[arm-allstar] Thoughts...

[Dan Ozment]

I first started tinkering with Allstar about a year ago. I had some success,
but never got a node to the point at which I felt it was ready for prime
time. Because of work commitments I put Allstar on a back burner and decided
to wait for the 1.5 release. I was excited to hear that 1.5 was available,
and finally got around to rebuilding my nodes last week. With all of the
documentation that has been provided, the excellent script work, and the
help of Doug and others on this list I must say setting up and configuring
these nodes has been one of the most straight forward things I've done in
the digital realm of ham radio. My hat is definitely off to Doug and others
who contributed to this distribution and all of the documentation that comes
with it!

 

A few days ago our primary analog repeater had to be taken down due to a
hardware problem. A resourceful bunch of hams in our ARES organization found
a way to put the repeater pair back on the air in a temporary mode from
someone's QTH.  However, our coverage area is smaller and a permanent link
to our secondary repeater (which provides additional coverage in our area)
is shut down.  Today, Allstar and I fixed that!  I have a node in my shack
RF-connected to the primary repeater (there will never be internet access at
that site, so we must use RF to get there), and a node at our secondary
repeater site.  The secondary node is RF-connected to the repeater for the
time being, but a cable is in the works to hard-wire the connection.  

 

Linking the two nodes together linked the two repeaters and gives us
reasonable coverage.  The link is easily controllable by DTMF or from a
command line.  And, putting it all together was very easy.

 

We hams like to say we're prepared for that time "when all else fails".
And, we often disparage the internet because we all know it is often one of
the first things to go in a crisis.   However, the internet isn't always
down. And, when it is available it is a great tool for our tool belt.  And,
in the case of our local ARES organization, it combined with Allstar is
doing a fantastic job in helping us maintain our excellent regional coverage
while the issue with the primary repeater is resolved.

 

Thanks to all who have contributed to this technology called Allstar!  I can
hardly wait to show it off to others in my area and to see just how much
better our coverage will be.

 

73

Dan

W4DTO