diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index c20860c..8cf2371 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 	<groupId>com.bwssystems.HABridge</groupId>
 	<artifactId>ha-bridge</artifactId>
-	<version>3.1.0j</version>
+	<version>3.1.0k</version>
 	<packaging>jar</packaging>
 
 	<name>HA Bridge</name>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/bwssystems/HABridge/HABridge.java b/src/main/java/com/bwssystems/HABridge/HABridge.java
index 928570c..ae4ab4f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/bwssystems/HABridge/HABridge.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/bwssystems/HABridge/HABridge.java
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import com.bwssystems.NestBridge.NestHome;
 import com.bwssystems.hal.HalHome;
 import com.bwssystems.harmony.HarmonyHome;
 import com.bwssystems.hue.HueHome;
+import com.bwssystems.util.UDPDatagramSender;
 
 public class HABridge {
 	
@@ -39,6 +40,7 @@ public class HABridge {
         HueHome hueHome;
         HalHome halHome;
         HueMulator theHueMulator;
+        UDPDatagramSender udpSender;
         UpnpSettingsResource theSettingResponder;
         UpnpListener theUpnpListener;
         SystemControl theSystem;
@@ -72,29 +74,37 @@ public class HABridge {
 	        halHome = new HalHome(bridgeSettings.getBridgeSettingsDescriptor());
 	        // setup the class to handle the resource setup rest api
 	        theResources = new DeviceResource(bridgeSettings.getBridgeSettingsDescriptor(), harmonyHome, nestHome, hueHome, halHome);
-	        // setup the class to handle the hue emulator rest api
-	        theHueMulator = new HueMulator(bridgeSettings.getBridgeSettingsDescriptor(), theResources.getDeviceRepository(), harmonyHome, nestHome, hueHome);
-	        theHueMulator.setupServer();
 	        // setup the class to handle the upnp response rest api
 	        theSettingResponder = new UpnpSettingsResource(bridgeSettings.getBridgeSettingsDescriptor());
 	        theSettingResponder.setupServer();
-	        // wait for the sparkjava initialization of the rest api classes to be complete
-	        awaitInitialization();
-	
-	        // start the upnp ssdp discovery listener
-	        theUpnpListener = new UpnpListener(bridgeSettings.getBridgeSettingsDescriptor(), bridgeSettings.getBridgeControl());
-	        if(theUpnpListener.startListening())
-	        	log.info("HA Bridge (v" + theVersion.getVersion() + ") reinitialization requessted....");
-	        else
-	        	bridgeSettings.getBridgeControl().setStop(true);
-	        if(bridgeSettings.getBridgeSettingsDescriptor().isSettingsChanged())
-	        	bridgeSettings.save(bridgeSettings.getBridgeSettingsDescriptor());
+	        // setup the UDP Datagram socket to be used by the HueMulator and the upnpListener
+	        udpSender = UDPDatagramSender.createUDPDatagramSender(bridgeSettings.getBridgeSettingsDescriptor().getUpnpResponsePort());
+	        if(udpSender == null) {
+	        	bridgeSettings.getBridgeControl().setStop(true);	        	
+	        }
+	        else {
+		        // setup the class to handle the hue emulator rest api
+		        theHueMulator = new HueMulator(bridgeSettings.getBridgeSettingsDescriptor(), theResources.getDeviceRepository(), harmonyHome, nestHome, hueHome, udpSender);
+		        theHueMulator.setupServer();
+		        // wait for the sparkjava initialization of the rest api classes to be complete
+		        awaitInitialization();
+		
+		        // start the upnp ssdp discovery listener
+		        theUpnpListener = new UpnpListener(bridgeSettings.getBridgeSettingsDescriptor(), bridgeSettings.getBridgeControl(), udpSender);
+		        if(theUpnpListener.startListening())
+		        	log.info("HA Bridge (v" + theVersion.getVersion() + ") reinitialization requessted....");
+		        else
+		        	bridgeSettings.getBridgeControl().setStop(true);
+		        if(bridgeSettings.getBridgeSettingsDescriptor().isSettingsChanged())
+		        	bridgeSettings.save(bridgeSettings.getBridgeSettingsDescriptor());
+	        }
 	        bridgeSettings.getBridgeControl().setReinit(false);
 	        stop();
 	        nestHome.closeTheNest();
 	        nestHome = null;
 	        harmonyHome.shutdownHarmonyHubs();
 	        harmonyHome = null;
+	        udpSender.closeResponseSocket();
         }
         log.info("HA Bridge (v" + theVersion.getVersion() + ") exiting....");
         System.exit(0);
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/bwssystems/HABridge/hue/HueMulator.java b/src/main/java/com/bwssystems/HABridge/hue/HueMulator.java
index a93d7d5..60bca51 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/bwssystems/HABridge/hue/HueMulator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/bwssystems/HABridge/hue/HueMulator.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import com.bwssystems.hue.HueHome;
 import com.bwssystems.hue.HueUtil;
 import com.bwssystems.nest.controller.Nest;
 import com.bwssystems.util.JsonTransformer;
+import com.bwssystems.util.UDPDatagramSender;
 import com.google.gson.Gson;
 
