Though this was streamed 3 years ago, this seems to be the future of Ham Radio now. These are the types of things and situations that "REALLY KILLS OUR HOBBY"!!! IRLP has the same MINE MINE MINE attitude, or did at least. That entity may have changed over the years. That's why I dropped it and went to Echolink and then AllStar. When you start taking a HOBBY and turning it into a business as such, this is what happens. AMPRNET was the same way in the past and I decided to try it again recently once I found that a certain person passed, which I know that sounds bad but it is what it is, but it feels that its heading in the direction it was initially started for. Anyway, I hope the HOBBY can get back to what it really means, unless that's changed and if so, then I guess ill have to find some other things to do.
As somebody who has worked in accounting with a 501c3 for almost 8 years know I still find it surprising some of the stuff you are talking about are common issues: committment, segregation of assets, books and records, minutes, keeping a basic website, seperation of duties, basic trust. Needless to say a broken clock can be right twice a day. Most boards are there to support operations, not to be the main operators of a business. At first based on your UA-cam title I thought it was going to be nonstop bitching about something you were not involved with but this was rather informative. KG7QID.
glad I looked here and listened you out before getting involved in allstar. been there on a rogue player(s) 5013c before and I understand your frustration. keep posting about what ur up to
Seems that AllStar Network is growing. Here in the Tulsa area it is gaining rapid ground. It seems to be filling a gap in day to day connection from those in more remote areas to those within the Tulsa area. There are some local crossband type setups where we have allstar, dmr, and some local 2m repeaters all tied together. Doesnt matter which method someone is using, we can all gather regularly for ragchew and tech knowledge exchanges between one another
Putting up a test number is not "changing the portal number". Those sound like typical Harvard MBAs that cause more in problems than they are worth. They act stupider than rocks until you find out they're really either supporting thieves or useful idiots of those thieves. Too bad people like that get involved in stuff they shouldn't. But that's all down to the original lack of more sophisticated decentralized design. Any centralized design will have these problems. As soon as I saw that AllStarLink has a central registration server, I thought, ok, that's nice and all, but it will absolutely have political problems of thieves bribing corrupt officials, and that usually happens in networked organizations within two years. I assumed it already had happened. In fact, I see this as being "right on schedule" for the predictable downfall of any centralized system. A distributed peer to peer to peer shared database could have a whole can of worms of its own: denial of service attacks, etc. But such a design could work much better than a central database, and it would remove the need for a robust centralized admin team. It would take a long time to code and tune, and you would have to sort of publicize it til the attackers attacked it a lot to really test it, but then with those three systems working (ASL, distributed p2p, and the closed stolen HamVOIP package which I'm sure would set up their own competing network registration database), people could transition to p2p. I can just see it now: HamVOIP will protest against p2p since it removes their ability to control others. Hams using ASL is such a small group that such attacks would work, but it's still a hobby, so some hobbyists could program up the robust p2p versions and tell the rest to hoot off. I don't know if I'm volunteering for any of this. I assume no, but let's see how soon I finish more of my other projects.
I'd like further information about AllStar, I host VOIP services with Asterisk VMs and wanted to see if it was possible to make a connection like EchoLink where one would be able to sit at their computer and make an AllStar Node connection to their favorite server, maybe using an Asterisk connection. Please let me know how I can get in touch with you for further discussion.
Its tough to hear this about the HAM community. Here in the Tulsa area we seem to have a good community of operators that simply enjoy radio. Very inviting group of individuals that are more than willing to share knowledge, understanding, and experience. Active local groups in local 2m and 70cm repeaters and simplex operations, emergency management training, allstar link (including training in building nodes), dmr (including hotspot builds), wires x, 220 nets, daily and weekly nets, HF events, and group gatherings. Im new to HAM this year, and have progressed to Extra, and that has predominantly been due to the local operators. Its sad when personalities, agendas, and selfishness gets in the way of what should be a fantastic hobby
@@flecom5309 did you find an answer for this? I've started with allstar but would like to remove it from their dependency and make a cloud node that is independent.
@@flecom5309It’s open source software. Why do you need a tutorial? It isn’t for a novice user. Your very question indicates you have no idea what you are doing.
I'm sorry but I'm still pretty new to the Allstar linking game (never even heard of hamvoip) can you give a quick summary of what happened? What I was getting was hamvoip stole code from allstar. Do I have it right?
So, because ASL is licensed under the GNU GPL, any software built off Allstar must be open source/GNU, as well. That said, from what I understand, HamVoIP created some closed source software that they distribute with a copy of AllStarLink and since they won't release the source code, AllStarLink, Inc. is trying to sue HAMVoIP (I believe) for the release of the source code. Please, anyone, correct my ignorance if I'm wrong here. This is just what I was able to gather.
So I gather, FUCK HAMVOIP....lol But just to fill my understanding, what did they change/add/remove? And is it just that they aren't releasing the source to their releases?
Bryan, I have supported many of your projects including the Quantar page. First off, I think it's a little bit rough to be telling new users to "go fuck themselves" for using hamViop especially when we are here to just enjoy the system. Not everyone knows about the closet fights between you guys with this system. Its comments like THESE that makes the decline of users drop, and Im talking about just getting their ticket. We understand people work hard on projects and such. But why take it out on me?
Thank you for the informative view on the mess going on in the background. I didn't realise the issues and won't be using Hamvoip for sure! Thanks Bryan.
