Right now there are too many variables in play:
2 SD Cards (which may have different physical behavior)
2 Pi-Star software loads (which may or may not be identical)
2 Connection methods (WiFi at "Home", Ethernet cable at "Caravan")
2 Routers ("Home" and "Caravan")
2 Internet connections ("Home" router is direct, I presume; "Caravan" router is a WiFi extender connecting to some OTHER Router over WiFi)
That's a total of 32 combinations.
To minimize points of failure...
Take the unit to "Home" (use that SD card), but connect it to the "Home" router using an ethernet cable, and power it up.
Open a SSH session to it and enter:
Record the IP # assigned to that connection, it might be needed later
Code: Select all
sudo ifconfig wlan0 down
sudo ifconfig wlan0_ap down
If you lose the SSH session doing those, it means you were connected over WiFi. Open a new session using the IP # from the first step and continue from where the session was lost.
After doing the above -- the ONLY network connection should be the ethernet cable.
Verify that ping finds the Google nameserver.
Open the Pi-Star dashboard and verify that the status boxes for whichever digital modes (D-STAR, DMR, one of the others?) you are using are green.
Test the connection using your radio.
IF (and only if) the above configuration (ethernet cable, no WiFi, home router) is working can you then go on to the next phase.
Shutdown the Pi-Star unit, and take it (including ethernet cable and working SD card) back to "Caravan". Repeat the above sequence (connect to router via ethernet, power up, SSH, ifconfig eth0, ifconfig wlan0* down).
The Pi-Star should now be in an identical state as it was at "Home". The only difference is likely the IP # that was issued.
If ping fails, or the dashboard does NOT show green for your digital modes, then the fault is NOT in the Pi-Star unit itself -- it is either your "Caravan" router/WiFi extender OR whatever WiFi router the extender is connecting to. The most likely fault point will be that the end WiFi router is blocking the ports needed
http://wiki.pistar.uk/Ports_to_forward_ ... NP_network
Only when you get the cable connection to work in both locations can you worry about configuring WiFi connections for both routers (I'd probably make "Caravan" the priority with "Home" the fallback when it can't find "Caravan").