WIN500 IP/Internet

[w3wor]

Hi. I looked, I searched. Can someone point me to a threat or site or directions that shows how I log onto the web and get IP access with the WIN500 software and how I can use my cell phone to monitor? Thanks.

[qlajlu]

Originally Posted by w3wor

Hi. I looked, I searched. Can someone point me to a threat or site or directions that shows how I log onto the web and get IP access with the WIN500 software and how I can use my cell phone to monitor? Thanks.

This illustrated WIN500 help file shows the steps to using WIN500 to import from the RR Database, but more importantly, it will answer your question about "logging in" if you follow the first few illustrations. However, you will need a Premium Subscription to make it work. The Premium Subscription is the key that unlocks that utility and it also gives you access to other functionalities, too.

Can't help you with the cell phone question. Sorry.

[mtindor]

Assuming that you are referring to wanting to run the Win500 Remote Server so that you can connect to it remotely from another location to listen to the feed, this should be a good start. I have no suggestions regarding using your cellphone to listen. I do know that Don has written a 'non-supported' app that works on a particular phone (a version of the Win500 Client). I don't know what phone it works on, etc.

I'm assuming you are wanting to run Win500 Remote Server so that you can log in from another location and can control your scanner as well as listen to the audio. If this is not the case and instead you are asking how to import frequencies from the RRDB, please see the previous message in this thread by Qlajlu.

In Win500, click on the Monitor / Control tab. From there you will be able to set some options, the most important ones being that you want to look under the Remote Server section and checkmark [b]Enabled] and specify a port [of your choosing].

This port that you specify, then needs to be open to the world - meaning that if you are behind a firewall, you are going to have to open a pinhole to allow access, from the outside world, to the TCP port that you specify there.

The firewall step can be an involved one. If you are on a direct connection (not using NAT, not behind a hardware firewall) and do not have any firewall active on your computer, then typically you would just specify the port in Win500, Enable the Remote Server, and click START.

Then you would determine what [internet routable] IP address is being assigned to the machine that you are running the Win500 Remote Server on.

However, for most people these days, they are using a wired or wireless connection to a router that connects them to the internet. And this means they are typically using NAT (Network Address Translation). In this case, you have to log in to your hardware router (Linksys, DLink, 2Wire, whatever you've got) and "open a pinhole" - i.e. basically setting up a rule that says "if a TCP connection request comes in to Port xxxxx [the port you specified in Win500 for the Remote Server], then allow this incoming connection and forward it to port xxxxx of the private [NAT] IP address assigned to the machine running Win500 Remote Server.

It's very easy to get Win500 Remote Server working locally on your internal LAN (so another machine on your internal network where the Win500 Remote Server is can connect to the Remote Server]. The more involved task is making it so that you can have use your internet access [at work for instance] to connect to the Win500 Remote Server sitting behind another network inside your home.

If all of this sounds like greek to you, then somebody is going to have to walk you through this process - and you'll probably get input from a lot of people in this thread. If this doesn't sound like greek to you [i.e. you know a little bit about networking and know what "opening a port" or "creating a pinhole" means], then this is probably going to be a pretty easy task for you.

You'll obviously have to know (a) the IP address issued to your Win500 Remote Server by your router or your ISP, (b) the IP address assigned to your router by your internet service provider. You'll need the latter because when you connect from a remote location on another internet connection you'll have to be able to enter in the [internet routable] IP address of the router that your Win500 Remote Server sits behind. To make things more of a pain, that [internet routable, not NAT] IP address may change every time your internet connection is reset.

So, tell us what you do know, what you do understand, how your internal network is set up. Let us know ifyou are using a router, what type of connection you have where your Win500 Server is.

I'm sure some of us will attempt to help assuming you are willing to provide some useful information for us to work with.

Mike

[w3wor]

Thanks for the great and quick replies. I think this is enough for now to get me started. I still have to program my scanner and set up a premium subscription on here. I may have some more questions about my IP's, but I think I may be able to handle that too. I'll let you all know - and again - thanks.

[w3wor]

Well, I thought I would be on my way but I encountered some problems. I have the WIN500 software on one computer. But not even sure where to start. Where do I start plugging numbers in/IP addreses, etc? I looked all over RR but can't find anything relevant.

