[arm-allstar] Data Conservation

[Doug Crompton]

John,

  As far as connections are concerned you could use ilbc as your codec but that depends on where you are connected to. The ilbc codec uses about 1/3 the BW of G726 but it is only currently supported on the BBB or a PC system where it has been installed. You could also use gsm at reduced audio quality if the system you are connecting to allows it. Codec priority is setup in iax.conf

If you are connected to a node or nodes that have light traffic that may not matter but if it is a busy channel a higher BW codec could eat up a lot of BW.

The only things that are downloaded are the node list once every 5 minutes and the node details which download once a day in a cron job. If you always connected to the same place and their IP address was static or did not change you could dispense with the node list download and specifically add the node or nodes in you rpt.conf file.

To stop the node list updates comment out the line in /etc/rc.local

/usr/local/etc/rc.updatenodelist &

and reboot.

You could also update that script and change the update period but keep in mind that nodes are changing constantly and there would be more stale data that way.

The nodes stanza in rpt.conf would then be used to connect to nodes you commonly connect to -

[nodes]
; Note, if you are using automatic update for allstar link nodes,
; no allstar link nodes should be defined here. Only place a definition
; for your local nodes, and private (off of allstar link) nodes here.

node = radio at IPaddress:port/node,NONE

So if your friends node was 12345 and his ip was 50.60.70.80 the line would be -

12345 = radio at 50.60.70.80/12345,NONE

If he was on port 4568 it would be -

12345 = radio at 50.60.70.80:4568/12345,NONE

The ':port' is only used if the port is other than the default 4569

I don't know about echolink being negligible. They have a fairly substantial list (larger than Allstar) and depending on how often it downloads it might  be more than you think. I would turn off echolink if you don't need it. If it is just you using it to your own system perhaps an iax client like zoiper might be a better choice. It would only use up BW when you are actually using it. No database involved.

I am not sure how much these suggestions are going to buy you. It really depends on your usage but it is worht a try.

73 Doug
WA3DSP
http://www.crompton.com/hamradio


> From: wb5nfc at gmail.com
> Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2014 12:45:57 -0500
> To: arm-allstar at hamvoip.org
> Subject: [arm-allstar] Data Conservation
> 
> I'm looking for ways to be as frugal as possible on data usage for my node. Ideally, I want to leave the node on all the time (at least during the day). I'm sure the data consumed for constant Echolink node updates is negligible, but every byte adds up when utilizing a hotspot with a data cap. Is there a way to refresh data less often or only when needed for an outgoing call? 
> 
> John
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
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