N6GKJ Allstar Node Notes


Q: What is an Allstar Node?
A: An Allstar Node is comprised of a small computer, a sound card and a VHF or UHF Amateur Radio mobile radio. The node is assigned an ID Code.

When the node is configured and powered up, it is plugged into the Internet via WiFi or Ethernet. The node sofware automatically logs into the Allstar server and reports its status.
By using the programming commands built into Allstar, we can connect our node to another node. This node connection allows us to talk over a short range or vast differences.
Some nodes are tied together into larger networks.

Each week we hold a net on our repeater frequency. Our repeater covers a vast area of Northern California. Many times we lose power in Northern California.
So we implemented a new Simplex Net to get our users used to simplex operations
We operate this net on our repeater output frequency. All net members know that when a power outage occurs, we switch over to simplex to carry out net operations.
But there is a catch. Our repeater covers such a large area that our far out net attendies cannot get to net control even via relays.
As a result we constructed the nodes 27936 and 27946.

We are going to focus on our local system, nodes 27946 and 27936.
Node 27946 is tied to a radio on a frequency of 147.090 MHz for simplex operation.
Node 27936 is tied to a radio on a frequency of 444.250 MHz for repeater operation


Q: What does it cost to get on an Alstar Node?
A: That depends on the way you choose to get on, this discussion will focus on the "Free and Cheap" ways to get on our Allstar Nodes

Now we can have those far out net attendies check-in using any number of available tools. These tools include:

IAXRPT - is a Windows based application that allows a ham operator to connect to our nodes (free)
DVSwitch - is an Android based application that allows a ham operator to connect to our nodes (free)
RepeaterPhone - is an Apple IOS application that allows a ham operator to connect to our nodes (not free)

For the purpose of this discussion, we will focus on IAXRPT and DVSwitch. Normally when we use these tools we already have
an Allstar Node in our shack we can connect with. Because Allstar is new to our group, most of our members do not have an Allstar Node.
We have opened up our 27946 and 27936 nodes to the members of our club who want to use these tools to make that connection.




To setup IAXRPT click: https://n6gkj.lodiarc.org/allstar/iaxrpt.htm to install and configure IAXRPT
To setup DVSwitch click: https://n6gkj.lodiarc.org/allstar/dvswitch.htm to install and configure DVSwitch