[qlajlu]

Originally Posted by w3wor

Well, I thought I would be on my way but I encountered some problems. I have the WIN500 software on one computer. But not even sure where to start. Where do I start plugging numbers in/IP addreses, etc? I looked all over RR but can't find anything relevant.

Once again I point you to this illustrated help file. It shows you exactly what to do.

[mtindor]

Originally Posted by qlajlu

Once again I point you to this illustrated help file. It shows you exactly what to do.

That's certainly a nice resource, but is only useful if you want to know how to use Win500 to program a scanner. I truly believe what he is wanting to use the Remote Feature within the Remote Control section of Win500, combined with the Win500Client, in order to remote control his scanner from another location and/or connect to it remotely to simply listen to it. And that document that you have provided does not discuss that.

Mike

[mtindor]

Originally Posted by w3wor

Well, I thought I would be on my way but I encountered some problems. I have the WIN500 software on one computer. But not even sure where to start. Where do I start plugging numbers in/IP addreses, etc? I looked all over RR but can't find anything relevant.

You should start by describing in _exact_ detail what you want to accomplish, where you want to be when you accomplish it (in the same location on a different computer, somewhere else via the internet), etc. Don't take this the wrong way, but if you would like some free assistance from people [and none is guaranteed, only hoped], nobody should have to pull teeth to obtain information. If you state your exact objective, in detail, it will be easier for somebody to provide you with, at the very least, a starting point.

Mike

[qlajlu]

Originally Posted by mtindor

That's certainly a nice resource, but is only useful if you want to know how to use Win500 to program a scanner. I truly believe what he is wanting to use the Remote Feature within the Remote Control section of Win500, combined with the Win500Client, in order to remote control his scanner from another location and/or connect to it remotely to simply listen to it. And that document that you have provided does not discuss that.

Mike

Thanks, Mike. You were right, it was a total misunderstanding on my part.

Originally Posted by mtindor

You should start by describing in _exact_ detail what you want to accomplish, ...

That is what I was missing.

[w3wor]

Thanks, but I looked at this but cannot find any information in it that talks about allowing me to monitor my station remotely via IP.

[w3wor]

I have WIN500 on one laptop connected to my radio sound and USB. Sound is going through the laptop and I see the scanner display on the computer. I have the Win500 Remote Monitoring Client running on another laptop. My problem is I don't know what to do now. I imagine I have to enter some sort of IP address into the server address, but not sure if I use the static IP address, or a MAC address. I tried all of them, but it doesn't work. Any thoughts?

[w3wor]

Sorry, I was looking at the wrong screen. I have two laptops so I thought to try this out I would try to use one for the scanner and the other to try and monitor it via the internet. I have a netgear router that is giving a lot of numbers. I have it checked to USE STATIC IP ADDRESS. I also clicked on 'Attached Devices' and see my laptop that is connected to the scanner, but it just has 192.168.x.x, the typical? IP addresses or default ones? Not sure. And by the way, Qlajlu, I will use that link you sent me in the future. For now I just downloaded the current file that was loaded on my Pro2055. I'll use that function once I get used to this scanner. I have been using and programming trunk scanners for years but this one is completely different and the software is a little overwhelming.

I also apologize for not providing information back to you quickly. To be honest I didn't expect so many replies so quickly and I do appreciate your help.

Thanks,
Bryan W3WOR

[w3wor]

Maybe I could explain something else. When I go to my router admin page I get a standard IP address for the specific laptop that is connected tot he scanner. 192.168.... But when I go to whatismyip.com I get a completely different IP address. Not sure which IP to enter. I did enter all I could but no luck.

[w3wor]

I was able to bring up the scanner audio and display on my other laptop, but I used the 'standard?' IP address, the one that starts with 192.168. But I don't think it will work if I am on another computer at another location, or could it be that it won't let me connect to my own real IP address from within the same network?

[mtindor]

Originally Posted by w3wor

Maybe I could explain something else. When I go to my router admin page I get a standard IP address for the specific laptop that is connected tot he scanner. 192.168.... But when I go to whatismyip.com I get a completely different IP address. Not sure which IP to enter. I did enter all I could but no luck.

The address you get when you go to whatsmyip is your internet-routable IP address - which is the one somebody would need eventually if they wanted to access your scanner from the internet via Win500Client.

