Many ops have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of K4 Remote. Although it's not yet available for general release, several field testers have been exercising it. (K4-to-K4, not K4/0 or PC-based VK4 although those are in progress inside Elecraft.) I've made over a thousand remote contacts with it, mainly CW contesting but also DXing, ragchews, SSB and FT8, and can say this:
*THE HARD STUFF IS DONE!* I have K4 radios at a mountain QTH and a valley QTH and either one can connect to and use the other. It feels almost like local, better than K3 Remote with microBit RRCs. Some features and "corner cases" remain and Elecraft programmers are hard at work on them. Some highlights: - Cabling changes required: *ZERO* - leave both stations in their local configuration. You do need a way to turn on a remote K4. I'm using N6TV "K-ON" dongles and remote power switches. I think you can also do it from a connected KPA1500 and KPA1500 Remote. No need to leave anything powered on when not in use. - It's *dead simple* to connect - just specify an IP address on the client (control) K4 and set up one port forward on the LAN router at the server (remote radio) site. Passwords will prevent unwanted intrusion. (Compare to over 100 parameters that have to be set up between pairs of RRCs - and they only work one-way!) - Connection takes about a second. - It's bi-directional - any K4 anywhere can control any other K4 anywhere. No hardware asymmetry. - CW sidetone and Voice monitor are local, so unaffected by latency. - Use the keyer inside the client K4 or an external keyer. - Plays nicely with loggers like N1MM. They see the local K4 and don't realize it's controlling a remote radio. - You can update the firmware in both radios from the K4 at either site. - ... and more I've been an avid remote op for a decade now and this is better than I expected, like K4 itself well worth the wait. Hang in there, folks, it's really coming. Really. 73, /Rick N6XI -- Rick Tavan Truckee and Saratoga, CA ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
