WRKC935

Get permission from the owner. Easiest way to do that is right here on the site. Go to Maps, find the repeater near you and see if it requires permission. If so click the request permission button and fill out the forum. You will need a full account to do this. A guest account will not allow you to pake requests for access to repeaters I don't believe.

This is completely normal. If the other repeater is not being interfered with, which would seem to be the case just run with it. You seem to be in a location that there is a good bit of overlap, so you should be aware of what the other repeater is doing (active or not) when you are talking on the other repeater. But past that, I wouldn't be too concerned.

Another quick note. Having a later version of CPS and programming an earlier firmware is NOT going to cause any issues. I do it all the time and have never had issue unless the firmware is REALLY old, like version 5 and before using CPS20.05.01 which I believe is the latest version that was available.

So, first question is why upgrade? This is not a Windows upgrade. Have you read through the release notes of the 20.01.01 firmware to see if ANY of the changes effect conventional analog and P25 operations of the radio. Second is you have to possess a flash key in order to apply the firmware upgrade in order for it to happen. The XTS / XTL family of radios were different in this regard from the APX radios that are now the standard. APX radios will directly upgrade without a flash key. The threat to doing irreversible damage to your radio is a VERY REAL possibility. You are rewriting the software that operates the radio. And while a failure of a cable getting kicked loose or a power failure with a computer would mean that you just boot from the media and attempt to reinstall the latest version of Windows or whatever having a similar failure with your radio during a copy operation will leave the radio in a state that by anyone outside of Motorola, unrecoverable. And in case you somehow feel I don't know what I am talking about, we sent a significant number of radios to Motorola during rebanding (probably 200 of the 15000 we upgraded). And since that was a supported platform at the time, they would fix them. You can't send that radio to Motorola any more, they will simply drop a letter in the box saying the model is no longer supported and charge you a fee to do so plus return shipping. Again, I work for a Motorola shop, Been through this a number of times. Lastly, I am not 100% sure you can go from 17 to 20 directly. At least not safely. You may need to goto 18 first before making that jump to 20. Also, you need to understand that a firmware upgrade will NOT add functionality to the radio. The flashcode of the radio sets the functionality and options in the radio, not the firmware version. Changing the options requires a different type of flash key that is also NLA from Motorola.

Are you mounting this outside or inside the building? Reason I ask is the fans in the side will let rain and moisture in. But it would be simple enough to construct a 'hood' that would be open on the bottom and allow air flow while keeping the interior dry. Just a thought.

Being listed as a guest is gonna be a non-starter. Part of the verification process for a node is license verification. Not sure if you gave your license or not, but your account here gets tied to the repeater node. You of course also realize that it's the holiday season and people are doing other stuff. Please be patient it does take a couple weeks to get things in order.

Yes, this is true. In fact I am a paying member of one. And a moderator.

I know you are in the same business as I am. I will say this, specifically pertaining to my area. The TG ID's and alias names are spot on with what the state system is using for those users. So if I need a TG ID in hex or decimal, the ones on there seem to always be right. And with the additional access that a paid membership provides, hunting licenses for users is a bit easier with their interface than the one the FCC has and provides the meat and potatoes of the license without needing to click around to get that info. At least it was that way the last time I was a paying member.

One thing to know with CTCSS and CERTAIN manufactures of radios. Motorola specifically has something called reverse burst. It inverts or changes the output PL or DPL of a repeater before the repeater drops. This change will remove the static crash (repeater tail) from your receiver. If you are close to the repeater anyway. So you hearing nothing may have been normal. That's gonna depend on your radio and how the repeater owner has the repeater programmed.

Which is the reason I got out. While I have nothing against the AMA, I find it odd that I am forced to all but be a member of the AMA to enjoy the hobby. And NOT following the letter of the regulations will get you in deep crap facing HUGE fines. I realize that radio is also regulated, but there aren't any FCC agents actively looking for rule breakers. The asme can't be said of the recreational drone community. Or has that changed, becuase they were tracking down YouTubers for a while that flew outside the regs and slapped them with huge fines or attempted to.