The 192.168.x.x addresses are within private address space, behind your router. Those are NAT'd addresses, NAT being network address translation. Your router handles translating the traffic from the external world / your-whatsmyip-address and your internal LAN / 192.168.x.x addresses.

To start out, do all your testing internal - between the two machines on your internal LAN.

Figure out what the IP address of your laptop that is running Win500 Remote Server (it'll have a 192.168.x.x address) and then figure out what the IP address is on the other machine inside your house that you'll be running Win500Client.exe on.

On your laptop with the scanner hooked to it, In your win500 Remote Control section, enable Remote Server and leave the default port 8086.

Make sure port 8086 is not blocked by Windows Firewall [or some other Firewall] on that machine. To make sure, go into the Firewall Settings (in Control Panel), and if the Firewall is set to ON, then make sure it is allowing exceptions. Then add an exception, TCP port 8086 - for Win500. The first time you start the Remote Control with the Remote Server active, it may already do that for you.

Once you have done that, go to the other machine that you'll be running Win500Client.exe on (this is an EXE located in the same folder as Win500.exe - which means you'll need to install Win500 on both machines so that you have access to Win500Client.EXe on the machine you want to use to listen to the scanner.

Then, on this other computer [not the one that has your scanner hooked to it], run Win500Client.EXE out of the directory that you installed Win500 into, and specify the IP address of the laptop (a 192.168.x.x address) and the port 8086 and attempt to connect and see what happens.

I think that's very detailed. If you can't make a connection at that point, it's probably a firewall issue on one of your machines - and you'll have to figure that out before you can proceed with trying to make your scanner accessible via the Internet.

Mike

[Astrak]

If you have an HTC touch device or other Windows Mobile touch device you should be able to run the WIN500client on it. Just enter your IP and the port and away you go.


To expand on what mtindor said you will also have to go into your router's admin page and forward port 8086.

So on the Netgear router scroll down to Port Forwarding and Port triggering-click that, click add custom service, then enter the IP address of the computer that has WIN500 running on it and forward port 8086.

You can also download a standalone version of the client from Don's website, that way you don't have to download the complete WIN500 package again.

[w3wor]

Yep, did that and it worked. I was able to view/listen to the scanner on another machine in my network. But then I downloaded the .cab file and tried to connect to the scanner via my phone. It didn't work. I also tried to login to the server on my desktops by typing the IP address from whatismyip? and it wouldn't work using that address. So, I can get it to work if I use that internal IP address, 192.168.. but not sure what to do next to get access to my scanner from outside the network in the land of internet.

Also, for the other poster, thanks. I did download the .cab file and I was connected almost instantly to the default scanner at starsoft.com/ I did put in the port forwarding 8086 in my router software, but that didn't work. When I try to put in a port it already has most of the ip add of the server, but it has the 192.168 standard address. I even selected use static ip address on the main router page. It won't let me use or type in the IP address I get from whatismyip?
I'm lost with this stuff.

[Astrak]

Originally Posted by w3wor

Yep, did that and it worked. I was able to view/listen to the scanner on another machine in my network. But then I downloaded the .cab file and tried to connect to the scanner via my phone. It didn't work. I also tried to login to the server on my desktops by typing the IP address from whatismyip? and it wouldn't work using that address. So, I can get it to work if I use that internal IP address, 192.168.. but not sure what to do next to get access to my scanner from outside the network in the land of internet.

Also, for the other poster, thanks. I did download the .cab file and I was connected almost instantly to the default scanner at starsoft.com/ I did put in the port forwarding 8086 in my router software, but that didn't work. When I try to put in a port it already has most of the ip add of the server, but it has the 192.168 standard address. I even selected use static ip address on the main router page. It won't let me use or type in the IP address I get from whatismyip?
I'm lost with this stuff.

Don't use the static IP just set it to get dynamically from ISP. When you port forward you have to enter the IP address of the computer that is hosting the feed just using 192.168 won't work.

[w3wor]

The DNS Address is set to 'Use these DNS Servers" - not set to 'Get Automatically from ISP'. I think this is by default. Should I also change this setting to Get Automatically from ISP?

[w3wor]

And one other dumb question, I use echolink, and they provide a range of ports. For this program though, for the range ends, do I enter 8086 for both?