Setup IP Network over Packet Radio with IL2P and Direwolf

[@RatchetFWD]

Very cool. Just had a networking student ask me at the university club day ask about such networking over ham radio. I knew you would be my go to. Funny you uploaded this video just in time. Will have to present this for one of our meetings. Currently working on a grant proposal for solar backup , maybe a new rig and antenna , to get a winlink rms setup at the university of California Irvine.

[@ModernHam]

Glad to see there's still interest in this technology! There will be several more, (I've got to provide a functional example of use at the least). Hope those at your meeting enjoy the presentation! I'm building a station myself, and the topics in this video will be going into a new type of packet node that I'll cover over time.

[@josephmccormick6602]

Thank You for the deep dive into IP over packet radio. Working with VaraHF/FM but packet is my favorite .

[@ModernHam]

VARA is in the future. We can also do IP networks over VARA, but my demo isn't ready for the public yet.

[@patryksiedlik6494]

This video, content, and topic are really important and well done. We need more Signallers who are learning this side of digital RF. Thank you. VVV

[@ModernHam]

I'm just glad to see there are people still interested in this technology. I feel like it's falling out of view due to the lack of modern resources.

[@halledwardb]

Hey thanks for the videos. Very few people doing new vids on this old stand by. My general daughters 13, 16, going in whole hog with Asus NUC 13 Rugged, 2 x 6000r, Alinco 135, and Yeasu 7800, with Master Communications DRA50M's. This week while waiting on their CPU, they will be fabricating 3 x 8 foot 4" Schedule 40, and 1/2 plate tower guys for the tower they will be putting up. They get to do all the fabricating and welding. They are pretty excited.

[@ModernHam]

Exciting times! I'll publish some more to make sure to display a proof of concept..

[@Mbro-dq2do]

fantastic video bro. I love leqrning all this

[@ModernHam]

Glad you liked it!

[@dean5263]

Thank you for the video.

[@ModernHam]

Glad you liked it!

[@guy4698]

great video, got me to subscribe

[@dperv27]

Outstanding video!!! Keep up the great work!! Hams need this kind of info. Are you seeing DNS broadcasts on the 'tnc0' interface? I'm seeing a broadcast with my printer's name in it, which is on my local LAN.

[@ModernHam]

I typically stick to the point to point network, so I haven't see broadcast personally. I believe there is a way to prevent that traffic, but I'm not sure how yet.

[@vladimirzivadinovic3941]

I like the video. NinoTNC would also be good here. Also, trying 9600 or 19200 on a Motorola CDM/GM or FTM 6000 or similar flat audio capable radio would be awesome!

[@ModernHam]

Trying higher speeds on the ftm-6000 is coming up in a few weeks.

[@vladimirzivadinovic3941]

@@ModernHam NinoTNC also has an awesome C4FSK mode, and is able to modulate 9600bps in only 12.5KHz, opening up VHF for “high speed” packet data. Theoretically, it should do 19200 on a good radio like Tait or Motorola.

[@bradabrown]

Great content. One question about a detail I may have missed - in your demo with both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint, what is the frequency setting on your 2m transceiver? Is is anywhere from 144.1 to 148 MHz (respecting local band plans) and agreed upon by your remote peer?

[@ModernHam]

I use 144.915, which is what my peer uses as well for the point to point.

[@streets814]

This is very cool! Can multiple radios connect to a single point like this like a hub and spoke network? 1 master multiple clients?

[@ModernHam]

They can. I recommend several point to point networks to a single server so you don't need the Ethernet overhead. But you can just as well enable DHCP and even hand out IPs from a single point.

[@holotape]

Is there any reason to go over to Direwolf from Soundmodem? Soundmodem just seems to be much more user friendly. Due to VARA I am bound to Windows for my mobile shack.

[@ModernHam]

I'm bias because I'm anti soundmodem but here goes my opinion: People say soundmodem is more user friendly, but in reality it really because direwolf requires editing 2-3 lines in a config file. If you're on windows, you copy/paste what I have here, replace the COM port, sound card and your good to go. Click the direwolf.exe and your good. I would argue that packet itself and what it involves is much less user friendly than that.I've though about making a gui for dire wolf for this reason. As for the actual reasons: Soundmodem is closed source, while direwolf is open source, meaning it will always be updated and development will continue into the future one way or another. Once the soundmodem dev is finished or gone, the project is dead, and will end up with the rest of the dead closed source projects of ham radio past, and any station built on it will become vulnerable to threats due to lack of updates and will fall into obscurity due to lack of new features. Speaking of features, direwolf offers many additional modulation types, additional speeds (such as 2400baud il2p) that I use) that soundmodem does not. It also runs headless on linux, so its great as a permanent packet station providing resources to others. Windows is a nighmare for server hosting outside of Windows server itself because it requires restarts to stay up to date and secure, takes up a ton of resources to run 24/7, and is generally frowned upon across the world for permanent server environments for those reasons. VARA will actually run on linux, you can see my blog for ways to get that done. TLDR: I run an always-up packet station on a $30 computer that sips power from solar. Any power outage or restart will result in all of my packet applications and dire wolf starting back up automatically with no intervention. I never have to touch it, tweak it or fix it (for the past 3 years), and people that use the station know it will always be online and secure. That is something windows and soundmodoem will never be able to achieve.

[@inrit]

Thanks for documenting this so thoroughly. I recently built almost the same network myself also using tncattach, but different radio types and TNCs and whatnot. Question for you -- I was never able to figure out how to get routing to work. In other words, using point-to-point links (as in this video) it works awesome between 2 hosts. And even 3 or more hosts if they're all on the same frequency and are close enough to all hear each other. But the real power of a network, I think, is being able to route through nodes along the way to reach those that can't receive your signal directly. Have you tried that? I'd love any pointers. The last time I worked on it, I was looking at oslrd to do the routing, but couldn't get it to work.

[@ModernHam]

@@inrit glad to hear someone else has forged this same path. I haven't gotten into routing as much, just things based on a server client topology. I'd imagine that we can use the network stack within Linux to build static routes. In the server client model, a specific host (server) would act like a repeater, connecting clients that normally can't talk to one another by providing resources with lots of power from height. Using one node to connect to another would be something like a mesh. I'm sure there's existing software that could use the Ethernet interface to make that happen (like AX25 over IP that comes with bpq)

[@keylanoslokj1806]

​@@ModernHambuilding static routes?

[@Swamp-Fox]

Another great video! Thanks!! 73, KF4LMZ

[@ModernHam]

Glad you liked it!

[@keylanoslokj1806]

So what are you trying to do exactly? Send internet type data packets through amateur radio equipment? So like a WiFi on steroids?

[@ModernHam]

More like wifi on alcohol. Its much longer range, but much slower. With this technology, you can host services on a central server, and access them elsewhere. Think of a private google cloud you can access around town without any additional infrastructure besides a radio and a computer. I will expand on this concept to show what the end game would look like soon.

[@keylanoslokj1806]

@@ModernHam if it was possible and sustainable, wouldn't it already be a thing?

[@ModernHam]

Well it is a thing. Nobody is talking about it, and the documentation is mostly form 20-30 years ago, That's the main reason this series was made. IP/Networking over radio is something that used to be popular before the faster internet took over. This series is an effort to being awareness to it's ability. I have demos coming soon, but I've been able to play simple games, load websites etc just over the 2m band.

[@LMcc-o5c]

Good. How can this become a mesh network?

[@ModernHam]

Now that Ethernet frames are being used, the same way any other Ethernet based network is able to be meshed. I haven't made the dive into that, as all I need so far is just a server client model.

[@kelseystagner7239]

Has anybody does this with Android?