Bi-Directional Private Call to Group call in DMRGateway

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VE3RD
Posts: 113
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2018 7:21 pm

Bi-Directional Private Call to Group call in DMRGateway

Post by VE3RD »

Many commercial radios have a manual dial for private calls only.
My request is for a bi-directional private call to group call dmrgateway rule such that I can enter a manual dial to a private call and have it arrive at the server as a group call and the return converted back to a private call in the radio
Does this sound like a reasonable suggestion?
M1DNS
Pi-Star Team
Posts: 1388
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:30 am

Re: Bi-Directional Private Call to Group call in DMRGateway

Post by M1DNS »

Something similar was used over the past few yrs in that kinda way. Uk used it extensivly and we're one of the last countries to see it go.
private call eg. 4400 to get group call tg2350 uk wide. 4401 p/c got you onto tg2351 uk chat. It was known as reflector linking and all traffic was passed over tg9, local.
It was seen as a system no longer needed and support for it stopped later part last yr.
Some networks still employ such a similar system using tg rewrites, but i wouldnt expect to see it come back on the larger networks, given most have agreed, group call is the way forward. So i wouldnt hold ur breath.

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Andrew M1DNS.
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VE3RD
Posts: 113
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2018 7:21 pm

Re: Bi-Directional Private Call to Group Call in DMRGateway

Post by VE3RD »

What you say is fine, group call is the way to go.
But this is just one more reason to convert Private Calls to Group Calls
TGIF is now going all Group Call for Parrot and other things
But a Motorola User cannot access a group call TG with manual dial.
The KEY here is the ability to do a Group Call with a commercial radio( in Private Call Mode)
using the DMRGateway
VE3RD
Posts: 113
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2018 7:21 pm

Re: Bi-Directional Private Call to Group call in DMRGateway

Post by VE3RD »

The suggestion to move this issue over to the DMRGateway on github has been taken,
and hopefully the posting here has generated a little interest.

However I should point out that the DMRGateway, although developed by others is still a major component of Pi-Star.
The configuration script that runs when you apply changes in the pi-star dashboard makes all kinds of decisions and modifications in the running of the DMRGateway. Some of these modifications are good, some are bad. I have a hot backup ready to replace /etc/dmrgateway when pi-star messes it up.
VE3RD
Posts: 113
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2018 7:21 pm

Re: Bi-Directional Private Call to Group call in DMRGateway

Post by VE3RD »

"If you'd quit "applying changes" in the main configuration area, and only used the expert areas to make ANY AND ALL changes to your system, it wouldn't "mess" things up. You have full control in the expert areas and in the terminal, and it won't hold your hand and force any unwanted settings."

That's fine to say, but difficult to implement. I know how to control the system to minimize the damage. However there are a lot of non technical people using the DMRGateway and telling them NOT to make changes in the pi-star configuration page falls on def ears and I get many calls to FIX it.

Two items that I have found to be an issue of concern
1) The configuration script runs by just loading the configuration page, you don't need to "apply changes"
2) If the configuration script finds something it does not like in /etc/dmrgateway then the configuration script will replace /etc/dmrgateway with a vanilla version missing many config items including networks 4 and 5. That's why I keep a backup of /etc/dmrgateway and also do this on any users hotspot I get called to fix.

This is getting off topic. Lets put a pin in it
The main topic regarding the PC to GC has been moved to github

Feel free to delete this entire thread
VE3RD
Posts: 113
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2018 7:21 pm

Re: Bi-Directional Private Call to Group call in DMRGateway

Post by VE3RD »

There is a bit of a unknown bug where the DMRGateway info gets blasted and sections get removed, but nobody has been able to figure out what sequence of operation causes it so that it can be looked into and fixed.
OK This is probably what has been happening. Net4 and 5 are gone, Log and audio sections are gone and General looses a few lines.

A couple of days ago I had this happen to someone I assisted, he swears up down and sideways that he did not make any changes in the config page. A replacement of the /etc/dmrgateway file had him up and running again in just a couple of minutes.
VE3RD
Posts: 113
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2018 7:21 pm

Re: Bi-Directional Private Call to Group call in DMRGateway

Post by VE3RD »

This particular individual had both a backup of the /etc/dmrgateway file and a backup micro sd card and he still called me to assist.
Oh Well!!
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