AllStar Radio Node mini-HOWTO

Willem AC0KQ

The following is a very simple HOWTO on installing an AllStar node using a URIx and the CentOS ACID distro. This is by far the simplest way to get on the air. This mini HOWTO is short on details, but is intended to provide more of an overview of how to install an AllStar node from scratch.

Please report errors to Willem AC0KQ.

Preliminaries

Get the hardware

Order a URIx from DMK Engineering.
Find a computer to use as the AllStar node computer. The AllStar install will wipe the hard drive so back up anything you want to keep. A 1GHz pentium or later should do fine, as long as it has a USB port and about 2GB of disk space.
Find a radio to use. A radio with a data port or similar auxilliary port is preferred. The goal is access to output not influenced by the radio squelch or volume controls. Amateur radios with a data port are on the more expensive side. You can find some great commercial radios cheap on eBay due to narrowbanding. Repeater Builder and BatLabs has great information about selecting a radio.

Wire a male DB25 connector to interface your URIx to your radio

1 PTT press-to-talk Lets URIx turn transmitter on 8 COR carrier operated relay Lets the radio tell the URIx it is receiving a signal 21 MIC_AC line level receiver output Audio from receiver to URIx 22 LEFT_OUT signal to transmitter Audio from URIx to transmitter 20 GND ground You can use one of several ground pins
Ham equipment with a data port: Most ham radios use a mini din 6 port for data. This is the same as the port used for keyboards and mice, but standard keyboard or mice cables does not provide wires for all the pins you need. You can buy the jack or find a fully populated extension cord and cut it in half. If your data port supports both a 1200 bps and 9600 bps output, use the 9600 bps output.
Motorola Radios: Motorola and other commercial radios typically have an auxilliary connector. For example, the Motorola SM50 this is a 16 pin connector you can buy on eBay. Check Batlabs or Repeater Builder for the pinouts.

Progam the radio

On your ham radio, set output to 9600 bps if that's the output you are using.
On your commercial radio, set the output to unsquelched (Motorola calls it unmuted), and to output the carrier squelch if needed.
Unless you are using the URIx for CTCSS, set the radio CTCSS for transmit and receive.
Configure your router to send incoming packets to the node. The default port is UDP port 4569. Your router needs to send incoming UDP packets to the node.

Register your server and node
1. Create a login at AllStarLink.org. Use your call sign so your user name so you don't have to remember your user name.
2. Create a server from the main menubar Server > Creater Server. This happens right away.
3. Configure the server (the defaults are fine)
4. Request an AllStar node from the main menubar Node > Request Node > MyServer. This request may take between a few hours and perhaps a day or so to get processed, so do this before you get the URIx.
5. Configure the node. The defaults are mostly fine, but you need to customize things like the CTCSS tone.

1	PTT	press-to-talk	Lets URIx turn transmitter on
8	COR	carrier operated relay	Lets the radio tell the URIx it is receiving a signal
21	MIC_AC	line level receiver output	Audio from receiver to URIx
22	LEFT_OUT	signal to transmitter	Audio from URIx to transmitter
20	GND	ground	You can use one of several ground pins

Installing the Node

Installing the Operating System
1. Download the CentOS based ACID ISO image from the AllStar download site.
2. Burn the ISO image to a CD, and boot from it.
3. At the syslinux CentOS splash screen hit ENTER. This will wipe the disk and install linux. At the end it will say "REBOOT". Remove the CD and let it reboot.
4. On the next boot the OS will be updated. It will present a prompt: "Do you need a static IP." Say NO even if you will later configure a static IP. The system will update the OS to the latest version and install the necessary software. When it is done it will reboot.
5. On the next boot, the system will download and configure Asterisk, on which the AllStar node is based. When it is done you will get prompts:
  
  New Unix Password:
  Select a password for root that you can use to log in to this server.
  Would you like the config files be provided by the AllStar Portal Server?
  Say yes to install the configuraton from the AllStar web site.
  Have you established and entered the appropriate information on that server?
  Say yes unless you didn't follow my advice above.
  Enter your Allstar Portal used id:
  This would be your call sign if you used your call sign as your user name.
  Enter your Allstar Portal password:
  Only you should know what to enter here.
  Okay to download config for server?
  Enter yes to proceed.
6. Plug in your URI and let the machine reboot. The green LED on the URIx should flash fast once the machine is rebooted.

Post Installation Configuration

Log into your node from the keyboard using the user name root and the password you specified at the "New Unix Password" prompt. Alternatively you can ssh into the machine using port 222.

Customizing the OS on your node
1. I don't like non-standard ssh configurations. Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and change the port from 222 to 22 if you want to use the standard port 22 instead. This is entirely a matter of taste, but I always do this first.
2. Make sure your node can resolve DNS. If you assign a static IP adress, you may have to edit /etc/resolv.conf and set the nameservers. If node uses DHCP you should not have to do this. If you ask for a static IP, you will have to set this manually.
3. The node will generate a report of the logs every day. Edit /etc/aliases and change the line #root :marc to root: you@isp.com, substituting your email address where you want to receive the reports. Then do newaliases
4. Set your time zone. By default, AllStar uses pacific time. Change the time zone to you local time. For Mountain Time use "America/Denver", e.g.
  
  mv /etc/localtime /etc/localtime.old
  ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Denver /etc/localtime
  sed -i -e 's#America/Los_Angeles#America/Denver#' /etc/sysconfig/clock
5. Enable NTP so that your computer stays synchronized with the atomic clock
  
  chkconfig ntpd on
  service ntpd start
Configuring the radio on the node
1. Run radio-tune-menu
  
  Test the transmitter
  F The red LED on the URIx will light up, the radio should transmit, and you should receive a steady tone.
  You may need to adjust the transmit level using 6 and 7, but the default is probably fine.
  If you configured your radio to pass all audio, and CTCSSfrom=dsp
  2 Let the node figure out what the radio sounds like while not receiving anything;
  4 Transmit a a dead carrier (after identifying) and let the node figure out what the radio sounds like when receiving a dead carrier with only the CTCSS tone;
  9 Transmit a tone (after identifying) using a DTMF key and let the node figure out what the radio sounds like when receiving a signal;
  If you configured your radio to rely on the radio for carrier detecion
  3 Transmit a tone and adjust the menu to see a bar of = signs between the marks.
2. Edit /etc/asterisk/rpt.conf
  
  duplex=1 - simplex repeater
  This repeater can only transmit what it receives from the internet, while what it receives will be transmitted to connected nodes.
  The node will properly identify every 10 minutes.
  duplex=2 - full repeater
  This is a full repeater that will transmit and receive simultaneously.
  The node will properly identify every 10 minutes.
3. Restart your node using astres.sh
4. Test your node buy transmitting (after identifying) *81 using the DTMF keys. If everything went right, the node should tell you the time.