RepeaterPhone 1.1 beta test - conclusion

[Weston Bustraan]

Hi All,

Looking in TestFlight, it looks like the most recent RepeaterPhone beta build will expire in 7 days.

Moving forward, there hasn't been enough beta tester feedback to roll out the cloud favorites sync feature; early reports from a couple users said it scrambled their favorites but I haven't really heard anything since.

Since I don't want to roll out a feature to the general userbase that will be detrimental, I am planning on disabling the cloud sync functionality for now, so that I can release a few other fixes that were also contained in 1.1. It doesn't seem like the sync functionality is a high priority on everyone's wishlist; I only had a couple people request it. We can always take a run at it again in the future.

- Wes W8WJB

[Weston Bustraan]

(CC'ing the mailing list back in)

So, you would basically want a parametric equalizer inserted in the audio chain that would boost the audio at those frequencies?

I assume you want this because the current adjustable input gain also will boost background noise as well, whereas the EQ would only boost voice frequencies?

- Wes W8WJB

On Sun, Aug 13, 2023 at 9:41 AM <ve3...@winsystem.org> wrote:

Hi Wes.

 

Thanks for the update.

 

I’m not sure if anybody else wants this, but could we have a selectable high frequency boost on the transmit audio?

 

Allstar doesn’t pass anything above 4 kHz due to the 8kHz sampling rate, so we don’t need to worry about anything beyond 4K.

 

Perhaps it could be called Presence Boost, and do something like:

 

1. Boost a band centered around 1,350 Hz by about 3 dB (broad Q factor like 1.5)
2. Also boost around 3.5K by 1.5 dB, Q of about 2.

 

Patrick, N2DYI, if you’re reading along, any thoughts on this?

 

73

 

Chris

 

[ve3...@winsystem.org]

Oops, sorry, didn’t realize we were “reply to sender”.

 

So, you would basically want a parametric equalizer inserted in the audio chain that would boost the audio at those frequencies?

 

Yep.

Fixed values, so people can’t ruin it… just a simple on/off toggle in settings. 😊

 

I assume you want this because the current adjustable input gain also will boost background noise as well, whereas the EQ would only boost voice frequencies?

 

Yes, and also to increase vocal clarity and intelligibility. Although it is already great of course, since it’s Allstar. 😊

Chris

 

[Patrick Perdue]

This sounds cool to me. I'd love the presence boost to be on by default when processing is enabled, and bypassed when it's off, for those of us who do know how to hold it right, or at least put a checkbox in the same general area as audio processing and make it independent. When processing is bypassed, the way I generally use RepeaterPhone with wired headphones for maximum audio intelligibility in both directions for me, I don't really see a need to change the equalization, but it would be helpful when processing is on. Apple does some junk with their voice processor that I really wish they didn't.

Unrelated, could there please be a default TX timeout? It seems like at least once or twice a week, someone on my system is transmitting for a while without realizing it. If I or someone else isn't around who can kick them, when most users are simplex, this can be bad.

In HamVoIP, it would be a little easier than with ASL to write a script that automatically knocks off a station that transmits for <X> seconds to prevent things from being hung up.

73

N2DYI

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[Russell Thomas]

Don't give up on cloud sync. :)

I used it and had zero issues. I didn't report anything.

That's the one thing I don't like about using echolink is having to reset-up all my favorites when i get a new device.

cloud sync could solve that headache for your app :) 

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[Weston Bustraan]

I'm not really giving up on it; I just need to find a way to grow the RepeaterPhone community a bit so that we'll have more beta tester feedback for the next time.

I also think I didn't do a very good job laying out how a beta test should work and what the expectations were. I was also super distracted during the beta timeframe, writing a time tracking app for my daughter's robotics team.

So, a few things to fix and then we'll take another run at it.

- Wes W8WJB

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[Patrick Perdue]

Just curious about any updates. Repeaterphone's last beta has expired, so I've switched back to the app store version.

[Weston Bustraan]

I will try and get a minor release out to the App Store in the next week or so, containing a few bug fixes, but minus the favorites sync.

The next major feature for RepeaterPhone will likely be an additional authentication mechanism. I've talked with the AllStarLink group and we'll be experimenting with using registered node numbers (10-digits) for authenticating RepeaterPhone, as an alternative to allstar-public authentication.

- Wes W8WJB

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[Patrick Perdue]

Ten digits?

The only thing I can think of in the existing Allstarlink infrastructure
that uses ten digits is the pre-assigned pin set up in the Allstarlink
portal for telephone access. Is this what you're referring to, or
something else?

I hope this doesn't lead to additional confusion on the part of new
Allstarlink users.

Anyway, looking forward to playing with new stuff when it is available.

[Weston Bustraan]

It's a draft proposal from Tim WD6AWP:

Proposal

• Use node numbering for mobile clients
• Register using same method as repeaters and hotspots

Benefits

• Allows sys admins and users to manage nodes with standard tools: DTMF, Allmon, etc
• Avoids security issue of allstar-public
• Provides system wide visibility of mobile clients
• Equivalent inbound connect behavior as hotspots, NAT issues, etc.

Technology

• AllStarLink account authentication
• 10 digit node numbers
• HTTP registration, sample C code available.

Considerations

• Assignment of 10 digit mobile numbers

There's already been a bit of confusion for AllStarLink users; I occasionally get emails from people that have created a node number in the AllStarLink.org web interface and are trying to input their node credentials into RepeaterPhone, instead of their account credentials. Under this new scheme, using those node credentials would be an option.

- Wes W8WJB

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[Patrick Perdue]

OK, that sounds generally useful.

DVSM on Android, of course, has the ability to register as a standard node as well as using WT, which can have advantages, also harder to set up, and is probably not practical for Repeaterphone due to various limitations, which is why I assume other alternatives are being discussed.

I've encountered several who thought that a node number is required for Repeaterphone as well.

[Weston Bustraan]

Unless I'm mistaken, this would be almost identical to the "standard node" setup with DVSM, except that the assigned node number would be from a different pool of numbers in order to identify mobile clients.

What makes that setup harder on DVSM?

Also, what limitations do you see?

I can see at least one limitation and that is that, with a node number, it creates an expectation that it could support inbound connections. I don't foresee that ever being feasible due to the restrictions on background processes in iOS. Perhaps, with DVSM, Android is more lax when it comes to background processes.

- Wes W8WJB

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[Patrick Perdue]

Wes:

It isn't particularly hard to set up a standard node registration in DVSM, but the documentation isn't great. WT setup is much more intuitive for someone who has never done it before.

Yes, that's pretty much where I was going with inbound calls. DVSM doesn't support those either. Even if it did, 99.99999% of users wouldn't be able to take advantage of it anyhow due to NAT/CG-NAT, etc.

[Tim Sawyer]

The 10 digit pool is not cast in stone. However, we might need to go there someday. It would pay to insure 10 digit compatibility.