Wi-Fi Support Update Released

[ofd8001]

It's probably there, but not in the file folder that Sentinel is looking at. You might do a Windows Explorer search for that bin file and see where it is on your computer.

(I ran into that problem myself and had to move the file).

 

[AE7Q]

WiFi problem gone?!?

Did the dual firmware update about 2015-2-15. Dongle firmware is v7.28.

The 536 is on 24/7. The following is recurring (see log below) while just doing normal scanning:

• The 536 screen stops displaying the WiFi icon.
• The dongle's light is on.
• Checking it through the 536 menu shows "WiFi busy".
• Wait about an hour, no change.
• Unplug and replug the WiFi module:
• The dongle comes back to life.

Note that the WiFi dongle lock-up is NOT the same as not being able to connect. The fact that Uniden's code is having the WiFi dongle reconnect (rather than renew) every five minutes is indicative of them recognizing there is a problem here.

Log:
2015-02-21
2015-03-08
2015-03-18
2015-03-22 - Reset the WiFi router, did not make a difference.
2015-03-22 - 2nd failure this day, four hours after the first one above.
2015-03-26
2015-03-28
2015-03-30

On the next lock-up, I will try something different. Stay tuned ...

After a while I just stopped reporting WiFi lockups, as they were too numerous and I wasn't using WiFi anyway. However, earlier this week I applied the v1.09.02 firmware update, and contrary to my previous experience, the WiFi dongle now appeared to stay up for a couple days. I went to my DHCP server log and noted that the WiFi dongle had stopped the "band-aid" process of requesting a "cold start" IP address every five minutes (despite being issued a DHCP lease of two hours), and instead is simply requesting a renewal every two hours (the DHCP lease period).

If this holds, this is a SIGNIFICANT improvement. Without those five minute "resets" on the dongle, my dongle would lock up within 15 minutes or so. WITH the five minute resets, that extended the lockups to an average interval of two days.

Now it appears that the WiFi dongle is staying up all by itself (I'll report back if I see any further lock-ups).

However, there is one (non-critical) aspect of DHCP handling that probably should be fixed: The normal DHCP client practice (see The TCP/IP Guide - DHCP Lease Renewal and Rebinding Processes ) is for clients to start requesting IP address renewals after 50% of the lease has expired. The current Uniden process is waiting until the lease expires to renew.

This can cause a momentary break in connectivity if an application is using the connection, and it is the reason that good DHCP clients start attempting renewal after 50% of the lease has expired. If the client gets to 87.5% of the lease expiration, it should go into another phase, of attempting to get another DHCPD server to reissue the release, all before the original lease expires.

 

[Voyager]

I still wish Uniden supported Fixed IPs. All the DHCP issues would "go away".

 

[AE7Q]

WiFi changes everything

I still wish Uniden supported Fixed IPs. All the DHCP issues would "go away".

The issue wasn't really DHCP; it was that Uniden was apparently resetting the dongle every five minutes, and of necessity that apparently meant reconfiguring the network parameters every five minutes.

I used to feel like you do about DHCP. However, fixed IPs mean that you have to keep a record of each device's IP, and if you ever change the parameters of your network, you have to power-on all devices before the change, make the change to each device, and then change your router. If you make a mistake and can't access a device after the change, it can be time-consuming to fix.

I have 44 network devices on my home network. Besides several computers, it includes several serial port extenders, WiFi tablets, a smart phone, oscilloscope, BluRay player, and microwave link (to my EOC). About half of them are powered-off at any one time. Managing that all in one DHCP server configuration file is much simpler: You make any changes, and all the devices adapt automatically.

Granted, for a network with less than five fixed devices, fixed IP addresses are a feasible choice.

 

[buddrousa]

I have 200 IP address on 1 network and I manage them with no problem. I have the records of each and every mac address on the network along with its location. BTW my network bandwidth is 450MB constant data and its not on some cheap home router. It is CCTV (IP VIDEO), ACCESS CONTROL, and VOIP PHONE CALL BOXES.

 

[Voyager]

I too manage many more than 44 with no issues. Like Uniden Quick Key use, it takes organization.

I will admit I mis-spoke about the "DHCP issues". I should have said all the issues that come with using DHCP. If you used fixed IPs, DHCP assignment/renewal is moot.

 

[kruser]

Uniden should at least give the user the choice to use a static (fixed) IP and other related manual network settings instead of dumbing things down and taking away basic networking features.

DHCP is nice but there are times when using fixed IPs is preferred for many of the devices on my networks.

I'd simply like to have the choice.

I don't care for "dumbed" down devices where basic settings are removed.
There should be an "advanced" mode that one can access via a hidden menu similar to the way they tried to make P25 LSM systems work by giving the user the hidden P25 settings menu in the XT series.
That would give access to settings the advanced user could use such as manual network settings amongst other things.

