USB to Ethernet adapter

[k3rw]

Just got my 200D and spent a frustrating weekend trying to connect to it. Mainly I was not familiar with setting up even the most basic networking settings, but also 1) not a single computer in my house has a native ethernet port (really?), 2) the lengthy writeups I saw on connecting seemed to be written for something other than Win11, and 3) my new router was confusing to set up.

Finally I got it to work and was rx'ing just fine. But only way I could do this was to disconnect from my house wifi and connect direct through that new router which is in the same room. I realized especially with digital modes this will be a problem.

Solution, should I get it to work, is to use that USB to Ethernet adapter for the Anan, and keep wifi going. So I'd like to know:

1) is it possible to run the Anan direct to the usb-ethernet adapter ... Anyone had success with that?
2) if that ethernet solution works, can I have wifi working simultaneously, to sync clock, etc.?

Only other solution I'd have is to put a Ethernet card in the desktop, but I'd eventually like to use the Anan for portable EME, so I'd like to use the laptop if possible.

[w-u-2-o]

Just got my 200D and spent a frustrating weekend trying to connect to it. Mainly I was not familiar with setting up even the most basic networking settings, but also 1) not a single computer in my house has a native ethernet port (really?), 2) the lengthy writeups I saw on connecting seemed to be written for something other than Win11, and 3) my new router was confusing to set up.

A certain amount of Windows OS and Ethernet networking knowledge is an undeniable prerequisite for our radios. And you will have to learn about virtual audio cables and virtual serial port software if your intent is to run digi modes.

Windows 11, like Windows 10 before it, attempts to hide a lot of the down and dirty networking controls you need to access behind some glossy new UIs that don't provide full control over all network settings. If you go to this link: https://winaero.com/how-to-check-network-status-and-adapter-properties-in-windows-11/ and then skip down the page to "How to Find the Classic Network Connections and Adapters" section, you will see how to get to the settings you need, the ones that have remained the same since Windows 7, and which are described in the various networking tutorials.

Finally I got it to work and was rx'ing just fine. But only way I could do this was to disconnect from my house wifi and connect direct through that new router which is in the same room. I realized especially with digital modes this will be a problem.

This will actually be a problem for all radio operations, not just digi mode op's. Except under a very limited set of circumstances, our radios are simply not engineered to work well over Wi-Fi. It has to do with technical things like using UDP instead of TCP, isochronous and low latency data streams, and a bunch of other babble. Of course now someone will chime in on how they were able to get it to work, but it's not easy, or convenient, nor recommended for a newbie.

Solution, should I get it to work, is to use that USB to Ethernet adapter for the Anan, and keep wifi going.

That is exactly the right solution.

1) is it possible to run the Anan direct to the usb-ethernet adapter ... Anyone had success with that?

Yes and yes.

2) if that ethernet solution works, can I have wifi working simultaneously, to sync clock, etc.?

Yes.

A few minor words of caution: a USB GigE adapter only really runs at GiGE speeds if it is a true USB 3.0 adapter plugged into a true USB 3.0 port. Make sure you buy a true USB 3.0 GiGE adapter. If your laptop is older and only has USB 2.0 ports then the adapter will only reach about half that speed. That's still plenty fast enough for our radios, but something to think about as you are selecting ports and adapters.

Rob's tutorial on network setup remains the best available: http://www.w1aex.com/anan/anan.html#network

You want to follow Option 2 in that tutorial.

[k3rw]

Happy to report success using that Ethernet USB adapter. Not an ideal solution but it works, especially once the Interface Metric was changed to a value of 1.

Setting up VACs and other things are proving very difficult. Some of these may be gremlins between Win10 and Win11 versions, since most of the instructions are written for Win10.

[w-u-2-o]

Happy to report success using that Ethernet USB adapter. Not an ideal solution but it works, especially once the Interface Metric was changed to a value of 1.

Why is it not an ideal solution? What would be an ideal solution for you?

Setting up VACs and other things are proving very difficult. Some of these may be gremlins between Win10 and Win11 versions, since most of the instructions are written for Win10.

It should be no different for Win11 than it is for Win10. All of the legacy control panels you need are still available, just like they are with the networking stuff.

If you have specific questions you can't already find the answers to in this forum, or on Youtube, post as appropriate in either the Digital Virtaul Audio subforum (for VAC stuff) or the Digital Mode, Rig Control sub-forum (virtual serial cables or TCP/IP CAT setup).

[JJ4SDR]

Happy to report success using that Ethernet USB adapter. Not an ideal solution but it works, especially once the Interface Metric was changed to a value of 1.

Setting up VACs and other things are proving very difficult. Some of these may be gremlins between Win10 and Win11 versions, since most of the instructions are written for Win10.

The adapter working sounds good.

Could you share info on the Ethernet to USB adapter? I would like to continue having my RF2K-S amp communicating with the radio. That way, I can use VNC (the amp has a VNC server) as I did prior to switching from all Ethernet to USB connections (part of experimentation).

Hope you get VAC working.

73,
Juha
NI2M

[w-u-2-o]

Any adapter will work, it need not be anything special.

If you need full GigE speed the adapter must be USB3 and be plugged into a USB3 port.

[JJ4SDR]

Hi Scott,

I posted this also on the RF-KIT yahoo groups.io page as I am not certain how the RF2K-S amp would "interpret" an Adapter.

Presently, I have the ANAN plugged directly into the LAN port of the NIC of the PC, with the priority set at 1, with priority of the WiFi NIC set at 100 which seems to be just fine.

I assume that with the USB to Ethernet Adapter plugged into the PC (I don't think very high speeds are needed as that connection will be used to tell the amp which frequency the radio is tuned to) the PC will auto-detect its presence. My PC has 4 USB3.2 ports in addition to 4 USB2.0 ports.
With all that OK, I will then need to tell Thetis so that it can talk to the amp over that extra Ethernet connection which is another opportunity for me to learn about IP and networking .


73,
Juha

[w-u-2-o]

K3RW was merely looking to add an additional Ethernet port to his PC. Your problem sounds like an RF2K interfacing question. So you have tacked onto the wrong thread.

If you mean to plug the USB end into the RF2K that's almost sure not to work. I believe that USB port is dedicated as a serial port on the Pi. However, you could probably, maybe, provision that with a USB to RS232 serial adapter, and then use an RS232 device server to get that serial port up on the network.

At any rate, if this is RF2K interfacing problem/question you should probably post a new topic in the amp's sub-forum.

[JJ4SDR]

Moved to amp sub-forum.