We have four repeaters in different locations each using an RTCM. Their outputs are all mixed together under a single node stanza (our AllStar node number). Is there some way with ASL3 to get ONE of the repeaters to transfer a different ID than the other three?
Are you saying you want one of the RTCM’s to be associated with a different node number? Yes, that is possible on the same AllStar server.
Also, you say the outputs are mixed - do you mean you are simulcasting or is this for voting, or both?
I can probably help you with showing some sample configs, but I’m not 100% clear on what you’re doing / asking for.
I want all four repeaters to be associated with the same node number, but I want one of the repeaters to ID with a different call sign. Three repeaters belong to our club, the third to an individual, so, legally, we need the one that belongs to the individual to ID how he has it coordinated with the coordinating body (which uses HIS call sign, not ours).
It is definitely not simulcast (maybe one day). It is not “truly” voting either, but mixing (ie. GPS turned off in RTCM so AllStar mixes all the streams). I hope that makes sense.
Another scenario we ran into is where we have three repeaters using CLUB Controllers and one with no controller. All four use RTCMs to connect back to an ASL3 box. The outputs of all four repeaters are being mixed by the ASL3 box (all four appear under one stanza just like above scenario). The CLUB Controllers do the IDing for three repeaters, but we want the ASL3 box to ID for the one repeater that does not have its own controller.
We have the same problem with this scenario, and I presume the fix (if there is one) would be the same for the originally described scenario.
Your ID is controlled by the node stanza in rpt.conf, so I don’t see how you can change the ID on the 4th (non-club) repeater without it being a separate node number. Honestly, I can’t see any downsides to having it on its own node, but many upsides. It will be able to ID separately, it could have its own periodic announcements and you could give Allmon access to the owner to control just that node. You could add a startup macro to your config that would link the two nodes, so you would always have the same audio input/output as before. What you are looking to do is only accomplished at the node level, not the RTCM level.
In your second example, there are some differences here, but again, since it is one node number, all four RTCM’s would transmit the ID if you have that enabled. You could do the two node number solution here, or even easier, just disable ID’ing on the other controllers and let AllStar ID for all simultaneously.
AllStar with RTCM’s is very robust and can do everything that an external controller can do. Additionally, RTCM’s have fallback capability for both local (in RTCM) repeating and ID’ing should your node go offline. Basically, as it currently stands, you are running your repeater with two controllers and needing to figure out which should do what functions.
I suspected the answer might be something like you suggested, but I really appreciate the clarity you have brought with your answer. Since we only have one AllStar node number, what numbering convention would I use with repeaters that are part of the node but standing on their own, to be linked up via a macro?
Could the stanza for the stand-along repeater have a name instead of a number, for instance (to set it apart), that can then be linked into the AllStar node numbered stanza?
You could use a private node number for the extra repeater or use a new (externally valid) node number. If you used a private node number, then only your primary node could connect to it. Private node numbers can be 1000-1999. The stanza must be a number, not a name.
To use an externally valid node number, you can either request a second node number or turn on NNX numbering, and your existing node number quickly becomes a series of 10 node numbers. e.g. if your current node number is 12345, then when you turn on NNX, you now have node numbers 123450, 123451, 123452, etc. (See this link: NNX - AllStarLink Wiki
Thank you for the detailed response!