I’ve decided to build an AllStarLink node. I have a co-worker and fellow amateur who lives on the west coast where they use AllStarLink heavily. In my desire to always bring something new and neat to the Indianapolis repeater front, I figured this might be a cool project.
What follows are my notes as I’ve gone through the setup. One thing that is missing, IMHO, is a wiki with instructions. Much of the process has been trial and error or google and read pieces on various other websites. I believe the AllStarLink folks would best serve their community by making these resources easily locatable on their website.
Here is the process that should be followed. Please note that the order is important.
- Register as a portal user here.
- Validation of your amateur license status and activation of your account may take ~24 hours.
- If you are content to be an AllStarLink user, you may stop here. But if you desire to setup a server and node, continue on.
- Log into the portal and at the bottom of the account page, convert your account to a SysOp account.
- Log out and log back in. you will now see a new menu.
- Create a server and then request a node. The node request will take ~24 hours.
- Download the appropriate image for your needs here. Note that the downloads were located in the lower right corner of the page at the time this article was written. The rest of my instructions will assume you’ve chosen the Acid install and will be installing on a PC. If this works out, down the road I plan to convert the setup to a smaller platform and will detail those steps then.
- Setup your firewall to forward port 4569/udp to the IP that you server will use.
- Plug in your URI (USB Radio Interface)
- Boot the CD. Note that after you hit enter at the linux boot: prompt, EVERYTHING on your HD will be erased. I say again, the install process will completely wipe your HD and install the AllStarLink linux distro and applications.
- During the install, I chose the option to use a static IP and ran into problems. I configured everything properly, but notice that the phase1.sh script left /etc/resolv.conf empty. Without DNS servers, even though I updated them in the static config, the install process fails. If this happens to you, just update /etc/resolv.conf with a valid name server. You can use the google NS of 8.8.8.8 if you like, I do. After that, restart the phase1.sh script from /etc/rc.d. Once you do this, the rest of the install will complete.
I’m using a Motorola Maxtrac UHF mobile as my link radio. This particular radio is one with the 16 pin accessory connector. If you’re looking for a similar setup, I highly recommend seeking out the 16 pin vs. the 5 pin units. They are out there in increasing numbers and make an inexpensive option. I used the service option of RSS to turn down the TX power to ~3W as the radio is in close proximity to the repeater.
Here are the details of the wiring interface between the Maxtrac and the DMK Engineering URIx:
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Please note that I used cable #Cable126 from ebay seller mre1032, so the colors I’ve listed here may vary. This guy makes high-quality cables for decent prices. This particular cable has all sixteen leads populated, because you never know what you might want to do down the road. Speaking of all sixteen leads, remember that if you want the internal speaker to function on your Maxtrac, that pins 15 and 16 need to be connected together. I did this inside my DB25 plug that connects to the URIx.
