Full duplex node can receive but not transmit audio to/from connected nodes

AllStarLink
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Setup Information

Asterisk : 22.5.2+asl3-3.6.3-1.deb12
ASL [app_rpt] : 3.6.3

Inquiry

I recently set up a full duplex node, on a micro Dell PC, running Debian 12 and ASL 3. I have a Kenwood TM-D700 connected to the PC with an allscan URI-125. I am able to make outgoing connections from this node to other nodes. I am receiving audio from the connected node.that is being transmitted from the TM-D700 and I am listening to it on a HT. But when I transmit from my HT, that audio never makes it back to the connected node.

I have duplex type set to “3” in asl-menu, But have tried other setting with the same results.

I do have Starlink residential Internet, and am aware of the CG-NAT issue. I am using a Wireguard VPN to deal with that, Wireguard server is installed in the cloud with a static IP. I thought I knew how to do this, as I very recently had an Echolink node set up at my home connected to the same Wireguard server VPN. I was working on setting that up for a local club who wanted to put it at another member’s home (who also had Starlink). FWIW, that Echolink was using a Signalink interface with a Yaesu 2m mobile. I was able to connect to it from the Echolink app on my phone.

But something is not yet right with the VPN for the Allstar node. as I have been unable to connect to my home node from anywhere *I can make outgoing connections though). At this point, I do not know if that is the root of my “one-way audio” issue or not. I am able to ping the VPN IP addresses between my debian 12 and the cloud-hosted server.

Background info.

I am somewhat new to Allstar.I have had RepeaterPhone installed on my iPhone for several months and have been using it to connect and talk to other nodes of interest.

A few months after I started with the app, I wanted to learn more about setting up nodes, but did not have a radio or interface. So I set up a radio-less node in the cloud. It is at Vultr. It is running debian 12 and asl3. I am able to connect to it, connect it to other nodes, then connect my RepeaterPhone app to the radio-less node and talk from the iPhone, but honestly that seems kind of pointless, when I could just connect the RepeaterPhone app directly to the node(s) of interest. So, truly I am not sure what practical use there really is for a cloud radio-less node? Other than for educational purposes.

I wanted to build a node at home, with a radio. I had an older Dell ultra small desktop PC, had acquired a Kenwood TM-D700 mobile radio. After looking at the allscan.info site, I decided on a full duplex node. So I purchased a URI-125 from them..

This past weekend I worked on setting it all up.I got debian12 installed on the laptop, then installed ASL3. I also extended my 1st node, to get a 2nd node number.

2

I have a TM-D700A, and, far as I know, it can’t be used as a full duplex node through just it’s data port. The data port always uses the active VFO, unlike the Kenwood TM-V71A, where you can go to a menu and select A band, B band, A band TX/B band RX, or B band RX/A-band TX. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that’s the case.

So, if your active band is VFO B, it will transmit on that band. The radio will still receive whatever is happening on band A, but that won’t make it to the data port, because it’s both listening to and transmitting on VFO B.

Does it work if you use it in simplex mode, I.e. duplex=0 or duplex=1?

3

Well I tried both 0 and 1 and still no audio is going out.

What you are saying about A and B band makes sense. If I understand, to use full duplex I would have to make a cable where the rx audio Pin on the mini-DIN connector is getting its audio from one of the speaker jacks on the rear of the TM-D700? Those speaker jacks have been discussed on the groups.io TM-D700/710 list. I suppose, alternatively I could make a cable where TX audio goes from the URI into the TM-D700 mic connector? OR buy a TM-D700 or Yaesu FT-8800 OR just use two HTs?

The TM-D700 is indeed transmitting on the active band. So it seems like simplex should have worked?

The issue seems to be that that audio the TM-D700 is receiving is not making it to the URI-125.

I have a 2m frequency on the A side with the PTT set to there, then a 70cm frequency on the B side.

The TM-D700 is receiving the transmissions from a HT that is transmitting on 70cm and also listening on 2m.

4

Have you confirmed ASL is seeing your local Rx audio? ie. if you run the radiotune menu and the set Rx level function you see audio on the level meter when you Tx from your HT? By far the most common cause of this issue that I see is that ctcssfrom in usbradio / simpleusb .conf is left at the default of ‘usbinvert’ instead of being set to ‘no’ which is what it should be for 99% of nodes. Or if running USBRadio in DSP mode (which is recommended for radios that can output flat ‘9600’ audio) you may need to run/rerun the calibration steps for the USBRadio squelch/CTCSS decode level settings, as described here - ASL Configuration

5

There are three simpleusb.conf files on my system.

