We’ve recently added a new room to the Matrix HAM Radio Space for Digital Voice modes as this was an area of interest that didn’t really fit into any of the other rooms.

The new Digital Voice room has attracted a lot of attention from members, with a lot of the focus being on the AllStarLink system. Michael, DK1MI built an AllStarLink node in the cloud for us all to use for Matrix Nets and so I decided I had to get in on the fun.

The Jumbospot SHARI SA818 Amateur Radio AllStarLink Radio Interface was originally designed by N8AR and implements a RaspberryPi 2/3/4 hosted AllStarLink node using a NiceRF SA818 embedded VHF/UHF radio module and sound card.

The two USB connectors on the SHARI device are position such that they plug into two of the available 4 USB ports on the RaspberryPi without the need for cables. This keeps the whole solution together in one neat package.

Before you start you will need to obtain a node number and secret (password) from the AllStarLink Portal. To get this you will need to provide proof to the AllStarLink administrators that you are a licensed Amateur Radio (HAM) operator. This is done by uploading a copy of the first page of your HAM licence to the website for the admin team to check. This can take 24hrs to be completed so make sure you get this all done before trying to build your node. You cannot build a node successfully without a node number and secret.

Of course you will also need a transceiver that can operate on the 438.800Mhz frequency or other frequency of your choice on the 2m or 70cm HAM band.

You will also need to open port 4569 on your internet router and setup port forwarding to the IP Address that you will be using on your RaspberryPi node. It’s important to use a static IP Address on your RaspberryPi.

There are quite a few different Linux based operating system (O/S) images that are available for the RaspberryPi devices that have been specifically tailored for the AllStarLink node and include all the necessary software and library packages out the box.

I decided to use the Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) based distribution as it is based on the very stable and reliable Debian Linux distro. You can download the exact version I am using from the Raspbian link above or directly from my website here.

Once downloaded you need to burn the ISO image onto a suitable SD card for your RaspberryPi. I use BalenaEtcher as it’s extremely quick and reliable at burning ISO images to SD cards.

Of course if you are a hardline Linux command line junkie you can always use dd to create the SD card.

Once you’ve got your O/S onto your SD card, slot it into your RaspberryPi making sure your SHARI device is connected to the two USB ports and then power it up. Make sure you have a good PSU for the RaspberryPi as the two devices together draw around 3A of current during the transmit cycle. (I use a 3.6A PSU from Amazon).

The default login for the Raspbian O/S is shown below. Login via SSH and configure your RaspberryPi for your local network. It’s important to use a static IP Address configured either directly on the RaspberryPi or via DHCP in your router.

Login: repeater
Passsword: allstarlink
SSH port: 22

Once you have your RaspberryPi connected to your LAN you are ready to start configuring it for AllStarLink.

The first thing you need to do is login to the raspi via SSH and then become root user using sudo as shown below:

sudo su -

Once you are root user, you need to add the AllStarLink repo to the sources file and update the operating system using the following command:

curl -s http://apt.allstarlink.org/repos/repo_signing.key | apt-key add
apt update --allow-releaseinfo-change
apt dist-upgrade

Copy and paste each line one at a time into your terminal. Once the last command finishes, the system is up to date and can be rebooted as follows:

reboot

Once the raspi has rebooted, login again via SSH as user repeater and then become root user again.

You now need to install a couple of Python components that are required by the system to function. Use the commands below as user root:

apt-get install python3-dev python3-pip
pip3 install pyserial

Next you need to change directory into the asterisk config file directory using the command shown below:

cd /etc/asterisk

In this directory you will find all the default config files that come as part of the distro. For this build we’re not going to use them and so we need to move them out of the way ready for a set of config files that have already been configured correctly.

Using the following commands create a new directory, move into that new directory and then move all the unwanted configuration files into it:

mkdir ORIGINAL-CONF-FILES
cd ./ORIGINAL-CONF-FILES
mv ../*.conf ./
ls -la
cd ../

You should now be back in the /etc/asterisk directory which will now be empty apart from the custom directory which we left in place.