Well, I have used it both as a paying member and a non-paying member. SO the question of is it worth it. And that is gonna be determined by a couple things. First is what scanner you have. Some scanners will directly import info from RR and other's don't as easily. Second is how good are you at programming scanners. If you don't really know much about doing it, and your scanner is compatible, then yes it's certainly worth it. Third is what is your time worth to you? Meaning, if you are looking to put a major cities complete talkgroup list in a scanner, you are gonna spend HOURS doing that by hand. With the power to import comes the ability to import specific stuff in specific zones. Which is MORE time consuming to do by hand. so if you look at the cost as a time saver, which it is, then again it's worth the little bit of money for at least the 180 day membership in my opinion. Now I ain't coughing up the big bucks for a 3 year run, but when I have a couple scanners to do, I will toss them the bucks for a 180 run and program the scanners I need to get done. Again, personal opinion and choice. There were some comments made about accuracy of the database overall. Stuff isn't removed from the database unless someone tells them it's bad data. IIf you know of bad data, tell them and they will make the needed corrections. I know about this first hand. I have passed on a number of corrections as my customers have moved off of VHF and UHF and on to the state wide system. They were always happy to have the corrections and made the database updates quickly. Of course the local admin guy I deal with knows me personally and knows if I inform them of something, it's correct. So there is no question with my data. Your mileage may vary with that. That being said, the forums kn RR are like the wild wild west of the radio world. There are a number of people that will post total BS in order to bump their post count. That or they truly think the know what they are talking about and have it all wrong. And there is little point in correcting them as they are convinced they are right and will argue the dumbest points. But the nonsense on there is good for a laugh at times. So my parting shot is this. If you either don't want to put in the effort to manually program a scanner, don't know how, or simply value your time, I would advise you to carefully consider a short membership. And the downloading of scanner configurations is NOT the only plus to the membership. It opens up several other commercial databases that are either very limited or are completely hidden from non-paying members. There are direct links to the FCC web site for the licenses, and a search tool for FCC licenses behind the pay wall as well. So there are additional features. Lastly, they DO indeed keep a better records than about anywhere else. For both frequencies and talk group information. And supporting that effort is probably worth the little bit of money they ask for with a paid membership.

I was a heavy drone user until all the rules got set in place. Seem's that I am within 5 miles of a strip of land that that FAA recognizes as an airport so can't even fly in my back yard legally without logging every flight. And when we were required to telephone inform the airport, I was doing so and the guy got sort of upset (his private airport number is his private residence number). He told me to NOT call. Problem is he didn't have that authority so my guess would be if he see's my drone up, he's gonna call the FAA and turn me in. So NOT worth the hassle. And when I say I was involved in it, I had / have something like 10 drones. These range from copies of the original DJI Phantom to a heavy lift unit that I was building to carry an SLR camera aloft with a cellular telemetry data link system that would have allowed almost unlimited link distances with a fly home mode if the link was severed. I was also in process of planning / building a Reaper Drone that would have connected with that same system. This was all going to be controlled from a computer with a high end flight sim yoke and throttle setup and a number of additional channels for servo and digital I/O for controlling various things. I was just getting that plan off the ground when the 55 pound max rule was put into place and the engine and ducted fan was going to exceed that. Once the FAA got all crazy and dropped the hammer on the whole hobby, I completely backed away from it. Last time I had a drone in the air I was taking video of the tower my buddy has (before the 107 was created) which was 4 or more years ago.

Well you will have that. I assume that they now understand that there are others using the channels and that sort of stuff isn't really welcomed? Or something to that effect. Hopefully they will continue to use the radios and enjoy them. And I believe that's an FRS shared channel. So everyone that heard it probably figured it was a couple kids with bubble pack radios so I wouldn't get too concerned with the feds kicking in your door and dragging you away.

I am on again off again in my support of the League. Hobby radio in it's entirety needs some level of representation at a government level. They do that. I question their support for ARES, although it's not at the level it was. And don't get me wrong, ARES is important if it's done right. Orange vests, a bandolier of radios and a lightbar on your POV is NOT doing it right. But when that was all the rage, the League never really officially said to cut out the nonsense. Which made them somewhat complicit in the wackerism. That fad seems to have come and gone and it's a good thing to be rid of. And for those that feel they weren't supporting it, the stupid badges that many of the wackers carried had ARRL right on them. At a minimum the League could have told them NO. Hell Ohio State University was trying to copyright THE. And I believe they let them. The League no doubt has a copy write on ARRL. All that being said, ham radio and the members of it are not what they once were. And yes, the articles in QST and even the stuff in the Handbook show that loss of technical knowledge. The articles are NOT what they were. But they are something to get you interested enough to research the topics more and maybe implement something you read about. But some of it, like the dumb umbrella antenna (reminds me of the folks with the antenna towers on their hats at Hamvention) article was truly lame and an indication they need more people writing technical articles for the magazine. I am gonna send them my money once a year. Well, I will pay them at Hamvention, but I am not gonna be one of those that donates my house and gear to them in my Will.

