Node-Ventures

This is a minor release to fix a couple of bugs that affect the new ClearRLS product and an issue with ClearRPT GPIO control.

73 … Gerry.

After many, many months of development and testing we are finally ready to release the Beta version of ClearRLS – a rechargeable battery powered AllStar/EchoLink Digital node with a build in speaker and PTT button.

Check out the ClearRLS product page for a full description.

73 … Gerry.

Some maintenance items and some items asked for by you the community …

• Double check dialog added to Node Shutdown action to help prevent accidental shutdown of unattended nodes
• Network unavailable “Waiting for help” mode expires approx every hour and tries again
• Network retry count cannot be set to less than 3
• Supermon passwords can no longer contain an exclamation point (!)
• Screen refreshes are paused when user is trying to disconnect a connection
• USB Audio Preview command now updates all setup values
• You can now set the node’s DNS Resolver (/etc/resolv.conf) from Node Details > Operating System Setup
• Support all 3 Analog_Bridge usrpAudio modes including defining usrpAgc parameters

73 … Gerry.

Some minor features and fixing a handful of bugs …

• AllStar Setup option to disable DTMF commands
• The ClearNode mobile apps now give more frequent and clearer warnings that your node has out of date software
• Private Nodes configs creation first removes all previous configs before applying new ones
• SA-818 RSSI polling no longer interferes with Updating Radio Frequency and Codes

73 … Gerry.

Tackling some often requested features in this release, and fixing a few bugs.

• Nodes that have the 818 Radio Transceiver can now be instructed to send the Receive RSS Level back to the ClearNode mobile app – it will be displayed in the Radio section at the top of the Node Details screen. You must first turn on the “Poll Radio RSSI” setting in “Your Nodes > Settings”
• We have deployed custom voice announcements for connections, disconnections and banned connections. You can enable and control this feature in “Node Details > AllStar Setup > Telemetry > Alt voice telemetry” – it is disabled by default. You are advised to turn off the standard “Voice telemetry” if you enable this option
• We have added various voice announcements to the internet startup process when your node boots up and fails to reach our servers over the internet. Voice announcements have also been added to help you use the WiFiByLight functionality.
• When selecting “Monitor only” in the “ADD CONNECTION” screen, you are prompted for confirmation if you are turning this option on. There have been a lot of cases where folks have turned this option on unwittingly and then been left to wonder why they can’t transmit to the connected node
• We have deprecated the Transmit Timer function on the Node Details screen
• Deployed some bug fixes in the Timed Events screens, particularly for the Android version.

73 … Gerry.

The saytime.pl and say24time.pl scripts that you can call via a DTMF command have developed issues. That is to say the target APIs at accuweather.com have changed or are not responding as expected.

The good folks over at HamVoIP.org are aware of the issue and are working on a fix. As soon as that becomes available we’ll add a post here on how to get the fix installed.

73 … Gerry.

More configuration options for SkywarnPlus – now you can choose your SkyDescribe language and voice. The two options are linked – so be careful to select the language first … then select the voice. The Voice options available are determined by the Language selection.

73 … Gerry.

This is a small release for the node software only – fixes the reported issue with courtesy tones where the configuration item “remotetx” was missing for some users causing incorrect tone selections.

Recommended for all users …

73 … Gerry.

Another release to improve the configurability of SkywarnPlus – the following features have been added:

• Add multiple NWS County Codes by editing AllStar Setup > Weather options > NWS County Code. Add multiple codes separated by commas (no spaces). If you are still using AutoSky, which only ever uses one county code, make sure the county code you wish to use is the first in the list.
• You can now configure your own list of Alert Types that are enabled for Courtesy Tones and Sky Describe Alerts. AllStar Setup > SkywarnPlus Options > Select NWS Alert Types. Tap on this row and make your selections in the following screen. Don’t forget when you return from the selection screen that you need to tap Save in the top right corner to send your changed configuration to the node.

Some other fixes in this release:

• If you attempt to configure Private Nodes and no applicable configuration is found, the system will now delete the /etc/asterisk/custom/my_private_nodes.conf file on each node. This is to prevent old configurations that are not valid lying around interrupting your ability to connect to those nodes now they are no longer private.
• At some point the WiFi Management screen in Android version got broken – SSID names were not displaying – that is now fixed.

Have fun !

73 … Gerry.

Some of you have noticed that the default values for “AllStar Setup” > “Weather Options” > “Play Wx every (ms)” and “Play Wx after busy delay (ms)” are incorrect – they have an extra zero on the end. The correct values are “180000” and “60000” ms respectively (3 mins and 1 min). Of course you may put any value you wish in those fields, these are the suggested values for most installations.

Thanks for the report … keep ’em coming !

73 … Gerry.