Audio Dropout

[ei6al]

Have been running a pair of 1258 Mk2 for a couple of years to a remote mountain site using 3g, with no problems other than increasing latency.  A few weeks ago broadband was available at a hut 80m from the remote equipment hut so I ran CAT5 to connect.  Latency now down to 30ms (from previous 200ms to 3 sec) and everything working, but since the change notice brief audio drops - anything from a few ms to maybe 20ms every few seconds, plus intermittent crackling on audio like loose connection.  Audio checked at site and no problem and temporarily switching 1258 to other hut clears problem.  So has to be the CAT5.  Cable is high grade screened and UV protected, and have tried two different cables.  Am wondering has anyone else used long CAT5 runs in similar situation, or has similar dropout problem.  It causes no issue on SSB but is anough to make reading CW difficult as miss dots during interrupt.  Have tried various settings on packet size etc, no improvement.  Generally CAT5 lengths up to max 100m are acceptable.  Any ideas?

[sm2o]

I have not heard anyone using such long cables before, but 100m should be OK in normal environment. Check that you are connected in 10MBit/s. Another solution is to set up a WiFi link for example a pair of Ubiquiti Locostation 2 or 5. If you only need to control the RRC the Internal WiFi card could also be used in the RRC.

73 de mike

[ei6al]

Thanks Mike.  There is a 232/ethernet server also on the LAN so wifi in box not a solution.  Have borrowed a couple of 5g bridge units and will be trying them next week.  Hopefully they will do the job.  Will post result.
73  Dave

[dj0qn]

Hi Dave,

I see no technical reason why having any length of ethernet cable should cause this type of
problem. If you have switched to a "real" broadband line, I would suspect the router as the
cause. You may wish to check its settings to make sure that the RRC's packets are receiving
priority. I have experienced a similar problem in a couple of installations and it was always
related to the router.

Also make sure that you have continuous RTP turned on for both RRC's.

73,
Mitch DJ0QN / K7DX

[g4swx]

I use 100m of burried CAT5 SWA to get to my shack where the RRC1258 is located with no problems at all - however I do have a small Netgear 5 port switch at each end. I have not tried with a direct connection to the RRC1258 as I also have Wiznet RS232 over Ethernet boxes to control my rotators.
Besides checking the router I would look at anything else running on the LAN as burting traffic, in particular webcams can lead to such problems.

73
John G4SWX