This is a serious political football that can cost votes. People outside of Ham Radio typically don't want to see antenna towers and big HF antenna's all over the place. And people that support ham's installing towers don't get votes from those that feel it's an issue to have their view blocked. Now I don't see commercials of huge towers dropped in the middle of some mountain view blocking the vistas with aluminum. But it's a possibility. This is something that has gone on for years. And the truth is the living in an HOA community is a poor choice if you have any interest in privacy, property rights, or being involved with radio communications as a hobby. And before anyone pipes up and starts talking about cost, HOA communities are NOT the other side of the tracks shit holes with low property values. And the HOA is the reason for that. HOA communities are expensive between the cost of property and HOA fee's, fines and taxes due to property values, you could EASILY buy a bigger piece of land with zero restrictions in a rural area. YOU choose where you live, and if you live in an HOA community, you have to follow the regulations that go along with that property. I personally would never consider being in an HOA. And if one came around me, I would make sure to piss them off as much as possible as there is NO WAY they can force an existing owner to sign on with an HOA. So I would get a copy of their regulations and do EVERYTHING to create complaints and then hang a rope in a tree for them to go piss up when they came around complaining. But there are those that DO want to live that way. And within reason, they have that right. I am really hoping that we don't go down the path here that I have seen elsewhere on the ham radio forums where there are discussions of how to hide this or do you think I can get away with that. And if you live in an HOA community and are getting into radio, sell the place and MOVE. The minute that the HOA gets forced into allowing towers and antenna's and can't deny it any more, they WILL look at every other thing you are doing and fine the crap out of you until you either relent and take the tower down or are forced to move out. And HOA's CAN seize property in some states. They do it all the time. So read your agreements and see what it is you are doing down to the smallest detail and be assured they will be crawled up your back side enforcing their crap on you. We are back to property values in HOA communities are usually pretty good, so make that nonsense someone else's problem and buy a small farm or ranch house with an outbuilding and use the extra money to buy a comfortable car to drive to work in and a nice tower to further your radio hobby endeavors.

nevermind

OK, I tried connecting to it from my node tonight. I got a connection failed message when I did that. This leads me to believe that the port may not be forwarded correctly or there is some configuration that is incorrect with the node. I do start to connect to it, and it's on the system so obviously it's close to working. I would go back and verify the port forwarding is correct and you didn't fat finger the port number. Port should be 4569 for reference. Remember that it's a PAT with a NAT. You want the forwarding to be 4569 to 4569 and just translate the IP address from the public to the private IP. Something else that can catch you. And it's easy to troubleshoot. If you are running DHCP on your network and the IP for the RPi is in the scope for the DHCP, there is the possibility that the address is being assigned to a second device. Easiest way to figure that out is ping the R-Pi and then power it down. Then ping it again. If you get a reply, there are two devices with that address. You will need to move the Pi out of the DHCP scope or put in an address reserve for the MAC address of the Pi so that address is not assigned to another device. My network at home is a bit more complicated than most home networks since I have multiple internal vLAN's and subnets that are stretched out across two sites and have redundant paths to the Internet. But I did that level of work for 15 years before changing career paths. But my point is that I have a segregated network specifically for the radio equipment that goes out across the Internet for my repeaters and remote radio stuff.

OK, first issue. The * Don't put that in. However, I tried every different combination, added # at the beginning, tried other possibilities and it didn't work for me at all. Now, it does say node name. I would verify what that is on your node. Your's looks like alarmpiBothell and not the node number. I would be looking to see if your node name is different. I also question the node name in general. This system has node-****** for node names. And a specific login ( not root) if you use the correct image for THIS SYSTEM. alarmpi is a hamVoIP name used in there default config that may well need changed, and if it exists elsewhere on the system, you are really gonna be out of luck. The system has it's own DNS servers that point the nodes at each other and is managed elsewhere. So you may just not even be on the system to begin with. Did you get a registration email with a node number and password from the system admin or are you just flying solo figuring it's hamVoIP and shouldn't be that hard to setup to begin with. There is a reason that there is a SPECIFIC image used for this system. HamVoIP uses their servers to route the nodes on the ham system to each other or you can connect nodes together in a private or semi-private network and basically do your own thing. GMRS is 'doing it's own thing" with it and is NOT part of that system. And as such there are specific configurations that need to be applied to an image that is not sourced from the system here.

