Packet Engine Pro Help

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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:

  1. 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.
  2. Do not allow access to all radioports, only those you wish to monitor.
  3. 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.)
  4. 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.)
  5. Experiment with your firewall program to see if it can limit access to only the IP addresses of trusted users.

 

Client Configuration

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:

  • Press the NEW button. In the resulting dialog enter the IP address or URL of the remote  PE Pro server.

     
  • Press the OK button and PE Pro will try to connect to that server. If successful, then the server name (callsign), IP address, and port will appear in the Servers list at the bottom of the window:


     
  • Select (click on) any server in the Servers list. Its available radio ports will appear in the upper, Radioports list. Checkmark in the upper list any radioports you wish to use from this server; unchecked radioports will not be used.
     
  • Press OK to close this window. The virtual radio ports at the remote server should now appear as additional real radio ports in your local instance of PE Pro:
    • the virtual ports will appear in the Radioport Manager list and will be assigned a local ID number (although you can not edit the properties of a virtual radio port obviously)
    • virtual ports will also appear in the Monitor view; there will be a separate tab for each virtual port so that you can view data from that port alone.
    • stations heard on a virtual port will be reported in the Heard Stations List, preceded by the virtual port's assigned local port number

    Note: Until the server is deleted from the Servers list or its radioports are unchecked, your instance of PE Pro will try to connect to the listed servers and the selected radioports each time you start PE Pro.
     

  • To delete a server from the Servers list, select the server and press the Delete button. You can delete all servers from the list by pressing the Reset All button.

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.