AIOC now working well as an alternative to CM108 to make a node without soldering

App_rpt-users
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The All-In-One-Cable (AIOC) is a Data/Soundcard/PTT device for two-pin HT radios. Work has been done this year to make this compatible with ASL by making the AIOC emulate the identity of the CM108 fob and provide support for the SimpleUSB configuration within ASL.

The benefit of this implementation is:

  • It’s easy for any ham to build an AllStarLink node
  • No modification is needed to any radio
  • No soldering is required
  • The AllStarLink software is unmodified, no reprogramming or swapping files is needed.

I have provided a How-To blog post for the upgrade of the AIOC and configuration to make the AIOC work happily with ASL.

These are the resources to enable the AIOC use with ASL:

Several hams have made walk-through videos of the set-up including :

For users of radios without the two-pin connector, the Universal Radio Controller contains the same AIOC processor but has a wider rage of connectivity options: https://g1lro.uk/?p=330

The COS function of the CM108 is emulated by software on the AIOC using an audio squelch process. The hang-time of this squelch is configured in the Python script aioc.py that’s downloaded from the G1lRO bundle. Edit this line at the bottom of the script of you need a different hang-time. The current period is 1.5 Seconds (1500 ms) and seems to work well:

vcos_trail_ms = 1500

I hope this helps many new users build an AllStarLink node and join the community.

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I just built a portable node with the AIOC it is working great. Thank You W0WAL

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I bought some of these last year and they have been sitting in the box ever since. Now that bugs have been found and most fixed I decided to give it a try.
In the videos I have seen that the AIOC is recognized as 0d8c:000c C-Media Electronics, Inc. But mine shows as 0d8c:013a C-Media Electronics, Inc.

Is it just an update?

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I’m not sure why that USB ID is being shown, in the script the two VID/PID pair is written to the AIOC CPU. Can you check on another PC or re-run the aioc.py script again? Does it work on ASL anyway with the values you have?

if True:
    # Set USB VID and PID (use with caution. Will need changes above to be able>
    vid = 0x0d8c # Set VID here
    pid = 0x000c # Set PID here
    write(aioc, Register.USBID, (vid << 0) | (pid << 16))
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Also see Patrick (F1FQN) with his Full-Duplex ASL repeater using two AIOC & Radios: https://youtu.be/Sna3eGS3KTo

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I ran the script again and this time I got the correct one but I can’t get it to work. I have no audio in or out. Simple USB I have tried in any way I could think of but nothing. I have another 2 sitting on my desk so I will get them ready tomorrow and see if I have the same problem so I can eliminate the possibility of a bad AIOC.

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Have you updated the firmware?
Try in windows if it is at least recognised as an audio device?
It could just be in boot loader mode waiting for a firmware upload?

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I redid the whole thing from the start and it is working now. Been testing for a few days now wit no problems.

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Have 30 units arriving this next 9th of Jul. Guys at the club are going crazy about the AIOC

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Have anyone been testing this with USBradio?

With the ASL3 version bumping up and pwwer of SBC getting more and more powerfull, DSP could be in the reach of us and I would rather work with USBradio than simple USB as it give a lot more option to work with dissimilar radio setting. And no need to tap into special circuit for cor or ctcss signal and ctcss can be changed on the go by a simple macro. when needed.

My VHF MSR-2000 where running like a charm on my old P4 computer even with 2 node ( second was a MSF-5000 in UHF ).

Too bad I was not able to get a working old computer fast when the P4 failed. And I had to run 2 node on a PI2 later on and modding the whole repeater connection was a pitty and I never liked it after that.

My

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I have been using chan_usbradio with ASL3 for the past year. It works great.

Danny

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That is a damn good news! the club 900Mhz and 440Mhz will switch soon.
Just one thing, I know that the USB naming changed. Is it possible make sure they wont change on us?
I had that problem before on acid a long time ago. There was a fix in the usbradioxxxxx.conf file.
Is it still possible?

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I have a two-node system. You should not have a problem.

Danny

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I have some units that have a tail of 3 seconds if not they will key up out of nowhere. the unit I soldered pigtail to it so the plugs are 8 to 9 inches away from the radio. They were flashed with firmware 1.3 which already has the PTT to release at 1500ms. rpt.conf has no tail at all and I still can’t figure out what is causing it.
Same setup with a different AIOC no problem whatsoever.

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In case anyone is looking for some AIOC i made an order for the guys in my area and now that the FCC changed the wording on the rules they all backed out. So i have a surplus of AIOC that i have to get rid of.

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when performing Step 3 on Making an AllStarLink Node with the URC/AIOC – G1LRO HOMEPAGE, I get the following error. Is this a Python environmental issue or something else?

thanks in advance!
Roger

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
n1rog@n1rog-73Linux:~/Downloads/AIOC$ sudo python3 aioc.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/home/n1rog/Downloads/AIOC/aioc.py”, line 43, in
aioc = hid.Device(vid=0x1209, pid=0x7388)
^^^^^^^^^^
AttributeError: module ‘hid’ has no attribute ‘Device’. Did you mean: ‘device’?

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I’m just reading about this script related to hangtime now in Jan '25 and I’m wondering if it has anything to do with the behavior I’m experiencing; my AIOC, fw-1.3 running the latest ASL3 update, plugged into an old baofeng UV5R; everything, including the audio seems to be working fine; the only thing that’s bugging me is when it when it reverses back to transmit the hangtime, it waits a full 2 seconds before it even keys up to do so. I’ve never been aware/heard of any setting that controls that.

Bob
KK6RQ

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Anyone…?

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Hi, I have just got a AIOC device and running on a Raspberry Pi3 with ASL3. I get the same error as yourself having had to install hid module for python3 first. Any solution for changing the USB ID so that I can use AIOC as SimpleUSB in ASL3?
Regards
Phil G0ELM

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If you have upgraded your ASL3 system to include the December 2024 update then we have a treat for you. The /etc/asterisk/res_usbradio.conf file can now be used to specify additional USB IDs for CM1xx compatible devices (like the AIOC).