Welcome to DVSwitch
DVSwitch is a set of tools and programs related to provisioning and operating Amateur Radio digital voice networks.
Purpose
The purpose of DVSwitch is as follows:
1) Allows “local” networking during an outage of the regional national/international network server.
2) Allows a local network operator to “blend” upstream feeds from different Networks (capital N on purpose). These Networks can’t get their act together and learn how to play nice with each other (everyone guilty as far as we are concerned). They may not like people doing this, but the solution is to grow up and work with each other, and not keep trying to force people to take sides.
3) Allows local segregation of localized traffic with more flexibility.
4) Allows experimentation with linking and how it’s done (part 97 specifies experimentation and advancement of the radio art are a core part of amateur radio).
1) Allows “local” networking during an outage of the regional national/international network server.
2) Allows a local network operator to “blend” upstream feeds from different Networks (capital N on purpose). These Networks can’t get their act together and learn how to play nice with each other (everyone guilty as far as we are concerned). They may not like people doing this, but the solution is to grow up and work with each other, and not keep trying to force people to take sides.
3) Allows local segregation of localized traffic with more flexibility.
4) Allows experimentation with linking and how it’s done (part 97 specifies experimentation and advancement of the radio art are a core part of amateur radio).
Mission Statement/Position
Our stated position is:
WHEREAS the Networks continue to be largely islands and are not working together to create a unified network of Networks.
WHEREAS no firm reason has been given by any of the Networks why a *competent* local network operator cannot make this work effectively.
(US ONLY)
WHEREAS 47 CFR 97 (Amateur Radio Service) specifies that a core component of amateur radio is experimentation and advancement of the radio art [97.1(b)].
BE IT RESOLVED the core group of US amateur radio operators and experimenters organized around the DVSwitch project, and in the spirit of USA 47 CFR 97 and its intentions, support the *responsible* and *thoughtful* use of digital voice networking tools to create localized networks that will interconnect to the national/international Networks, and will support users of its tools in order to do this in the most effective and sustainable way possible.
WHEREAS the Networks continue to be largely islands and are not working together to create a unified network of Networks.
WHEREAS no firm reason has been given by any of the Networks why a *competent* local network operator cannot make this work effectively.
(US ONLY)
WHEREAS 47 CFR 97 (Amateur Radio Service) specifies that a core component of amateur radio is experimentation and advancement of the radio art [97.1(b)].
BE IT RESOLVED the core group of US amateur radio operators and experimenters organized around the DVSwitch project, and in the spirit of USA 47 CFR 97 and its intentions, support the *responsible* and *thoughtful* use of digital voice networking tools to create localized networks that will interconnect to the national/international Networks, and will support users of its tools in order to do this in the most effective and sustainable way possible.
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Re: metadata management
Patrick Perdue
As I understand it, you can set up a private P25 reflector which
is available to anyone who uses the pi-star host files, thus, no
need to link to a public reflector. This is what I plan to do. I
will probably also get zero users, but at least I know that coming
in.
On 11/26/2020 1:42 PM, k7wby@...
wrote:
Here's a bit of advice, take it for what it's worth.
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Re: metadata management
On 27/11/20 5:42 am, k7wby@arrl.net wrote:
Here's a bit of advice, take it for what it's worth.I setup my own P25 reflector for my DVSwitch system to connect to, so I wouldn't upset anyone else. Got it registered and it can be reached by any hotspot with up to date hosts files. Or do as I did and get G4KLX to put your reflector into the public hosts file. Just takes a "feature request" in the right Git repository. more work than they wanted to do. In the end I took down the reflectorHmm P252DMR - that sounds like it would only work on an OpenSpot 3. This isn't possible on a Pi-Star based hotspot, because it requires transcoding. -- 73 de Tony VK3JED/VK3IRL http://vkradio.com
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Re: metadata management
On 26/11/20 11:51 am, Steve N4IRS wrote:
So,This is where my system is at. I have it arranged around an instance of AllStar (except for DMR - YSF, which uses its own instance of MMDVM_Bridge, and no transcoding). Audio wise, my system works well and maintains good quality (because I transcode as few times as possible, regardless of path), but it would be nice to have a way of passing metadata "around" AllStar when going between digital modes that are using different vocoders, without handling audio, to account for cases like mine. -- 73 de Tony VK3JED/VK3IRL http://vkradio.com
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Re: metadata management
k7wby@...
Here's a bit of advice, take it for what it's worth.