You now need to copy the correctly configured configuration files into the /etc/asterisk directory. Start by downloading the zip file containing the new configuration files

Once downloaded, copy the .zip file into the repeater users home directory (/home/repeater) using either scp on the Linux command line or if using Windows you can use the FileZilla Client in SFTP mode using the login details above.

Once you have the .zip file in the repeater user’s home directory you need to copy the file into the /etc/asterisk directory as user root:

cp /home/repeater/AllStarLink-Config-v3.zip /etc/asterisk/

Next as user root, change directory into the /etc/asterisk directory and unzip the .zip file:

cd /etc/asterisk
unzip ./AllStarLink-Config-v3.zip

Once the file is unzipped you need to move a couple of files into the repeater users home directory using the following commands:

mv ./SA818-running.py /home/repeater
mv ./gpio /home/repeater

Once the files have been moved you need to set the correct ownership and privileges on the files using the following commands:

chown -R root:root /etc/asterisk/*.conf
chown repeater:repeater /home/repeater/gpio
chown repeater:repeater /home/repeater/SA818-running.py
chmod 755 /home/repeater/gpio
chmod 755 /home/repeater/SA818-running.py

The gpio BASH script and configuration details were supplied by Mark, G1INU in the Digital Voice room on the Matrix. It adds the COS light functionality to the setup. The COS light will now light every time the SA818 hears RF on the input.

The next thing you need to do is configure the SA818 radio device in the SHARI. The script I used was originally from https://wiki.fm-funknetz.de/doku.php?id=fm-funknetz:technik:shari-sa818 all I’ve done is change the entries to switch off CTCSS and changed the frequency to 438.800Mhz. Configuring the SA818 is done by running the SA818-running.py Python programme that you moved into the repeater user home directory. Making sure you are still user root, run the following commands:

cd /home/repeater
./SA818-running.py

At this point your SHARI SA818 device will be configured to operate on 438.800Mhz and CTCSS will be disabled.

If you want to change the frequency or enable and set a CTCSS tone to access the node you will need to edit the Python programme using your favourite text editor and change the entries accordingly. Once changed rerun the program as shown above and your SHARI will be reconfigured to your new settings.

Next you need to move the allmon.ini.php file into the correct directory so that it enables access to the Allstar Monitor web page on the device so that you can manage connecting/disconnecting nodes. Use the following commands as user root to achieve this:

cd /etc/asterisk
mv ./allmon.ini.php /var/www/html/allmon2/
chown root:root /var/www/html/allmon2/allmon.ini.php
chmod 644 /var/www/html/allmon2/allmon.ini.php

The allmon.ini.php file needs to have your node name entered into it for it to work correctly. As user root, change directory and edit the file using your favourite editor.

cd /var/www/html

Using your text editor, search for the line starting [XXXXX] and change the XXXXX to your node number. Save the change and exit the file.

At this point you are almost complete, all that is left to do is add your node number and node secret into the appropriate configuration files in the /etc/asterisk directory.

Since I am a Linux command line junkie I use vi to edit all the configuration files on the command line as user root, but you can use any editor of your choice.

cd /etc/asterisk

Start with the extensions.conf file. Search for the line starting with NODE = and delete the XXXXX entry and insert your node number. Save the file and edit it.

Next you need to edit the iax.conf file. This time search for the line starting with
register= and change the XXXXX for your node number and the YYYYYYYYYYYY for your node secret. Be careful not to accidentally delete any other characters in the lines otherwise it will corrupt the configuration file.

In the same file search for the two lines that start with secret = and change the YYYYYYYYYYYY for your node secret. Once you have changed both of the secret entries, save and exit the file.

The final file to edit is the rpt.conf file. Once again open the file using your favourite editor and search for the line starting with XXXXX = radio@127.0.0.1:4569/XXXXX, change the XXXXX entries for your node number making sure not to delete any other characters next to the XXXXX entries.

Further down in the same file there is a line that starts with [XXXXX], once again change the XXXXX for your node number making sure to keep the square brackets at each end of the node number as you edit it.

Finally move down to the very bottom of the file and find the two lines that start with /home/repeater/gpio, once again change the XXXXX entries for your node number.

Once this is done, save and exit the file. At this point your node should be fully configured and will only require a reboot to get it working.

