[App_rpt-users] Info for New users, working set of configs, and some scripts.

[John (WB5NFC)]

----- Original Message ----
From: Don Russell <w9drr.ham at gmail.com>
To: app_rpt users list <app_rpt-users at qrvc.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 2:41:59 AM
Subject: [App_rpt-users] Info for New users, working set of configs, and some scripts.

Since we have a group of new users around.I Just wanted to share a few
little helpers I picked up and some working configs to
compare with. Check out the source of app_rpt.c lots of help at the
top, most if not all of the commands are documented there.
It helped me a lot when I was first getting started.

The included tarball has my complete working config files - a couple
passwords and pincodes, my crontab, some custom scripts,
and the weather scripts I modified from IRLP. W0ANM and Randy KC6HUR
wrote them. I hacked them up to work with asterisk.
and the Cepstral voice William. I also used William to replace a bunch
of asterisk words to keep the repeater audio consistent.
No offense to Jim, Steve, and Allison. (Speaking of Allison, I met her
at Astricon one year, Freaked me out, I didn't know what she
looked like, the door to the elevator opened, this chick at the door
said something like "hello, going down?" I started looking around at
the speakers in the elevator trying to figure out how someone got
Allison to do voice over work for the elevator. then it hit me.. SHE
was Allison....LOL)

I also included some scripts I use for changing how the repeater
functions. they change hang times, Courtesy tones, ID's, and gets
the node connected up for weather events. I also have a restore to
normal function. It does copy around the /etc/asterisk/rpt.conf
so be careful in playing with them. backups are important.

As far as my hardware:
I am using de-emphasized audio (speaker) and have a COR signal from
the receiver going to the FOB.
In addition to the caps, I also used 1:1 transformers on the RX/TX
audio lines to kill any ground loops. I also put in
some ferrite beads on the audio lines, made sure everything was
properly grounded, including the usb connector
on the fob, that solved a lot of ills with ground loops(hum) on my
end. I did change most of the values to make things
suit the audio levels I needed. The original fob design was designed
for Motorla or other Radios with very hot discriminator
audio. My GE wasn't quite that hot, and the ICOM I used for a while
was even lower. So feel free to play with them or just put
in a pot and trim around at will.

My current receiver is a Motorola Astro Saber running in Dual mode
IMBE NAC 294/Analog PL 97.4. I took the audio from the speaker mic
output through the 1:1, I also took one side of the audio line w/ a
pull 2k pull down resistor to the COR pin. works like a charm.
A lot of Motorola radios only power on the audio amp when there is
proper PL/NAC. both sides of the amp have a floating DC bias
that changes when the amp powers on, floating when off, +4.7 when on.
I little trick I got from Jim WB6NIL...

My previous receiver was an old Uniden that I tapped raw Discriminator
and fed the fob via the 1:1 transformer.
That also worked pretty good with the DSP mode. Until the person I got
the radio from played Indian giver.

The transmitter is nothing fancy.. just an old Kenwood G707 mobile
being fed from the packet jack (ps2 type) on the back.
I do have an Industrial mega CFM fan blowing across the back of the
transmitter to keep it cool. So far its doing just fine.
My system is not very heavy in traffic. Eventually I want to replace
it with something more robust like a spectra or X9000
syntor. If I can get my hands on one cheap.

Hope they are useful to some of you.

-- 
Don Russell, CBRE
W9DRR
ARRL OES, Technical Specialist
Winnebago County AEC
http://www.socialengineer.us

----

Kudos to Don for sharing such GREAT information! As one of the resident newbies, I really appreciate his guidance. I have printed out his message and will soon be eagerly digging in to his configs and scripts in hopes of understanding some of Asterisk's darker mysteries. Thanks to all the developers and contributors on this list who freely share their knowledge. It's in the true spirit of amateur radio. 

It's tough being the new kid on the block. Those who have been here for awhile are aware of idiosyncrasies and 'work-arounds' needed to get and keep things going, but that corporate knowledge often gets buried. I will try to do my homework by searching previous messages, the new Drupal site and the archives  before I post questions that have been previously answer. I would only ask that those on the list who have 'been-there-done-that' will be kind as I - and others - get up to speed. I'm very excited to be part of this project, and hope that I can contribute a little along the way as I learn more. Thanks to all for your patience and understanding. 

73
John / WB5NFC