Search the Community

Lets start out with my setup so this might not work for you. My repeater is a Bridgecom BCR-40DU, I purchased the URIx, 25 pin cable, and Micro SD from the myGMRS store. Make sure your not using a Raspberry Pi 4, trust me it doesn't work. I ended up getting a Raspberry Pi 3B+. After installing the micro sd card into the pi make sure you connect an ethernet cable, log in, change password like instructed, then set up wifi if you want by following instructions in the quick start guide that came with the micro sd card, don't forget to log into your router and set up port forwarding. Your gonna wanna go into your simpleusb.conf file and change a few things. sudo nano /etc/asterisk/simpleusb.conf carrierfrom = usbinvert ; no,usb,usbinvert ; no - no carrier detection at all ; usb - from the COR line on the USB sound fob (Active high) ; usbinvert - from the inverted COR line on the USB sound fob (Active low) ctcssfrom = usb ; no,usb,usbinvert ; no - CTCSS decoding, system will be carrier squelch ; usb - CTCSS decoding using input from USB sound fob (Active high) ; usbinvert - from the inverted CTCSS line on the USB sound fob (Active low) duplex = 1 ; Duplex 0,1 ; 0 - half duplex ; 1 - full duplex When your done making the changes hit ctrl + o followed by enter then ctrl + x followed by enter. I wasn't able to use DTMF tones to connect to different nodes so I found a command in one of the forum pages to connect through ssh. sudo asterisk -rx "rpt fun 24219 *3172" 24219 is my node so insert your node number, *3172 will connect me to node 172, *3xxxxx will connect you to your node of choice, xxxxx being the node number. If your gonna use the Pi as your repeater controller then your gonna have to modify your rpt.conf file. sudo nano /etc/asterisk/rpt.conf hangtime = 1000 ; squelch tail hang time (in ms) (optional, default 5 seconds, 5000 ms) althangtime = 2000 ; longer squelch tail totime = 180000 ; transmit time-out time (in ms) (optional, default 3 minutes 180000 ms) idrecording = |ixxxxxxx ; cording or morse string see http://ohnosec.org/drupal/node/87 ;idtalkover = |ixxxxxxx ; Talkover ID (optional) default is none see http://ohnosec.org/drupal/node/129 ; See Telemetry section Example: idrecording = rpt/nodenames/24219 idtime = 900000 When your done making the changes hit ctrl + o followed by enter then ctrl + x followed by enter. Change the xxxxxxx to your callsign make sure you keep the |i or it won't identify. After your done making all the changes make sure to restart asterisk by using: sudo service asterisk restart These are all the changes I did to make everything work with my system. Once I get voice ID working I'll do an update. I hope this helps someone. It took me quite a few days of playing around trying to figure this out. Joe WROE856

So I am thinking, that little Raspberry box might have more left in it that can be of use at a repeater site. External control of "other" devices. For starters cooling fans based on a temp sensor input. Loss of power resulting in transfer to backup. Backup battery state. Solar charging system state And more.... With the Pi GPIOs external in-outs the hardware is there. I do realize there are probably some repeater controllers running out there that already incorporate some of these functions, but mine do not. So the questions comes down to... Can PHP be loaded along with Asterisk? This would require opening Port 80 so a "Dashboard" of monitored points and access to functions could be accessed remotely. Is there enough horsepower and memory? I believe the Pi myGMRS is sending out is a 3 B+ 1.4 gig 64 bit quad core processor with a gig of memory. (not sure the Linux version running can utilize the 64 bit though). Over thinking it? Too much time on my hands? Just add another Raspberry to handle these operations? Never Satisfied (Rick H) WQHJ382 / W2rgh