 import net.java.dev.eval.Expression;
@@ -60,8 +61,6 @@ import java.io.DataOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.math.BigDecimal;
 import java.math.BigInteger;
-import java.net.DatagramPacket;
-import java.net.DatagramSocket;
 import java.net.InetAddress;
 import java.net.Socket;
 import java.nio.charset.Charset;
@@ -99,12 +98,13 @@ public class HueMulator implements HueErrorStringSet {
     private SSLConnectionSocketFactory sslsf;
     private RequestConfig globalConfig;
     private BridgeSettingsDescriptor bridgeSettings;
+    private UDPDatagramSender theUDPDatagramSender;
     private byte[] sendData;
     private String hueUser;
     private String errorString;
 
 
-    public HueMulator(BridgeSettingsDescriptor theBridgeSettings, DeviceRepository aDeviceRepository, HarmonyHome theHarmonyHome, NestHome aNestHome, HueHome aHueHome){
+    public HueMulator(BridgeSettingsDescriptor theBridgeSettings, DeviceRepository aDeviceRepository, HarmonyHome theHarmonyHome, NestHome aNestHome, HueHome aHueHome, UDPDatagramSender aUdpDatagramSender) {
         httpClient = HttpClients.createDefault();
         // Trust own CA and all self-signed certs
         sslcontext = SSLContexts.createDefault();
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ public class HueMulator implements HueErrorStringSet {
 		else
 			this.myHueHome = null;
         bridgeSettings = theBridgeSettings;
+        theUDPDatagramSender = aUdpDatagramSender;
         hueUser = null;
         errorString = null;
     }
@@ -905,10 +906,7 @@ public class HueMulator implements HueErrorStringSet {
 			        		}
 			        		if(callItems[i].getItem().contains("udp://")) {
 			    	        	log.debug("executing HUE api request to UDP: " + callItems[i].getItem());
-				        		DatagramSocket responseSocket = new DatagramSocket(Integer.parseInt(port));
-				        		DatagramPacket sendPacket = new DatagramPacket(sendData, sendData.length, IPAddress, Integer.parseInt(port));
-				        		responseSocket.send(sendPacket);
-				        		responseSocket.close();
+				        		theUDPDatagramSender.sendUDPResponse(new String(sendData), IPAddress, Integer.parseInt(port));
 			        		}
 			        		else if(callItems[i].getItem().contains("tcp://"))
 			        		{
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/bwssystems/HABridge/upnp/UpnpListener.java b/src/main/java/com/bwssystems/HABridge/upnp/UpnpListener.java
index 3ed7b79..dba4225 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/bwssystems/HABridge/upnp/UpnpListener.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/bwssystems/HABridge/upnp/UpnpListener.java
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import com.bwssystems.HABridge.BridgeControlDescriptor;
 import com.bwssystems.HABridge.BridgeSettingsDescriptor;
 import com.bwssystems.HABridge.Configuration;
 import com.bwssystems.HABridge.api.hue.HuePublicConfig;
+import com.bwssystems.util.UDPDatagramSender;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.*;
@@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ import org.apache.http.conn.util.*;
 