If you're thinking of linking your other modes to a currently active P25 Reflector, don't. You will be chastised to no end and probably banned from that reflector for life. The only solution you have is a P25Gateway and P25Reflector with a private TG. I did that for a while and had 0 users. I provided instructions on how to update the P25Hosts.txt files on their hotspots but I guess that was more work than they wanted to do. In the end I took down the reflector and gateway and just told them to use their hotspots in P252DMR mode and connect to my XLX reflector. I have a interlink to BM3103 on the XLX. Now I have P25 users and the meta data is not an issue.
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Re: Security password on Brandmeister
Patrick Perdue
You only need to change the password=passw0rd line in the [DMR Network] stanza of MMDVM_Bridge.ini for any DVSwitch instance, replacing it with the hotspot security password you've set up on the Brandmeister self-care dashboard. AFAIK, this change doesn't affect repeater ID's yet, just personal CCS7. So, you shouldn't need to make any changes to your MMDVM repeater at this time, assuming you are using a six digit repeater ID.
On 11/25/2020 11:14 PM, Steve - WB8GRS wrote:
I read elsewhere that Brandmeister Hotspot Users must configure hotspot security password to continue using Brandmeister. This affect masters 3101, 3102 and 3103 and I assume many other masters. This starts to take affect on Nov 30, 2020. I have both an Android to DMR and Allstar to DMR bridges running as well as a couple DMR hotspots and a MMDVM DMR repeater on Brandmeister.. Do I need to add a security password to my Android to DMR bridge that I use with DV Switch and to my Allstar to DMR bridge in order to stay logged into Brandmeister, and if yes, how do I do that?
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Security password on Brandmeister
Steve - WB8GRS
I read elsewhere that Brandmeister Hotspot Users must configure hotspot security password to continue using Brandmeister. This affect masters 3101, 3102 and 3103 and I assume many other masters. This starts to take affect on Nov 30, 2020. I have both an Android to DMR and Allstar to DMR bridges running as well as a couple DMR hotspots and a MMDVM DMR repeater on Brandmeister.. Do I need to add a security password to my Android to DMR bridge that I use with DV Switch and to my Allstar to DMR bridge in order to stay logged into Brandmeister, and if yes, how do I do that?
If I need to ask this in a subgroup, please let me know which one. Thanks, 73, Steve_WB8GRS
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Re: Towards open-source infrastructure for DMR repost from OpenDV
G4KLX is saying what I've been thinking for at least a year now. The fact that BM and to a lesser extent DMR-MARC, DCI, TGIF and others have created a closed-source, walled-garden approach to interlinking leaves the individual repeater operators at the relative mercy of these networks. The recent UK master server crash is a clear indicator that the centralized technique needs some refactoring.
It's not original, sadly. Other analog-based interlinking tech has the same problems (I'm looking at IRLP and AllStarLink as two easy examples). Hams generally like the interconnection to be plug-and-play. A new approach would require people to actually do things like RTFM and test their changes in isolation before unleashing it on the network, possibly wreaking havoc. I'm all for an open and decentralized approach to interlinking. The obvious downsides is that it moves more of the work to the repeater operators to be on the lookout for bad actors, or at least LIDS. Some of what I'm getting at is that there needs to be tools to help a sysop/control op check that their configuration changes are going to do what they think it will. That's a tall order. I'd say that philosophically speaking, HBLink is aligned with this particular view of interlinking and interconnection. I think we have some real architectural challenges (not to mention devops, developer community, and all the rest) to become a robust contributor to this new approach. I also think that IPSC_Bridge and HB_Bridge (to a lesser extent) need to be brought up-to-date to Python 3 through a focus on creating a testable code base and then evolving it from there. I love this manifesto. I hope we can build something from it. --R -- Randy Hall AA6RH (not K7AGE, quit asking) 😁
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Re: metadata management
Patrick Perdue
OK, so things are pretty much as I thought they were. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything should I decide to redesign this system. I'll probably keep things as-is for now, then add another private node for P25.
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
Thanks.
On 11/25/2020 7:51 PM, Steve N4IRS wrote:
So,
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Re: pyUC P25 "not linked"
You want to add it in 2 places.
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Add the reflector TG, IP and port in private_P25Hosts.txt Add the Name and TG in pyUC.ini in the P25 section. Steve N4IRS
On 11/25/20 9:45 PM, Scotty 2543G
KD2LWH wrote:
It seems to have fixed itself after a few times of opening and closing the application. Now I'm wondering how to add my private reflector to the list on USRP Client for P25. I have added it to the P25Hosts.txt file on the DV_Switch Server, but it doesn't show in the list on the client. Any ideas?
