First time node setup

App_rpt-users
1

I new to Allstarlink and pretty much Linux as well. I am trying to get my node set up and followed the instructions on the site however, when you get to this point I am stuck. AllStarLink Audio settings with SimpleUSB

type sudo asl-menu like the example bellow:

repeater@repeater:~$ sudo asl-menu

Choose option <4>.
101 asl menu 4.png

With option , will triger PTT few times on your radio for testing, you should also listen a test tone.

I go to option 4 and it goes to another screen saying you have to enable simpleusb in modules.conf and enable it in rtp.conf. I finally found out how to get to the files but have no idea how to select, or enable them. There is almost nothing on how to do this online. I take it back, there is nothing online. I have been searching for two days. Can anyone help a newbie figure this out? Is there somewhere that has complete instructions on how to setup a node?

2

If I’m reading correct (and understanding, i’m tired)
You need to edit
/etc/asterisk/modules.conf

Look through the list til you see
noload => chan_simpleusb.so ; erase the ‘no’ and save
load => chan_simpleusb.so ;

Edit your /etc/asterisk/rpt.config for the node you are setting up and replace node number in my example…

[29285] ;assigned node number UHF repeater
rxchannel = SimpleUSB/usb_29285 ; Rx audio/signalling channel usb_29285 must match the definition inside your simpleusb.conf file, and I don’t know what the default will be on current version. Just check that it matches, whatever you call it. Would look like [usb_29285] for settings to follow in the file. Save your edits.

restart asterisk…
Systemctl restart asterisk

Then you should be able to continue the process.

3

Go to hamvoip.org there is how to set up node This is where I went to setup my 2nd Bf-888s.when 1st 888s stopped working and when a guy brought me his yellow box node to see if I could get it to work, he is blind and had the node about a year till finally bringing it to me, used same site to get node working.

···

On Mon, Nov 23, 2020 at 10:49 PM Steve via AllStarLink Discussion Groups <noreply@community.allstarlink.org> wrote:

| kb7kwk
November 24 |

  • | - |

I new to Allstarlink and pretty much Linux as well. I am trying to get my node set up and followed the instructions on the site however, when you get to this point I am stuck. AllStarLink Audio settings with SimpleUSB

type sudo asl-menu like the example bellow:

repeater@repeater:~$ sudo asl-menu

Choose option <4>.
101 asl menu 4.png

With option , will triger PTT few times on your radio for testing, you should also listen a test tone.

I go to option 4 and it goes to another screen saying you have to enable simpleusb in modules.conf and enable it in rtp.conf. I finally found out how to get to the files but have no idea how to select, or enable them. There is almost nothing on how to do this online. I take it back, there is nothing online. I have been searching for two days. Can anyone help a newbie figure this out? Is there somewhere that has complete instructions on how to setup a node?

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4

Thanks for quick reply. I did this but it is still doing same thing. I am missing something I guess. How do you un-coment something? I did what you said here and restarted. When I went to option 4 I had the same issue with it telling me that I needed to do something in modules.conf and rpt. But I again have no idea what I am doing.

···

On 11/23/2020 10:44 PM, Mike via AllStarLink Discussion Groups wrote:

Mike
November 24

If I’m reading correct (and understanding, i’m tired)
You need to edit
/etc/asterisk/modules.conf

Look through the list til you see
noload => chan_simpleusb.so ; erase the ‘no’ and save
load => chan_simpleusb.so ;

restart asterisk…
Systemctl restart asterisk

Then you should be able to continue the process.

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-- 
Steve Estes
KB7KWK
Tech Chairman SuperstitionARC
President Arizona Mesh Organization
5

One step at a time I guess.
So look once again in your modules.conf
Look at the line and verify that it is saved with load => chan_simpleusb.so
If it starts with NOLOAD, the module will not load.

Trying to verify your edit to the file was good. Then we will check the next thing.

6

Thanks again for the help guys. Yea that is the site where I was following the directions. When you get to the part: select option 4, that is when it takes me to the next screen saying you have to enable one and select the other. I went to the file I did as Mike suggested and changed noload to load and restarted asterisk. I went back to option 4 and have the same issue. I went back to the file to see if it stayed load and it did. So still stuck in the same place with node not working. I will say this though. I loaded the hamvoip image and the node works just fine. I made a contact last night. However, there are other things I want to do that can not be changed I guess in the hamvoip version. It seems the Allstarlink image is better. Here is a shot of the screen.