I get where you are coming from, Bryan. As you, I have been there, done it and got the T-shirt - in fact several T-shirts - being involved on club committees and being a board member - that’s till I learned the error of my ways! I.E. relying on others often leads to disaster with, unfortunately, the bullshitters usually winning out. A lot of it is to do with self-delusional prestige. It is well known that people who sit on Committees and Boards are usually unsuccessful in life, since successful people are too busy being successful and therefore do not have sufficient available spare time to devote their knowledge and experience to amateur (in the non-Ham sense) organisations. Hence such organisations are often taken over by lesser mortals to satisfy their narcissistic personalities! Here in UK I do use the HubNet system (which utilises the Allstar analogue facility) via handie talkie, using RF into distant repeaters and gateways (around 60 miles or so) whilst trekking out in my high-ground local National Park, so it does me fine for my needs. I see you mentioned HamVOIP (i.e. Internet Radio) in your video and I know exactly your feelings regarding that! During my time of using the Allstar RF facility (since 2019), there have been increasing numbers of DMR, DSTAR and C4FM Fusion users (all sounding like Dr. Who Darleks) utilising the system, in many cases where absolutely no RF whatsoever is used, yet the users consider themselves as operating Ham Radio! I despair for the hobby! This video had led me on to other interesting videos of yours - thanks for posting those videos.
The voice quality of allstar is great but all too often you have People crossmoding from DMR, D-Star and Fusion, I use these modes myself, don't have allstar yet. I also use Blue DV with the DVMEGA Globetrotter which is quite convenient in the car or places where RF isn't practical, it sits at home and I don't need a hotspot or dongle, I can use it on my cell phone or on Windows, on Windows it's fantastic because you can monitor all 3 modes at the same time and easily go to another mode without having to wait for gaps in transmission. The voice quality is also much better than someone coming from a DMR radio and hotspot for example. It's not real radio but there's some RF involved between the phone and modem hi hi. Many cars today can't have an antenna for 2 and 70cm because there's hardly any metal and most modern cars have no metal roofs and so hotspots are the only way to get on the networks. One thing stopping me from using Allstar is that I haven't yet found a way to easily get on the network without having to spend many hours I don't have to try figure it all out. I can't just buy a hotspot and away I go, not that I know of anyway. The voice quality of Digi modes can be quite horrific due to limited bandwidth with the exception of Fusion which is one of the best sounding digi modes, I've heard some decent quality on D-Star too but it's rare. I don't use repeaters due to local cliques and total bullshit revolved around them but it doesn't matter whether one uses a radio or phone to access these modes because whether you use a phone or repeater and radio it all goes through the internet. You can get on the digi modes cheaply with the DVmega DV stick 30 and blue dv on your phone or windows machine for very little cost and there's no complicated programming involved which is disastrous on DMR , fusion being the easiest as it should be, just program the hotspot or repeater, press wires-x and you're in, find the channel you want and save it, DMR is a joke this is why I like Blue DV so much because apart from initial setup you don't have to program channels or hotspot etc. There are a lot of People who can't put up antennas and there are those who would be too lazy to string an antenna up between a couple of trees so digi modes allow access to other hams for relatively little cost but they need to be less complicated to setup except for Fusion where Yaesu got it right, it's not complicated at all. But having to buy a radio for the different modes is ridiculous so I programmed my anytone and openspot 3 so I can cross mode easily between the 3 digi modes with just the one radio but it was a major headache to set up but the openspot 3 made this possible. I still prefer Blue DV. If allstar want only allstar and no robotic digi modes then all they have to do is block cross mode from other platforms and keep the majority of allstar exclusively allstar because what's the point of wanting a analogue sounding platform if it's been infiltrated by digital ?
@@o00scorpion00o Hi Scorpion. What a great, constructive response. I can see that you are well into the digital aspect of the Ham hobby and how it fits well with you. I could be termed as an analogue man in a digital age, only taking up the Ham hobby in the 1990’s. I should have done that much earlier, in my more youthful years! I was brought up on crystal receiving sets, WW2 military no.19 radios (I and a friend, both 14/15 year olds, had one each to communicate across the housing estate, quite illegally of course, but we weren’t to know!). And of course there was Radio Luxemburg and other juicy shortwave stations! From that time we were both hooked on RF - although my friend never became a Ham, but went on to become an RAF Squadron Leader! As you, I find the quality of the majority of the transmissions emanating from DMR, D-Star and Fusion atrocious, to the extent that, at times, I find transmissions difficult to understand. Of the three, Fusion (in my opinion) is the best - and closest to analogue-sounding - and would be my preferred choice if I ever went down the digi route. I think Yaesu Fusion - the later of the three to arrive - got it right, and at least provided a dual analogue/digi capability with their repeater system. I get that these days there can be difficulty in fitting a mobile VHF/UHF antenna to a vehicle, and also that there are (mainly) older Hams who cannot erect antenna systems, so systems such as Allstar and HubNet are attractive, but when I am using these systems I do often hear Hams (both existing Hams and those new to the hobby) saying that they no longer bother to erect antenna systems now they have access to internet-based radio - an oxymoron phrase, if ever there was one. It just means they are lazy Hams - IMHO. What I can’t get my head around is why the digi modes come about in the first place? In the good old, bad old days (circa year 2000) there was (and still is) a brilliant analogue-based system known as EchoLink, which enabled analogue RF repeaters and gateways to inter-connect anywhere in the world (a similar system is IRLP) - both of which are FREE TO USE, utilising existing RF equipment. Then along comes DMR, D-Star, Fusion et al, requiring HUNDREDS of UK pounds/US dollars to do currently what was being done FREE with EchoLink/IRLP. And all that has done is fractionalise the Ham Radio hobby into even smaller, non-compatible segments, to the extent that all the users of the different systems cannot find each other! Hence the need for watering hole systems such as Allstar and HubNet. Repeaters? Don’t get me started! Your comment regarding you not using them due to local cliques and total bullshit revolved around them is right on the mark! Speaking locally here in the South West, that couldn’t be more true. Although there are exceptions, repeaters around here are more to do with the narcissistic God-complex syndrome on the part of the Sysop! And more so when the repeater is digital! In the end, Hams will have to make up their minds whether they wish to operate with a modicum of RF, or relegate the Ham hobby to little more than using internet based SKYPE or Zoom, which ANYONE can do WITHOUT a Ham licence. As Hams we became licensed in order to have privileged and (relatively) unrestricted freedom to use selected portions of the radio spectrum. Marconi freed humanity from a wired to a wireless communications system - Hams are about to give that all up for the sake of the convenience of not having to use antennas or RF! Each to their own. We must enjoy our hobby (while we still have it) as we all see fit. Scorpion - enjoy, and have fun! Iain.
