[Dana, N1OFZ]

I did finally get it going. DosBox works fine if you drop the cycles down to 191 as you mentioned. However the issue was that the com port still didn’t work. The final solution was that VT needs to be enabled in the bios to enable the serial port to be accessed by 16 and 32 bit programs. This took a loooong time to figure out!

The other thing to note is that if you have GM300 only the 16 channel version allows you to modify the COS settings via software for hi/low. With the other GM300’s the external COS pin will always be low. It’s not a huge deal as it’s easy to pick up the high side in the radio if needed but figured it was worth mentioning to save someone headaches in the future.

[Dana, N1OFZ]

If you want lightweight and only 1 radio you are going to have to go with a ht that has built in crossband repeat. Something like the TYT TH-UV8000D.

The UV5R doesn’t have the ability to transmit and receive at the same time. The only way to make the UV5R work the way you want is to get a simplex repeater that records a transmission and then plays it back. But why bother when you can get a $50 ht that will do what you want right out of the box with no additional parts needed.

[Dana, N1OFZ]

I can configure COS to be high or low. Which do you think is cleaner/easier given my setup with the EasyDigi? I’m looking forward to hopefully getting my hands on a OpenRepeater hardware interface the next time they are available. It will surely simplify things!

I also found my original question would have answered itself had I waited until I had OpenRepeater running. In case someone is reading this in the future, you can select either right or left from the audio device input on the ports page. 🙂

[Dana, N1OFZ]

So the next day after getting the radios I started building code to handle the voter. I created a line in the openrepeater.db settings table called voter_enabled. Then added a slider to the general settings page under modules to set the value to true/false.

Then I copied the Echolink page and used it as a template for my voter.php page. I couldn’t decide how to handle the rx/tx. I started creating something and then thought maybe I’d tie it in with the ports page. After reading the notes on the ports page I was not sure what the status is of the development of that area so I decided to just create my own page for now.

I add a new table to openrepeater.db called voter. There is a column for receiver and value. I input values for DdrRx (local sdr), NetRx (remote sdr), Rx1 (GM300) and a couple of spare local receivers Rx2 and Rx3. When voter.php loads it reads the table values and creates a list of receivers enabling the check box if the value is true. It works well for now allowing me to turn on/off receivers. I was not sure where to go next. Cosmetically I was going to make the check boxes sliders like in the general page or do something to match the look of the ports page. I also toyed with trying to parse the svxlink.conf file to create the entires in voter rather than them being hard coded. I ended up just deciding to hold off until the next release to see where things stand before deciding what to do next.

I’m now focusing on the hardware side for a while. I spent hours trying to get a usb serial dongle working so I could program the GM300’s. I ended up digging up an older machine that had a physical serial port and I have been able to program the radios with Radio Doctor. However it looks like the COS pin may not be enabled on one of the radios and I’m struggling to get RSS via DosBox to talk to the radio. So it’s off to creating a bootable usb stick with FreeDOS. This has led me down another path where I’m considering picking up a Pi expansion board that adds an RS232 port so I can program the GM300’s via the repeater controller. That would be pretty slick!

• This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by Dana, N1OFZ. Reason: trying to get image to show
• This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by Dana, N1OFZ.

[Dana, N1OFZ]

How are these boards working out? Are you going to have another run of them at some point?

[Dana, N1OFZ]

So while waiting for my gear to arrive I set up svxlink on a PC and have been playing around with it. Used a sdr dongle for the receiver and speakers for the output. Learned a lot.

My RPI came in yesterday and in under an hour I had it up and running with OpenRepeater. Even linked in the sdr dongle as a remote receiver. Had to temporarily set up the local receive as vox even though it’s not recommended but for testing at my house it’s not an issue. Once my GM300’s come in tomorrow I’ll be able to switch to COS. My little repeater project is coming along nicely!

Going to start reviewing the OpenRepeater code and seeing what is going on. Thanks for the great image and instructions for getting it up and running.

[Dana, N1OFZ]

I picked up a couple of them and they are on the way so I can’t verify for sure but from what I have read it’s 5V. My understanding is I just need to drop it to around 3 as to not fry the pi.

[Dana, N1OFZ]

Aaron, what do you think of using a Motorola GM300 as a receiver? It already has a COS line, just need to drop the voltage a little.

[Dana, N1OFZ]

Yes I have the EasyDigi with the optocoupler. I’ll wire both with tip and sleeve and ignore the ring on both sides of the sound card.

As far as the receiver, I’m not sure what radio I’m going to use yet but I understand what you are saying in regards to the circuit for the COS line.

Thanks!

[Dana, N1OFZ]

I wouldn’t dream of using the dongle at the primary repeater site! Frankly I’d be wary of using a low cost radio. I’d spend some money and try to get something as bullet proof as possible. I envision the remote sites as places where there is little rf.

I’ve downloaded the svxlink code and am getting ready to compile it on an extra machine that I have so I can play around with it while waiting for my stuff to show up next week. I read the post from last year regarding the extra receive port so I’m going to start there and see what’s involved.

Edit: it looks like the voter and remote receive ports are already supported in svxlink. I’m going to try getting that working. When my Pi is up and running I’ll look into how it works in open repeater. Don’t want to clutter the forums here with my learning process 🙂

Thanks!

[Author]

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