# Notecard for Skylo Starter Kit - Remote access to USB via WiFi

**URL:** <https://discuss.blues.com/t/notecard-for-skylo-starter-kit-remote-access-to-usb-via-wifi/3662>\
**Category:** Notecard for Skylo\
**Created:** [October 13, 2026, 3:38pm UTC](https://discuss.blues.com/t/notecard-for-skylo-starter-kit-remote-access-to-usb-via-wifi/3662 "2026-10-13T15:38:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![patmolloy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@patmolloy](https://discuss.blues.com/u/patmolloy)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 3:38pm UTC](https://discuss.blues.com/t/notecard-for-skylo-starter-kit-remote-access-to-usb-via-wifi/3662/1 "2026-10-13T15:38:22Z")

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This is a bit convoluted. I have the Starter Kit and want to try NTN. The card needs to be out on the balcony to see the sky (I’m in the office) and I a) just want to use browser USB to connect for testing but b) don’t want to run a long USB cable back indoors. I have actually managed to connect the notecard to a RPi Zero 2 W (all running self-contained on a battery - on the balcony) such that the USB is made available over WiFi at x.x.x.x:2000. And on a PC inside the office (on the same subnet) I have created a virtual COM20 which points to x.x.x.x:2000.

Amazingly this works and if I use putty to talk serial to COM20 at 115200 I can issue commands to the notecard and get the json messages back. However, the notecard quickstart " **Connect a Notecard"** does not give me an option (that I can see) to connect to COM20. Is there a way to do this? If I connect locally to the notecard it obviously pops up as a COMxx device and I can connect.

It’s clear that in some sense COM20 _is_ ok - putty can talk to it!

I know it’s a mad solution but I have no way of running a long cable out to the balcony and even if I could I am sure the voltage drop would upset the notecard!

I suppose one question is whether quickstart’s port chooser filters by USB vendor ID, and whether there’s a way to bypass the filter for non-USB serial ports.

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**Author:** ![RobLauer](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discuss.blues.com/roblauer/32/1567_2.png) [@RobLauer](https://discuss.blues.com/u/RobLauer)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 2:36pm UTC](https://discuss.blues.com/t/notecard-for-skylo-starter-kit-remote-access-to-usb-via-wifi/3662/2 "2026-10-14T14:36:15Z")

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Hi @patmolloy,

Nice work on getting that running - I think this is a perfectly elegant solution!

And yes you guessed right, that our In-Browser Terminal does filter serial ports so only Notecards can connect to it. However, you could just use something like PuTTY or our [Notecard CLI](https://dev.blues.io/tools-and-sdks/notecard-cli/) pointed at COM20:

```auto
notecard -interface serial -port COM20 -portconfig 115200   

```

Then run `notecard -play` for interactive mode.

Hope that helps!  
Rob

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**Author:** ![patmolloy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@patmolloy](https://discuss.blues.com/u/patmolloy)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 8:09am UTC](https://discuss.blues.com/t/notecard-for-skylo-starter-kit-remote-access-to-usb-via-wifi/3662/3 "2026-10-19T08:09:56Z")

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Thanks Rob,

I have this running reliably now using the CLI as as well as some Windows Powershell scripts (and also TeraTerm which works a bit better than Putty. Works great and I’ve had some very successful skylo tests now. Just for anyone else reading - i tried USBIP too and failed, so am using ser2net on the RPi and HW VSP3 on Windows to join them up. I’ve written a full doc of the adventure if anyone is interested! Getting about 2 days battery life using a Voltaic V50 USB Battery Pack, which is plenty for me testing.