···

On 11/23/2020 10:55 PM, Douglas Goree via AllStarLink Discussion Groups wrote:

KM4VPG
November 24

Go to hamvoip.org there is how to set up node This is where I went to setup my 2nd Bf-888s.when 1st 888s stopped working and when a guy brought me his yellow box node to see if I could get it to work, he is blind and had the node about a year till finally bringing it to me, used same site to get node working.

··· (click for more details)

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-- 
Steve Estes
KB7KWK
Tech Chairman SuperstitionARC
President Arizona Mesh Organization

20201124_075352.jpg
20201124_075352.jpg3120×4160 3.61 MB

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7

Ok, we know that is loading.
Now ediiting your rpt.conf.
You must insert the correct driver details for the node you want to set-up

I’m not sure what it defaults to with the set-up program.
But likely looks something like this…
I am showing options here and all are commented out except one with a semicolon “;”
Replace 29285 with the node nu in question in both places for you need to load the SimpleUSB driver details here and after the "/"tells us which definition inside the file to load.for this node… usb_29285.

[29285] ;assigned node number UHF repeater
;rxchannel = dahdi/pseudo
rxchannel = SimpleUSB/usb_29285 ; Rx audio/signalling channel
;rxchannel = Radio/usb_29285

save

Now editing SimpleUSB.conf you will have something that looks like this for the node in question and yo can ignore the later lives in my example because you are not setting up like me.

[usb_29285] ;<case sensitive must match that in rpt.config as the signaling channel
pp7=ptt
pp12=cor

eeprom = 0 ; EEPROM installed: 0,1
; 0 = no (default)
; 1 = yes

hdwtype = 0 ; Leave this set to 0 for USB sound fobs modified using
; the instructions from usbfob.pdf. Use a setting of
; 1 is for Dingotel/Sph interfaces.

duplex = 1 ; Duplex / 0 - half duplex / 1 - full duplex

; Receiver parameters

;carrierfrom=no
;carrierfrom=dsp
;carrierfrom=pp
carrierfrom=ppinvert
;carrierfrom=usb < you are wanting to use
;carrierfrom=usbinvert < one of these by uncommenting for COR
;carrierfrom=vox

There are more options inside this file but I can’t say what you need.
You will need to follow directions from the wiki on setting up your radio interface ptt/cor inside this file under the node definition for each.

When you run the radiotune, it will generate a file with ‘Simpleusb_tune_usb_29285’ in the file name for the node in question.with the parameters generated from the program.

So, if you are still having issues…
have you been following the instructions from the wiki ?

if not, what have you been following.so we can see it.
Come back and tell us where you are.

If you are stuck in the same place, it may be a file ownership/permission issue in the SimpleUSB.conf ?

But I should ask if you started the menu with a sudo…
sudo asl-menu

Because it cant write to files without permission and using sudo is the only way to get it.

8

So I found out some of the problem. I guess I had a bad image. I dumped the SD card and reloaded the image and right away things started working like I would expect. I do have two issues now I need help with. 1. after keying the radio I hear the courtesy tone and then there is a very long tail squelch after. I would like for that to drop right after the tone. Any help with that one? and 2. I can send tones to the radio to bring up a node however, I can not get local tones to do anything, meaning if I hit say *81, *80 ect. nothing happens. I can not get the radio to read back node info or anything. I appreciate all your help guys. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours…

···

On 11/24/2020 9:34 AM, Mike via AllStarLink Discussion Groups wrote:

Mike
November 24

Ok, we know that is loading.
Now ediiting your rpt.conf.
You must insert the correct driver details for the node you want to set-up

I’m not sure what it defaults to with the set-up program.
But likely looks something like this…
I am showing options here and all are commented out except one with a semicolon “;”
Replace 29285 with the node nu in question in both places for you need to load the SimpleUSB driver details here and after the "/"tells us which definition inside the file to load.for this node… usb_29285.

[29285] ;assigned node number UHF repeater
;rxchannel = dahdi/pseudo
rxchannel = SimpleUSB/usb_29285 ; Rx audio/signalling channel
;rxchannel = Radio/usb_29285

save

Now editing SimpleUSB.conf you will have something that looks like this for the node in question and yo can ignore the later lives in my example because you are not setting up like me.