 public class UpnpListener {
 	private Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(UpnpListener.class);
-	private int upnpResponsePort;
+	private UDPDatagramSender theUDPDatagramSender;
 	private int httpServerPort;
 	private String responseAddress;
 	private boolean strict;
@@ -92,9 +93,9 @@ public class UpnpListener {
 			"ST: urn:schemas-upnp-org:device:basic:1\r\n" +
 			"USN: uuid:Socket-1_0-221438K0100073::urn:Belkin:device:**\r\n\r\n";
 */	
-	public UpnpListener(BridgeSettingsDescriptor theSettings, BridgeControlDescriptor theControl) {
+	public UpnpListener(BridgeSettingsDescriptor theSettings, BridgeControlDescriptor theControl, UDPDatagramSender aUdpDatagramSender) {
 		super();
-		upnpResponsePort = theSettings.getUpnpResponsePort();
+		theUDPDatagramSender = aUdpDatagramSender;
 		httpServerPort = Integer.valueOf(theSettings.getServerPort());
 		responseAddress = theSettings.getUpnpConfigAddress();
 		strict = theSettings.isUpnpStrict();
@@ -106,33 +107,9 @@ public class UpnpListener {
 	@SuppressWarnings("resource")
 	public boolean startListening(){
 		log.info("UPNP Discovery Listener starting....");
-		DatagramSocket responseSocket = null;
 		MulticastSocket upnpMulticastSocket = null;
 		Enumeration<NetworkInterface> ifs = null;
 
-		boolean portLoopControl = true;
-		int retryCount = 0;
-		while(portLoopControl) {
-			try {
-				responseSocket = new DatagramSocket(upnpResponsePort);
-				if(retryCount > 0)
-					log.info("Upnp Response Port issue, found open port: " + upnpResponsePort);
-				portLoopControl = false;
-			} catch(SocketException e) {
-				if(retryCount == 0)
-					log.warn("Upnp Response Port is in use, starting loop to find open port for 20 tries - configured port is: " + upnpResponsePort);
-				if(retryCount >= 20) {
-					portLoopControl = false;
-					log.error("Upnp Response Port issue, could not find open port - last port tried: " + upnpResponsePort + " with message: " + e.getMessage());
-					return false;
-				}
-			}
-			if(portLoopControl) {
-				retryCount++;
-				upnpResponsePort++;
-			}
-		}
-
 		try {
 			upnpMulticastSocket  = new MulticastSocket(Configuration.UPNP_DISCOVERY_PORT);
 		} catch(IOException e){
@@ -189,7 +166,7 @@ public class UpnpListener {
 				upnpMulticastSocket.receive(packet);
 				if (isSSDPDiscovery(packet)) {
 					try {
-						sendUpnpResponse(responseSocket, packet.getAddress(), packet.getPort());
+						sendUpnpResponse(packet.getAddress(), packet.getPort());
 					} catch (IOException e) {
 						if(e.getMessage().equalsIgnoreCase("Host is down"))
 							log.warn("UpnpListener encountered an error sending upnp response packet as requesting host is now not available. IP: " + packet.getAddress().getHostAddress());
@@ -213,7 +190,6 @@ public class UpnpListener {
 			}
 		}
 		upnpMulticastSocket.close();
-		responseSocket.close();
 		if (bridgeControl.isReinit())
 			log.info("UPNP Discovery Listener - ended, restart found");
 		if (bridgeControl.isStop())
@@ -265,7 +241,7 @@ public class UpnpListener {
 		return false;
 	}
 
-	protected void sendUpnpResponse(DatagramSocket socket, InetAddress requester, int sourcePort) throws IOException {
+	protected void sendUpnpResponse(InetAddress requester, int sourcePort) throws IOException {
 		String discoveryResponse = null;
 		String bridgeIdMac = null;
 		if(discoveryTemplateLatest) {
@@ -280,7 +256,6 @@ public class UpnpListener {
 		}
 		else
 			log.debug("sendUpnpResponse discovery template with address: " + responseAddress + " and port: " + httpServerPort);
-		DatagramPacket response = new DatagramPacket(discoveryResponse.getBytes(), discoveryResponse.length(), requester, sourcePort);
-		socket.send(response);
+		theUDPDatagramSender.sendUDPResponse(discoveryResponse, requester, sourcePort);
 	}
 }