Field Operation - Basic Question from Noob

[B G]

I'm probably being stupid but can someone pls help me. I have the pi Zero and it all works if I am connected to my home WiFi. But I can't connect to digipi if I disconnect my home WiFi. I wanted to simulate being out in the field with no internet. What am i doing wrong? Is this supposed to be able to work in the field without internet? Thanks!

[Don Porter]

Make sure your hotspot.nmconnection is still in place at /etc/NetworkManager/systemconnections

Don Porter, ThD, MEd
https://linktr.ee/don_p

On Tue, Nov 18, 2025, 21:35 B G <bgold...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm probably being stupid but can someone pls help me. I have the pi Zero and it all works if I am connected to my home WiFi. But I can't connect to digipi if I disconnect my home WiFi. I wanted to simulate being out in the field with no internet. What am i doing wrong? Is this supposed to be able to work in the field without internet? Thanks!

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[Don Porter]

system-connections

[Craig]

Hi BG,

If digipi can't connect to home wifi, it automatgically becomes a hotstpot, "DigiPi", password "abcdefghij",
and you can visit it at http://10.0.0.5/ .

You can simulate being in the field by entering an incorrect wifi name/ssid in the wifi settings, or boot
it in the microwave oven, or turn off your wifi router, etc.

you indicated "Zero" -- it needs to be a Zero2W for this to work.

... and let us know,
-craig
KM6LYW

On 11/18/25 18:35, B G wrote:

I'm probably being stupid but can someone pls help me. I have the pi Zero and it all works if I am connected to my home WiFi. But I can't connect to digipi if I disconnect my home WiFi. I wanted to simulate being out in the field with no internet. What am i doing wrong? Is this supposed to be able to work in the field without internet? Thanks! --

[B G]

Thank you both Craig and Don

I rebooted the PI in the microwave oven (LOL) and it worked ... it did not find my home network so I was able to test "field conditions".
Also I repeated the test with my home WiFi/Router unplugged ... and again, it worked!!

Interestingly though, I connected to the IP Address on the screen and NOT to 10.0.0.5, and it worked just fine and it did not ask me for a password.

I'll take the win! And now I'll try to hook up to my xiegu 5105 and run JS8Call for the first true test.

Thanks so much for Answering my question.

-Beth

[B G]

Oh Dang I spoke to soon! I do not have it working.
 I think I'm really confused about how to work this. When I booted up in the microwave to simulate field conditions, I "Thought" it was working because I saw a cached page on my android table that showed the DigiPi Menu of all the modes you can run. But in fact it was not connected ... it was just a cache image.

So I was out in the field last night and booted up the DigiPi, the screen showed HotSpot 10.0.0.5.
On my tablet, I went to settings->Show available networks. I clicked on DigiPi.

Then in a browser window I entered 10.0.0.5 and I got that screen where you enter your SSID and Password.

Where am i going wrong? What was I supposed to enter in the browser?
Was I not supposed to connect to DigiPi in the available networks?
I know I am just missing something very basic here.

Thanks,
Beth

[Craig]

your browser history probably took you to http://10.0.0.5/wifi rather than http://10.0.0.5 which is what you want.

You can always click the "DigiPi" at the top of any digipi web page to take you to the home page as well.


-craig
KM6LYW

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/digipi/f313109e-7237-4b38-9f19-3532dc3b2d8an%40googlegroups.com.