[usb_29285] ;<case sensitive must match that in rpt.config as the signaling channel
pp7=ptt
pp12=cor

eeprom = 0 ; EEPROM installed: 0,1
; 0 = no (default)
; 1 = yes

hdwtype = 0 ; Leave this set to 0 for USB sound fobs modified using
; the instructions from usbfob.pdf. Use a setting of
; 1 is for Dingotel/Sph interfaces.

duplex = 1 ; Duplex / 0 - half duplex / 1 - full duplex

; Receiver parameters

;carrierfrom=no
;carrierfrom=dsp
;carrierfrom=pp
carrierfrom=ppinvert
;carrierfrom=usb < you are wanting to use
;carrierfrom=usbinvert < one of these by uncommenting for COR
;carrierfrom=vox

There are more options inside this file but I can’t say what you need.
You will need to follow directions from the wiki on setting up your radio interface ptt/cor inside this file under the node definition for each.

When you run the radiotune, it will generate a file with ‘Simpleusb_tune_usb_29285’ in the file name for the node in question.with the parameters generated from the program.

So, if you are still having issues…
have you been following the instructions from the wiki ?

wiki.allstarlink.org

Beginners Guide - “AllStarLink Wiki”

if not, what have you been following.so we can see it.
Come back and tell us where you are.

If you are stuck in the same place, it may be a file ownership/permission issue in the SimpleUSB.conf ?

But I should ask if you started the menu with a sudo…
sudo asl-menu

Because it cant write to files without permission and using sudo is the only way to get it.

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-- 
Steve Estes
KB7KWK
Tech Chairman SuperstitionARC
President Arizona Mesh Organization
9

So, that has been seen from time to time.
Personally, I have never used the menu set-up so I have a hard time knowing exactly how it does it’s thing. But I should look at it sometime. I have done it as manual as it was in the beginning.

So the first thing to do is watch to see if your tones are being decoded.
Easiest way to do that is to watch asterisk LIVE.

from a command line

asterisk -r -vvv (the -vvv is the verbosity level, more v’s more verbose)

Watch the decoded info as well as reply by the software.
If it is not catching your tones, you have a audio issue likely. Could be error on some of those cheap radio HT’s as well.
But that is your first step.

I should ask for the other issue…
what method of COS/COR are you using as described in simpleusb.conf

10

Here is what I have done so far. After adjusting the audio I can now send tones and watch in CLI. Everything I type I can see. I went through every touch tone and all showed up on the screen. I have connected to several nodes and had a couple of QSO’s. Everyone says the audio is great. Even got the long squelch fixed however, I still have trouble getting any local commands. I hit *76 to make sure all was disconnected. I still get nothing else. So in other words, if I hit *81,*80 ect. I get nothing. Carrierfrom is set to usb.

···

On 11/26/2020 11:29 AM, Mike via AllStarLink Discussion Groups wrote:

Mike
November 26

So, that has been seen from time to time.
Personally, I have never used the menu set-up so I have a hard time knowing exactly how it does it’s thing. But I should look at it sometime. I have done it as manual as it was in the beginning.

So the first thing to do is watch to see if your tones are being decoded.
Easiest way to do that is to watch asterisk LIVE.

from a command line

asterisk -r -vvv (the -vvv is the verbosity level, more v’s more verbose)

Watch the decoded info as well as reply by the software.
If it is not catching your tones, you have a audio issue likely. Could be error on some of those cheap radio HT’s as well.
But that is your first step.

I should ask for the other issue…
what method of COS/COR are you using as described in simpleusb.conf

Visit Topic or reply to this email to respond.

To unsubscribe from these emails, click here.

-- 
Steve Estes
KB7KWK
Tech Chairman SuperstitionARC
President Arizona Mesh Organization
11

Ahhh progress…
Well, if it is reading your tones, we need to look at the commands/structure.

*71 will disconnect all *76 does nothing I know of.
*80 is say id global and likely you will only hear a cw id if you have it set.

Now for *81 (time) I can’t say for sure, but i think you will need to set to load sayunixtime in modules.conf. (remove the no in noload.

When they started making configs for the pi and BBB they started limiting what was defaulted to conserve memory. So, Give that a shot and restart your asterisk.

You will want to also be sure user functions are enabled, so make sure you have a command# set for that (and disable) and run the command to enable once. cop 17 enable and cop 18 disable

Oh… a word of caution… be careful when making up commands. use default whenever possible until you know what you are doing.
Asterisk will always execute the first matching string, so you don’t want a 2 digit that is say *90 and a 3 digit that is *901… the 3 digit will never run as it matched that 2 digit first and runs it. So in this example the *90 should be a *900 and all is fine as asterisk has to wait for the 3rd digit before processing a match…

With that in mind, just try to avoid making commands smaller than 3 digits for now. Mine are all 4+
Will give you room to expand without a rewrite and forgetting things.
Try to keep your command in rpt.conf in numerical order so you don’t dup anything or make a mistake like I mentioned above.

Let me know how you make out.