I/O: Hamshack Hotline Connects to AllStarLink Node

Despite my errors, my Hamshack Hotline phone now connects to my cloud node

This is an I/O: a quick in-and-out, in amateur radio terminology.

If you’ve followed along on my journey, you know I bought a refurbished Cisco IP phone so that I could get a Hamshack Hotline (HH) voice-over-IP (VoIP) line. Done.

As I perused the HH wiki, I noticed an entry that described how I could connect my HH phone to my AllStarLink (ASL) node. Today, despite me making every error it was possible to make, that happened.

The HH support team was incredibly patient with me. To make the connection, I needed to edit two configuration files (iax.conf and extensions.conf) in the Asterisk instance on my node. I must have been almost asleep when I first made the edits because with every test came new proof that I had fumble-fingered or just missed properly configuring many items.

After several emails, each resulting in another round of edits, my HH line did get connected to my node. I heard DTMF tones on the line and then heard the HH person state his call sign. I responded with “KJ7T testing” and we had a short conversation. The sound was incredibly, absolutely, undeniably crystal clear. (A big thank you to Bill L. with Hamshack Hotline for the assist!)

That’s me, KJ7T, in the table showing active HH users connected to AllStar nodes.

The radio frequency interference is so bad at my Portland location that VoIP and digital modes work much better for me than connections via analog signals. I am very impressed with the HH-to-node connection and look forward to participating in more AllStarLink nets through my IP phone.