Best option for announcement server

Third-Party Apps
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So I recently setup an allstar node. Im pretty new to allstar btw. I have My allstar installed alongside dvswitch. I have that connected to my xlx reflector. Its all going though the yaesu repeater along with being tied to wires-x.

Ive seen some videos about adding things like time, weather, & even skywarn. Id like to play around with that stuff just to get familiar with it & try it out. Im wondering whats the best option. I dont want to install that stuff on my main node. Just for the sake of so much is linked together. Plus at times I maybe linked to other repeaters via one of the ways I have mentioned above. Id like to have a 2nd node to play with for installing & configuring the addons mentioned above. Then when so desired connect to that node to allow those announcements to pass over. Or will that work? Im wondering can I create a private node & have those announcements on it? Or do I need another 2nd node thats public for that? I kind of think that might be a waste of node numbers if we are being conservative. Or perhaps the node extension? I’m not really sure how a node extension works because I'm relatively new to all this.

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So yes you can do both. Private or public node. It depends on how you want it to go. If you do a private node you will have to connect something to it, for example your public node, in order to hear it. At that point though why create a private node if your just going to use your public node. You could create another public node and create a simplex link for testing, like I have done. I have 3 nodes, 294152 is my main hub its radioless and connects DVSwitch, echolink, etc. then I have 294150 which is my RF node. That is how I TX for allstar (apartment living). But then I also have 29415. That is my test node. Its not all the time. It sits on a shelf. When I want to test a script, see if an update crashes my ASL3, try a new feature (or even an old one LOL) I use that one. If it crashes I simply rewrite the SD card. If I mess it up beyond repair no big deal. Yes it has RF capabilities. That is how I got newsline and ARRL news to play on the main node. Sorry for being so lengthy but I was bored LOL.