Node-Ventures

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.

Website search …

You can search the entire Node-Ventures website – including the “What’s New” blog posts !

Keeping the documentation up to date is never ending task – by its very nature ! But finding what you need can be a challenge as well. Try the search function – Red Search Box underneath the “What’s New” column. We just added the search engine this weekend. Give it a try !

73 … Gerry.

This is the second follow up release for SkywarnPlus and SkyDescribe. We’ve implemented the various DTMF commands to control the SkywarnPlus installation in real time, and to allow you to manually call for repeat announcements of the SkyDescribe interpretation of the current Wx advisories. We’ve also provided the option that allows SkywarnPlus to control and automate your courtesy tones.

See this page on Github for a detailed description of SkywarnPlus, how it is configured and what DTMF commands are available.

Be aware that SkyDescribe has to reach out to VoiceRSS.org to convert the text to speech – if that text is long it may take a couple of minutes to complete. Therefore the actual voice transmission may take a couple of minutes before it plays.

For SkyDescribe and Automatic Courtesy Tones, the configuration defines a subset of the complete list of Advisory types for which those processes will be triggered – here’s the list as currently defined:

• Ashfall Warning
• Avalanche Warning
• Blizzard Warning
• Blowing Dust Warning
• Civil Danger Warning
• Civil Emergency Message
• Coastal Flood Warning
• Dust Storm Warning
• Earthquake Warning
• Evacuation – Immediate
• Extreme Wind Warning
• Fire Warning
• Flood Watch
• Flood Advisory
• Gale Warning
• Gale Watch
• Hazardous Materials Warning
• Hurricane Force Wind Warning
• Hurricane Warning
• Ice Storm Warning
• Law Enforcement Warning
• Local Area Emergency
• Nuclear Power Plant Warning
• Radiological Hazard Warning
• Severe Thunderstorm Warning
• Shelter In Place Warning
• Storm Surge Warning
• Tornado Warning
• Tornado Watch
• Tropical Storm Warning
• Tsunami Warning
• Typhoon Warning
• Volcano Warning
• Winter Storm Warning

We could expand that list if there is a desire for specific types that aren’t currently defined – let us know.

NOTE: If you are using the ClearNode mobile app to configure SkywarnPlus, you MUST have “Generate Configuration File” turned ON. The only reason to turn this option off is because you have elected to edit the configuration file yourself using SSH and a command line editor like “nano”, and you don’t want your edits overwritten by the ClearNode configuration process. If you turn this off – your “SkywarnPlus Options” will be ignored.

NOTE: If you turn ON “Enable Automatic Courtesy Tones” – you are handing over control of your courtesy tones to SkywarnPlus. Whatever tones you have selected in the Telemetry section of AllStar Setup will be ignored.

NOTE: You should NOT have “Enable Test Mode” turned on. If you turn it on, all it will do is announce 3 random alerts just to test that SkywarnPlus is working end to end. It will not poll the the NOAA for Advisories.

As always – let me know if you’ve got ideas or you are missing some other configuration option.

73 … Gerry.

This is a follow up release for SkywarnPlus – fixed a couple of bugs and several new configuration options, including enabling SkyDescribe.

To use SkyDescribe you will need an API Key from https://www.voicerss.org. Once you have it, enter into Node Details > AllStar Setup > SkywarnPlus Options > “VoiceRSS API Key” and Save. You can’t activate SkyDescribe without having an API Key.

Don’t Enable Test Mode – unless you know why you are doing it.

Don’t forget to enable the corresponding Timed Event which should have been automatically installed during the update.

Note that you cannot have AutoSky and SkywarnPlus enabled at the same time – they would stomp on each other’s “tailmessage”.

Likely the defaults for “Play Wx every (ms)” and “Play Wx after busy delay (ms)” are incorrect in your default AllStar Setup – set them to 180000 and 60000 respectively. (Looks like they both had an extra zero in the default setup.)

Big Thank You to the folks that contributed knowledge to this update – you know who you are – Cheers !

73 … Gerry.

(Both iOS and Android apps are now available in the respective App Stores.)

