If you've ever camped at Minnesota's Lac qui Parle state park after mosquito season has begun, you know one thing for certain: the park has mosquitoes. Lots of them. Gnats, too.
So while you're imaging it would be nice to be in a place of relatively safety; it's not fun having your blood simultaneously drained and replaced by several diseases. Some of you have RVs with doors the mosquitoes haven't yet learned how to open, so you're good. Me, I have my car, a 10x10 netted enclosure, and my sleeping tent. Not quite as comfy as an RV, but it serves.
Regardless of our particular camping style we need something that will let us talk to our gear from our safe places. In the past I've done this using a USB data cable (a tripping hazard and possibly unreliable). If there's a local wi-fi network available that's much preferred. The unfortunate truth is that, at the time I'm writing this, Lac qui Parle does not have any wi-fi at its campground I can tap into. Nor do the remote places where I like to image: the Nebraska and Iowa star parties, and a friend's semi-rural back yard.
The good news is that Chad over at Patriot Astronomy has a series of instructional videos for obtaining, configuring, and using a system that will act as a wi-fi network and enable you to use a mobile device to control your gear. Basically you connect your mount-attached minicomputer to a stand-alone wi-fi router, and then connect your mobile device to the router and remote desktop into the minicomputer. Easy-peasy.
But not if you're me: I have a couple of problems.
PROBLEM 1: Chad makes the reasonable assumption that I am using a Windows 11 minicomputer. Instead I have an old Windows 10 Home version laptop that sits on a table near my gear. Win 10 Home lacks the remote desktop feature that will be needed. My laptop is fine, and I really don't want to drop $600+ on a new one just now, so I'll need to find something to give me remote desktop access. This means finding software for the laptop and my Android devices.
I solved problem 2 by rescuing my old ASUS RT-N12 D1 router from the family Goodwill donation pile. The ASUS is nice because it runs off 12 VDC using a standard power jack, only needs about 1.7 W, and provides 2.4 GHz wi-fi. That last bit is good because 2.4 provides better range. Despite being 2013 technology the ASUS was up to the task. You buy this router used on eBay for under $20.
I should add that technically the router can double its range if it sits halfway between my laptop and my safe area. It will just need a dedicated power supply like a small 12 V lithium battery. A single 7 Ah 12.8 V battery can power the ASUS for over 50 hours.
If it has a failing it's that it is not rated as waterproof. All its air vents are on the bottom, though, and I doubt a heavy dew will bother it.
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| The mighty ASUS RT-N12 D1 router |
As for software, searching with Google AI mode is wonderful -- if you like having to pick between options. Word your question in different ways and you'll get different recommendations. When it came to remote desktop software for Win 10 it gave me a choice of titles, Real VNC, UltraVNC, NoMachine, and TightVNC. Let's take those in the order I tried them.
Real VNC. The "free" version turned out to be a 14 day trial that would require purchasing a plan to continue using -- making it a non-starter.
Ultra VNC. It was impossible to find the correct download link among all the ads for scams. It wasn't just me, their forum was loaded with similar complaints. I eventually clicked a bad link and had my browser hijacked by a phony shopping site. In other words, DO NOT USE Ultra VNC.
NoMachine. This one seemed promising at first. I installed it on my laptop and my Android tablet. This was said to be free for personal use but it insisted on my setting up a no-cost account with them in order for it to run. I created an account but regardless of how I tried to get it running it insisted that I enter a license key which I did not have. Google AI said this was a problem that was sometimes solved by creating a local user on Win 10, so I did that, and it did not help. At this point I'd wasted the better part of a day beating my head against NoMachine, so I said No to NoMachine.
TightVNC. This is open source so it doesn't keep trying to get you to sign up for a plan; it installed and ran simply. I wish I had started with it.
For the Android side, there were two suggestions, VNCViewer and avnc. I could not find VNCViewer in the Android play store, but avnc was there; it installed and worked nicely. avnc is also open source.
Adding a stylus and small bluetooth keyboard gives me convenient and accurate input control. Configuring everything mainly involved setting up passwords for protection. Using built in password managers really helps!
What this means is that my laptop will now sit out by the telescope with the ASUS next to it. I will sit in my screened shelter, or maybe just nap in my tent. The only times I'll be out feeding the pests will be when polar aligning, a meridian flip is happening (must watch those cables!), or when the time comes for shooting flat frames. Hopefully when those last two happen it will cool enough that the bloodsuckers will have already called it a night.
On its first night in the field, the ASUS bridged the 140 feet and one outside wall to connect laptop to tablet; 20 feet from laptop to router, then another 120 to the tablet.
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Trivia Time
I hope the name Ed Ting means something to you. Starting around 2000 he started reviewing telescopes...lots of telescopes! You can still read all his reviews here, and see more modern videos here. Many of us found his reviews quite educational. In my case his review of the INTES MK67, though short, influenced me just enough to buy one. Alas, that's one of my "I wish I never sold it" scopes now.
But that's not why I mention him. Did you know that he also solves New York Times crossword puzzles? And that he sometimes comments on them in Rex Parker's NYT Crossword Puzzle blog?