@@iainmeteorscan1555 Yes I certainly agree with what you say, there are definitely lazy People that are well able to get an antenna up in a couple of trees or even some fiberglass masts but can't be bothered, the internet has made People lazy, they can just plug in a box to the internet and be a "HAM". I have my base setup, a FTDX-10 and EFHW, for the sitting room I have a FT-891 and Chameleon MPAS 2.0 on the front lawn so I can use the radio when I don't want to abandon the XYL, I can use some digi modes like PSK31 and Olivia so I can at least communicate with humans and have real conversations and some SSB contacts when the XYL is gone to bed if I still don't want to go to the shack, I've been amazed at how far I can get with this simple setup I had intended to use only for portable but the point is that it's so easy get on SSB with such an antenna and you can still get good DX with no internet so there's no excuse for not being on HF unless someone lives in an apartment, then you can still use a loop antenna or some kind of antenna if you have a balcony but I admit it does make that harder. I have been quite baffled at how many times I've heard people praise DMR for it's amazing sound "quality" they determine quality not to be fading and noise and static but I find my brain sometimes hurts trying to piece back together the audio removed due to compression with DMR and D-star. Again, Blue DV and headphones make a big difference and also to TX audio quality if you were to give digi modes a try I highly recommend BLUE DV and the dvmega DV Stick 30 for simplicity and as good sound quality as you can get from these modes both tx and rx before you spend the money on the likes of the FT-3d or 5D but if you are to get a radio for digi you know yourself Fusion is definitely easy to use I just lost interest in HT for digi after I experiences the wrath of the elitists on the repeater network where I live and I was viscously targeted on facebook and a local forum as a result which led me to using only hotspot and a dmr radio. I have the digi modes when I want to make contacts where HF is not practical. DMR is a real pain in the ass to setup and fix if it goes wrong. So many hams flock to it because it's cheaper than a yaesu or Icom rig but to program a code plug is a real pain. D-Star is more difficult if you have a D-star radio but using blue DV then DMR, D-Star and Fusion is very simple especially on a windows machine. Yaesu got it right, simple to use, put in the repeater or hotspot frequency press wires-x and you're in, select the channels you want and save them for future use the real issue as you pointed out is the fragmentation of the hobby with all these modes where People are scattered around making it more of a headache to be able to get on all the different modes. I have only used echolink a couple of times on my phone, I must use it more to get more familiar with it. One thing we do need is a radio with a hotspot built in that will do good quality voice like Allstar not take days and days to figure out how to use and not need a mobile phone to use. God bless analogue radio and Ham gear for it's simplicity, though they are becoming more and more complicated to use now and everyone wants the screen and waterfall which are not my priorities I do love the FTDX-10 though for it's amazing audio quality and receiver performance which is miles better than my old 7300 which Icom seem to have neglected the audio quality. Things are changing fast but HF is by no means dead thankfully!
@@o00scorpion00o Hey, Scorpion. Once again, a nice comprehensive communication from you! I think you hit it in one when you suggested there appears to be too many lazy Hams about these days. That is certainly my thinking when I am out and about trekking in Dartmoor National Park, local to me. With just a £20 Baofeng UV-5R, I am able to get into the UK Allstar HubNet system via analogue gateways at distances of 60 miles plus. However, I have become adept in identifying transmissions that emanate from Hams who have taken the trouble to access HubNet using RF rather than via dongles and hotspots, and I invariably find such Hams are more interesting to converse with. That must mean something. I have a bunch of other, more elderly (and expensive in their day) handie talkies (Yaesu VX-5, Kenwood THD7, Icom E90 for instance) but these older radios produce less than 2W on their battery packs, whereas the el cheapo Baofeng gives me 5W - all thanks to modern battery technology - and that’s why I have three of them dotted around for my use! I’d like a UKpound or US$ for every time I heard a Ham on HubNet excitedly bragging that he’d had a DX contact with a foreign Ham in Japan, Australia, USA etc. I guess they are happy with just doing that, but unaware that all they are doing is Ham Skyping! And judging by the amount of interaction on HubNet of operators experiencing difficulty and asking for advice in setting up their various digi modes (particularly DMR), I’m glad I haven’t gone down that route myself. You mentioned how digi users give each other amazing sound quality reports - I am also astounded by the reports I hear, but I put it down to the fact their only experience is that of internet radio, proof if it was ever needed that they have no experience whatsoever of true RF transmissions! This is the part that makes me despair for the future of Ham Radio. Hordes of local Hams in my area have recently attempted the DMR route, thinking that was the future, spending loadsamoney on gear and spending loads of time on the local analogue repeater exchanging info on the difficulties of setting up their equipment! This was obviously to little avail, as the local DMR project has affectively been abandoned! My guess is that some Hams positively enjoy the pain of trying to set up tech systems! Regarding your HF - sounds like you have found the Holy Grail of keeping the XYL happy whilst still enjoying the Ham hobby! Your FTDX10 is the latest flavour of the month, and the EFHW antenna (usually with 49:1 transformer) seems to be the latest choice of antenna, now beating the infamous G5RV, which I never considered a decent antenna anyway (apart from 14MHz(20m). I have mentored several recent M7 Foundation stations (those who wanted advice, and not those who thought they knew it all anyway, having come from a CB background!) and all are using an EFHW/49:1 and getting out fantastically with QRP rigs (IC-705 and Xiegu G90 etc.) on 7Megs and above. What has made these guys stand out is that they have NOT gone down the dongle/hotspot route and have put their efforts into true RF and antenna homebrew - so I still have hopes that real Ham radio will survive. Your secondary HF unit (FT-891/Chameleon MPAS 2.0) sounds interesting, especially as it has the dual capability for base and portable. On a final note regarding your own experience using your local repeater, I mentioned in my previous posting of the often narcissistic God-complex syndrome on the part of repeater Sysops! A few years ago I offered to donate, free of charge, a Yaesu Fusion C4FM repeater unit to the Sysop of a local analogue repeater (Yaesu were offering 25% off if replacing an existing repeater or gateway). This was declined by the Sysop as he was not prepared to utilise the Fusion Unit for dual analogue/digi. Of course, his God-syndrome would have been compromised, so my offer was declined! Enjoy the hobby, Scorpion. Iain.
