Category: Projects

TeamWave – Matrix

Posted on by James M0ZAH

As the Fediverse has become a little more popular with the recent twitter fiasco, I’ve decided that now would be a good time to create a letstalkradio matrix chat system. Firstly I don’t plan on Mattermost going anywhere so you are welcome to stay. If anything we will probably set up a bridge between the two so messages are sent to both systems.

At the moment these are independent systems so messages on one will not show on the other.

The benefits of Matrix is that you can run your own server (if you wish) and the system supports many 3rd party clients, unlike Mattermost where you’re limited to the single client.

We have the one room at the moment: Teamwave – MX0WVV for testing.

I welcome everyone to create an account and come and try the system, and again this system (Mattermost) is not going anywhere at the moment.

Here are the instructions if you’d like to come along and play:

1) Visit https://app.element.io
2) Click Edit (under the information icon ‘i’)
3) Select “Other homeserver” and insert the URL “https://matrix.letstalkradio.org” and click continue.
4) Now under the Sign in button select “Create account”
5) Enter your desired username
6) Enter a strong password
7) Click Register
8) You’ll now be signed in, if you get a “You’re in” page click “Skip” in the middle of the screen
9) You can then join the Teamwave room “https://matrix.to/#/#admins:matrix.letstalkradio.org”

Following feedback we will then decide whether to bridge the two systems together.

WaveNet

Posted on by Martin M5MSX

WaveNet begins…

WaveNet & East Anglia Multimode seems to have grown quickly, initially a point of discussion between Tim M1MIT, Jim M0ZAH and I.. one early morning on the 8.30am random repeater coffee net where we thought it might be an idea to have our own D-STAR reflector to play with.

Being very keen on D-STAR and AllStar, I thought it might be cool if I were to put a spare AMBE transcoder into use giving D-STAR hotspot access to some of the more far off repeaters such as GB3VW which was (and will again be) AllStar linked. This, after a little troubleshooting, became a reality and we were soon testing D-STAR reflectors and FM repeater & node linking.

This quickly became known as WaveNet and we even managed some remote testing, being able to link a temporary AllStar node in Herefordshire back to the D-STAR reflector to keep in touch with each other as part of a shakedown test.

Jim M0ZAH then suggested it would be nice to add DMR and maybe even consider C4FM, given the success of GB7DS in Norwich. Later on, in conversation with James M0JGX, the interest in building a DMR & repeater linked multimode bridge surfaced with us realising that we had all the gear in place to make it happen.

Introducing WaveNet, our East Anglia multimode system… A joint project between Team Wave and Lowestoft & Great Yarmouth Repeater Group, connecting D-STAR, DMR, C4FM, AllStar FM, TETRA and EchoLink with DV Scotland Phoenix talk group 841 and numerous repeaters in Norfolk & Suffolk.
Continue reading “WaveNet”

Packet Radio & New Features

Posted on by Martin M5MSX

Now that we’ve a second packet node on the air with GB7ZAH, the focus is starting to move towards functionality.

We’ve 2 new features currently in testing on GB7MSX:

  1. Mattermost integration.. Yes, that’s right! using the MATTERMOST command, you’ll be able to come through to our Mattermost server and chat away (channel #GB7MSX). It’s still under test and allows packet users to converse with pre-approved licensed amateurs in Mattermost to ensure we’re complying with licensing conditions
  2. We now have a repeater lookup function called RPTSEARCH, just for fun. It’s a simple wildcard search by repeater callsign right now but in the future we’d like to extend this to deliver repeaters within X distance from a location as that’s a little more useful. Stay tuned!

At the time of writing, I’m also messing with a couple of other python scripts I’ve picked up along the way.. One is based on the classic Zork, and another on Eliza.. both very retro, so you may see them active at various points in the name of science & fun.

Both packet nodes are likely to be up and down over the coming days and weeks as we continue to tweak, improve and expand. GB7MSX will be undergoing some antenna tests and improvements, however in the meantime it is accessible from greater distances thanks to the extended range GB7ZAH is providing. Don’t forget to node hop!

We’d welcome any ideas for cool packet node functionality, as we really want to develop out both nodes with unique features and generate some interest in VHF packet radio.

If you have packet capability in your station or are interested in learning more, please join us on the air or via our Mattermost chat.

For now, 73!

GB7ZAH – On air testing

Posted on by James M0ZAH

Our second packet station (GB7ZAH) switched on today for full testing. This has been a long time coming and joins GB7MSX in the East of Norfolk. There will be periods where the station may not be available while we change configs in the backend.

A huge thanks to Martin M5MSX for his help with configuration hits, and M7GMT for testing on air.

The next step is to get MB7NAF (M1MIT) node on the air.

If you’d like to use either GB7MSX/GB7ZAH you can connect via 1200Baud AX.25 on 144.950NFM.