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Re: pyUC P25 "not linked"
The app uses the configuration file pyUC.ini
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Re: pyUC P25 "not linked"
Add it to pyUC.ini
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
On 11/25/20 9:45 PM, Scotty 2543G
KD2LWH wrote:
It seems to have fixed itself after a few times of opening and closing the application. Now I'm wondering how to add my private reflector to the list on USRP Client for P25. I have added it to the P25Hosts.txt file on the DV_Switch Server, but it doesn't show in the list on the client. Any ideas?
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Re: pyUC P25 "not linked"
Scotty 2543G KD2LWH
It seems to have fixed itself after a few times of opening and closing the application. Now I'm wondering how to add my private reflector to the list on USRP Client for P25. I have added it to the P25Hosts.txt file on the DV_Switch Server, but it doesn't show in the list on the client. Any ideas?
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pyUC P25 "not linked"
Scotty 2543G KD2LWH
Hey guys,
The first time I started pyUC and switched modes to P25 it worked, no issues. Everytime after, I try to switch modes and it says "not linked" when I hit P25 and goes back to DMR. Any ideas why? I didn't ever "link or unlink" anything. Thanks in advance.
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Re: metadata management
So,
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
you have D-Star, DMR and AllStar. If you used AllStar to mix you could keep the number of vocoders to two and only have one transcoder. For the audio, you would have 2 private nodes. The first node would be DMR and pointed at TGIF. The second node would be D-Star and pointed at XLX. As you said in your first message, you issue would then be metadata. Steve
On 11/25/20 7:32 PM, Patrick Perdue wrote:
I'm not great at writing out flows.
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Re: metadata management
Patrick Perdue
I'm not great at writing out flows.
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
My setup currently doesn't use ircDDBGateway, since that's all handled at the XLX reflector end. So, it goes like this. Allstar <-> AB <-> HBLink <-> MB <-> XLXD (DMR, since XLX is also handling a BM interlink and YSF traffic) <-> ambed (connected to the XLX reflector) <-> TGIF. I'm sure I screwed that up. So basically, native AMBE traffic is transcoded to analog using the MD380-emu vocoder back to Allstar. DStar is transcoded through the pair of ThumnDV's on the reflector, which is then sent to MD380emu and then Allstar. Between DMR or YSF and DStar, this is fine, but from Allstar to DStar, it's going through another AMBE transcode before A_B sees it, so more latency and lower quality audio. If I connect to the reflector directly as DStar, then use ASL to connect to the other modes, perhaps on another module of the reflector and HBLink, then DMR-YSF would only see the call specified in A_B, correct?
On 11/25/2020 7:18 PM, Steve N4IRS wrote:
I don't see how there are 2 vocoders to get from AllStar to D-Star. The flow would be:
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Re: metadata management
I don't see how there are 2 vocoders to get from AllStar to D-Star. The flow would be:
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
AllStar <-> AB <-> MB <-> ircDDBGateway <-> XLX for D-Star. You could drop the ircDDBGateway and go to XLX DMR. Steve
On 11/25/20 7:14 PM, Patrick Perdue wrote:
Sure, but I'm currently going through two of them to get from Allstar to DStar.
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Re: metadata management
Patrick Perdue
Sure, but I'm currently going through two of them to get from Allstar to DStar.
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
I'm just wondering if there's a way to drop one of them out and still maintain metadata. I could directly connect A_B and MMDVM_Bridge to the XLX reflector and only direct DStar traffic to the module, and audio between DStar and the other digital modes should be about the same as it is now, but audio from Allstar to DStar has one less generation of vocoding, but then I lose metadata between the digital modes. At least, this is how I understand it.
On 11/25/2020 6:55 PM, Steve N4IRS wrote:
Patrick,
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Re: metadata management
Patrick,
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
Either way, you have to go through a vocoder to go from analog to D-Star Same for P25, you still have to go through a vocoder. Steve
On 11/25/20 6:28 PM, Patrick Perdue wrote:
Hi:
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metadata management
Patrick Perdue
Hi:
I have a system that incorporates ASL, XLX, HBLink and DVSwitch. I'm toying with the idea of adding P25. Currently, DStar is handled by XLX and a pair of transcoders connected to the XLX reflector, not DVSwitch. I would like to connect ASL directly to the XLX reflector in DStar mode, so that the audio to and from DStar to ASL is not transcoded through AMBE, but still pass metadata to DStar from the other digital modes. Is this at all possible? Similar question in regards to P25. Basically, I want to do the least amount of transcoding possible to and from analog, while maintaining the greatest compatibility across digital modes. What I have now works, but I'd love to get rid of that extra layer of transcoding between analog and DStar without sacrificing metadata. Thanks.
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Re: Coming to a browser near you
Terrific. I can't wait. This will be the first time that we can communicate with IOS devices. I will be glad to help beta test.
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