@@iainmeteorscan1555 HI Lain, thanks for the reply. Yes I abandoned repeaters, I had a not so pleasant email exchange from the local repeater owner because I questioned publicly on a local internet forum as to why he only supports DMR and on the website he advertised Fusion also so I got viciously attacked by the clique and had a not so nice email exchange with the repeater owner so I said seriously, is this what HAM operators are really like behind screens ? I had not got my license long then, only licensed since 2019 but from then on I said I just couldn't be bothered with these repeaters which is sad because it was convenient when out and about making contacts both on Digital and Analogue but I can't support this kind of behaviour it is at the end of the day a hobby and if new people like my self at the time are subject to this kind of behaviour it is a real turn off. Anyway, the bright side of it is that I did get the Openspot 3 hotspot and was 100% independent from the repeater network and use it in the car as it's my only way to make contacts as there's no way I can put an antenna on my car with it's plastic roof but it's nice to know I'm still at least making contact with people who are using repeaters.The OS3 allows me to operate on DMR, D-Star and Fusion from the same Anytone 878 and not needing 3 radios. I suppose if everyone on digi modes used repeaters they would be tied up a lot more so perhaps hotspots really do help those who are outside walking around who need to use the repeaters can use them. I need to use Echo link more as the sound quality is just fantastic compared to Digi that is when there are people using allstar or analogue, pity allstar is not as easy to setup as say my openspot 3 is because I do not like spending hrs and hrs messing with computers and raspberri pi the openspot 3 also has the os direct on the firmware and it boots in seconds and you can press the power button and it's off in seconds with a raspberry pi hotspot or allstar node you have to shut it down properly or you can corrupt the sd card this is a pain and not good for mobile use, the OS3 is a really fantastic hotspot and I wish it worked on allstar + the OS3 has a good internal battery. Yes the EFHW is 49:1 it works for me really well and I've made contacts all over the world with it, it's resonant on multiple bands and swr is low and I read that if an antenna has flat SWR it means it's probably inefficient this EFHW does not have anything like this, it peaks at the band edges as it should and can go way off the scale until you come to the next resonant band the only place you will loose some efficiency is in the transformer and some are more efficient than others, those who try DIY are not always successful because the core materials of the 49:1 or 75:1 depending on the version you have are crucial to the operating of the EFHW along with the placement of the coil which brings all the higher frequencies in resonance it can be a very tricky antenna to DIY. I got mine from hyendcompany.nl with the compensation capacitor which brings resonance more in the phone portion of 80m it's basically a ceramic capacitor and it electrically shortens the antenna because physically shortening it will mess up the other bands. Some day I'll have a tower and beam but don't have the time to justify such an investment but I'm happy enough making contacts on real radio and EFHW as I have no problem making both NVIS or DX contacts, if I can hear them I can usually contact them. The EFHW works well with the Acom 1000 because I only need to tune the Acom and not the antenna so it makes band changes super fast. I was never a fan of tuners anyway. The Chameleon MPAS 2.0, I also have the CAP HAT and I use 4 radials, it's not going to win any contests but It really surprised me, I intended to use it for portable but it works so well I leave it on the front lawn permanently, I use noalox to prevent it corroding. I'm listening to echolink now connected to M0HOY allstar node, the sound is really great, the 2 chaps talking are also using Echolink It's just a pity you can't see the callsign and name like on digi modes. I would like to get an allstar. have you heard of these clearnode allstar nodes ? www.node-ventures.com/ it does AllStar, EchoLink, DMR, P25, YSF, FCS & NXDN Looks interesting but expensive and seemingly only got from the US so be subject to import duties making it more expensive but listening to echolink now such great sound quality. Most of all though I love HF you really can't beat the magic of the Shortwaves. I experimented with an MFJ 935C looptuner and have been greatly surprised at how well this works with 4 meters of copper pipe bent into a loop with 20 watts the first time I tried it I was talking to Canada, the antenna was a few feet off the ground, nothing can replace the magic and the Joy of HF, even with an antenna restricted zones People can still use antennas like this and it's so much more fun than any digi mode.
Good to hear your side of things. As an Allstar user, thanks for all of your efforts. VK6LB
Any reflections or thoughts on this now? Very interested in your input.
