The Simple Internet Remote Story
Remote Desktop + High Performance Mumble Audio
Amateur Radio remote operation over the internet has become very popular. There are many commercial products to support remote, including some IP-based radios.
That said, many of these techniques for remote are complex, and generally, somewhat expensive. There must be another way.
Over the past 6 years, W1VE and friends have developed a technique for remote operating over the internet. It's been proven over and over again. It was part
of AA7JV's RIB DXpedition Operations -- VP6A, E51D and N5J, for example, where tens of thousands of CW QSOs were made by remote operators from around the world.
It has been used for very successful remote contest operations, such as W1VE@K2LE/1, VE4CDX@VE4YH, VE9XDX@VE9XX, VY1AAA@VY1JA, ZF2VE@ZF5T, and 7Q2T@7Q6M.
This remote technique can be used for any type of operation: casual conversation, DXing from a better QTH, Contesting everywhere and anywhere, or simply for the challenge of
doing it. We have ubiquitous internet these days, and now hams can use it to their advantage! As long as your radio supports CAT Control, it doesn't matter
the age of the radio, this will work.
If you have DSL, Cable, FTTH, 4GLTE or Starlink Satellite, you CAN remote your station with FREE software, and the process is simple. If you are in an HOA, a bad radio location, want to contest from a different location, or just want to be able
to remote your station 'because', this technique has proven technology, and overcomes issues in many commercial remote applications, especially from vendors. More on this subject later
It will take a while to absorb this page. There is a lot of detail. However, it's worth a read!
If you are generally familiar with this internet remote technique, you can jump to the How-To.
There are two important pieces of software you will require: First, a remote desktop client. I recommend Anydesk (free license), or the free software RustDesk. There are other remote
desktop solutions, but both of these provide a rendezvous server, so that no matter how you connect to the internet, you can connect, even if you are behind a corporate firewall or a CGNATed service (4GLTE or Starlink). Stay away from a station-provided server,
such as VNC, as you will not have to deal with VPNs, Port Forwarding, and Dynamic DNS.
The cool part about using a remote desktop, is you get all your station automation on the remote. If you have antenna switches, rotators, amplifiers, etc, on your main station, all that will be available on the remote desktop.
For radio control, you can run your favorite Glass Desktop software, such as Win4XXX Suite, Ham Radio Deluxe, wfview, or simply a contest logger like N1MM+ or DXLog. You will need a PC or Raspberry Pi at your station with
your automation apps installed.
What's the Catch?
This remote control technique can be used for SSB, CW, RTTY and Digital modes. For CW enthusiasts, it supports CW through the logging program or remote control app -- paddle CW is another story. There are no great easy solutions to do this -- if you know one,
contact me -- gerry[at]remote.radio.
High Performance, Low-latency Audio
Many who try remote with a remote desktop application try and use the audio supplied over the remote desktop. This is a terrible solution. The issues we fight with a radio remote are internet latency (delays in the
audio stream) and jitter (the instantaneous difference in latency changes). Remote Desktop audio just does not cut it. Thank God for on-line multi-player gamers. They invented an open-source Muti-User, multi-channel audio
conferencing system called Mumble. It has been around quite a while, and, works very well under trying conditions (after all, you can literally be dead in an on-line game if your latency is too high!). Mumble
is a client/server model. The secret sauce with Mumble and Remote.Radio is we have servers around the world, which provide very low latency to users. The added benefit is these servers are on public ipV4 addresses,
meaning no matter what internet ISP you have, you can reach the servers.
Both your station and the remote operators are clients of Mumble. Mumble connects to your radio via either a sound card within your radio, or, using a sound card on your PC. See how below.
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