I have a need to remotely control my rig from locations other than from the traditional “Bat Cave” shack. I am retired and my wife and I travel often and I wanted a capability to operate my home rig from hotels while on the road or anywhere there is an internet connection (for that matter even from my living room). After much searching on the internet, I found two sources for software that seemed to provide that capability. First is TRX_Manager (http://trx-manager.com/index.html) and Ham Radio Deluxe (http://hrd.ham-radio.ch/). Both have the capability to interface to my Yaesu FT-450 and operate over the internet. Both are reviewed on the eHam.net website. (TRX_Manager review is located @ http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/680 and HRD @ http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/3498 . Both have excellent reviews and users rave about them. The real tiebreaker for me was that Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) is FREE!!

However, I discovered that there didn’t seem to be anyone actually using the software to control a rig over the internet. Another issue was: would it work over wifi? My next post will address both of these issues.