Though this was streamed 3 years ago, this seems to be the future of Ham Radio now. These are the types of things and situations that "REALLY KILLS OUR HOBBY"!!! IRLP has the same MINE MINE MINE attitude, or did at least. That entity may have changed over the years. That's why I dropped it and went to Echolink and then AllStar. When you start taking a HOBBY and turning it into a business as such, this is what happens. AMPRNET was the same way in the past and I decided to try it again recently once I found that a certain person passed, which I know that sounds bad but it is what it is, but it feels that its heading in the direction it was initially started for. Anyway, I hope the HOBBY can get back to what it really means, unless that's changed and if so, then I guess ill have to find some other things to do.
Just go D-Star man, stable never changes and reliable. REF DCS and XLX you cant go wrong
As somebody who has worked in accounting with a 501c3 for almost 8 years know I still find it surprising some of the stuff you are talking about are common issues: committment, segregation of assets, books and records, minutes, keeping a basic website, seperation of duties, basic trust. Needless to say a broken clock can be right twice a day. Most boards are there to support operations, not to be the main operators of a business. At first based on your UA-cam title I thought it was going to be nonstop bitching about something you were not involved with but this was rather informative. KG7QID.
Allstar system amazing audio
glad I looked here and listened you out before getting involved in allstar. been there on a rogue player(s) 5013c before and I understand your frustration. keep posting about what ur up to
Seems that AllStar Network is growing. Here in the Tulsa area it is gaining rapid ground. It seems to be filling a gap in day to day connection from those in more remote areas to those within the Tulsa area. There are some local crossband type setups where we have allstar, dmr, and some local 2m repeaters all tied together. Doesnt matter which method someone is using, we can all gather regularly for ragchew and tech knowledge exchanges between one another
Putting up a test number is not "changing the portal number". Those sound like typical Harvard MBAs that cause more in problems than they are worth. They act stupider than rocks until you find out they're really either supporting thieves or useful idiots of those thieves. Too bad people like that get involved in stuff they shouldn't.
But that's all down to the original lack of more sophisticated decentralized design. Any centralized design will have these problems. As soon as I saw that AllStarLink has a central registration server, I thought, ok, that's nice and all, but it will absolutely have political problems of thieves bribing corrupt officials, and that usually happens in networked organizations within two years. I assumed it already had happened. In fact, I see this as being "right on schedule" for the predictable downfall of any centralized system. A distributed peer to peer to peer shared database could have a whole can of worms of its own: denial of service attacks, etc. But such a design could work much better than a central database, and it would remove the need for a robust centralized admin team. It would take a long time to code and tune, and you would have to sort of publicize it til the attackers attacked it a lot to really test it, but then with those three systems working (ASL, distributed p2p, and the closed stolen HamVOIP package which I'm sure would set up their own competing network registration database), people could transition to p2p. I can just see it now: HamVOIP will protest against p2p since it removes their ability to control others. Hams using ASL is such a small group that such attacks would work, but it's still a hobby, so some hobbyists could program up the robust p2p versions and tell the rest to hoot off.
I don't know if I'm volunteering for any of this. I assume no, but let's see how soon I finish more of my other projects.
I'd like further information about AllStar, I host VOIP services with Asterisk VMs and wanted to see if it was possible to make a connection like EchoLink where one would be able to sit at their computer and make an AllStar Node connection to their favorite server, maybe using an Asterisk connection. Please let me know how I can get in touch with you for further discussion.
Its tough to hear this about the HAM community. Here in the Tulsa area we seem to have a good community of operators that simply enjoy radio. Very inviting group of individuals that are more than willing to share knowledge, understanding, and experience. Active local groups in local 2m and 70cm repeaters and simplex operations, emergency management training, allstar link (including training in building nodes), dmr (including hotspot builds), wires x, 220 nets, daily and weekly nets, HF events, and group gatherings. Im new to HAM this year, and have progressed to Extra, and that has predominantly been due to the local operators. Its sad when personalities, agendas, and selfishness gets in the way of what should be a fantastic hobby
What is a good open source and healthy next generation replacement for AllStarLink?
The code is open source and is under active development. This is distinct and different than the organization AllStarLink, Inc.
@@W9CR are there tutorials for setting up a server/nodes without using the organizations infrastructure/backend at all?
@@flecom5309 did you find an answer for this? I've started with allstar but would like to remove it from their dependency and make a cloud node that is independent.
@@flecom5309It’s open source software. Why do you need a tutorial? It isn’t for a novice user. Your very question indicates you have no idea what you are doing.
I'm sorry but I'm still pretty new to the Allstar linking game (never even heard of hamvoip) can you give a quick summary of what happened? What I was getting was hamvoip stole code from allstar. Do I have it right?
So, because ASL is licensed under the GNU GPL, any software built off Allstar must be open source/GNU, as well.
That said, from what I understand, HamVoIP created some closed source software that they distribute with a copy of AllStarLink and since they won't release the source code, AllStarLink, Inc. is trying to sue HAMVoIP (I believe) for the release of the source code.
Please, anyone, correct my ignorance if I'm wrong here. This is just what I was able to gather.
So I gather, FUCK HAMVOIP....lol
But just to fill my understanding, what did they change/add/remove? And is it just that they aren't releasing the source to their releases?
Bryan, I have supported many of your projects including the Quantar page. First off, I think it's a little bit rough to be telling new users to "go fuck themselves" for using hamViop especially when we are here to just enjoy the system. Not everyone knows about the closet fights between you guys with this system. Its comments like THESE that makes the decline of users drop, and Im talking about just getting their ticket. We understand people work hard on projects and such. But why take it out on me?
well he dont care that why aaron
There was no fight. Fuck hamvoip. Fuck you
Thank you for sharing
Thank you for the informative view on the mess going on in the background. I didn't realise the issues and won't be using Hamvoip for sure! Thanks Bryan.
I get where you are coming from, Bryan. As you, I have been there, done it and got the T-shirt - in fact several T-shirts - being involved on club committees and being a board member - that’s till I learned the error of my ways! I.E. relying on others often leads to disaster with, unfortunately, the bullshitters usually winning out. A lot of it is to do with self-delusional prestige.
