
Svxlink: Advanced repeater controller and Echolink software for Linux - jbarrozo
https://github.com/sm0svx/svxlink
======
bityard
For non-hams reading this and wondering what it on earth it is, it's
essentially an open source implementation of Echolink, a internet-connected
network of amateur VHF/UHF repeaters. Normally when you transmit to an amateur
radio repeater, the repeater re-transmits your audio on a different frequency
so that it can be heard by a wider coverage area than your radio could be.

Echolink has (at least) four main functions:

1\. It allows repeater owners to link two or more repeaters together over the
Internet so that a transmission into one repeater results in a transmission
_out_ of multiple repeaters, effectively giving your transmission wider
coverage, or coverage in multiple geographical locations.

2\. The Echolink clients allow licensed amateur radio operators to receive and
transmit on VHF/UHF repeaters around the world from their desktop or mobile
devices.

3\. The Echolink server allows amateur radio operators to turn their own
radios into internet-connected nodes so that they can access them away from
home, or allow others to use their radios over the Echolink network.

4\. The Echolink network has topic-specific conference rooms that hams can
join with their client. Or, repeater owners can temporarily have their
repeater join a conference room. For example, there is almost certainly one or
more dedicated to the hurricane events happening in the southern US right now.

The "official" Echolink client and server software is closed-source, this is
an open source implementation.

You need to have an amateur radio license to sign up for an account on the
Echolink network, because anything you transmit into the network might go out
over the airwaves somewhere and you need a license and call sign to do that.

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whitehouse3
I wonder how common is EchoLink among other newer protocols like C4FM? How
hard is it to spin up a low-power repeater with this and save a few thousand
dollars on a dedicated box? Would that run afoul of FCC code in the US?

Separately, it’s nice to see Ham Radio on the front page. Amateur Radio and
hacking share the same goals, although monetization is less prevalent among
radio guys. Maybe there’s lots of HAMs here and we don’t talk about it?

~~~
jbarrozo
I'm a ham myself. EchoLink is still considered one of the most reliable VOIP
in my opinion because being it's analog at its input and output. The downside
of it is, it's entirely made for windows OS. This come svxlink to the rescue
for linux guys. C4FM is one of the branded protocols out there; d-star, dmr,
P25 etc. If you don't have the radio to do this protocol, you're out of the
game.

SVXLINK is just a controller running on a raspberry pi, you still need to
connect a radio for its rx and tx. I'm using low power chinese-made ht to it,
and it act as my personal repeater at home.

~~~
hibby
One thing that's become quite common here in the UK is multimode networks -
bridging gateways for C4FM, D*, DMR and analogue into a single network 'room'
\- [CQ-UK]([https://www.cq-uk.co.uk/](https://www.cq-uk.co.uk/)) and
[hubnet]([https://hubnetwork.uk/](https://hubnetwork.uk/)) are examples.

These use software like SVXLink,
[Allstar]([https://www.allstarlink.org/](https://www.allstarlink.org/)) and
[XLX
Reflector]([https://github.com/LX3JL/xlxd](https://github.com/LX3JL/xlxd))
with AMBE hardware at the server to handle transcoding between the proprietary
networks.

It's all pretty cool!

~~~
hibby
... oh great none of my markdown worked :D

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bsagdiyev
Nice! I’ll need to check this out, I’ve been running an EchoLink proxy for
years now but client software for Linux never really existed.

~~~
jbarrozo
Wonder if you can share a private proxy that I could use? I'm been using VPN
port forwarding service to tackle echolink port 5198 and 5199 requirement.

~~~
bsagdiyev
Shoot me an email: brandon@neverlocate.me — the proxy I run now is public and
in the list they publish but I should be able to run another beside it on a
different port.

~~~
jbarrozo
I just shoot you an email. Thanks in advance!

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bobowzki
Always nice to see ham radio on the front page!

~~~
jbarrozo
Indeed!

