Table of Contents
05 : Blog
2 Post(s) for August 2023
| Sun 6 Aug 2023 | 06/08/23 09:00 BST | radio, cw, bug | |
| Sat 5 Aug 2023 | 05/08/23 09:00 BST | radio, cw, bug |
Thu 12/06/25 : To Do List
Several things have happened recently that should be recorded in the wiki… this is my memory jogger..
- YSF Bridging
- New YSF Reflector and Dashboard installation https://gm4slv.org.uk/reflector/
- New R.Pi4 to replace the Pi3 running as Node 481481
Using HAMVOIP image instead of ASL2.beta.6* Install of DVSwitch with a web dashboard- Changed to Pi OS Lite (Debian 12/bookworm) and a fresh install of ASL3 via the Allstar Repository, rather than using the all-in-one ASL3 Pi Appliance image.
- In progress : New UHF Portable node 481483 using Shari Pi3U and Pi 3B / Hamvoip
- Installation and setup of 64 bit Pi OS Lite on Pi 4B
- Install of ASL3 and Allmon3
- Adding Bridged 5GHz Hotspot
- Installation and setup of 32 bit Pi OS Lite on Pi 2B
- Adding Bridged 2.4GHz Hotspot
- Installation of a new cloud server (23/6/25) http://node481482.gm4slv.cloud with ASL3 and Allmon3
- Application for 2m Gateway MB7IZE
I need to get this lot recorded while I can still remember how it was done.
Fri 06/06/25 : More Allstar Changes
I decided, after using the current setup for 24 hours, that I'd prefer the main VHF gateway to also have the Echolink connectivity, and it was tedious to try and make all connections to external nodes via the “hub” as this required first enabling Command Mode on the hub (*4481481) and then setting up the connection. It's easier to control everything from the node I actually have direct control over via DTMF. As long as everything is connected together it all still works.
The DMR bridge is now just that, a DMR bridge and not a central hub.
The 3rd node, initially set up as the Echolink node, is now spare, and is now a “Test Node” on which I can play.
The bubble chart is now:
with the VHF Radio Gateway at the centre and the DMR Bridge and Test nodes connected to it.
Fri 06/06/25 : More Allstar
I've expanded my Allstar setup….
I added a couple of new nodes using spare Raspberry Pi boards. I now have a permanent bridge to DMR, in TGIF TG2354429, and an Echolink node, GM4SLV-L #886089.
Now I need to find people to talk to, and to investigate the possibilities of Allstar further.
Tue 03/06/25 : Tnc-pi Died
And then the TNC died!
So that's the end of APRS (for now). I could try using a sound-card based TNC (i.e. Direwolf) but I decided not to. I've decided instead to use the 2m FM radio for Allstar (or SVXlink) instead.
I messed about with an old Allstar image already installed in my Allstar node that I found in the shed. Then I flashed another SDcard with an image with an install of SVXLink and experimented with this…
Then back to Allstar.
I think (for now) I'll stick with Allstar. And perhaps do some experiments with bridging between analogue Allstar and DMR (and might look into YSF bridging too).
I started this with a dive into DMR bridging with DVSwitch - and started to document it here : gm4slv_allstar_2025
Sat 31/05/25 : APRS I-Gate Died
I've had a 2m APRS I-Gate for several years now, running on an old Raspberry Pi with a piggy backed TNC-Pi. It just plodded on, with the same SD card for year after year. Yesterday I noticed it wasn't working. I couldn't SSH to it, or ping it. Rebooting it was to no avail. I guess the SD card had finally given up the ghost.
I thought I'd got a image file stored somewhere, so it would be a simple matter of flashing a new image to an SD card and away we go. I looked everywhere and all I could find was an image called igate.img on my NAS box. Was this the one?
I flashed it to a working card and booted it, but no, it wasn't the same as the old APRS install. It was an image for a small portable igate I'd built a few years ago, not using the TNC-Pi, but using direwolf as the TNC. So I had to get on and set this one up to use the TNC-Pi connected to the gpio.
It's been a few years since I first set it up, but fortunately I had a documented account of the main aspects here VHF APRS iGate which gave me enough information to get it working - and I found on the web an old document showing the steps needed to allow the TNC to be accessible via the serial port https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1266633/Coastal-Tnc-Pi.html and here's the manual in pdf form tncpi.pdf
Eventually everything worked. I'd used dixprs as the i-gate software (and occasionally aprx) but I remember the steps to install dixprs were quite convoluted - and in the intervening years the site where the necessary information was held has now gone. https://sites.google.com/site/dixprs/ so I decided I'd just let it go, and switch to aprx permanently.
(I found that the Wayback Machine has some snapshots of the dixprs google site for instance : https://web.archive.org/web/20201009100911/https://sites.google.com/site/dixprs/installa but it looks too much hassle now, since aprx is working well.)
The igate is working, and this time I'll remember to take, and store, an image of the SD card so it's easier to replace it in future.