I have networks that have no DHCP server on them so every device is manually assigned a fixed IP.
Then I have networks where wireless is not allowed. That rules out using any of the 536HP's networking features as they did not think to offer a hardwired dongle which I'd gladly use any day over wireless.
Their wireless dongle should also offer 802.11a or 5 GHz support with the 2.4 GHz band being so crowded.

I vote for a new dongle. A tri-mode dongle that has 2.4 and 5 GHz radio support as well as wired ethernet support plus allow the user to select static or DHCP assigned IPs.
They could probably fit it all into the same case the wireless radio is in now.

 

[Voyager]

Same here. Yet, more and more devices are not supporting Fixed IPs. The scanner was the first. I just got a new TV and 3D Blu-Ray player and neitehr supports Fixed IPs. So, now I have to run a mix, as I have devices that require known IP locations. They simply cannot change it or breaks things. Yes, I know you can strap the MAC address to a certain IP, but that is just a band-aid for the basic problem because now I have to keep track of IPs AND MAC addresses, and if I swap out a device, I have to change settings in the router where as before it just picked up where the broken one left off.

OK. Rant off.

 

[AE7Q]

Same here. Yet, more and more devices are not supporting Fixed IPs. The scanner was the first. I just got a new TV and 3D Blu-Ray player and neitehr supports Fixed IPs. So, now I have to run a mix, as I have devices that require known IP locations. They simply cannot change it or breaks things. Yes, I know you can strap the MAC address to a certain IP, but that is just a band-aid for the basic problem because now I have to keep track of IPs AND MAC addresses, and if I swap out a device, I have to change settings in the router where as before it just picked up where the broken one left off.

OK. Rant off.

It seems everyone does this a bit differently at home. I have two gateway/routers at home, each going to a different ISP. Usually I split the traffic between the two, but if one goes down, I have to shift all the traffic from one router to the other. Ditto for DNS changes. When DHCP supplies the gateway address and DNS addresses, that's easy.

Of course,, in any DHCP infrastructure, a single DHCP server is the weak link, which is why I have two, each configured for fail-over to the other. Fortunately, the DHCP servers are part of the gateways.

And for tracking purposes of what's on the network, I have the DHCP server issue static IP addresses to almost all of my devices (that helps when I have to SSH into them). So, it's really a mostly static network, with the CONVENIENCE (at least for me) of controlling IP addresses all in one place.

Face it, with consumer ignorance and not having to have an interface for entering a static IP address, DHCP is here to stay for consumer devices, so (except in very unusual situations) you have to have a DHCP server anyway.

What bugs me, is that I have never seen a WiFi router that one can configure, to only respond to WiFi DHCP requests. THAT would be convenient (because it could then issue them addresses out of a unique pool).

 

[buddrousa]

My 1 home router does dual gateways dhcp pools per port that will auto switch if one isp goes down it also does bandwidth per IP address.
Here is a link to the router
MikroTik RB2011UiAS-2HnD-IN

 

[AE7Q]

Mikrotik makes some interesting (and economically priced) stuff. My microwave link to my local EOC is a Mikrotik 5shpn.

 

[n2wlt]

Setting a Static IP

I run DD-WRT on my Buffalo router and I set up a static IP using the MAC address from my 536. I have had no problems with wi-fi dongle dropping out.

 

[AE7Q]

Another correction: case closed

A... I went to my DHCP server log and noted that the WiFi dongle had stopped the "band-aid" process of requesting a "cold start" IP address every five minutes (despite being issued a DHCP lease of two hours), and instead is simply requesting a renewal every two hours (the DHCP lease period).....

However, there is one (non-critical) aspect of DHCP handling that probably should be fixed: The normal DHCP client practice (see The TCP/IP Guide - DHCP Lease Renewal and Rebinding Processes ) is for clients to start requesting IP address renewals after 50% of the lease has expired. The current Uniden process is waiting until the lease expires to renew.

This can cause a momentary break in connectivity if an application is using the connection, and it is the reason that good DHCP clients start attempting renewal after 50% of the lease has expired. If the client gets to 87.5% of the lease expiration, it should go into another phase, of attempting to get another DHCPD server to reissue the release, all before the original lease expires.

I stand corrected on this report as well. I have two DHCP servers, which operate in a cooperative "fail-over" mode, where each handles about 1/2 of the DHCP requests, but each can take over all of the requests if the other server goes offline.

