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Aaron, N3MBHForum AdministratorYour audio lines should probably be shielded audio wire. Your PTT and COS lines can be something like CAT5 wire. You may be able to get by with Shielded CAT5 patch cable (stranded conductors) to use for everything. You will also need to consider proper shielding of the RPI and interface circuits from RFI as it can cause weird issues. The easy digi doesn’t include the a COS circuit and it is strongly recommended that you build your own. The VOX functionality is strongly discouraged as it is unreliable. That also means if your RX radio doesn’t have a COS line, you will need to find instructions to modify to add one.
This is a more advanced project, so there will be a steep learning curve. Good luck and have fun.
73,
Aaron – N3MBH / WRFV871OpenRepeater is offered free of charge. Find out how you can support us.
Aaron, N3MBHForum AdministratorCheck out this link for instructions on controlling the GPIO pins from command line:
https://sites.google.com/site/semilleroadt/raspberry-pi-tutorials/gpio73,
Aaron – N3MBH / WRFV871OpenRepeater is offered free of charge. Find out how you can support us.
Aaron, N3MBHForum AdministratorIn most cases the PTT on the radio is simply switching the PTT line to the radios ground line (usually shared with the audio ground). It simply a matter of replacing that switch with the with the output of the optocoupler on the EasyDigi as long as you have low current draw. If you have a higher current draw or some other configuration you can use some kind of simple transistor and/or relay circuit between the EasyDigi and TX PTT.
As far as Legality goes (US/FCC) and as far as I am aware…you will need to tread lightly. Sure, anything goes in a true emergency situations, but what good is it if you are not able to legally practice during non-emergency times. FRS doesn’t allow repeaters and GMRS does, but GMRS requires user radios that have the GPRS repeater channels/pairs and you should have a repeater transceiver and radios that are FCC type accepted for GMRS. GMRS also requires licensing.
If you truly want to do something GMRS for legit purposes for emergency situations, I would probably recommend a basic repeater controller that is a little more “dumb”. This has an operating system and a lot more complexity and might bite you in the butt when SHTF.
I am no GMRS expert,but that is what I understand of the service. Hams have a lot more flexibility on the type of equipment they can use on their bands. Hope that helps.
73,
Aaron – N3MBH / WRFV871OpenRepeater is offered free of charge. Find out how you can support us.
Aaron, N3MBHForum AdministratorA few thoughts. One are you trying to check this with circuitry attached? If so I would remove your interface and use a basic LED and resistor between your gpio and ground pin. Also, verify that the gpio pins are properly registered and showing up under /sys/gpio. I would also recommend toggling the high/low values outside of ORP from just the command line to make sure the low level functionality is working. To me it sound like you might have a short in your circuit that is. I would check that first.
73,
Aaron – N3MBH / WRFV871OpenRepeater is offered free of charge. Find out how you can support us.
Aaron, N3MBHForum AdministratorThere is a script on the backend that queries the operating system for attached audio devices. “USB PnP Sound Device” is the name that your sound device shows up to the OS as. Left and right are for left and right audio channels (stereo). Some sound USB cards might only have a mono input, in that case just use left. This will allow for some future mods to use left and right and separate inputs and outputs for different ports.
The detection script might not be perfect and could use some more refinement, but it better than the alternative where you had to end a card number and channel number: which caused people a lot of problems when configure a new system.
73,
Aaron – N3MBH / WRFV871OpenRepeater is offered free of charge. Find out how you can support us.
Aaron, N3MBHForum AdministratorA GPIO is not required for the VOX mode on the receive; however, the GPIO is required to operate the PTT function of the TX radio. Hope that helps.
73,
Aaron – N3MBH / WRFV871OpenRepeater is offered free of charge. Find out how you can support us.
Aaron, N3MBHForum AdministratorHello Scott and thanks for your interest in the project. Unfortunately, there is no simple solution just yet. ORP is working to simplify the software aspects of SVXLink and make it more accessible via a web GUI and prebuilt linux images to download and copy on to RPI memory cards.
Hardware is still a bit of work and knowhow. There are some interface board in the works to simplify the process, but those will probably be offered as kits for the foreseeable future. It might be a ways off before there is a preassembled board offered. I am working on gathering the parts and testing a board put together by Richard, KB3VGW. More on that later.
If you don’t the electronics skills and understanding of wiring, I would recommend pairing up with a local buddy and perhaps work on the project together. These should be some updates coming out in the future. To keep up to date, check the site once in a while, follow any of social media pages, or subscribe to our mailing list. Social media is probably the most active.
Hope that give you some direction to look forward to.
73,
Aaron – N3MBH / WRFV871OpenRepeater is offered free of charge. Find out how you can support us.
Aaron, N3MBHForum AdministratorI am not sure what you question is. You can certainly add header pins if you like. The default EasyDigi only controls the TX side. If you want to avoid VOX (which is recommended) you can build your own COS circuit with an optocoupler. It’s entirely up to you so long as the basic circuit functions are there.
73,
Aaron – N3MBH / WRFV871OpenRepeater is offered free of charge. Find out how you can support us.
Aaron, N3MBHForum AdministratorI sent you an email.
73,
Aaron – N3MBH / WRFV871OpenRepeater is offered free of charge. Find out how you can support us.
Aaron, N3MBHForum AdministratorGlad to hear that you resolved your sound card issue. Do you have anything with your browsers that would be blocking the web GUI from from setting cookies or session variables?
If you don’t want the web gui, you could do a straight SVX Link install. It would take a little more knowhow. Or you could modify/hack the ORP install if you have the programming skills. This might help some: https://openrepeater.com/knowledgebase/topic/custom-svxlink-configuration
73,
Aaron – N3MBH / WRFV871OpenRepeater is offered free of charge. Find out how you can support us.
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