Remote

Remote lets you operate your station when you are not sitting at it: from a web browser anywhere, or from Nexus on a second Windows PC, at home on the same network or away over the internet. The PC at the shack keeps the radio and stays in charge. What you click, type and say goes to the station, and the station sends back its screen, its receive audio and what it did. Your log, settings and passwords never leave the shack PC.

Nexus Remote is a Beta. The Settings card says so beside its switch, and access could be revoked at any time while it is.

Before you start

• Nexus on the shack PC, set up and working on the air at the shack. Remote adds no radio setup of its own: Settings ▸ Radio ▸ Rig & CAT.
• A Nexus Remote account for the browser and internet roads. You make one the first time you sign in, with an email address (a code by email, or a password) or with Google. Using Remote on the shack’s own network with a code needs no account at all.
• For the second PC: Windows, and the same Nexus version as the shack. On Linux and macOS, use Remote in a browser for now.

The tour

Three ways in

At the shack: Settings ▸ Remote ▸ Remote access

Everything about who may use the station is set here, at the station, and nowhere else. The card holds:

• Turn on Remote — opens an outbound encrypted connection to the Nexus Remote service. No port forwarding. If Remote was on when Nexus closed, it comes back on by itself the next time Nexus starts.
• Sign in to Nexus Remote — links this station to your account, with no code. Each of your other devices is then added when you sign in on it. Pair a station is the older way, with a code; it still works.
• This station’s key — eight groups of four characters. Every browser and second PC shows the key it was given for this station, and you compare the two before trusting it. See Check the station’s key.
• Stream this station from my browser — off by default. With it on, an approved browser that holds control sees this window and operates it.
• Remote over this network — off by default. Lets Nexus on another PC on the same network operate the station with no internet at all. Pair a computer shows the code a PC on the network types to pair.
• People — invite someone by the address they sign in with, to Operate or to Listen. Someone invited to operate transmits with your station, under your callsign, and you stay responsible for it as the licensee.
• Devices — one list of every computer, phone and browser that can reach the station: yours first, then each person you invited. Each row says how it connects (Home network, Internet, Browser) and where it stands (live now, waiting for you, held from transmitting, allowed to transmit), with Approve for a new device, Allow to transmit and Remove. Keys, ids and dates fold under Details.
• End remote control — turns Remote off (it stays off after a restart), disconnects every browser and every computer, and turns off Remote over this network.

The field-by-field reference is Settings ▸ Remote access.

On the second PC: Stations on this network…

On the second PC, Stations on this network… opens a window listing the stations this PC can operate. Each row has Operate from this computer, the station’s key, and when the station was added by signing in, the date by which to sign in again. Sign in… adds a station with your account; Pair with a code instead… adds one with a code from the shack.

While the second PC drives the station, a banner across the top says which station, how the link stands (connecting, live, not live, or another device in control) and offers Leave, which starts Nexus again as this PC’s own station.

Who can transmit

Nexus at the shack decides, and nothing set from afar changes it.

• A computer on the shack’s own network, paired there with a code or added by signing in on that network, transmits at once. It is never held.
• A browser or PC that signs in over the internet can listen and take control at once, but cannot transmit until you approve it at the shack, under Remote access, with its key.
• A browser or PC you approved at the shack transmits from anywhere. Each one is approved on its own.
• Nexus does not email you when something signs in yet. Until it does, a computer that signs in stays unable to transmit until you approve it.

What stops a transmission

Stop always wins, from either end:

• Stop TX on the page or the second PC, and Esc over the stream’s picture.
• The second PC’s Stop has a road of its own, so it still reaches the station when the command link is slow.
• If the browser’s connection drops, the station stops transmitting within five seconds; if its picture freezes, within seven. If the second PC or its network drops, the shack unkeys within about 5 s.
• Every Stop at the shack itself works as always.

Core workflows

Set up the shack

1. At the shack, open Settings ▸ Remote ▸ Remote access.
2. Press Sign in to Nexus Remote. Your web browser opens on the Nexus Remote sign-in.
3. Sign in, or make an account. The card then shows the station as linked to your account.
4. Press Turn on Remote. The card shows the station connected to the Remote service, and This station’s key.
5. If you will use a browser: turn on Stream this station from my browser.
6. If you will use a second PC on your own network: turn on Remote over this network. The card says which address the station listens on, or what stands in its way (a network Windows calls Public, say). When Windows asks whether Nexus may use networks, allow Private networks only.
7. Optional: say yes when Nexus offers to start when you sign in to this PC, so Remote comes back after the PC itself restarts.

Expected result: the card shows Remote on, the station’s key, and the switches you chose.

Stream the station in a browser

1. On the computer you are at, open the Nexus Remote page and sign in with the same account. Your station is listed with its key.
2. Compare the station’s key on the page with This station’s key at the shack, group by group, the first time you see it.
3. Press Stream. The first time, the shack asks Let Chrome on Windows stream this station? (or whichever browser it is), with the browser’s key.
4. At the shack, press Approve browser only if the key matches the one the browser shows. You approve each browser once; it stays approved until you remove it.
5. The stream opens with the shack’s Nexus window. Click and type over it as you would at the shack.
6. Press Listen to hear the receive audio; Volume beside it sets how loud.
7. In Phone, turn on the microphone and hold PTT to talk: see Talk from Remote.

When it is over, press Stop TX if anything is on the air, then close the page.