It is well known that people who sit on Committees and Boards are usually unsuccessful in life, since successful people are too busy being successful and therefore do not have sufficient available spare time to devote their knowledge and experience to amateur (in the non-Ham sense) organisations. Hence such organisations are often taken over by lesser mortals to satisfy their narcissistic personalities!
Here in UK I do use the HubNet system (which utilises the Allstar analogue facility) via handie talkie, using RF into distant repeaters and gateways (around 60 miles or so) whilst trekking out in my high-ground local National Park, so it does me fine for my needs.
I see you mentioned HamVOIP (i.e. Internet Radio) in your video and I know exactly your feelings regarding that! During my time of using the Allstar RF facility (since 2019), there have been increasing numbers of DMR, DSTAR and C4FM Fusion users (all sounding like Dr. Who Darleks) utilising the system, in many cases where absolutely no RF whatsoever is used, yet the users consider themselves as operating Ham Radio! I despair for the hobby!
This video had led me on to other interesting videos of yours - thanks for posting those videos.
The voice quality of allstar is great but all too often you have People crossmoding from DMR, D-Star and Fusion, I use these modes myself, don't have allstar yet.
I also use Blue DV with the DVMEGA Globetrotter which is quite convenient in the car or places where RF isn't practical, it sits at home and I don't need a hotspot or dongle, I can use it on my cell phone or on Windows, on Windows it's fantastic because you can monitor all 3 modes at the same time and easily go to another mode without having to wait for gaps in transmission. The voice quality is also much better than someone coming from a DMR radio and hotspot for example.
It's not real radio but there's some RF involved between the phone and modem hi hi.
Many cars today can't have an antenna for 2 and 70cm because there's hardly any metal and most modern cars have no metal roofs and so hotspots are the only way to get on the networks.
One thing stopping me from using Allstar is that I haven't yet found a way to easily get on the network without having to spend many hours I don't have to try figure it all out. I can't just buy a hotspot and away I go, not that I know of anyway.
The voice quality of Digi modes can be quite horrific due to limited bandwidth with the exception of Fusion which is one of the best sounding digi modes, I've heard some decent quality on D-Star too but it's rare.
I don't use repeaters due to local cliques and total bullshit revolved around them but it doesn't matter whether one uses a radio or phone to access these modes because whether you use a phone or repeater and radio it all goes through the internet.
You can get on the digi modes cheaply with the DVmega DV stick 30 and blue dv on your phone or windows machine for very little cost and there's no complicated programming involved which is disastrous on DMR , fusion being the easiest as it should be, just program the hotspot or repeater, press wires-x and you're in, find the channel you want and save it, DMR is a joke this is why I like Blue DV so much because apart from initial setup you don't have to program channels or hotspot etc.
There are a lot of People who can't put up antennas and there are those who would be too lazy to string an antenna up between a couple of trees so digi modes allow access to other hams for relatively little cost but they need to be less complicated to setup except for Fusion where Yaesu got it right, it's not complicated at all. But having to buy a radio for the different modes is ridiculous so I programmed my anytone and openspot 3 so I can cross mode easily between the 3 digi modes with just the one radio but it was a major headache to set up but the openspot 3 made this possible. I still prefer Blue DV.
If allstar want only allstar and no robotic digi modes then all they have to do is block cross mode from other platforms and keep the majority of allstar exclusively allstar because what's the point of wanting a analogue sounding platform if it's been infiltrated by digital ?
@@o00scorpion00o Hi Scorpion. What a great, constructive response. I can see that you are well into the digital aspect of the Ham hobby and how it fits well with you. I could be termed as an analogue man in a digital age, only taking up the Ham hobby in the 1990’s. I should have done that much earlier, in my more youthful years! I was brought up on crystal receiving sets, WW2 military no.19 radios (I and a friend, both 14/15 year olds, had one each to communicate across the housing estate, quite illegally of course, but we weren’t to know!). And of course there was Radio Luxemburg and other juicy shortwave stations! From that time we were both hooked on RF - although my friend never became a Ham, but went on to become an RAF Squadron Leader!
As you, I find the quality of the majority of the transmissions emanating from DMR, D-Star and Fusion atrocious, to the extent that, at times, I find transmissions difficult to understand. Of the three, Fusion (in my opinion) is the best - and closest to analogue-sounding - and would be my preferred choice if I ever went down the digi route. I think Yaesu Fusion - the later of the three to arrive - got it right, and at least provided a dual analogue/digi capability with their repeater system.
I get that these days there can be difficulty in fitting a mobile VHF/UHF antenna to a vehicle, and also that there are (mainly) older Hams who cannot erect antenna systems, so systems such as Allstar and HubNet are attractive, but when I am using these systems I do often hear Hams (both existing Hams and those new to the hobby) saying that they no longer bother to erect antenna systems now they have access to internet-based radio - an oxymoron phrase, if ever there was one. It just means they are lazy Hams - IMHO.
What I can’t get my head around is why the digi modes come about in the first place? In the good old, bad old days (circa year 2000) there was (and still is) a brilliant analogue-based system known as EchoLink, which enabled analogue RF repeaters and gateways to inter-connect anywhere in the world (a similar system is IRLP) - both of which are FREE TO USE, utilising existing RF equipment. Then along comes DMR, D-Star, Fusion et al, requiring HUNDREDS of UK pounds/US dollars to do currently what was being done FREE with EchoLink/IRLP. And all that has done is fractionalise the Ham Radio hobby into even smaller, non-compatible segments, to the extent that all the users of the different systems cannot find each other! Hence the need for watering hole systems such as Allstar and HubNet.
