For last year’s Field Day, I took a stab at networking a couple of computers together with an ethernet cable so that our N1MM+ logging software could be synced up. It was both surprisingly easy to do, but equally daunting due to the curious lack of reasonably digestible tutorials tackling the topic on the interwebs. So now that Field Day is again upon us, I felt that same sort of dread that comes from staring up at a steep learning curve. Because quite frankly, I could not remember at all how to create a N1MM+ computer network. I checked back at my blog page on the topic, and was dismayed at how little of the process I documented. So, I am here to rectify that.
Here is my use case. I want to have three computers with Windows 10 operating systems host logging software (N1MM Logger Plus) for a multiple station ARRL Field Day event. All of the computers need to be synchronized with each other in order to avoid such dreaded contesting faux pas as “dupes”, i.e., getting the same person twice. I also do not want to have to rely on an internet in order to maintain communication between these computers.
As far as hardware goes, I already was in possession of three (quite aged) computers. I splurged on three new 25′ ethernet (CAT 6) cables (one for each computer), and a Linksys 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch. I set up the computers simply by plugging one end of an ethernet cable into its ethernet port, and the other end of the cable into the switch. Remember the gigabit switch does need power to operate!
Before I began networking the computers, I had updated all of the necessary software, including Windows and N1MM+. All of the computers need to have the exact same version of N1MM+, as well as exactly the same inputted contest information, before N1MM+ is able to synchronize between multiple stations.
Once the hardware was gathered and the software was up-to-date, I followed the step-by-step procedure documented below.
Step 1: Go to internet icon, click, and “Open Network & Internet Settings”.
Step 2: Select “Ethernet” on left, and then “Network and Sharing Center” on right.
Step 3: The “Unidentified Network” is set to “private” which is what I want it to be. For contrast, my wifi network is set to “Public” (see arrow on the left). Click on the “Ethernet” hyperlink.
Step 4: Click on “Properties” of the first box that pops up. Then click on “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)”.
Step 5: Click “Use the following IP address” and add in “192.168.1.200” for “IP address”. The “Subnet mask” should just show up as 255.255.255.0. While I am no expert by any means in networking computers, I do think you can choose the last three digits of your IP address from 1 to 255 254 [Correction sent to me by my favorite critic, AC1JR!] I picked “200” rather arbitrarily. Once you are done, click “ok”, “ok”, and “close” on the multiple windows.
Step 6: If you need to make your network private because it is showing as public (see Step 3 above), you need type “secpol.msc” into the search bar and press enter.
Step 7: In the pop-up window, click on the “Network List Manager Policies” under the “Security Settings” tab. Then click “Unidentified Networks”. In the next pop-up, choose “Private”. Hit “Apply” and then “Ok”. Your “Unidentified Network” settings should now say “Private”.
Step 8: Open the file manager and click on “Network”. Your computer’s name should be listed there. My computer is named “PC-1”.
Step 9: Now it is time to network your second computer. Go back through Steps 1-8, but this time on the new computer. Below shows all of the steps ordered numerically. Don’t forget to change the ethernet connection to “Private” as shown above. The only difference is that you want to assign this computer a different IP address than the first one. I chose 192.168.1.201.
Step 10: Check the “Network” tab in the file manager to make sure the second computer (in my case, “PC-2”) shows up.
Step 11: Repeat these steps as many times as you need to in order to connect all of your computers to the network. Just change the last digits of the newly assigned static IP address, as they all have to be something different. I have three computers that are now linked together.
Step 12: Once your computers are all networked, open N1MM. Under the “Window” menu, find and click “Network Status”.
Step 13: Make sure that the most recent version of N1MM is installed or else you will get an error message when attempting to connect to the other networked computers (in red below). You also need to make sure that everything else about N1MM is identical, in particular that the contest information for the log is the same.
Step 14: When all of the computers are identically set-up, with the same software versions and contest information, open up the “Network Status” window. A bubble will show that gives you an option to turn on “Networked Computer Mode”. Click it!
Step 15: If you see all of your computers listed with no red error messages, your networking efforts are a success! Make sure you have designated one of the computers as the “Master” by checking the appropriate box.
There you have it! N1MM Logger Plus synchronized across multiple stations for Field Day! I hope to catch you on the air!
Forever,
KM1NDY
And boy-oh-boy did we make a lot of noise! Running three generators, a cement mixer, and a tractor equipped with a scary-looking auger, we managed to dig…a hole!
Congrats AA1F, on not only digging three feet into the ground, but on fixing your auger after it snapped a shear bolt when it wedged itself under a cow-sized rock.
It may not be radio, but darn it…just go ahead and look at that cement mixer…What more do you need? Besides a chainsaw and chipper of course.
Really yours, I mean it.
KM1NDY
Every now and then I decide it’s time to homebrew a receiver. You may remember my attempt back here. Or even way back here. They never work. So this even more complicated, 3 transistor, 2 diodes, and audio amplifier IC definitely did not work. Again. Well sort of. Technically it is actually a receiver. Just not what I was hoping for.
See the electrolytic capacitor I am pointing out down below? And the resistor that is in series with it? If I touch either with my fingertip, while the circuit is live, radio stations play through the loudspeaker. These components form a loop from pin 8 to pin 1 of the LM386; these pins are the “gain” pins of this low voltage audio amplifier chip.
This is a lot like what happens back in my last receiver build attempt, except for this one, I needed to touch the potentiometer in order to pick up stations. I’ll repost the video from that build below so you know what I mean. Essentially I could remove the entire rest of the circuit and as long as I powered up the LM386 and touched the top of the potentiometer, I could hear a station through the loudspeaker.
I am not through debugging this current circuit or I would go into more detail about it. In fact, in preparing this blog, I can see I left one end of a capacitor floating. The cap in the arrow below should be sitting between pin 3 and pin 4 of the IC. Pin 3 is correct, but then you can tell instead of hitting the ground rail of the chip at pin 4, the other end of the capacitor is just freely hanging out in its own row in the breadboard. To be fixed! And if I make any headway, I’ll write up a more complete description of the circuit.
One of my most successful and useful builds is in action down below. This is the KM1NDY Voltage Converter that I designed out from scratch that uses 78xx series of linear voltage regulators in TO-220 packaging. The voltages are interchangeable, and for this receiver attempt I used a 5-volt 7805 chip. The power source is a 12 volt LiFePo battery. This system includes a replaceable fuse as well, as an attempt to minimize any potentially dangerous currents from reaching me when I accidentally short something out. This little device is actually quite handy! If I make another one, I’ll need to put a switch on it though.
Ok, now close your eyes if you are going to be squeamish, but it is probably too late. I just wanted to show the bloodshed that this ham radio hobby causes me. This cute little pattern of blood bubbles is what occurs when you send the pins of an IC socket deep into your finger. Don’t fret! I am okay!
So, yet another failure. But there is still some debugging left to do, so I won’t write off the entire project just yet. And there are some important mental successes. The first is that I can now start to see the various stages of a receiver circuit. They are making much more sense to me now. And I can see how you can work on each stage as a separate entity. I am already concerned that my antenna and tuning capacitor are not working properly. Or that there is not enough amplification at the RF amplifier stage. I have figured out inadvertently that the components of the audio amplifier stage work. I needed to substitute diodes, so am I not demodulating the AM properly? And I am understanding bit by bit how and what to probe, and with what instrument, to see what is working, and what is not.
Though not so secretly, I can’t wait for the day when I post a receiver build and it is actually a success. But I have always known that failure is not trying and failing. Failure is not trying at all.
That’s that.
KM1NDY
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