/usr/share/doc/asl3-asterisk-config/examples/configs/asl3/simpleusb.conf
/usr/share/asterisk/conf/asl3/simpleusb.conf
/etc/asterisk/simpleusb.conf

which one(s) should I check the ctcssfrom in?

6

You want to look at /etc/asterisk/simpleusb.conf

7

I now have the node set to simplex (1). The radio is on a single band. I am still using the miniDIN cable alone, between TM-D700 and URI125.

When I run radiotune menu and choose option 3, I never see any kind of input/graph while transmitting. I know the radio is receiving because I can hear the transmissions on the radio speaker.

Given what has been posted about the TM-D700 data port not working in duplex mode, I understand why radiotune would not see any signal in full duplex. But I am not understanding why I see nothing even in simplex 1.

8

You can use the radiotune menu ‘R’ option to show Rx Audio Stats, which will show the actual raw ADC input levels regardless of any other COS/CTCSS settings in ASL. If that shows audio coming in, that will then confirm that you do not have a hardware issue and that your issue is probably in the ASL channel driver / COS / CTCSS settings. Or if the Rx audio stats do not show audio coming in then you may have an issue in the radio where it is not outputting audio out the Mini-DIN jack eg. maybe a config setting in the radio needs to be set, or maybe you have the MD6 Rx source switch in the URI set to 1200 instead of 9600, or the RxLevel trim pot set too low.

9

Thank You. Here is a brief snippet from Radiotune - choosing R.

RxAudioStats: Pk -1.4 Avg Pwr -10 Min -11 Max -9 dBFS ClipCnt 0
RxAudioStats: Pk -1.3 Avg Pwr -10 Min -11 Max -9 dBFS ClipCnt 0
RxAudioStats: Pk -1.2 Avg Pwr -10 Min -11 Max -9 dBFS ClipCnt 0
RxAudioStats: Pk -1.5 Avg Pwr -10 Min -11 Max -9 dBFS ClipCnt 0
RxAudioStats: Pk -0.7 Avg Pwr -10 Min -11 Max -9 dBFS ClipCnt 0
RxAudioStats: Pk -1.6 Avg Pwr -10 Min -11 Max -9 dBFS ClipCnt 0
RxAudioStats: Pk -1.5 Avg Pwr -10 Min -11 Max -9 dBFS ClipCnt 0
RxAudioStats: Pk -0.6 Avg Pwr -14 Min -61 Max -9 dBFS ClipCnt 0
RxAudioStats: Pk -11.3 Avg Pwr -32 Min -51 Max -25 dBFS ClipCnt 0
RxAudioStats: Pk -20.6 Avg Pwr -38 Min -58 Max -31 dBFS ClipCnt 0
RxAudioStats: Pk -19.8 Avg Pwr -41 Min -61 Max -31 dBFS ClipCnt 0
RxAudioStats: Pk -1.0 Avg Pwr -10 Min -57 Max -9 dBFS ClipCnt 0
RxAudioStats: Pk -0.9 Avg Pwr -10 Min -11 Max -9 dBFS ClipCnt 0
RxAudioStats: Pk -1.1 Avg Pwr -10 Min -11 Max -9 dBFS ClipCnt 0
RxAudioStats: Pk -0.2 Avg Pwr -10 Min -11 Max -9 dBFS ClipCnt 0
RxAudioStats: Pk -1.2 Avg Pwr -10 Min -11 Max -9 dBFS ClipCnt 0

I started transmitting around line 9. Then stopped transmitting around line 14.

So if I understand correctly: my "issue is probably in the ASL channel driver / COS / CTCSS settings."?

10

Hi, yes the audio levels coming in from the URI are perfect, thus it would appear you have something in your config settings that is preventing ASL from recognizing COS/CTCSS. I mentioned earlier a couple common reasons why that can happen in ASL. If you’ve made those settings correctly and followed the USBRadio audio calibration steps that has always worked for me, but if you’re still having no luck you could also try SimpleUSB channel driver. If you have no luck with that either I would suggest you post your channel driver .conf file settings here and the settings shown in the radiotune menu.