Add a second PC by signing in

1. At the shack, sign in to Nexus Remote first (Set up the shack) and turn on Remote over this network.
2. On the second PC, open Stations on this network… and press Sign in….
3. Sign in in the web browser that opens, with the account the station is linked to, or one its owner invited to operate it.
4. Back in the window, the station is found on the network by name and added, with no code. If it is not found, type the address the shack’s card shows, or press Not on this network to add it over the internet only.
5. For the internet road: at the shack, approve the PC under Remote access. Nexus asks there with the PC’s key; approve only if it matches the key the PC shows. On your own network the PC needs no approval.

Expected result: the station’s row offers Operate from this computer. A PC added by signing in stays on the station’s network for 30 days from that sign-in. In the last week the row says by what day, and offers Sign in again.

Add a second PC with a code

Use this when the shack is not signed in to Nexus Remote, or the service cannot be reached.

1. At the shack, with Remote over this network on, press Pair a computer. The card shows a code for ten minutes. Whoever types it in that time is paired, so keep it to yourself.
2. On the second PC, open Stations on this network… and choose Pair with a code instead….
3. Pick the station from the list (it shows as “Nexus” and the first characters of its key), or type the address the shack shows.
4. Type the code. Capitals and spaces do not matter.

Expected result: the station is on this PC until you remove it at the shack, with no 30 days to count. Up to eight computers can be paired.

Operate from the second PC

1. In Stations on this network…, press Operate from this computer on the station’s row.
2. Nexus starts again driving the station. The banner reads Operating the station at … over this network, or over the internet (Beta) when the station is not on your network.
3. Operate as you would at the shack: the screens, audio, microphone and Stop are the shack’s.
4. Press Leave in the banner when you are done. Nexus starts again as this PC’s own station.

If another device holds the station, the banner says so and offers Take control. Taking it ends the other device’s operating: anything it is transmitting stops at once, and this PC starts with TX off.

Over the internet, after 15 minutes with no click, key or PTT, the banner asks Still there?. Press I’m here; with no answer the internet link ends a minute later, and Reconnect brings it back.

Check the station’s key

The station’s key is how you know the station on the other end is yours, and not something pretending to be it.

1. At the shack, read This station’s key under Remote access.
2. In the browser, read the key on the station’s card; on the second PC, read This station’s key for the internet road on its row.
3. Compare them group by group.
4. If they match, there is nothing to do in a browser. On the second PC, press It matches: the internet road carries nothing until you do.
5. If they do not match, do not connect. On the second PC press It doesn’t match: a station paired with a code keeps its pairing on your network and loses only its internet road; a station you were invited to is forgotten.

A browser that later sees a different key for the station says so, shows both, and connects nothing until you press Accept the new key. Accept it only if the new key matches the shack’s. If the shack’s key is lost (its password store was cleared, say), use Revoke station access there and pair again, then compare the new key everywhere.

Stop remote use

• One browser or PC: at the shack, Revoke browser approval or Remove on its row. It is disconnected at once, and anything it kept on the air stops.
• Everyone for now: Turn off Remote. Approved devices get back what they had when you turn it on again, with the TX switch off.
• Everyone, until you say otherwise: End remote control.

Download your data or delete your account

Sign in on the Nexus Remote page. The Your account card has two buttons:

• Download my data saves a copy of what Nexus Remote holds about your account as a JSON file: your trial and plan, your stations, their devices and your invitations.
• Delete account asks you to type DELETE, then removes the account, your stations with their devices and the invitations made there, and your devices at other people’s stations. Every one of them is disconnected at once, and people you invited lose access. A paid plan is cancelled first, at once and without a refund for the rest of the period; if it cannot be cancelled, nothing is deleted. Nexus at your shack keeps working.

What is kept after a delete is what stops a second free trial (fingerprints of your address, callsign and shack computer, and your trial dates) and the billing records the law requires.

What needs the internet, and what is free

Nexus Remote is free during the Beta. Paid plans for use over the internet are coming: they are not on sale during the Beta, and this page will say how to subscribe once they are. On the shack’s own network Remote stays free. When an account has no internet use left, the second PC and an approved browser on the same network still operate the station.

Troubleshooting

For a stuck transmission, see Scenarios & troubleshooting.

Honest limits

• Beta. Nexus Remote is a Beta, and access could be revoked at any time while it is.
• Windows shacks only for the stream and Remote over this network; the second PC is Windows only. Use a browser from Linux or macOS.
• No paddle from afar. CW from a second PC is the keyboard and macros.
• Both PCs must run the same Nexus version. The banner says which one to update.
• Passwords and remote-access settings stay at the shack. Approving, inviting, pairing and network settings cannot be changed through a stream or from a second PC.
• A sign-in gives control, not transmit. A browser or PC that signs in over the internet can listen and take control, and transmits only once you approve it at the shack, with its key. A computer paired on the shack’s own network is never held. Stop always works, from every device.
• No email notices yet. Nexus does not yet email you when a browser or PC signs in to your station.
• The station’s licence class is the one checked. Nexus at the shack applies the licence class set there, not a guest’s. Someone you invite to operate transmits under your callsign.
• A PC added by signing in needs the Nexus Remote service every 30 days to stay on the station’s network. If the service cannot be reached, pair that PC again with a code.
• Over the internet, audio waits 120 ms before playing (60 ms on your network) to ride out jitter, so the picture and audio are a little behind the shack.

Related guides

• Settings ▸ Remote access — every switch on the card.
• Talk from Remote — your microphone on the rig, from the browser.
• Scenarios & troubleshooting — stopping a transmission, and other jobs that cross chapters.