WB7NIL
Perry,
I have been using REF023C and some tests on other Reflecters as well, with the same results.
for the money, this is not good and Shark should fix this. Thanks for your reply.
Neil
OS4 and OS4 Pro high Packet Loss on DStar Reflector
Do you think Shark would know about this problem? Neil
So now we know REF035, REF091, REF055, and REF023, and as you state some others. I don't know if they will fix it, but I hope they will look at this and realize that there is a problem with how the OS4 works on DStar DPlus reflectors.
As you can read above, this started with me back in 11/2023, but I was able to fix it as I had control of my network. Now that my reflector is in the hands of a datacenter and I do not control any hardware or the network, the issue is that the OS4 does not work on all networks and this should be looked at. It is my hope that they will look at it and I am prepared to help them fix the problem. We have a growing OS4 DStar community (since the big Christmas sale) and that is when this problem really became an issue as more people picked up OS4s.
Let's see what the tech support has to say. I have pcap files and exported my logs from within the OS4 and will make them available to them if they want them.
Perry
Let's hope it's fixed soon, Thanks for your time.
Neil
Perry,
I just did a Beta upgrade and reports are a lot better now. I'm happy again.
Neil
NeilReinhardt Better??? how much better? which version are you running now?
Can you come over to REF035C and give me a call so I can see what your packet loss looks like?
Perry
Just called you on REF035c probably time difference. I will wait on 35c,,,, Neil
WB7NIL
Beta V61 is available.
NeilReinhardt
Perry,
I talked to a buddy on 30A for about an hour with 100% copy with no loss.
It has to be the servers. Something is wrong somewhere Else.
Neil
- Edited
NeilReinhardt Well if it is the servers, then why do all the other devices (pi-stars, Openspots 1-3 and all other Non OS4s) work ok? The servers are probably fine, it very well could be the networks that those servers are connected to that are having issues with the OS4s. If REF030 and 001 are at a datacenter where they are using a premium service @ a premium cost, then that may be why they have no issues. When I had my server running on a bare metal server, I had to make adjustments to my network (the router specifically) to fix the OS4 issue. Then I moved it to a datacenter and the problem returned. The software is the same, so it has to be the network, which in this case, I have no control over.
To have a single appliance that everyone has to adjust their equipment just to make it work on their network makes no sense to me. It should be plug and play and it should work on any network. The OS4s are definitely doing something different compared to the other hotspots where some networks just cannot handle what the OS4s are transmitting over the network.
REF030 and REF001 are big reflectors and I suspect that they probably designed and configured much differently and must more robust so that they can handles large amounts of traffic - much more than what I have or what you have in Australia.
So I do not believe it is the servers, but I do believe it is the networks they are connected to where the packet losses with the OS4s are high, but I think it is an issue with the OS4s that should be looked at and fixed so that they will work in any network environment.
Perry
I see V61 is out. I will test this new version this morning and I am wondering what changes it provides. Maybe it addresses the issues with the OS4 and OS4 pro??
Perry
Can anyone in tech support tell me what they need from me to help troubleshoot this issue? I have been working with my datacenter host, and they have made adjustments on the network and even migrated our server to a different host, and still, the OS4 and OS4 Pro has the same problem.
Please let me know what I can provide you to help get this issue rectified? It is not a single router or network issue. The problem is with folks who have OS4 and OS4 pros all over the country, and even in other countries connecting to our reflector. There is something that the OS4s do differently that our network cannot handle, and this network is a commercial datacenter.
Help please.
Thank you.
Perry
I think you need to provide the logs from the OS4, advanced mode means they will be output on the Status tab.
You can set up a terminal program and connect the OS4 to a PC USB port and get logging on that as well.
Finally you can use Wireshark to capture the OS4<->server packets by monitoring the WiFi network with a laptop, or your router's ethernet connection if you can enable port mirroring on a network switch if you have one.
I've sent an email to SharkRF directly as I have not received any reply from Norbert on this forum.
UPDATE: SharkRF Released V63 Beta which has vastly improved the quality of the connection of the OS4 and OS4 Pro on REF035. I contacted Norbert (Tech Support via email) and sent him logs from a conversation between myself and a user with an OS3 and OS4 Pro, showing the issues and differences between the devices.
Although the problem is not 100% corrected, reports are showing that users running V63 Beta have less than 10% loss and typically in the 1, 2 and 3% area of packet loss. The audio is intelligible with some blips and bips here and there, but otherwise usable. Whatever SharkRF has done in V63 Beta, they are heading in the right direction and the OS4's performance is almost that of the OS3 as far as packet loss on our reflector.
Thank you guys! It looks like you have just a few more tweaks of your code to make it 100%
Perry - WB7NIL
Thank you Perry.
YOU carried the weight on this eventual outcome.
73's
Greg - W8YST
gregoryyost It's almost there. Still seeing Packet losses of around %5, and connection drops during transmissions, but it is much better than before. Huge difference. Let's hope that this continues to improve in future updates!
Perry
Sorry, but we have not changed anything in the firmware related to D-STAR or networking for months. Probably something has changed on your server.
HA2NON That is very strange, as nothing has changed at the server as they are unable to do anything with the network services to improve QOS. All I can tell you is that between the stable V61 and the Beta V63, there is a difference between how the 2 devices are operating, so something has changed in the new firmware.
The OS4 that is running V61 still has a very high packet (>15%) loss and is unintelligible and the OS4 with V63 Beta is usable and has packet losses with less than 10% - typically around 3% to 5% and the audio is intelligible, so something has changed. The only issue with V63 beta is that that the packet losses are not stable and inconsistent. I assure you that It is not with our network that has changed since both devices are on the same network and both devices running different firmware version behave differently.