radioport Sharing Setup
window is used to configure PE Pro for both
server and client use. In fact, each instance of PE Pro can act as a server and
a client at the same time.
Some possible uses of radio port sharing:
-
You have 2 computers in
different locations in your house. Each computer is running PE Pro and each
PE Pro is controlling 2 TNCs/radios. Using the sharing feature, each
computer could have full access to all 4 TNCs/radios.
-
Your friend in another
region or country gives you access to one of his two PE Pro radioports. Using the
internet, you can use his TNC and radio to communicate with other hams or a
BBS in his area using a APRS, DX
Cluster, or terminal program running on your
computer.
-
You are running a program
that uses the DDE interface to link to PE Pro (does not use the TCP/IP interface).
Samples of such programs are WinPack, UISS, and AGWDXCluster. You
would like to use this program to connect to a remote computer running PE Pro or AGWPE,
but this program
cannot do this directly. But with radioport sharing, the local instance of
PE Pro can make that connection and the program could then access to the remote
radioports.
Radioport sharing is a "PE Pro-to-PE
Pro" communication technique -- you need
PE Pro running at both the local and
remote location.
Also, TCP/IP-capable application
programs cannot connect directly to PE Pro's
radioport sharing server (default port
8001) to get access to remote radioports. They must
use PE Pro to get access. These TCP/IP-capable application programs can,
however, connect to PE Pro or AGWPE on a remote computer using the
port 8000 server, but they will be limited to
the radioports at that one site. They cannot connect to other instances of PE
Pro or AGWPE (even the one on their home computer). For that reason, radioport sharing
is more powerful. |
Warning:
The radioport sharing feature is in Beta test
state. It may not work the right way at first. Future versions
will solve any problems and will add Login/Password
protection to prohibit unauthorized use of your
Packet Engine Pro. Another possible future feature
is a
Web site where you will be able to find Radioports
anywhere in the world. For the moment your comments
are welcome to improve this nice new feature. |
Server Configuration
To
let other instances of PE Pro access your
radioports, you must enable the radioport sharing
server within PE Pro. From the
Setup menu, select
Radioport Sharing
to bring up this window:

On the
Sharing tab, make these choices:
- To activate the server,
check Enable Sharing of my Radioports.
- Select a TCP port for
the sharing server. Accept the default port of 8001
unless you have a reason to change it, such as another program is already
using port 8001.
- Enter a
name for your instance of Packet
Engine Pro. I suggest you use your callsign so that
clients can quickly associate the location of any radioports they see.
- From the list of
radioports, checkmark the radioports you wish to
share. You do not need to share them all. When clients connect to
your server, they will see only the radioports you wish to share.
- Press
OK to enable the server (you may also need
to restart PE Pro to enable it).
Warning about Radioport
Sharing: If you let others
have access to your radio ports, then they can both send and receive
packets using your equipment. In most
countries, you are still responsible for anything your station
transmits even if someone else is initiating the transmission!
In future versions, a Login/Password protection
feature may be added to limit use of your PE Pro radio ports to
authorized (trusted) users. For now, there is no limitation, so
anyone who knows your IP address and your radioport sharing TCP port
has use of your radioports (TNCs and radios).
To control use of your radioports:
- Use the
Shared Radio Ports view to see
who is connected to your server and use the
Monitor view to watch what your
equipment is transmitting.
- Do not allow access to all
radioports, only those you wish to monitor.
- Consider disabling the radio's
PTT circuit so that a radioport does not transmit, i.e. users
can only receive and not transmit -- OK for APRS or monitoring
DX clusters. (Many radios have a
Lock button to disable the
PTT. Or if you are using a sound card modem, set it for "RX
only" or disconnect the PTT interface cable from the computer's
serial/LPT port.)
- Change the TCP radio sharing
port to something other than the default 8001 (although the new
port may still be discovered if someone is determined to find it.)
- Experiment with your firewall
program to see if it can limit access to only the IP addresses
of trusted users.
|
To gain access to radioports on another
(remote) instances of PE Pro, you must specify the servers to which you wish to
connect. From the Setup menu, select
Radioport Sharing and then click on the
Virtual RadioPorts tab.
Note: You can access other servers as a client
without enabling the radioport server function in PE Pro, i.e. you do not need
to enable sharing in the first tab, Sharing, in order to access radio ports on a
remote instance of PE Pro.
To connect to a remote PE Pro radioport server:
Hints
If you have a dynamic (changing) IP address
from your ISP, you can make it appear as a static (unchanging) address using the
services of a dynamic DNS service. This makes it easier for remote clients to
find and connect to your PE Pro computer.
- First, obtain a personal domain
name (for about USD $35/year). Example: www.sv2agw.org
- Then, find a dynamic DNS (domain name
system) service that will match your domain name with your current dynamic IP
network address. This is done by running a utility on your computer that periodically
contacts the service over the internet to tell it your current network IP address. Users
can just enter your personal domain name to connect to you; they
need not worry about entering your actual network IP address. The
dynamic DNS service will make the translation.
To find a dynamic service provider, do a web search for "dynamic DNS". Some offer free services or free services if you
buy your domain name from them.
Trouble Shooting
If you can not connect to a
remote PE Pro server's radio ports, check the following:
- The IP address for the
remote server must be its public internet address, not its private
LAN address (not 192.168.x.x or 127.0.0.1).
- Make sure you have
entered the correct TCP port for the server. Although the default is 8001,
it may have been changed in the remote instance of PE Pro.
- Firewall settings at
both the client location and the server location may need to be configured
to allow exchanges on that port. In particular, the firewall/router at the
server location must be configured to allow calls to port 8001 (or whatever
port the server is using) and such calls must be routed to the computer
running the PE Pro server. (If you want to test if this is the problem,
temporarily turn off the firewall programs at both sites and see if you can
then access the PE Pro server.)
- Make sure you have
check-marked the radioports you want to use from the remote server.
Copyright 2004 SV2AGW George Rossopoulos
. All rights reserved.
|