[arm-allstar] Need help with Audio Settings

Sat Dec 1 12:33:06 EST 2018

Art,

 First of all you need to first setup your audio levels strictly for
Allstar.  Use item 2 in the simpleusb-tune-menu and set it so that it peaks
to 5khz on the bar graph when you talk into your radio. It can occasionally
go slightly beyond. Radios differ so if you use more than one make sure you
set it for the loudest one. The thing to avoid is distortion. If one pegs
the bar graph and another is quite low then you will have to decide what
radio to use and understand the difference. Unless you can change the
radios level you need to set it so the highest one is not consistently
going above 5khz.

Then you can use item 3 on the menu to set what you hear when someone else
is talking. This is less critical especially on a simplex node. Without a
service monitor just set it so the levels are the same as what you would
hear from a local repeater at equal volume settings. Once you have these
levels set make sure you use the 'w' command to save them before exiting.

Now for Echolink there are two settings in rpt.conf -

; Echolink settings

erxgain=-3
                                ; Echoline RX gain in dB
etxgain=3
                                ; Echolink TX gain in dB

These set the Echolink transmit and receive levels relative to the Allstar
levels and what you see here are the defaults. BUT BEFORE YOU CHANGE
ANYTHING! the values here are typically what people use. Be aware that
Echolink levels are all over the place due to people using computer and
phone mics and not setting their levels correctly. Trying to compensate for
that at your end is a waste of time. You will compensate for one person
being low and another will knock your socks off. I have never had a need to
change these settings and I would never do it for just one individual node
that was way off. The important thing is to have the Allstar levels
correct. If an Echolink node is way high or low tell them. If a particular
node does not get their act together level wise then put them on the
Echolink deny list until they do.

On the subject of Turbo, and turning off wifi or bluetooth. None of these
would apply to a simplex node with few direct connections. Turning on Turbo
is recommended for higher use nodes but understand things will get hotter
so using heatsinks on the Pi and a small fan are a must.  As for turning
off wifi and bluetooth it is questionable even on a higher use node that
this buys you anything. In tests here it had little effect so I suspect if
is not worth worrying about in most all cases.

*73 Doug*

*WA3DSP*

*http://www.crompton.com/hamradio <http://www.crompton.com/hamradio>*

On Sat, Dec 1, 2018 at 12:10 PM "Arthur Putnam via ARM-allstar" <
arm-allstar at hamvoip.org> wrote:

> Looking for advise and help with the following:
> My current configuration is two AllStar nodes on one Rpi3 B+, First node
> is a Simplex RF node and the second node is strictly set up as a echolink
> node. I have pretty good internet with speedtest showing upload at 20 Mbps
> and downloads at 22 Mbps.
> The RF side of things has George's what I believe to be a CM105 sound FOB
> setup Custom built by him.
> In Simpleusb tune menu items 3 and 4 are set to 600 for Set Transmit A and
> B levels.
> I am running the latest update as follows
> HamVoIP Firmware Ver
> Rpi2-3 Version 1.5rc5-13 Allstar – November 16, 2018 -KB4FXC, WA3DSP
> HamVoIP AllStar Version
> Asterisk 1.4.23-pre.hamvoip-V1.5.3-48-app_rpt-0.327-11/24/2018
> Linux Kernel Version
> Linux version 4.14.31-1 ARCH builduser at Leming
> gcc version 7.3.1 20180312 (GCC) #1 SMP Sat Mar 31 02:36:09 UTC 2018
> My Problem is with audio levels:
> If I connect my RF ALLStar 49175 node to 908895 NWLINK (Echolink 908895)
> Which is IRLP Reflector.
> And set the Simpleusb audio settings for good audio received by other
> stations listening. Then connect in my second Allstar 49176 node which is
> strictly echolink node. To allow echolink users into the mix. The audio
> goes way down. Also if a couple station try to connect into the echolink
> node 49176 bridge. The audio can get very garbled. As the stations
> disconnect from the echolink side of the bridge audio improves.
> I suspect that the USB bus cannot handle the traffic efficiently but not
> sure. There is three different audio receptions of the audio.
> Allstar IRLP and Echolink. At each stage the audio is different and I
> except that but is there a way to somewhat level these out a bit?
> I am not sure if the Pi is set for Turbo
> I am not sure how best to turn off Wi-fi and Bluetooth to free up the USB
> bus.
> Or if this would even help?
> I am looking for advise to best accomplish this all. If I can provide more
> details let me know and I will do my best to provide it. I have ordered a
> new sound FOB from George but has not arrived yet. Hope it might help. Some
> sort of new improved FOB have not seen or heard what, But have hopes it may
> help.
> Thank You for any advise you can provide – Art N7MNK
>
>
> Sent from Mail for Windows 10
>
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