OK, you get more power??? not sure what you mean here. Are you meaning that you have a power meter between the amp and antenna and the meter shows more power with the amp off or that you simply have more range with it? Clarify this please. If you are not getting power out of the amp it's probably also bad. Hard to say with the description.

OK, first off, does the node show up on the map? If you are not showing up on the map, chances are your node isn't recognized in the system and will not attach. I just tried that same command on my node after disconnecting, I got nothing. Said that apt isn't a known command. SO I am at a loss here.

So here's how linking works for repeaters. Most repeater owners are going to make a decision regarding what they are going to link to if anything at all. They own the repeater and make that decision. Now a good number of owners will choose to not link at all. But the ones that do decide to link are gonna do what makes them happy. And the end users are typically NOT going to have any input on what the repeater is linked to. One of the things that will get you in deep crap is creating a link to a repeater without the permission of the repeater owner. Yes, it's possible to do but I am not gonna sit here and explain how to do something that will get your NODE banned forever, get you possibly banned from this site. SO don't ask, cuz we ain't saying. To the actual design of the system. The system is made up of node's and hubs. The hubs are either the wide area hubs, or state wide hubs. The wide area hubs on this system are the ones with a three digit ID number. The national hub being hub number 100. Midwest is 169 and so on. Anyone can connect to those hubs that has a valid node with an issued ID. Or you can connect to state hubs (what I do) for your local state or a state that has one. Now these hubs are privately owned. So some level of permission MAY be required to connect to those state wide hubs. That is for you to work out. If there are no local repeaters that are connected to the system, or you are wanting to connect to ta different local system than the repeater owner that is local to you is connected to you can obviously put up your own repeater and do as you like. At least as long as the hub you are connecting to allows you to connect to it. Again, that's for you to work out with that hub owner. In addition, individual repeaters can be linked together via the system. Again, with permission. You can set your node to connect to another node. That node can be anywhere. So a node in California can connect to a node in Ohio, or New York, or another node in California. The sky's the limit for that sort of thing. And putting up a repeater is NOT difficult. And there are a number of us here that can assist with that effort if you ask. Some of us, like me, are commercial radio tech's and do this sort of work all the time. Other's are really good with the specific configuration of the node software and are a wealth of information wihen it comes to that.

Send an email to Rich and let him know the NODE number and the registered name and your login name so he can add the node to your account so it can be managed by you. In the mean time, you can contact the owner of the repeater or hub that you are wanting to connect to and they can connect to your node as long as your firewall is configured correctly. I will also mention that if your firewall is NOT configured correctly, it may NOT allow you to configure it via the web site. There are other ways to command your node that you would do locally. Please message me and I will share that info with you. It is NOT for general consumption and should NOT be discussed openly here.

Is the node number show up as active anywhere else? Nodes can take 10 or 15 minutes to reconnect and register before they will show up in the system. If the public IP address has changed on the node, it may take longer, or may need flushed from the records first. I would assume since it's been down for over 12 months that the public IP has changed. Also, did you happen to change firewall's that you were using to connect the node to the internet and did you remember to open the port in the firewall for the node so the system could see it and connect to it. The paperwork that came with your software will specify the port number that needs to be forwarded from outside the firewall to the node device. Take a look at those thing's. Connect the node up and let it run for a half a day and see if it connects and shows up in the map. Also please post the NODE number here so someone can look at the node list and see if it's in there.

The issues with the made in china gear specifically was it would call home and do data transfers that were outside of what folks thought was normal for firmware updates and general maintenance issues. To have something like this happening in podunk nowhere, isn't really a huge deal. Issue is that if you have this sort of gear running in certain places like Washington DC it becomes an issue. To the comments about poison DNS servers. This struggle is real. Personally I would think that some code could be attached to the current subordinate DNS servers so they would round robin, or check any record against at least 3 other servers to verify the correct address was being passed once the cached address timed out. But that's just my opinion.

Yep, that is true. Parts of the password were transmitted in the clear. A bit of time and the whole 'password' could be found. Of course that is the reason that WEP is no longer used.