Tim;
Driver support in Allstar Link is there for CM108 and CM119 devices...
Most of the USB sound fobs that specify Surround sound 7.1 are based on
these chips or a ss part number chip. Most of the vendors are specifying
the chipset in sound fob auctions as it is important.. I did not have a
great deal of success rolling my own sound fob so I decided to use the
URI devices as it is a modified CM108 sound fob on steroids... Obviously
cost is an issue but in my case it outweighed the aggravation factor of
doing microsurgery on the fob. There is discussion of the modified fob
process on one or more of the app_rpt distro's web sites... here is a link
<http://images.qrvc.com/usbfob.pdf>
I beleive this would be a suitable device...the auction number is
320459478011
It is CM119 based.. Either the CM108 chipset or CM119 chipset is suitable...
Doug
KD8B
Tim Herron wrote:
Doug,
Which ebay sound interface do you recommend for app_rpt, and is there
a good site showing the mods necessary for the conversion of said usb
device?
Tim
On Sat, Jan 16, 2010 at 9:50 AM, Doug Bade <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Al;
You may want to look into the Allstar Link project or similar that
are based on Asterisk as the core system. A $10 sound interface
from ebay can be used as the "controller" in connection with a
receiver, transmitter and a PC running the sw which can be
downloaded as a self installing ISO CDrom image..It does run Linux
as the core... it also provides international linking capacity
besides repeater functions.
I currently use Intel Atom 330 based motherboards for the site
computer.. and it will run 4 repeaters with 4 usb sound interfaces
at once.. IF you go the expensive route.. you can buy a prebuilt
interface device called a URI from a company called DMK
Engineering ( ham pricing available) .. sub $100 each.. and have 5
wires to connect to the tx and rx to make a repeater... that will
connect in the exact same places most repeaters use for any other
analog controller.. I use rack mount Supermicro atom 330 based
board kit *Item #: *N82E16816101262 from Newegg.. at $279.00 plus
1GB Ram plus HD plus a URI... will be less than $500.00 out the
door and you can add 3 more URI's to link ( or not as they are
each standalone) 3 more repeaters or remote bases ( yes you can
hook up most any HF radio with remote control ) which can be
controlled by the users... for just the cost of the URI's as the
sw will support many repeaters.. limited by the DSP audio
streaming/ processing of the motherboard as USB Sound devices
transfer DSP largely to the OS.. CPU Load goes up with each
additional repeater..I currently run 3 machines for 3 different
clubs on one Computer at the site... This sw has connection
capability to Echlink as well as IRLP besides the AllStar Link
network.. BTW any computer with USB and ethernet, in the P4 or
better realm can easily run 4 or more URI's...
I CHOOSE to use1u rackmounts at the site.. so pay a little premium
to do that..
There is also a UK ham, Jonathan G4KLX, who has coded a software
package to use these same URI devices as well as several other
sound interfaces called "pcrepeatercontroller" it is it's own
yahoogroup.. He makes both windows and linux distributions of the
application. Windows is fairly easy to set up.. Linux is more
"standard" for internet linked systems but is harder to set up
with his stuff at this time ( If you are Linux centric it helps a
lot) ..I have written a howto for installing and building the
software on CentOS 5.4 that is fairly 101 level ... Jonathan also
writes a DStar repeater version that converts a FM modulated radio
( 9600 Packet ready) or Eq into a standalone Dstar repeater (
needs 2 radios to repeat :-) )
I am currently setting up and testing a DStar URI based
installation on my Mastr III UHF station.. which came from 403-430
and I moved to 440-450... Mastr II stations with FM modulators
probably will do equally well as that was the platform in Mastr II
for EDACS which was a waveform very similar to Dstar... albeit
9600 baud instead of DStar 4800.. I will be working on documenting
that down the road.. but want to get my MIII running first..It is
converted.. just need to connect the URI. I am analyzing and
deciding where to connect as MIII is a little more complex then
MII :-)
Jonathan, the author, has an item on his todo list to merge the 2
apps onto one so it would be a dual mode analog and Dstar
repeater... both apps launch at the click of a mouse... just one
at a time now.. the same connections are shared for both.. He is
also working with the DStar network guys and can connect his
repeater software based box's to other Dstar repeaters and
gateways through the open source network stuff currently being
built...
Doug
KD8B
Al Wolfe wrote:
The other day some of us were discussing replacing the controller
in one
of our local repeaters. It is presently an NRHC-4. While throwing
ideas
around someone suggested why not just use an old PC and sound
card. Then we
could add bells and whistles as needed. This got us to thinking
that maybe
this might be a good idea. Then someone said why reinvent the
wheel. Why not
see what others have done first. So, I'm asking what are your
experiences
with this concept? What programs are available? Other than some
stability
issues with Windoz, what are the pitfalls?
Thanks,
Al, K9SI
