Audio not on all nodes

AllStarLink
1

Setup Information

3 year old installation and on latest Trixie installation.

I have a strange fenomenon. When i used multiple nodes on 1 raspberry server.

I use 1 node for 2m hotspot and 1 for 70cm hotspot. Both using same hardware Uri.

I can connect both to each other creating a cross band repeater. If i connect 1 (lets say 2m) to an other outside node. The outside node can hear both bands all in simplex mode..

But is the outside talks back both hotspots transmit but only 70cm gets the audio.. other has no audio. If i disconnect 2m and connect 70cm node to the outside. Only 2m gets audio from the outside and notting on 70cm. Again both bands will tx..

I had this intermittent in the past but now during a camp week it was very evident..

Any idea..

Benno

2

Please provide more information on the configuration of each node, how they're linked, if these are private nodes, etc. It's not possible to advise based on the description provided.

3

i will wager your raspberry pi is not a Model 3B+

4

Thanks for the response.

System is now down so quick version check is problematic.

The Raspberry 4B with 2Gb ram has the latest (april) install with trixie OS.

It was a fresh install. on a older system build last year.

It contains of 2x cm119 URI connected to 2 baofeng running VHF and UHF.

Node numbers 629926 and 629927.

If i connect 629927 to 629926 i got a crossband repeater witch works fine.

Now i connect 629926 to an external Node. Both my nodes can talk to the external node.

If the external node talks back both xxx6 and xxx7 transmit but only xxx7 has audio from the external.

xxx6 has no audio.

now i disconnect xxx6 from the external node and connect xxxx7 to the external.

Now again both xxx6 and xxx7 can talk to the external node.

But the audio from the external is only heard on xxxx6. xxxx7 is tx a blank carrier.

I will setup the crossband repeater at home and reproduce the error.

What more info do you need.

Benno

5

And both nodes are configured as duplex=1 in rpt.conf?

6

if you were to use the same ASL3 configuration (multiple interfaces and all the rest) but instead employ a Raspberry Pi 3B+, i am certain you will find it then behaves as expected.

there is something inherent in the 4B (and probably 5, too) drivers causing the issues you have experienced.

see Multi-node ASL3 server topic, with special attention to the concluding post from March 21.

7

I have Pi 5s with multiple USB sound devices and there is no problem using them simultaneously.

8

very good, then. that information narrows the issue down to the Pi4

9

I had the same setup on 4s, I'm pretty sure. I'm 90% certain that system started out as a Pi 4B and is now a 5. I'll have to do some tests.

10

A long while back I had a lengthy AI discussion about using multiple audio interfaces on Raspberry Pi's. A claim was made that there were (are?) some known issues with the RPi 4's. Updates to the VL805 firmware (sudo rpi-eeprom-update) and changes to the kernel USB stack have helped. There was also a suggestion to plug your audio interface adaptors into a powered USB hub (and the hub gets plugged into the Pi).

11

perhaps, this being another RPi 4 behaving the same way i experienced, giving the eeprom update a try will help? i was not aware of the eeprom update and did not do it. to make progress on my project, i just swapped out the RPi 4 for a RPi 3B+ and voila all was as expected

is there an easy way to check on the eeprom image release number/version?

12

When "I" run the command (on an RPi4 and RPi5) as a non-priv login (i.e. NOT root) the command reports the current version, reports the latest version, and tells me to run the command w/"sudo" and add the "-a" argument to install the update.

13

from my RPi 4

$ rpi-eeprom-update 
BOOTLOADER: up to date
   CURRENT: Fri  9 Jan 16:12:13 UTC 2026 (1767975133)
    LATEST: Fri  9 Jan 16:12:13 UTC 2026 (1767975133)
   RELEASE: default (/usr/lib/firmware/raspberrypi/bootloader-2711/default)
            Use raspi-config to change the release.

  VL805_FW: Using bootloader EEPROM
     VL805: version unknown. Try sudo rpi-eeprom-update
   CURRENT: 
    LATEST: 
$ sudo rpi-eeprom-update
BOOTLOADER: up to date
   CURRENT: Fri  9 Jan 16:12:13 UTC 2026 (1767975133)
    LATEST: Fri  9 Jan 16:12:13 UTC 2026 (1767975133)
   RELEASE: default (/usr/lib/firmware/raspberrypi/bootloader-2711/default)
            Use raspi-config to change the release.

  VL805_FW: Using bootloader EEPROM
     VL805: up to date
   CURRENT: 000138c0
    LATEST: 000138c0

so it would seem the two interfaces but only one with audio on the RPi 4 i experienced is not because the eeprom image is out-of-date

14

And you recently had (still have) an issue with multiple audio interfaces on this RPi4? or this was a while back and your Pi may have since been updated?

... or the issue you were having with multiple interfaces was a configuration error (back to N8EI's question to the OP about the duplex settings for the nodes).