As user root, reboot your raspi using the reboot command.

reboot

Once your raspi comes back online, login using SSH as user repeater and then become root user using the sudo command detailed above.

You now need to create the admin user password for the Allstar Monitor web page on the device. This is done using the following commands as user root:

cd /var/www/html/
htpasswd -c .htpasswd admin

You will be asked to enter a password twice for the admin user, make sure you make a note of this password as you will need it to login to the web page.

Once this is done your configuration is complete, logout from the terminal session by entering exit twice (once to logout as user root and another to logout as user repeater).

Using your favourite web browser enter the IP Address of your raspi into the URL bar as shown below:

http://<Your-Raspi-IP>/allmon2

Note: remove the <> from the URL once you have entered the required information.

Once this is done you should be presented with your node control panel as shown below.

Login using Admin and the password you set above and you are now ready to start using your node.

It’s a good idea to connect to node 55553 which is a parrot test node to check your audio levels. you can do this by entering the node into the field at the top left and pressing the connect button.

Once connected, tune your radio to 438.800Mhz FM and transmit a test message using your callsign and test123, or something similar. The parrot will then play your recording back to you so that you can hear how you sound. It will also comment on your audio level as to whether it is OK or not.

You are now connected to AllStarLink network and have the world at your finger tips. Below is a small list of nodes in the UK, Australia and America to get you started chatting with other HAMs via your node.

55553	ASL Parrot for testing
41522	M0HOY HUBNet Manchester, UK
60349	VK6CIA 439.275 Perth, Western Australia
51077	VK6SEG South West Hub B Albany WA
2167	M0JKT FreeSTAR UK HUB 2 freestar.network
53573	NWAG NW AllStar Group Lancashire, UK
27339	East Coast Hub Wilmington NC USA

Thanks to Michael, DK1MI for building and hosting the Matrix HAM Radio Space AllStarLink Node (57881) and getting us all kicked off into the world of AllStarLink!

We hope to be having regular Matrix Net’s on the node soon for all Matrix members and visitors. We’ll organise days/times via the Digital Voice room.

More soon …

A couple of years ago I built a Matrix Synapse server and connected it to the decentralised global Matrix chat network that is federated world wide by enthusiasts who host their own Matrix servers. Due to the enthusiasm for a decentralised network the Matrix has grown exponentially and is now an established force in the world of Opensource global communication services.

When I built my server and configured it online my aim was to bring together an enthusiastic group of Radio Amateurs (Radio HAMs) who could build a friendly, welcoming community where people could share, learn and have fun with other liked minded individuals without all the nonsense you see on commercial social media platforms.

Overtime we’ve increased the number of rooms available in the HAM Radio space and the number of subjects covered. This has grown organically as our community has grown and we’ve ventured together into new areas of the hobby.

From the community a number of projects have spawned including the Opensource.radio Wiki that Mike, DK1MI is sponsoring that aims to detail all the Opensource HAM Radio software, Hardware and projects in one centralised site on the internet. This is a great project and one I am very happy to contribute to.

Thanks to Mike, DK1MI we now also have our own Matrix AllStarLink node available. This is a great resource for the community as it is often not possible for all of us to communicate via the radio waves due to geo-location, time zones, local planning regulations etc. Having this 24/7 internet based resource makes it a lot easier for the community to chat at any time even when propagation on the HF bands isn’t in our favour.

Mike, DK1MI has written an excellent article on the Matrix AllStarNode and more, I highly recommend you take a look at it.

We also have a very active satellite room with regular nets on the QO-100 satellite. With such a great range of rooms and subjects there’s plenty to read and talk about with the community.

If you fancy being part of this growing, enthusiastic group of Radio Amateurs and Short Wave Listeners (SWLs) then click on the link below and come and say hello, a warm welcome awaits!

https://m0aws.co.uk/matrix

More soon …

KENWOOD hat mittlerweile das Benutzerhandbuch in englischer Sprache sowie Software-Downloads für das KENWOOD TH-D75 online gestellt. Mehr darüber erfahrt ihr hier in diesem Beitrag. Jetzt dauert es nicht mehr lange, bis das KENWOOD TH-D75 auch hierzulande verfügbar sein wird. Wer schon jetzt einen Blick in das, wie von KENWOOD gewohnt, sehr umfangreiche und bebilderte Benutzerhandbuch … KENWOOD TH-D75 – User Manual und Software verfügbar weiterlesen

Update 21.01.2024: BlueDV Connect jetzt verfügbar!

