Can't ssh into pi zero piratebox?

Hi,
I'm new to piratebox so please forgive me if I'm doing something stupid, but I'm struggling to get in via ssh.
I have a Pi Zero with a Zero4U 4-port USB hub piggy-backed on so I can plug in my WiPi wifi adapter and USB memory stick at the same time. On the Zero's GPIO SPI pins I've connected a Raspi.tv external ethernet port (HanRun HR911105A with ENC28J60 chipset), carefully wired to the correct pins as per the instructions on Raspi.tv and double/triple checked!
My micro SD HC card is a Kingston 4Gb one which I've flashed with piratebox_rpi_1.1.1-1-03-10-2016.img (took several attempts actually, but eventually seems to have worked ok and is reporting no errors from gparted and I can mount it and see the files ok. I've updated /boot/config.txt with a couple of extra lines :

device_tree_param=spi=on
dtoverlay=enc28j60

(I tried dtparam instead of device_tree_param too, but same result)

When I power it on, the led on the Zero flashes a few times then stays on, the leds next to the WiPi and memory stick both light up, and the ethernet port's leds flash as if it's doing something. The WiPi is working, I can see the Pirate Box - Share Freely on my wifi network and connect to it with my laptop ok, that bit is fine. My problem is that I can't seem to connect as admin over the ethernet cable using the suggested ssh alarm@alarmpi command, it just waits for a couple of minutes then says connect to host alarmpi port 22: connection timed out.
I have the ethernet cable connected into one of the ports on a Linksys (Cisco) Etherfast Cable/DSL router & 4-port switch (model BEFSR41), with a wired connection in one of the other ports to my Linux PC, where I'm issuing the ssh command from. The router itself is connected upstream to my service provider's cable router and out to the outside world from there. Could that in itself be a problem, I'm just wondering if I should disconnect it from that and try again, or should it work as I've described and something else is wrong? I've even tried using an ethernet crossover cable directly from the Raspi.tv unit to my laptop, bypassing the router completely, but still can't get in with ssh. I'm thinking there should be some error messages somewhere, but where, are they saved on the SD card somewhere so I can plug it back into my PC and mount it and read them there? I also tried plugging a TV into the HDMI port thinking I might see something on there, but it didn't detect any signal.
Any suggestions as to what to try next? Is there any way to get in as admin over wifi as an alternative maybe, and just ditch the ethernet idea, or does it have to be ethernet? Stumped at the moment.
Thanks,
Gary.

Hi,
as you can see the PirateBox wifi, did you consider using the open wifi instead of a connection via ethernet?
Matthias

Hi Matthias,
well, I do feel a fool now. No, I hadn't thought of that, I was thinking it had to be a wired ethernet connection for the ssh part. Having now connected my computer to the wifi instead, I can ssh into it and it seems to be working fine!
Thank you for pointing this out. I was so close, just missing the obvious!
Off to play with it now,
Cheers!
Gary.