This release upgrade process might take a little time (depending on your internet connection) and will reboot a couple of times – don’t interrupt power ! Here’s what’s going on:

• Installation of SkywarnPlus – all the files you need – minus a working configuration. That’s so we don’t stomp on any existing configuration if you have already installed SkywarnPlus. To get a working configuration, you need to go to Node Details > AllStar Setup > Weather Options … turn on “Generate SkywarnPlus configuration” and tap Save in the top right corner. The configuration will be generated with your call sign and the same NWS County Code you use for AutoSky. There are an awesome number of configuration options – so far we haven’t exposed any of them – let us know what you need – we’ll work on it. You also need to enable the Timed Event “SkywarnPlus Check Advisories” which was automatically installed during the upgrade. If you’re already using AutoSky, you should disable it if you’re going to use SkyWarn Plus – Node Details > AllStar Setup > Weather Options … turn off “Enable AutoSky at Boot” and tap Save in the top right corner. Also turn off the associated Timed Event “AutoSky Check Advisories”.
• If you have multiple nodes and you use the Digital Modes – you no doubt have run into AllStar’s restriction that prevents creating a loop if you connect them together. That’s because we use the default “1999” node number for the pseudo-node that implements the endpoint for the Digital Mode audio. To get around that restriction, each of your nodes needs to use a different pseudo-node number. With this release you can go to Node Details > Digital Bridge Setup > Global Information > MMDVM Node NUmber and choose a new number. We suggest using a sequence such as 1999, 1888, 1777, etc. If you have a single node, you probably don’t need to deal with this.
• Some of you have implemented a hardware vocoder on a separate piece of hardware and can use it over the network instead of plugging one in locally. To facilitate that we’ve exposed that in two configuration options – Node Details > Digital Bridge Setup > DSTAR Setup > Network Vocoder Address / Port ***
• The live GPIO control settings have moved from the bottom of the Node Details > Node setup section to the top section “Radio” – Type: RedRPT – Tap to configure”. Just to keep the UI as consistent as we can from device to device.

*** Wah! – just spotted the bug – “Network Vocoder Address/Port” was mis-labelled in iOS. Will fix it in the next release.

Want to know more about SkywarnPlus : SkywarnPlus on Github.

73 … Gerry.

Some of you have already noticed the release of API 102 – you will get it automatically if you have automatic updates enabled and your reboot your node … or you can get it manually by tapping on “Node Details” > “Versions” > “RedNode API Level”. Do upgrade when you get the chance.

No new functionality, this is a maintenance release to clear up some minor bugs and installs some “Support” utilities to help us inspect your node when you call for help.

73 … Gerry.

In release API 101 and ClearNode App 1.40 we included support for DSTAR.

However, there are caveats – you must use a DV3000 hardware voice encoder USB dongle to get acceptable audio quality. The audio without it is unusable and likely will get you banned from the Reflector. So the node won’t allow connections if it doesn’t detect the hardware encoder.

There are occasional hardware incompatibilities that sometimes means the DV3000 hardware encoder disconnects – see our notes referenced below.

We’ve put up some extensive notes on using DSTAR on your ClearNode. Please read them thoroughly before you get in touch to request enabling of DSTAR on your node (your node will have to be online for it be enabled).

73 … Gerry.

In this release:

• Provisional support for DSTAR – there will be another announcement on that later – we’re still sorting out some details – so don’t email asking us how or when
• “Jitter” is exposed in the Digital Bridge Setup > DMR Setup
• Ability to clear COREDUMPS from the Node Details context menu
• You can use the ADD CONNECTION screen to Tag your own nodes – those tags will then be displayed on the Your Nodes screen. You will have to connect from one of your nodes to the one you want to tag so you can Tag it. If your nodes are all on the same network you will have to run “Configure Private Nodes” first so you can connect one node to another. If you only have one node then you can’t Tag it since it can’t be connected to itself, and why would you want to anyway.
• Some changes in the Manage WiFi Networks screens to make sure that leading and trailing spaces are trimmed off any Network Names (SSIDs) and Password.
• AllStar Setup now checks your Broadcastify “BCFY Play Url” is populated so you can play the stream in the ClearNode mobile app.

73 … Gerry.

ClearRPT has a programmable GPIO

Five of the Raspberry Pi GPIO pins are wired out to the ClearRPT‘s DSUB 15 connector. You can control them in real time from the ClearNode mobile app – at the bottom of the Node Details screen tap on “GPIO Control”.

You can also control them from your Timed Events – create separate events for each pin and for turning them off and on.

73 … Gerry.

(This is the latest episode in a series of posts to help you discover all the functionality that you might not know exists in your ClearNode, ClearAlpha, ClearZero or ClearRPT. We’re going to publish episodes periodically – some come back often and join us !)