Early on, Bruce Perens, K6BP, amateur radio and open source advocate voiced concerns about D-Star’s use of a proprietary vocoder. Asking; does it really fit into the spirit of the hobby? Bruce makes a strong argument that an Open Source vocoder needs to be developed.  The codec2 development started in 2009, when  David Rowe, VK5DGR stepped up to the challenge.

While the Codec 2 development was and is good, here we are 2020, and sadly there hasn’t been a lot of work in my opinion, for a drop in replacement for VHF/UHF radios.  Presently that seems to best match up to FreeDV’s 2400B mode.  Most of the work has been for HF applications.  Or at the very least, Codec2/FreeDV hasn't been adopted by VHF/UHF manufacture like many would have hoped.

The bad part is Bruce brought an awareness to the AMBE patents that probably would have otherwise not have been thought about much by fellow hams.  So the bad part is Bruce created a stigma.  And it was further improperly (in my opinion) used as a sly marketing tool by some of the ham manufactures of the AMBE DV Sticks.

And from what I have seen, there are still hams out there that think the AMBE patents surrounding D-Star are still an issue. (they aren't, they expired in 2017)  And more than likely the the big-bad-boogie-man is gonna come nab you if you meddle with trying to create your own open source AMBE, or using something that has someone else’s non-licensed AMBE, etc.

Facts of the matter are; 

When you buy consumer electronics and other things that might have technology under the cover that might be covered by patents, does it impact your buying decision?  Likely not.  However, truth be told since the majority of electronic things are manufactured in China, it’s not uncommon for there to be cloned (improperly/unlicensed/bootleg - whatever you want to call it) intellectual property under the cover.  (If you don’t believe me, go look at the Indusic chip in your Chinese DMR handheld, then go look at DVSI’s note on their website)

Second, non-commercial/research usage of patented technology is, and always has been covered by exceptions on the definition of "patent infringement”.  By our very definition, ham radio is all about non-commercial, experimental and research activities.

Have you ever heard of anyone actually successful at litigation, if the defendant never made any money off your patent?  No, and no one is coming to your local court to instigate that fruitless endeavor against you.

And if you are still biting your damn nails, remember that; Bruce told us that there is prior art from David Rowe that would likely invalidate the AMBE patents, and that DVSI used the AMBE codec in commerce before some of their patent applications, potentially invalidating their own patents.


Let’s look back:

Patents have been around longer than ham radio.  In radios formative years there were a lot of patents, and since that time, have obviously expired.

I have been trying to research how those patents impacted ham radio operators.  Back then, then pretty much had to build everything from scratch.  Nowadays, if a new thing is patented related to radio (perhaps something like LoRA), hams generally are buying something from a supplier to use that mode or technique.  This pretty much moves any possible legal concerns off the individual hams shoulders and on to that of the supplier.  (These days it’s America’s (and the worlds) convenient way of evading legal repercussions).

So I have been combing the archives of QST magazine and other sources trying to understand if anyone seemed concerned that back then, when things like the Hartley oscillator were under patent.  I haven’t found one mention of concern.

If you were a ham messing around with SSB in the 1930's the Hartley patent might have been a problem.  But there wasn't a lot of specialized parts back then rather than general purpose components.

However, it does appear that you had to pay RCA for certain parts necessary to build a transmitter with then, current technology as they held the patents and were the only source/supplier.

I tend to think a patent on a circuit design (as opposed to a component) would be easy enough for an amateur to copy without much worry of being sued for infringement.

Truth be told, I have a tough time understanding radio circuits with solid state components and tubes, so its hard to imagine what was possible then.

With "Single Sideband for the Radio Amateur" published in 1954 it would seem things were pretty wide open by that time. The forward to that says the first QST mention of single sideband was in 1948, at which time the Hartley patent would have been expired.

