Will a Pi-Star hotspot automatically reconnect to a reflector after an internet drop?

General support for the Pi-Star System
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g6nhu
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2019 3:31 pm

Will a Pi-Star hotspot automatically reconnect to a reflector after an internet drop?

Post by g6nhu »

I'm going travelling in a couple of weeks and I'm going to take a Pi-Star MMDVM hotspot with me for D-Star.

I'll be tethering to an Android phone and I know that some areas will have limited coverage so the internet connection will drop. Will the hotspot automatically reconnect to my reflector of choice when the internet comes back up or will I need to re-initiate the link?

Thanks.
g6nhu
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2019 3:31 pm

Re: Will a Pi-Star hotspot automatically reconnect to a reflector after an internet drop?

Post by g6nhu »

I'm sad that nobody was able to answer this.

To help anyone out who has the same question.

I did some tests today, I drove through areas of poor mobile phone coverage and when I came out the other side, my hotspot announced "Linking to reflector [insert reflector name here]", followed a few moments by the normal "Linked to" message.

So it does appear to automatically reconnect.
AF6VN
Posts: 821
Joined: Fri Jul 20, 2018 1:15 am

Re: Will a Pi-Star hotspot automatically reconnect to a reflector after an internet drop?

Post by AF6VN »

g6nhu wrote: Tue May 31, 2022 5:09 pm I'm sad that nobody was able to answer this.
The odds are good that anyone trying to answer would have to have done exactly what you did -- find a zone with spotty cell-phone service and drive in/out of service area.

I sure couldn't do that, even if I wanted to try with a mobile Pi-Star system. There are just too many overlapping cell-towers in my county to reliably LOSE coverage as an experiment. I'd have to drive 2000 miles, and then go off-roading in the Rocky Mountains to find zones of no coverage. https://www.att.com/maps/wireless-coverage.html (I'm in Michigan, Grand Rapids area)

The best I'd be able to do is use a CAT-5 cable between my router and Pi-Star, and disconnect/reconnect the cable (or, since my Pi-star is running on Wi-Fi down the hallway -- go through the hassle of rebooting my router so it goes through the whole procedure of restarting Ethernet router, Wi-Fi router, getting "DSL" signal on the phone line, logging into "DSL" service (last step is VOIP phone service).

--
AF6VN
Dennis L Bieber
g6nhu
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2019 3:31 pm

Re: Will a Pi-Star hotspot automatically reconnect to a reflector after an internet drop?

Post by g6nhu »

AF6VN wrote: Wed Jun 01, 2022 1:12 am The odds are good that anyone trying to answer would have to have done exactly what you did -- find a zone with spotty cell-phone service and drive in/out of service area.
Thanks, I wasn't suggesting that someone specifically go out and test this, I was hoping that someone would already know what the default behaviour of the hotspot is.

All sorted now though and hopefully this may help anyone else with the same question in future.
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