Each server logs some of the activity of the other server, and I was under the misunderstanding that ALL IP assignments were logged to both servers. That is not true. Apparently for some time the DHCP servers were "ping-ponging" (alternating) assignments, so that each server was showing assignments every two hours, INTERLEAVED (upon inspection) with the times of the other server making an assignment every two hours! The net effect being, of course, that the BCD536HP was in fact renewing its IP address every hour (50% of the lease duration), as is normal, accepted practice.

Which DHCP server responds first to a request is a matter of timing and chance, and not a function of the requesting device. I discovered the above "interleaving" when I noticed that one DHCP server had recently stopped IP assignments to the scanner, but the WiFi dongle was still operating normally. I then found that the other DHCP server had "become greedy" and was (for the time being) "hogging" all the IP assignments to the scanner.

And, as a final note, the WiFi dongle has not had a lockup since applying the v1.09.02 firmware update. Tomorrow I will update the firmware on the county EOC's BCD536, which is currently running the v1.08.07 firmware.

 

[coolderb]

I run DD-WRT on my Buffalo router and I set up a static IP using the MAC address from my 536. I have had no problems with wi-fi dongle dropping out.

Does that router allow VPN access to the Siren app. with audio?

 

[y84media]

Does that router allow VPN access to the Siren app. with audio?

Yep.

I also run a Buffalo router with dd-wrt & a vpn. It was better than buying a used Cisco Pix firewall (I heard that you have to pay to activate vpn on Cisco hardware) or a used Juniper firewall.

The Buffalo dd-wrt router can be "just" a VPN server, that's how I use it. I can connect to my network at home and mount my shared drives, on my phone/iPad/laptop I can surf the Internet on any public wifi without the fear of sniffers and can circumvent public wifi rules by forwarding all traffic over VPN. Meaning that my device as soon as I connect to my VPN is surfing the Internet as if I'm at home. Sites that are blocked on public wifi hotspots are suddenly available.

It's great!

 

[n2wlt]

Yep.

I also run a Buffalo router with dd-wrt & a vpn. It was better than buying a used Cisco Pix firewall (I heard that you have to pay to activate vpn on Cisco hardware) or a used Juniper firewall.

The Buffalo dd-wrt router can be "just" a VPN server, that's how I use it. I can connect to my network at home and mount my shared drives, on my phone/iPad/laptop I can surf the Internet on any public wifi without the fear of sniffers and can circumvent public wifi rules by forwarding all traffic over VPN. Meaning that my device as soon as I connect to my VPN is surfing the Internet as if I'm at home. Sites that are blocked on public wifi hotspots are suddenly available.

It's great!

Just as y84media stated. I run it the same way and can listen to my scanner anywhere.

 

[coolderb]

Yep.

I also run a Buffalo router with dd-wrt & a vpn. It was better than buying a used Cisco Pix firewall (I heard that you have to pay to activate vpn on Cisco hardware) or a used Juniper firewall.

The Buffalo dd-wrt router can be "just" a VPN server, that's how I use it. I can connect to my network at home and mount my shared drives, on my phone/iPad/laptop I can surf the Internet on any public wifi without the fear of sniffers and can circumvent public wifi rules by forwarding all traffic over VPN. Meaning that my device as soon as I connect to my VPN is surfing the Internet as if I'm at home. Sites that are blocked on public wifi hotspots are suddenly available.

It's great!

Cool, thanks for the info. I actually was able to flash my relatively ancient Linksys E2500 router with the Tomato firmware, setup the VPN on the router and my Ipad and iPhone. Siren now works great from anywhere!

The Linksys E2500 routers are available on Ebay for as low as $8. Upgrading the firmware was really simple. It was no different than doing a regular firmware update using the stock Browser/GUI. Before I did the Tomato upgrade I panicked and ordered an Asus RT-AC66U equipped with dd-wrt. The dd-wrt firmware that it came with was very unstable. I ended up putting the latest Asus firware on it and it has been rock solid. The Asus firmware also has a lot of bells and whistles including VPN, MAC to static IP, Printserver, etc. It also has the important RTSP pass-through that the Siren app. requires.

 

[W0RS]

Apple Timecapsule/Router

Has anyone had any success with an apple router utilizing VPN?

 

[TxScanner]

I cant get it to work on my windows 10 PC

 

[Mike02301]

Wi-Fi Dongle for the BC536hp is junk

[How do you get the Wi-Fi Dongle to work? I have the connection AP on the Screen of the 536HP. So it shows connection to our Comcast Modem. The Dongle is 7.28 and my 536 scanner is up to date. All are up to date. But every Monday I have to connect my scanner by USB to Sentinel software to get the update on the Data base. How do I get the use of wireless connection through the Dongle to update? I feel the Dongle bought through me buying the BCD536Hp JUNK. Is there any GOOD support that can direct me ?my e-mail address is mikephillipsta5@verizon.net or my FAX is 17742235150