TexasCHLforum.com

seph wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:42 pm

Charles L. Cotton wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:33 pm

G.A. Heath wrote: ↑Wed Jul 29, 2020 5:17 pm Another option might be to setup a VPN, additional hardware maybe required if your existing gear doesn't support it. The problem with that is you will be introducing additional latency into the system.

That would require a computer at the repeater site and that would be problematic due to the heat. Also, can repeaters in different cities be part of the same VPN?

Chas.

Physical location does not matter for the VPN, so the sites could be anywhere in the world. As to needing a computer at each location, there are better options. A single board computer like a Raspberry PI or a router with VPN client capibilities built in could be used instead of a computer.

I understand VPNs from a high level. It's a server/client configuration that creates a tunnel with encryption and allows computers from anywhere to connect to a LAN. The example often given is a company with offices throughout the U.S. and even foreign countries. (I know that individuals use VPN subscriptions both for security and anonymity when surfing the web.) That's the extent of my knowledge. (As I noted, the repeater software will only accept numerical IP addresses,)

Here is an example of the ham radio linking system I need. Let's say we have a repeater in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin. I'll call our VPN the Texas Repeater System. I presume that once every repeater logs into the same VPN account (Microsoft, Cisco, OpenVPN, etc.), each repeater could be accessed using a LAN IP address something like 192.168.10.15. If I am correct, this will work. So the big question is, am I correct about?

Thanks guys,
Chas.

DocV wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 5:15 pm The slash indicates a network range of several IPs. A /28 would be 16 IPs. 44.x.x.0 - 4.x.x.x.15.

That's a game-changer. I'm going to apply for an IP block.

Thanks,
Chas.

Lynyrd wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 3:13 pm Mr. Cotton, check out this website. https://portal.ampr.org/

All IP addresses in the 44.xxx.xxx.xxx range are reserved for ham radio operators. This organization is the one that administers those addresses. I don't know if there is a fee, but this just might solve your problem.

It appears that this service will give you an IP block, but the last segment ends with a slash/number. (Rx. 44.xxx.xxx.xxx/28). The repeater software will not accept the slash format. It must be numbers. That's a shame, because this would be good.

Thanks for trying,
Chas.

G.A. Heath wrote: ↑Wed Jul 29, 2020 5:17 pm Another option might be to setup a VPN, additional hardware maybe required if your existing gear doesn't support it. The problem with that is you will be introducing additional latency into the system.

That would require a computer at the repeater site and that would be problematic due to the heat. Also, can repeaters in different cities be part of the same VPN?

Chas.

This is a ham radio repeater linking problem. I have two Yaesu DR-2X repeaters that are capable of Internet linking to other DR-2X repeaters via the Internet. There are several other of the same repeaters in Texas that would like to be able to link their repeaters. (Not that it matters, but this linking is not full-time. It is user-activated for a limited time.) The software that handles the linking requires a static IP address for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, it requires numerical numbers which means we can't use DYNDNS type services.

Is there an alternative that uses numerical IP addresses? BTW, static IP address are too costly for most of the clubs because their Internet providers either require a business account, a one-time fee of $500, or a grossly exorbitant monthly fee for Internet service.

Chas.