However, in more recent years (post print media), I personally do recall some possible patent issues;

Satoshi’s D-Star GMSK node adapter and his supposed patented pseudo real time monitor circuit?  There were clones of this circuit initially.

The ZUM Hotspot?  Some say jumbo/china spot was an improper clone of Jim, KI6ZUM’s design.  But it actually seems to have been released with an Open Hardware license?

In summary: 

I feel these patent concerns have been over amplified for the individual ham/end user.  They are valid concerns and something to ponder when it comes to the ability and impact of smaller businesses being able to feed the needs of the ham community.  Like I pointed out, if you are making money then you do need to pay attention to this sort of thing as litigation becomes a potential real thing.

Fortunately, much of the innovation in ham radio is now is purely in the form of software, which is much easier to mass-produce than hardware.

Mike, K9MLS recently posted to one of the Allstar lists I am on about creating a D-Star bridge.

dvswitch is a combined effort of Steve N4IRS, Cort N0MJS, and a few others.

Take a look at: https://dvswitch.groups.io/g/main

The software pieces are ASL (Allstar Link), Analog_Bridge, ircDDBgateway, MMDVM_Bridge.

It's possible to create multi-mode / cross-mode bridges with the software, between DMR, DSTAR, NXDN, YSF and P25.


With the DV3000 hardware AMBE vocoder dongle, DSTAR audio is quite good.

However a lot of folks use the MD380 emulator (which is the handy work of Travis, KK4VCZ's md380 reverse engineering project) to get around the hardware requirements of most systems that with otherwise require with dongles or boards.

Its also the preference for a virtual environment where you don't have physical access to the servers. Russell, KV4S did a good job documenting this with his blog entry titled "Hosting an AllStar Node and an AllStarDMR bridge in the cloud" 

Sadly that emulator doesn't support D-Star even though that is the mode completely out of patent.

In my opinion; For the price Mike would likely be investing in AMBE hardware, one should really think about soliciting the coding community and offering that money toward a solution that will benefit the community and move it forward.

If you are interested in ever seeing a cheap HT that can do more than one digital voice mode, then I suggest promoting and starting to learn about the above mentioned open source Digital Voice projects.  It's fairly clear to me after waiting years for things like the CS7000, DV4mobile and the “HT of the Future” to materialize, we (the hams) need to repeat the steps of the how the TNC (for packet radio) came to be readily available from commercial suppliers.

Back when D-Star was new to ham radio (around 2008), Satoshi Yasuda 7M3TJZ/AD6GZ, created a DV adapter.

He also created the first GMSK node adapter.  The node adapter was more well recognized, as a way to retro-fit analog radios to become hotspots and repeaters (entry points) into the D-Star internet linked network.  Now a days this has morphed into the well known Pi-Star, using much lower power integrated transmitters.

But lets go back and revisit the forgotten and overlooked DV adapter.



Shortly there after Jonathan Naylor, G4KLX crafted one of his first software projects.  A D-Star client that created all the underlying GMSK signalling with a sound card/FOB.  Much like Satoshi's adapter this too interfaced to the packet radio port of an analog radio.

The difference here between these ad the node adapters/ Pi-Star, is that these you plug microphones into and talk into directly rather than a something you use as a passive gateway device with a HT.

Since a number of efforts to create a true HT that does more than one digital mode still haven't come to fruition (like the DV4mobile, CS7000, etc), this is something the ham community should take another look at and work together at.

This time around, rather than the big user interface and display, all that could be served over a web interface to your cellphone over wifi or bluetooth.  (much like the VGC VR-N7500) So just think a magic box, that has a microphone and a 5 pin mini-din to connect to your existing analog rig.

The mode, D-Star, Yaesu Fusion (YSF), P25, or NXDN as well as userid, and talkgroups could all be selected over the web interface.

Doug, AD8DP is working on something of this DV adapter nature.

There is a great starting place here for someone, thanks to the work of Max, KA1RBI.

If you know of other similar developments please contact me.  I feel this is an area we need to be putting some focus on if we ever want to true multiprotocol radio.

Where is that radio that will do D-Star, DMR and Fusion?  It seems like everything has gone no where?

