Hey guys, does anybody have some good insight into how the timing, courtesy tone, and ID settings work in rpt.conf?
Questions:
Is there something I can set where the repeater will ID upon the first time being keyed if there was no activity on it for a while? (mainly I would want the repeater to ID a few seconds after someone unkeys, assuming they were the first person to talk on the system for a few hours/days, etc)
How exactly does the politeid setting work? I’ve found this explanation: The politeid setting specified the number of milliseconds prior to the end of the id cycle where the controller will attempt to play the ID however, I’m unsure what the “id cycle” is - if it is referring to the standard 10 minute ID interval, why would it try to play the id PRIOR to the end of it?
What is txtimeout? The only comment in the config files is changed from totime V1.3 and there is no mention of it on this page https://wiki.allstarlink.org/wiki/Rpt.conf
Talkover IDs occur if someone has the repeater is keyed up when it’s time for the repeater to ID. The idea is to have a shorter or lower volume CW vs voice ID while someone is talking. See https://wiki.allstarlink.org/wiki/Rpt.conf#idtalkover.3D. On the other hand a polite ID will occur in the tail (aka hang time) if a repeater ID is due soon. The politeid timer determines what “soon” is.
Txtimeout is the amount of time a user can be keyed up before the repeater “times out” and ends the transmission. The timeout period is generally 3 minutes. The Tx timer is sometimes referred to as the alligator, as in “the alligator got you” when you talk too long.
Duplex is set to 1. There is no “linktolink” in my rpt.conf that I can see. Keep in mind this is a private node and I only care about local handy talkies keying the node for now.
Maybe I should set duplex to 2?? I can’t remember exactly but I think I had set it to 1 because “weird things happened” when it was set to 2 but that might be another setting I’m confusing it with.
For a simplex (half-duplex) node your duplex = 1 and commented ;linktolink= settings are correct. You should be hearing courtesy tones, connect telemetry and ID messages with those settings.
I’m not sure what is wrong but is likely a connection to your radio. Either no PTT to no Tx audio.
Well, the system seems to function normally when I talk on it with 2 HTs so I feel like cabling is all correct… audio is fine and all. I just don’t hear
ID when I first key the repeater after a long period
Courtesy tone after unkeying on any transmission
The IDing does function for whichever interval I set it up for, whether it’s 1 minute or 9 or 10 or anything. However, seemingly randomly, the ID sounds like it’s talking on top of itself or like its trying to play 2 messages at the same time. Other times it plays just the call sign once. Other times it was say “Ip Address, Call x3, Node #, ‘Timeout’, Call x3”. Once, when I first keyed it after a long period it sounded like it played my callsign but I only heard the last 3 characters of it after unkeying, like it was getting cut off…
Here is my exact setup:
2 x GM300s hooked up with a RIM-Maxtrac-RM to rPi via USB
1 GM300 is the Receiver, the other is the Transmitter
I forgot you have a RIM. Try setting duplex=3. That is the setting for in cabinet repeat. That lets the RIM do the repeat audio. That should get you closer.
You may still have a PTT priority issue which would cause the RIM to mute the node or vice versa.
Does the RIM have hang time? If so turn it off and let the node do the hang time.