Repeaters? Don’t get me started! Your comment regarding you not using them due to local cliques and total bullshit revolved around them is right on the mark! Speaking locally here in the South West, that couldn’t be more true. Although there are exceptions, repeaters around here are more to do with the narcissistic God-complex syndrome on the part of the Sysop! And more so when the repeater is digital!
In the end, Hams will have to make up their minds whether they wish to operate with a modicum of RF, or relegate the Ham hobby to little more than using internet based SKYPE or Zoom, which ANYONE can do WITHOUT a Ham licence. As Hams we became licensed in order to have privileged and (relatively) unrestricted freedom to use selected portions of the radio spectrum. Marconi freed humanity from a wired to a wireless communications system - Hams are about to give that all up for the sake of the convenience of not having to use antennas or RF! Each to their own. We must enjoy our hobby (while we still have it) as we all see fit.
Scorpion - enjoy, and have fun! Iain.
@@iainmeteorscan1555 Yes I certainly agree with what you say, there are definitely lazy People that are well able to get an antenna up in a couple of trees or even some fiberglass masts but can't be bothered, the internet has made People lazy, they can just plug in a box to the internet and be a "HAM".
I have my base setup, a FTDX-10 and EFHW, for the sitting room I have a FT-891 and Chameleon MPAS 2.0 on the front lawn so I can use the radio when I don't want to abandon the XYL, I can use some digi modes like PSK31 and Olivia so I can at least communicate with humans and have real conversations and some SSB contacts when the XYL is gone to bed if I still don't want to go to the shack, I've been amazed at how far I can get with this simple setup I had intended to use only for portable but the point is that it's so easy get on SSB with such an antenna and you can still get good DX with no internet so there's no excuse for not being on HF unless someone lives in an apartment, then you can still use a loop antenna or some kind of antenna if you have a balcony but I admit it does make that harder.
I have been quite baffled at how many times I've heard people praise DMR for it's amazing sound "quality" they determine quality not to be fading and noise and static but I find my brain sometimes hurts trying to piece back together the audio removed due to compression with DMR and D-star. Again, Blue DV and headphones make a big difference and also to TX audio quality if you were to give digi modes a try I highly recommend BLUE DV and the dvmega DV Stick 30 for simplicity and as good sound quality as you can get from these modes both tx and rx before you spend the money on the likes of the FT-3d or 5D but if you are to get a radio for digi you know yourself Fusion is definitely easy to use I just lost interest in HT for digi after I experiences the wrath of the elitists on the repeater network where I live and I was viscously targeted on facebook and a local forum as a result which led me to using only hotspot and a dmr radio.
I have the digi modes when I want to make contacts where HF is not practical. DMR is a real pain in the ass to setup and fix if it goes wrong. So many hams flock to it because it's cheaper than a yaesu or Icom rig but to program a code plug is a real pain.
D-Star is more difficult if you have a D-star radio but using blue DV then DMR, D-Star and Fusion is very simple especially on a windows machine.
Yaesu got it right, simple to use, put in the repeater or hotspot frequency press wires-x and you're in, select the channels you want and save them for future use the real issue as you pointed out is the fragmentation of the hobby with all these modes where People are scattered around making it more of a headache to be able to get on all the different modes.
I have only used echolink a couple of times on my phone, I must use it more to get more familiar with it.
One thing we do need is a radio with a hotspot built in that will do good quality voice like Allstar not take days and days to figure out how to use and not need a mobile phone to use.
God bless analogue radio and Ham gear for it's simplicity, though they are becoming more and more complicated to use now and everyone wants the screen and waterfall which are not my priorities I do love the FTDX-10 though for it's amazing audio quality and receiver performance which is miles better than my old 7300 which Icom seem to have neglected the audio quality.
Things are changing fast but HF is by no means dead thankfully!
@@o00scorpion00o Hey, Scorpion. Once again, a nice comprehensive communication from you! I think you hit it in one when you suggested there appears to be too many lazy Hams about these days. That is certainly my thinking when I am out and about trekking in Dartmoor National Park, local to me. With just a £20 Baofeng UV-5R, I am able to get into the UK Allstar HubNet system via analogue gateways at distances of 60 miles plus. However, I have become adept in identifying transmissions that emanate from Hams who have taken the trouble to access HubNet using RF rather than via dongles and hotspots, and I invariably find such Hams are more interesting to converse with. That must mean something. I have a bunch of other, more elderly (and expensive in their day) handie talkies (Yaesu VX-5, Kenwood THD7, Icom E90 for instance) but these older radios produce less than 2W on their battery packs, whereas the el cheapo Baofeng gives me 5W - all thanks to modern battery technology - and that’s why I have three of them dotted around for my use!
I’d like a UKpound or US$ for every time I heard a Ham on HubNet excitedly bragging that he’d had a DX contact with a foreign Ham in Japan, Australia, USA etc. I guess they are happy with just doing that, but unaware that all they are doing is Ham Skyping! And judging by the amount of interaction on HubNet of operators experiencing difficulty and asking for advice in setting up their various digi modes (particularly DMR), I’m glad I haven’t gone down that route myself.
You mentioned how digi users give each other amazing sound quality reports - I am also astounded by the reports I hear, but I put it down to the fact their only experience is that of internet radio, proof if it was ever needed that they have no experience whatsoever of true RF transmissions! This is the part that makes me despair for the future of Ham Radio.
Hordes of local Hams in my area have recently attempted the DMR route, thinking that was the future, spending loadsamoney on gear and spending loads of time on the local analogue repeater exchanging info on the difficulties of setting up their equipment! This was obviously to little avail, as the local DMR project has affectively been abandoned! My guess is that some Hams positively enjoy the pain of trying to set up tech systems!