The NW Digital Radio (UHF 56kbps etc)  high speed UHF data radio: proposed UDRX-440 has been scrapped.  (Initially announced in May 2012)

Jerry at Connect Systems hasn't been able to get the needed cooperation from Co-Value or any other hardware manufacture for that multi-protocol Digital Voice radio, the proposed CS7000.  (Initially announced in May 2014)  So that's in hiatus till someone can design the hardware.

That DV4 Mobile that the German Wireless Holdings guys showed at Dayton 2016 has ran into redesign/parts issues, so that appears to be going nowhere too. (Initially announced July 2015)

Then there is Bruce Perens who was/is working with Chris Testa (KD2BMH) on some sort of SDR based VHF/UHF TDMA radio (Algoram, Katena, Whitebox - first talked about in April 2015) The inital idea was likely too ambitious, and they ran into RF problems.

If you need to review these endeavors, Gary KN4AQ made a reddit post a while back that goes into a little more detail


And from Bruce's 2017 DCC talk, he details some of the snags.  Here are some relevant extracts:

-

Next Step, First Try
Chris Testa and I tried to build a power-efficient SDR HT with a radio based on the CMX991 and a computer with built-in FLASH-based gate-array based on Microsemi SmartFusion.

Chris and I spent a lot of time making the computer. By the time we were done, we could buy better, faster computers, already built, for less. We won’t make computers again.

I bought a lot of test equipment at surplus, so we each have a pretty good lab.

Biggest Mistake

Chris and I got the computer working before we entirely debugged the radio. In retrospect this was backwards, and we should have built a radio that we could debug without building a computer at all.

To make up for the computer’s low speed, we took too long working on gate-array code.

The radio design turned out to be too noisy, and that killed the design. By the time we got to that point, there were a lot better platforms than CMX991.

Why Not Use Raspberry Pi 3?

Many small, powerful, and really cheap computers, like Raspberry Pi 3, are too I/O limited to do high-bandwidth SDR. In the case of Pi 3, its USB 2 is too slow, and it has serial channels dedicated to a camera and display that might have worked, except that they aren’t fully documented and depend upon undocumented coprocessors.

But there are somewhat more expensive boards with USB3, etc.

Next Steps

Chris and I took a two-year break to work on other things after this design failure. In that time, nobody has approached creating the radio we wanted. So, it is probably time to work on the next version.

This would use an existing computer, existing SDR board, and only require the production of hardware for filters, amplifiers, and glue.

I have the development hardware on hand.

I guess the Runbo line of Android phones with an integrated two way radio chipset is worth mentioning.  Some people think that thing might evolve into something.  The problem is I have been keeping an eye on this longer than all of the above, perhaps back to 2013.  In that time I haven't seen much.  I'd be surprised if whoever makes these things would be willing to work with anyone to let them access the development side of things so that a potential reseller could investigate if the hardware/chipset is capable of doing much outside of analog FM etc or if there is enough resources under the hood to do multimode digital.

A few years ago (2013) Andrey, RU3ANQ created and sold for a short time a SDR receiver initally for P25 called ADCR25, then he later added other digital modes like DMR.


For the last year or so he has been fairly quiet.  My inital preduction is that someone hired him.  Well in fact it looks like he created a company: http://www.rfcraft.ru/

And for anyone who is still disillusion enough to think one of the big three is going to develop this multimode radio, wake up!  It would have happened by now.  While I tend to agree they would be in the best position in terms of engineering and assets, seems they are not interesting in competing.  They are still interested in locking everyone into their digital flavor.

I'd still be happy to throw some money into a gofund me sort of thing to get Jonathan G4KLX to code a client/user end type of MMDVM application.  Where you use a AMBE dongle or sudo dongle for that part, and interface it all to the same type of Arduino interface that his repeater MMDVM interfaces uses to connect to analog radios.  The problem is he doesn't have the free time like he used to.


{Edit}
It appears a user-end application (dudestar) is under development by Doug.
https://www.qrz.com/lookup/AD8DP

Also see my updated blog entry,
https://kb9mwr.blogspot.com/2020/02/multiprotocol-dv.html