AllStar: Summary of What I've Learned
AllStar: Summary of What I've Learned
Pulling the last few weeks together into one summary post
Timeline
From oldest to newest:
October 5: ClearNode appliance arrived. I powered it up on October 6 and after correcting the misconfigured wifi settings I had given to the vendor, it worked very well. I had some trouble setting the tones on my Yaesu FT5DR but the ClearNode vendor helped me with resolving that problem. TIL (today I learned): read the documentation and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
October 13: I installed the DVSwitch Mobile app on my Android smartphone. Again, I had some trouble getting the right settings in place but after some trial and error, I did get there. DVSwitch allows me to transceive via my smartphone which is connected to my local network, as is my ClearNode appliance. TIL: ask for help before driving myself nuts!
October 15: I got an AllStar node running in the cloud on a Vultr.com server instance. I spent hours looking for guidance on how best to do this and finally landed on a guide published on the AllStar wiki. Then I had trouble getting DVSwitch to connect to the node-in-the-cloud until I got some help from another AllStar user. TIL: read the documentation and don’t be afraid to try different settings.
October 18: I went on a road trip for work and brought the ClearNode device with me. Unfortunately, I lost the antenna for it while schlepping luggage and things around from hotel to hotel. Fortunately, I discovered that I could connect to my node-in-the-cloud with DVSwitch and then connect to the node I wanted to listen to using DTMF commands passed through the DVSwitch app. TIL: discovered that I can “do” AllStar without being near my ClearNode device.
October 23: When listening to nets through DVSwitch and my node-in-the-cloud, AllStarLink would announce every connection and every disconnect. I fiddled with settings in the rpt.conf file until I found the ones that would stop that disruptive behavior. TIL: reboot the server every time I change a configuration setting!
What’s next?
Today is the 23rd and I’m beginning to delve into things like extra node numbers with NNX, running two nodes on one virtual server, and how to have a private node or otherwise restrict people from keeping me from using my node-in-the-cloud. I learned that I can connect to my node-in-the-cloud with my smartphone while driving and that checks off one of my desired outcomes: to be able to participate in AllStar nets while traveling with a minimum of equipment.
Nets
I’ve listened to nets all over the world but keep coming back to the WW7PSR nets because I identify more with that part of the United States and I enjoy the diversity of the participants. If you need a starting point for some high-quality nets, try AllStarNets.org.
Here’s what the WW7PSR 9 O’Clock net looked like at 9:05 pm:
Remote connection to my home node
I’m thinking that I should be able to run Tailscale on the ClearNode device so that I can easily and securely connect to it from outside my home network. Tailscale is available for the Raspberry Pi. I frequently use Tailscale to secure remote sessions with my home and work computers, and since it runs on Android, it seems like I could run a DVSwitch connection to my home ClearNode device over a Tailscale pipe.
Retevis RT22 radios
I have some Retevis RT22 radios that I programmed for various frequencies. These UHF radios are very small and thin, perfect for stuffing in a pocket. The audio quality is good, or at least good enough for clear conversations. Battery life is good on these little devices.
I think I remember that I can set both send and receive tone codes when programming the radios so I pulled a few of them out of storage. I couldn’t find my programming cable but a new one is not expensive, so that has been ordered and should arrive in the next few days.
My plan is to program one of the radios as my in-the-house transceiver for my ClearNode device. Being able to put the radio in a shirt pocket will make it much more friendly than clipping a heavier handie talkie to my belt. One thing I’ll need to remember to do is to label the RT22 radio that goes with my ClearNode!
A traveling box
To keep the ClearNode device and handheld transceiver together, I bought a small protective case from Harbor Freight. I should be able to fit the ClearNode with antenna and the Raspberry Pi power supply, and the RT22 radio and charger, into the case for grab-and-go travel. Packaging these items into one case means they will be available when I want to use them.
Hamshack Hotline
Amateur radio is, to me, more about communication than it is about whether said communication is happening over amateur radio bands or not. I see radio as a big tent that houses a multitude of ways to communicate. To that end, I’ve ordered a refurbished Cisco SPA303 IP phone so that I can give Hamshack Hotline a try. The power adapter for the phone has already arrived so I expect that the phone will arrive in a matter of days.
I expect to like the Hamshack Hotline service which translates to: I’ll probably upgrade to a better IP phone in the future. That thought gave me the excuse I needed to get a small power-over-ethernet (PoE) switch to put on my home network. When I first got the ClearNode device, I discovered that I didn’t have any open ethernet ports on my router. The PoE switch will resolve that problem for a while. I also picked up some different colors of CAT6 ethernet cable so that I can color-code my cable runs.