Port Forwarding

[KA9MOT]

Hi All!
I'm a little confused. I was away at the hospital and then Nursing home for 5 weeks. I connected to my cell phone while in the hospital and then the facility's WiFi when at the nursing home.
While I was away, I had my cable and internet turned off (xfinity), and when I had them hook it back up, I got new and different equipment. SInce then, I can not connect to my WIFi.

I'm thinking maybe I need to set up Port Forwarding......any advice? Xfinity doesn't have a clue.

73 and thanks in advance,
Steve KA9MOT

[M1DNS]

Pi-star doesn't require any manual intervention with port forwarding for its 'normal expected use case'
If running in its default setup, linking to digital asetts, servers, TG's, reflectors etc. and being remote accessed from within your own network, you won't need it.

Andrew M1DNS, (Mod)

[KE0FHS]

any advice? Xfinity doesn't have a clue.

Hi Steve, you probably just need to set up your hotspot as you would for any new WiFi connection. If it's based on a newer Raspberry Pi (Zero W, 3B, or newer), you can just turn it on, let it sit for at least three minutes, and then it will become an access point and you can use the Auto AP setup process (connect to the hotspot's access point via your computer, and then configure your new WiFi connection). If it's an older RPi or you can't get the Auto AP process to work, go the Pi-Star website and use the WiFi Builder tool to create a new wpa_supplicant.conf file (https://www.pistar.uk/wifi_builder.php). Then take the microSD card out of your RPi, put it in your computer (dismiss any messages saying you need to format it), and copy the new wpa_supplicant.conf file to the root directory of the microSD card. Put it back into your RPi, boot up, and the new WiFi settings will be installed.

[KA9MOT]

Pi-star doesn't require any manual intervention with port forwarding for its 'normal expected use case'
If running in its default setup, linking to digital asetts, servers, TG's, reflectors etc. and being remote accessed from within your own network, you won't need it.

Andrew M1DNS, (Mod)

Thank you. I have something else going on then.

[KA9MOT]

any advice? Xfinity doesn't have a clue.

Hi Steve, you probably just need to set up your hotspot as you would for any new WiFi connection. If it's based on a newer Raspberry Pi (Zero W, 3B, or newer), you can just turn it on, let it sit for at least three minutes, and then it will become an access point and you can use the Auto AP setup process (connect to the hotspot's access point via your computer, and then configure your new WiFi connection). If it's an older RPi or you can't get the Auto AP process to work, go the Pi-Star website and use the WiFi Builder tool to create a new wpa_supplicant.conf file (https://www.pistar.uk/wifi_builder.php). Then take the microSD card out of your RPi, put it in your computer (dismiss any messages saying you need to format it), and copy the new wpa_supplicant.conf file to the root directory of the microSD card. Put it back into your RPi, boot up, and the new WiFi settings will be installed.

I'm unfamiliar with the Auto AP process or how to connect to the access point.

I've done the wifi builder thing many times. The name and password are correct. It just won't connect.

Maybe I need to wipe the card and start over

[KE0FHS]

I'm unfamiliar with the Auto AP process or how to connect to the access point.
I've done the wifi builder thing many times. The name and password are correct. It just won't connect.
Maybe I need to wipe the card and start over

More info might help with the troubleshooting, for example, the kind of radio/mode board you are using, the model of RPi, and the version of Pi-Star.

Wiping the card and starting over is certainly a reasonable thing to try.

If you want to know more about Pi-Star's Auto AP, see this quick visual overview: https://amateurradionotes.com/pi-star-auto-ap.htm
or for a more in-depth intro, read through this section: https://amateurradionotes.com/pi-star.htm#bootingpistar

[AF6VN]

New cable router means a new default WiFi name and new password. Are you certain you've got those correct (I have a bad tendency to enter my u-Verse password in caps).

Check the router settings WRT WiFi band (especially if it is set for 5GHz only but you have nodes that don't have 5GHz WiFi). Check for anything like MAC Address filtering -- which may only accept connections from known MAC addresses. Check for limits on DHCP (IP) leases -- if you have a lot of WiFi equipment you might be running out of available leases.

[M1DNS]

If you want to know more about Pi-Star's Auto AP, see this quick visual overview: https://amateurradionotes.com/pi-star-auto-ap.htm
or for a more in-depth intro, read through this section: https://amateurradionotes.com/pi-star.htm#bootingpistar

Not forgetting you also have the pi-star how-to videos produced by Craig W1MSG, who creates all our pi-star videos and made available on his YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=U ... a-ZLk3EU2A

Andrew M1DNS, (Mod)