Revisiting Allstar with Node 48148 for 2024

I've set up an Allstar node/gateway - in place of the Svxlink node I did yesterday Svxlink & Echolink

It turned out to be not too difficult, as I already had all the correct working configs from the last time I used Allstar, so I was able to copy them onto the new SD card image and have a working node straight from boot up!

I downloaded the most recent V2.0 beta image for Raspberry Pi here : 2.0.0-beta.6

Once I had the img file unzipped I thought it would be fun to try and add my config to the image before writing it to the SD Card. I had enough information here to show me how to mount an image as a block device (ie disk). Once that was done I could simply copy any files onto the mounted image and then unmount it. The image could then be dd to the SD card in the usual way.

So I retrieved the last set of config file backups and copied all the *.conf files that go in /etc/asterisk into the mounted image device i.e. to /mnt/etc/asterisk/

Unmount the image from the filesystem sudo umount /mnt

Then

sudo dd if=my_new_image.img of=/dev/mmblblahblah bs=4M

and wait.

Once written I put the CD card into the Pi. Booted up, and heard my callsign ID on the radio - it worked, without having to go through the rigmarole of a new install configuration.

I SSH'd in via the DHCP address it had been given, and to change the IP to a static one I checked the peculiar name of the Ethernet interface: enxb827eb6f9954 and edited /etc/dhcpcd.conf to use a static IP address on this device. Using eth0 didn't work, as the interface wasn't called eth0

# Example static IP configuration:
interface enxb827eb6f9954
static ip_address=192.168.21.109/24
static routers=192.168.21.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.21.1 8.8.8.8

Reboot again, and now I can SSH via the correct static IP address

• Add my own user (don't want to use the built in repeater user)
• Add myself to the necessary groups (sudo etc.)
• change the hostname from repeater → asterisk
  • remember to edit /etc/hosts as well as /etc/hostname
• set timezone to Europe/London
• Check the RX/TX levels/deviation with /usr/sbin/simpleusb-tune-menu - the levels were spot on due to using the same setup, and the same config. files as the previous incarnation.
• Enable Echolink by editing /etc/asterisk/modules.conf to load the Echolink Module (last time I'd disabled it)
• Copy any necessary allmon2 files to /var/www/html/allmon2/ & set up allmon2
• Port Forward on router:
  • UDP/4569
  • UDP/5198
  • UDP/5199
• All working…!

* I was called on Echolink by G0RAS while I was out walking the dogs. We had a good chat, so that was a good test that it's all working

• some macros as configured in /etc/asterisk/rpt.conf for quick connect/disconnect

• *531

[macro]
 
11 = *141223# ; disc. hubnet
21 = *241223# ; monitor hubnet
31 = *341223# ; transceive hubnet
 
 
12 = *12197# ; disc Freedom Net
22 = *22197# ; monitor Freedom Net
32 = *32197# ; transceive Freedom Net
 
13 = *129332# ; disc Alaska
23 = *229332# ; monitor Alaska
33 = *329332# ; transceive Alaska
 
;14 = *154383# ; disc CQ North
;24 = *254383# ; monitor CQ North
;34 = *354383# ; transceive CQ North
 
;191 = *140894# ; disconnect hubnet Echo
;391 = *340894# ; connect hubnet echo
 
;192 = *13009999#       ; dis echolink echotest
;392 = *33009999#       ; con echolink echotest

— John Pumford-Green 07/04/24 10:03

• config files (private)
  • Asterisk asl_48148.tar
  • Allmon2 allmon2.tar