DOES THE REPEATERS HAVE LIVE STREAMING?
Yes! You just click on the Listen Live! button above.
WHEN AND WHERE ARE CLUB MEETINGS HELD?
We are a small, informal club mainly comprised of a few family members and friends so we do not have formal meetings. We’ve never really had the time to invest into meetings or formal gatherings. We would be interested in pursuing that if someone wanted to take that on. I (K5GLH) has time but have no interest in handling this sort of thing but would love it if someone else wanted to.
WHAT IS EXPECTED ON THE REPEATERS?
The FCC requires that amateur radio operators give their station call sign every 10 minutes and at the end of the conversation. We also believe and enforce giving station call sign before you dial up or communicate on the nodes. This is because many times we have run into trouble on the reflectors because a user would not abide by the reflector rules (not ours) and get the node blocked from the reflector and since they never gave their call sign, then there is no way to get in touch with the user to explain the rules. We reserve the right to shut down any node, repeater or both when people cannot identify themselves on the repeaters. Also if someone dials up a node without identifying first, then the user may be connecting in the middle of an ongoing conversation on the other end. If this conversation goes on more than 10 minutes, then the local user would not be able to abide by the FCC 10 minute ID rule without interrupting another conversation.
We expect courtesy to others while using the repeaters or nodes. Do not use profanity or treat others with disrespect. If someone is jamming the repeater, just sign off and do not discuss it on the air. When you do, you are giving them what they want, attention. If you must talk about it, go to our FACEBOOK GROUP and discuss all you want.
WHERE ARE THE REPEATERS?
The repeaters are in the Oklahoma City suburb of Del City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA. It is located on the Southeast side of the metro area near Tinker Air Force Base. Del City is the nearest suburb to downtown Oklahoma City. Physically the repeaters are 112 feet above the ground and are between SE 15th Street and SE 29th Street, and between Sunnylane Road and Bryant Avenue. The two meter antenna is at the top, 112 feet, and the 70 cm repeater is on the South side of the tower with the top at 95 feet. If you want to find them, just go to http://aprs.fi and search for W5DEL and you can see them on the map. It sends out beacons on APRS.
WHAT IS ALLSTAR LINK?
Allstar Link is a voice over IP system that runs on the business telephone private branch exchange (PBX) software called Asterisk. It assigns phone numbers that are referred to as node numbers. This system can have one to one connections or one to many connections. Each link has a call sign and node number. Our call sign is W5DEL and the node number(s) are 468100 (146.700) and 468101 (443.300). AllstarLink requires a valid Amateur Radio license to obtain a node number. Anyone can build their own AllstarLink node and use it as a hotspot, a simplex node or even put it onto a repeater. Read more about this system here… https://www.allstarlink.org/
WHAT IS VOICE OVER IP?
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a system that takes audio from our repeater and converts it into digital data. That data is transmitted over the network (Internet) to remote nodes. The remote node computer takes the data and converts it back to analog audio for the users on the remote end to hear. Voice over IP is a widely use technology today carrying voices over the Internet as data much cheaper than using a standard telephone. In fact, most cellular telephone companies today are already doing this.
WHAT IS A NODE?
A node is the name that refers to a computer/repeater. Every node is assigned a node number that is analogous to a telephone number. Our repeaters have node numbers that correspond to the computer access point attached to them.
WHAT NODE NUMBER ARE WE?
An occasion may come when we may be connected to an reflector that a person on the other end may ask you what node you are on so they can call you direct.
146.700 MHz ALLSTARLINK is 468100 – ECHOLINK is 164667 (W5DEL-R) is a repeater
443.300 MHz ALLSTARLINK is 468101 – Currently Radioless. You can connect by Amateur Wire 90032
HOW DO I FIND OTHER ALLSTAR LINK NODE NUMBERS?
All active Allstar Link nodes are shown on this status page…
HOW DO I FIND OTHER ECHOLINK NODE NUMBERS?
All active Echolink nodes are shown on this status page…
WHAT IS THE WIN SYSTEM?
There are many nodes that are popular on the AllstarLink System and the WIN System, or Western Intertie Network, is one of them. This is a repeater linking system originating from San Diego, California. It was created by Jeff (Shorty) Stouffer K6JSI. There are more than 90 repeaters throughout California, and throughout the world. The WIN System has some rules that must be adhered to and can be found here. We are confident you will love this system. Our 443.3 MHz repeater use to be a WIN System affiliate but we have decided that it is not beneficial to leave any node connected 24 hours a day simply because there is not enough control operators available to monitor it. Anyone may connect either node to the WIN System or any other node or whenever they like. We just no longer leave it connected 24 hours a day.
HOW DO I MAKE CALLS TO ALLSTAR LINK OR ECHOLINK AND HOW DO I DISCONNECT?
To make a call on AllstarLink, just follow these steps
- Key up and give your call sign and then unkey
- Key up again and press *3 plus the remote AllstarLink node number and then unkey
- Listen for the connection announcement
- Pause about 30 seconds to make sure there isn’t an ongoing QSO on the other end.
