No time announcement...

Help with D-Star related issues
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G7OMN
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Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:46 pm

No time announcement...

Post by G7OMN »

I have a PiZ W - with MMDVM hat. It is configured with D-Star enabled only. (I also have another on a PiB/MMDVM for DMR).
The PiZ seems to have stopped issuing Time Announcements for D-Star, even though it is enabled in config.
It doesn't seem to make any difference if the PiZ is connected to a reflector or not.
TimeServer status is green.
Both are set up with UPNP.
If i shut down the PiZ and enable DStar on the PiB - that happily sends Time Announcements on the hour and the DStar config is the same.

Any thoughts anyone, or is it just quicker to reset or reflash the micro SD?
Jon
G7OMN
G7OMN
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Re: No time announcement...

Post by G7OMN »

OK - After resetting, reflashing, interchanging backups, swapping hardware about, I have figured out what seems to be stopping the time announcement from working on my PiZ.
The PiZ unit has RPT1 set with a "M" suffix, so as to differentiate it from the Pi2B (RPT ID "B"). The Pi2B is on 70cm at home, and the PiZ ("M") is also at home, but also gets taken mobile - hence the choice of suffix.
The "M" ID suffix is registered on https://regist.dstargateway.org/ as an access point (the same as the other hotspot, a Pi2B, registered as "B").

I can see from the live logs, that the time announcement seems to be pushed from the network to the hotspot, as i see this on the hour on the "B":
M: 2021-05-24 20:00:00.239 D-Star, received network header from G7OMN /TIME to CQCQCQ
It would seem that the "M" is causing the problem, as the PiZ will receive that text on the hour if the ID is set to "B", but when amended back to the "M" the network doesn't send it.

Anyone any idea why this is?
Jon
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G8SEZ
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Re: No time announcement...

Post by G8SEZ »

I believe that you can only have one Access Point, normally it's set as module Z. You can have more than one terminal, first one is usually a space module, but you can use non-reserved modules for others.

It may also turn out that module M has a special meaning in DStar that I've missed, but I think you get my gist.
--

Brian G8SEZ
G7OMN
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Re: No time announcement...

Post by G7OMN »

DStar repeaters are designated with ID letters A, B, C and D. Your selection to use 'M' is probably the issue. Set it to A, C or D and it will probably work correctly.

I assume its a server side issue where it isn't sending the time message, probably because at some point in the alphabet time messages are not supposed to be sent.
It works fine it I set it to "B", so yes looks to be server side.
Is there any issue with having 2x hotspots active on D-STAR (but on different frequencies) with the same RPT1 designation?
Will this have any effect on Callsign routing?
Jon
G7OMN
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Re: No time announcement...

Post by AF6VN »

Just a note: the convention is that the node ID (on repeaters, at least) is tied to the frequency band... B indicates 70cm, C indicates 2m, and A is used for 23cm. D is used for digital /data/ nodes. Hotspot probably doesn't matter unless one is running a spot for each band, or has opened it up to public access.

The D-Star routing system should learn the last "repeater" that one accessed, and route responses to that node.

--
AF6VN
Dennis L Bieber
G7OMN
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Re: No time announcement...

Post by G7OMN »

AF6VN wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 2:36 pm Just a note: the convention is that the node ID (on repeaters, at least) is tied to the frequency band... B indicates 70cm, C indicates 2m, and A is used for 23cm. D is used for digital /data/ nodes. Hotspot probably doesn't matter unless one is running a spot for each band, or has opened it up to public access.

The D-Star routing system should learn the last "repeater" that one accessed, and route responses to that node.
Thanks Dennis - as it looks like Pi-star supports time announcements on RPT1 callsign suffix A through to E, then D or E would make most sense for the second hotpot, to keep as close to convention as possible, or never run the two at once with the same suffix...
Jon
G7OMN
M1DNS
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Re: No time announcement...

Post by M1DNS »

You wouldn't, each repeater would have its own repeater call. With some networks it'll get you banned if connecting with two configs using the exact same login.

Also, mmdvmhost doesnt really care what module is used for what freq. range. Whilst its a recognised standard you can use any module A-D as long as the rpt1 is set to the same choice in your DSTAR radio.


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Andrew M1DNS.
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Re: No time announcement...

Post by M1DNS »

If your logged into the dplus network and you connect two installs configured with the same login, to the same reflector that can earn you a liftime ban from their network.
G7OMN wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 12:17 am Is there any issue with having 2x hotspots active on D-STAR (but on different frequencies) with the same RPT1 designation?
Will this have any effect on Callsign routing?
As far as routing goes it'll see you on the last installation you keyed up on, but given your running two installs both on the same ip, using the same login criteria who can tell for sure which one will pick it up.

Just to edge on caution, I'd suggest you set one up with B module and the 2nd using a D module then setup one of ur DSTAR radios to use 'callsign' B in it's rpt1 field. With the other radio rpt1 field setup with 'callsign' D.

That way they should be recognised as two seperate installations. You may still have issues though given your connecting both with the same server login criteria.
Try not to simultaneously connect both to the same dplus reflector

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Andrew M1DNS.
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Re: No time announcement...

Post by M1DNS »

One sure way to avoid any issue is set both modules up to use one ircddbgateway server login. This is how a true multi module repeater stack would connect, but it envolves a fair bit of work in the expert section of ircddbgateway and mmdvmhost.

In the 2nd installation change the ip address fields of ircddbgateway from 127.0.0.1 to 0.0.0.0. This will disable ircddbgateway in the 2nd install.
Edit the ip addresses in mmdvmhost on the 2nd installation to point to the int. IP address of the first installation running ircddbgateway and change the module letter to one different than the mmdvmhost running on the 1st installation. eg. D.

Log into the dashboard expert settings on the first install running ircddbgateway and change the addresses shown for the 2nd repeater setup to point to the int. IP address of mmdvmhost running on the 2nd installation and remember to change the chosen 2nd repeater module (D)

Now you have both mmdvmhosts talking to the one ircddbgateway and that single instance logs into the dplus server and handles traffic to/from both mmdvmhost installs. Modules B & D.

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Andrew M1DNS.
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Re: No time announcement...

Post by AF6VN »

KE7FNS wrote: Tue May 25, 2021 10:53 pm Out here its quite common to run multiple repeater sites on different mountains using the same callsign, but I guess with DStar you can't/shouldn't.
If you are talking FM analog repeaters... My local repeater has a number of remotes, but they all feed (via some scheme) to the master repeater where conflict resolution hardware determines which remote/repeater signal gets repeated. The output appears to be via the single master repeater (apparently it has the power/range to reach areas covered by the remotes, while the remotes receive lower-powered HTs, et al.).

For analog repeaters, the callsign is just for FCC mandated identification (the remotes in the local system use different "roger beeps" so those in-the-know can identify which remote is receiving the repeated signal).

The other scheme is linked repeaters -- which have individual frequencies and likely individual callsigns but via the links all repeaters carry the same QSO. California's CondorNet (220 band), and Michigan's W8IRA (all same callsign, but different freqs).

For D-Star, well... You could run repeaters on different frequencies with the same callsign -- as long as said repeaters are LOCAL QSO only -- no connections to reflectors and callsign routing nodes. Even using different modules (70cm and 2m) may be assumed to be co-located, such that there is only ONE network connection/login. The repeater controller distributes stuff by module to the appropriate radios.

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Dennis L Bieber
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