AllStar build details

(Page slowing being updated, not yet complete.)
Product links can be outdated.

(If you want to buy a ready to go unit, skip to the bottom for details.)

First, our materials I purchased:

  1. Raspberry Pi3 (with a case, heat sink and power supply. Always use 2.5A or higher.) LINK
  2. Memory card LINK

Other needed items:

  1. Radio (will be node use only, not able to be used by a person)
  2. URI or Sound FOB LINK
  3. Cable from Radio to URI / Fob
  4. RF Chokes / Ferrite (highly suggested to reduce RF interference)  LINK

Sound FOB modifications: LINK

AllStar Registration:

  1. Go to Allstar and register. It can take 24 hours to get authorized.
  2. Once authorized, you then must go to your account settings and check the box for ‘System Operator‘.
  3. Once done you can create a server and request a node number.  That too (node request) can take up to 24 hours.  Do these while you wait for parts to arrive. (Server -> Create Server) (Node -> Request Node – > [Server Name])

Next, software downloaded for install of node:

  1. OS download, you have 2 choices.  Allstar (ASL) LINK or HamVoip LINK  I have installed both. Both are menu based, but I think HamVoip is a better walkthrough menu. HamVoip is also better at updates through the menu.

Software install: (Read all steps before starting.)

Some quick steps for setup. These are based on the HamVoip download. (as of 8/2018)

  1. On PC, download win32diskimager and install.  Download Link  (If on MacOS, Etcher has worked well for me. Free download.)
  2. Take the image and write to the SD card via your computer. (Card must be FAT format.)
  3. Install SD card in Raspberry Pi and plug in ethernet cable and power on the Pi. (Easiest to have a monitor on HDMI cable to see the status. If the green light is not blinking on the Pi, the card isn’t being read. Go back and diagnose from step 2. Something went wrong on the image write. May need to try a different program from step 1, however, I have used both and work they for me. If you have more read issues, try a different SD card. You should use a new card, nothing from old cameras or GoPros.
  4. Perform an update (option 1) as soon as possible. (Must have Internet at this point. Best to be on Ethernet connection for setup – do WiFi config later.)
  5. If you don’t have an HDMI monitor and keyboard connected for setup, you need to log into your network router and see what IP address was assigned via DHCP. If on a monitor, after you finish setup, you see your IP on top of the menu that loads on login. If you have your radio plugged in at the time of boot and get lucky, it will announce your IP address as well.  Tune another radio to your node freq and listen.
  6. Once we have the IP (or if you are on a monitor with keyboard) you can log into the system with a Terminal or Putty connection, the port for SSH is set to ‘222’ at first.
  7. Log into the device, username ‘root’ and password ‘root’. You will be asked to change the password.
  8. Upon login for the first time, a script will start. Perform the starting script for this first time.  Keep DHCP as a connection means for now. I changed my SSH port, you don’t have to, just know what it is.  Any ports or config changes, you should note. For security reasons, don’t use port ’22’, as it is common and we want to keep things secure.
  9. Once setup is complete with a couple reboots possibly involved, you should be up and running as you would have entered your AllStar node information.
  10. Make sure you UPDATE.  Do it again, make sure you are current.  It will quickly flash ‘there is nothing to do’ if you are 100% current.

Router Information:

You should make a few changes to your router, for remote access if you want.  However, opening ports brings security risks, worth consideration.  If you want your node to connect out to others, but you don’t want anyone to connect directly to you AND you don’t need to administer the node while away from it, you are done. No router changes need.

If you are like me and want to administer the node remotely and allow incoming connections (although I’m not a popular guy so this doesn’t happen often) you will need to open ports.  A few changes are needed:

  1. Your IAX port needs to be opened and directed to the node.  Now, during setup, 4569 is the default port.  It’s fine to leave it like this or change it, it is preference.  Every server in your network must use a different port.  Not nodes, SERVERS.  So each Pi is a server, each server can have up to 3 nodes. IF you change your IAX port, you must change it on the Pi AND update it on the allstarlink.org website for each server you change. In this case, we will keep 4569.  So in our router, you want to Port Forward.  4569 UDP to the local IP of your node. (Something like 192.168.1.40 — use your correct IP)  This port forwarding will allow incoming connections from other nodes.
  2. Access to Supermon or Allmon2.  You will have to open an http port for this. Best to pick a random port, like 8080 or 8123 to use.  Forward the port you pick, 8123 TCP to the node IP as we did for IAX.  You will need to alter the port on the node, to match the port we just forwarded. (Unless you have port translation, but I won’t go into that unless you know how to do an 8123->80 TCP forward. If able, no configuration change needed on the node.)
  3. Allstar Manager Port / Login – 5038 is the default. Most will not need to open ports for this, unless you plan to access the node from another node Supermon / Allmon interface.

Coming soon – Setup for Supermon and Allmon2 for your node.  A great and easy way to control your node, outside of SSH.  SSH is the primary method, always. Also, reverse SSH, as well as some bash commands worthy of note. Some simple, some more advanced.

Many of these directions were not first written by me, I am simply giving a run down. Many more howto docs are available on https://www.hamvoip.org/#howtos including what I have listed above and much more.

Please report any bad links or updated info, if you find any.

Want to buy a node ready to go?

You can purchase a nice node from one of these sellers:

Technobygeorge.com – Great for a full node or parts for your build. Great for customizing your build for different size simplex setups.

ClearNode – Complete node, small package. Great for small footprint and mobile. Mobile phone app for setup/config made very well.