- Make your call on the system.
To disconnect follow these steps
- Key up between transmissions on the other end and then press *1 plus the remote AllstarLink node number and then unkey
- Listen for the disconnect announcement to end and then key up to give your call sign and then unkey
The basic logic is that using *3 prefix means to connect to the following node number in Transceive mode. This means that once connected, the local repeater key ups will be heard on the remote end as well as the remote end will be heard local.
Using the prefix *2 followed by the remote node number (*2_ _ _ _ _) will connect in listen only mode. This means that once connected, you will be able to hear the audio coming from the remote node but they will not be able to hear ours. Any key ups on our repeater will not be heard on the remote end. Our node will be in monitor only mode.
To disconnect, you enter the *1 prefix prior to the remote node number (*1_ _ _ _ _). That will disconnect our node from the remote node.
To connect to Echolink nodes follow these steps
- Key up and give call sign and then unkey
- Key back up and enter *33 prefix, followed by an Echolink six digit node number. and then unkey
- Listen for connection announcement
- What up to 30 seconds to ensure there is not an ongoing QSO on the remote end.
- Make your call
To disconnect Echolink nodes follow these steps
- Just as with AllstarLink node, just key up and enter *1 prefix followed by the remote six digit Echolink number and then unkey
- Wait for the disconnect announcement and then key up to give your call sign.
You may have not noticed that not all Echolink nodes are six digits. Some may be four digits like 1111. In this case, you take the four digits and precede them by enough zeroes to make the number six digits, like 001111. So the full dial string would be *33001111 to connect. To disconnect it would be *1001111.
WHY DO YOU NEED TO TAKE THE CONNECT AND DISCONNECET ACTIONS IN A SPECIFIC ORDER?
Connecting to a remote link system has unique issues that communicating locally doesn’t have. For example, for us to comply with the FCC 10 minute identification rule when connecting to a remote node, you have to factor in that once connected, there may already be an ongoing QSO that would go for more than 10 minutes. If you don’t ID prior to connecting and this issue arises, then it will be impossible for the user to give their ID in the 10 minute window without having to key up and talk over one of the users in the remote QSO. The same goes for disconnecting. You may decide to be done with the connection at a time where others are talking. In this case, a quick key up and disconnect codes and then unkeying allows for a quick disconnect without keying over someone on the remote end that may be talking. In this case you would give your final call sign after the disconnection is complete. We’ve found that over time, this seems to be the least impactful way of complying with the ID rule without disrupting the remote end.
IS THERE A WAY TO SEE WHO IS CONNECTED TO THE NODES?
Yes! You can go to our node status page on allstarlink.org’s site and find the bubble chart. You can find the page located here… http://stats.allstarlink.org/
Once on this page, on the top right you will see a “Filter” box. Just enter either our node call sign, W5DEL, or our node number(s), 468100 (main) and 468101 (online only). Once you’ve typed in the search data, such as 468100, on the left of the page, you will see “Bubble”. Just click on this and it will show a graphical bubble chart showing all connected nodes. Just ignore the pink bubbles labeled 1996, 1997, 1998 or 1999. Those are private nodes that we have set up that give those on Hams Over IP (HOIP), AmateurWire (AW), TGIF DMR. Outside of those, you can see all nodes connected to us and any other nodes that are connected to any of the nodes connected to us.
We also have our own dashboard that our admins use to control the nodes. It can be found here… http://468100.nodes.allstarlink.org:82/supermon/link.php?nodes=468100,468101,1996,1997,1998,1999
WHAT IS HAMS OVER IP (HOIP?
Hams over IP is a public private branch exchange (PBX) that is free to use to licensed amateur radio. While the system is not real ham radio, it is a way to use SIP Phones to be able to talk to other hams one to one or in conference bridges where many hams can connect. This system gives each amateur an extension number. For example, my (K5GLH) extension number is 100038. I can make and receive calls through that extension to other extensions on the network. This network is world wide and has thousands of amateur radio operators on it.
One feature is that HOIP allows connections to authorized AllstarLink repeaters, including our own. Our 146.700 MHz repeater can be found on HOIP extension 15062. Once connected, to transmit, you dial *99 and to unkey, you dial #. This is a toggle on and toggle off setup. There are many conferences available and new ones can be requested as well. This system also has audio feeds that can be dialed into from individual extensions. There are many other features that are too many to list here. If you wish to get your own extension, go to this URL… https://hamsoverip.com/
WHAT IS AMATEURWIRE (AW)?
AmateurWire is another PBX system just like Hams Over IP but run by a different group. It is also free to use for all licensed amateur radio operators. My (K5GLH) extension on there is 1052. Our 146.700 MHz repeater is on extension 90031 and our 443.300 or AllstarLink node 468101 can be found on extension 90032. If you would like to get your own extension, go to this URL… https://amateurwire.org/
DO YOU HAVE A FACEBOOK PAGE?
We do have a Facebook page located here.
We have an X account here.
Del City Radio Club 