One solution that is often overlooked is the Signal Link USB. This external sound card has provisions for VOX keying of a radio (or repeater controller input) with no other hardware required. No serial port or parallel port interface is required (The Signal Link is interfaced and powered from a USB port on the computer). Just receive VoIP audio with a program such as SKYPE and the SL will deliver the audio to your controller input (or directly to your radio) with a COS (or PTT) signal developed from a VOX on the incoming audio.
On the receiver end all you need to do is couple the receiver audio (no COS required) to your mic or line input on the computer and you are in business. The click or pop as the receiver squelch opens is usually enough to get the SL vox to open, and the vox delay is adjustable on the front panel of the SL to suit the user audio characteristics. At a site with no RF complications a scanner receiver might work and since no COS signal is necessary from the scanner, no modification of the receiver would be required. If a CTCSS tone is used and this tone is passed down the link to the SL at the transmitter end, the tone level is often enough to keep the VOX open and the VOX delay can be set to minimum. 73 - Jim W5ZIT --- On Mon, 8/18/08, John Barrett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: John Barrett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] Re: Scanner as repeater receiver? To: [email protected] Date: Monday, August 18, 2008, 1:07 PM I'm consulting with another ham on setting up a one way VoIP link for a split site VHF repeater, RX and TX to be located about 2 miles apart. I've got a tenative solution using and off the shelf streaming audio server and client, with a custom app to poll the PC parallel port for any digial signaling that need to be pulled off the reciever and transfered to the controller/transmit ter via another custom app that will output to the parallel port. Is there anything out there a little more integrated that can handle the job, or other suggestions as to a solution ?? Prefered environment is Windows, with some hope that a "service app" that will run at boot can be found. 2 way solutions like Echolink and Asterisk have already been rejected, as have any solutions that require hardware beyond a PC with a sound card and parallel port. ___
