How to pass DTMF through one node, and have it come out the next node?

Hello:

I’ve got an ARCOM 210 repeater controller. Port 1 is connected to a Kenwood repeater, which works as desired. I can send DTMF commands to it and the ARCOM understands and responds.

I’ve got a HAMVOIP node connected to Port 2. We use the HAMVOIP node so our ham buddies in other locations can “talk out” the local Kenwood repeater. This also works fine.

The only thing that is not working, is you cannot send DTMF tones from a far end node to the node connected to the ARCOM, as the tones seem to mute before getting to the ARCOM.

I’ve seen some messages about this, but never found a fix other than recompiling the AllStar code. I am not capable of that, so I’m hoping there is a command to give the local Kenwood node to allow DTMF to “come in” via the HAMVOIP network, and “go out” to Port 2 on the ARCOM so it can be decoded by the ARCOM. Then folks from the far end could send commands to the local ARCOM and connect Port 2 to Port 1 if it happens to get disconnected, among many other commands (local temperature, etc).

We have over 30 commands to be sent/decoded, so I surely do not want to write and employ “cops” for each command. There just has to be an easier way to “pass” all audio (including DTMF).

73,

Jim - K6KCP

If ASL is connected to the controller, perhaps the best way to do this would be to use outxlat in Allstarlink, then have the control op send to the ASL node in command mode from another node.
*4xxxxx
where xxxxx is the node to be remotely controlled, or *40 to use the last outbound connected node.
then # to drop out of command mode from the remote node.
This is potentially quite risky if you don’t have some node functions limited.

Set outxlat up for a sequence like *0, then every digit sent after that would be re-encoded by app.rpt and sent down the chain, with the exception of * and #, which need their own strings for interpretation. This is what I used to do to control a WIRES x node in analog mode with a Yaesu HRI200 hooked up to a URI.
Unfortunately, my working configuration of that lives on a dead hard drive, so I can’t refer back to it.

In app.rpt, under your node’s stanza,
propagate_dtmf=yes
linktolink=yes

NOTE: for HamVoIP specifically, you will also need to add the line
remote_dtmf_allowed=1
if you wish a HamVoIP node to be controlled via command mode. It is disabled by default since version 1.65.

Now, you need an outxlat string.
The default example is:
outxlat = *7,*0,0123456789#ABCD
which should translate to *7 = *, *0 = #, and all other digits pass through.
*7 isn’t a great choice here, since that could mess with status codes. So maybe changing it to a string like
outxlat = *96,*97,0123456789#ABCD
would theoretically be a better idea. *96= *, *97 = #
However, I can’t get this to work on either my HamVoIP or ASL nodes. I know I’ve done this before on both distros.

This isn’t a complete solution, but maybe this will get you started, and someone else has further ideas.

73
N2DYI

Thanks much, Patrick! I’ll give your solution a try and see what happens.

73 - Jim, K6KCP