Regarding your HF - sounds like you have found the Holy Grail of keeping the XYL happy whilst still enjoying the Ham hobby! Your FTDX10 is the latest flavour of the month, and the EFHW antenna (usually with 49:1 transformer) seems to be the latest choice of antenna, now beating the infamous G5RV, which I never considered a decent antenna anyway (apart from 14MHz(20m). I have mentored several recent M7 Foundation stations (those who wanted advice, and not those who thought they knew it all anyway, having come from a CB background!) and all are using an EFHW/49:1 and getting out fantastically with QRP rigs (IC-705 and Xiegu G90 etc.) on 7Megs and above. What has made these guys stand out is that they have NOT gone down the dongle/hotspot route and have put their efforts into true RF and antenna homebrew - so I still have hopes that real Ham radio will survive.
Your secondary HF unit (FT-891/Chameleon MPAS 2.0) sounds interesting, especially as it has the dual capability for base and portable.
On a final note regarding your own experience using your local repeater, I mentioned in my previous posting of the often narcissistic God-complex syndrome on the part of repeater Sysops! A few years ago I offered to donate, free of charge, a Yaesu Fusion C4FM repeater unit to the Sysop of a local analogue repeater (Yaesu were offering 25% off if replacing an existing repeater or gateway). This was declined by the Sysop as he was not prepared to utilise the Fusion Unit for dual analogue/digi. Of course, his God-syndrome would have been compromised, so my offer was declined!
Enjoy the hobby, Scorpion. Iain.
@@iainmeteorscan1555 HI Lain, thanks for the reply.
Yes I abandoned repeaters, I had a not so pleasant email exchange from the local repeater owner because I questioned publicly on a local internet forum as to why he only supports DMR and on the website he advertised Fusion also so I got viciously attacked by the clique and had a not so nice email exchange with the repeater owner so I said seriously, is this what HAM operators are really like behind screens ? I had not got my license long then, only licensed since 2019 but from then on I said I just couldn't be bothered with these repeaters which is sad because it was convenient when out and about making contacts both on Digital and Analogue but I can't support this kind of behaviour it is at the end of the day a hobby and if new people like my self at the time are subject to this kind of behaviour it is a real turn off.
Anyway, the bright side of it is that I did get the Openspot 3 hotspot and was 100% independent from the repeater network and use it in the car as it's my only way to make contacts as there's no way I can put an antenna on my car with it's plastic roof but it's nice to know I'm still at least making contact with people who are using repeaters.The OS3 allows me to operate on DMR, D-Star and Fusion from the same Anytone 878 and not needing 3 radios.
I suppose if everyone on digi modes used repeaters they would be tied up a lot more so perhaps hotspots really do help those who are outside walking around who need to use the repeaters can use them.
I need to use Echo link more as the sound quality is just fantastic compared to Digi that is when there are people using allstar or analogue, pity allstar is not as easy to setup as say my openspot 3 is because I do not like spending hrs and hrs messing with computers and raspberri pi the openspot 3 also has the os direct on the firmware and it boots in seconds and you can press the power button and it's off in seconds with a raspberry pi hotspot or allstar node you have to shut it down properly or you can corrupt the sd card this is a pain and not good for mobile use, the OS3 is a really fantastic hotspot and I wish it worked on allstar + the OS3 has a good internal battery.
Yes the EFHW is 49:1 it works for me really well and I've made contacts all over the world with it, it's resonant on multiple bands and swr is low and I read that if an antenna has flat SWR it means it's probably inefficient this EFHW does not have anything like this, it peaks at the band edges as it should and can go way off the scale until you come to the next resonant band the only place you will loose some efficiency is in the transformer and some are more efficient than others, those who try DIY are not always successful because the core materials of the 49:1 or 75:1 depending on the version you have are crucial to the operating of the EFHW along with the placement of the coil which brings all the higher frequencies in resonance it can be a very tricky antenna to DIY. I got mine from hyendcompany.nl with the compensation capacitor which brings resonance more in the phone portion of 80m it's basically a ceramic capacitor and it electrically shortens the antenna because physically shortening it will mess up the other bands.
Some day I'll have a tower and beam but don't have the time to justify such an investment but I'm happy enough making contacts on real radio and EFHW as I have no problem making both NVIS or DX contacts, if I can hear them I can usually contact them.
The EFHW works well with the Acom 1000 because I only need to tune the Acom and not the antenna so it makes band changes super fast. I was never a fan of tuners anyway.
The Chameleon MPAS 2.0, I also have the CAP HAT and I use 4 radials, it's not going to win any contests but It really surprised me, I intended to use it for portable but it works so well I leave it on the front lawn permanently, I use noalox to prevent it corroding.
I'm listening to echolink now connected to M0HOY allstar node, the sound is really great, the 2 chaps talking are also using Echolink It's just a pity you can't see the callsign and name like on digi modes. I would like to get an allstar.
have you heard of these clearnode allstar nodes ? www.node-ventures.com/
it does AllStar, EchoLink, DMR, P25, YSF, FCS & NXDN
Looks interesting but expensive and seemingly only got from the US so be subject to import duties making it more expensive but listening to echolink now such great sound quality.
Most of all though I love HF you really can't beat the magic of the Shortwaves.
I experimented with an MFJ 935C looptuner and have been greatly surprised at how well this works with 4 meters of copper pipe bent into a loop with 20 watts the first time I tried it I was talking to Canada, the antenna was a few feet off the ground, nothing can replace the magic and the Joy of HF, even with an antenna restricted zones People can still use antennas like this and it's so much more fun than any digi mode.
Can someone build Allstarlink Hamvoip on Raspbian ARM OS. Seems that only 2 peoples won't willing to do that.
African Twin are you a fucking idiot?