Apparently there was a bug in the script that announces time in 24 hr mode that had been lurking around for quite some time. The folks at HamVoIP jumped on the fix as soon as they became aware of it. The update is now available. This is a minor fix and has not security implications.

You can get the update by tapping on the “Asterisk 1.4.23 …” row in the Versions section of Node Details.

Be patient and wait for your node to reboot after the update. Do not interrupt power during the update. The version # in that “Asterisk …” row will not change.

73 … Gerry.

Who are you really connected to …

When you start an AllStar connection to another node or hub it generally looks like this on the Node Details screen in your ClearNode mobile app.

The underlying AllStar software is based on the Asterisk telephony open source system – it’s an incredible system with a rich feature set. One of the things it does in the background is keep a list of all the endpoints that are connected to each other. So you might think you’re only connected to 41522 – but actually you’re connected to every other endpoint that is also connected to 41522.

In the ClearNode app you can expose this plethora of links by simply tapping on the 41522 connection – it will transition to a “Links” screen that will enumerate all the other links. (This only works for direct AllStar connections.)

So mind your Ps and Qs – you never know who might be listening !

73 … Gerry.

(This is the latest episode in a series of posts to help you discover all the functionality that you might not know exists in your ClearNode, ClearAlpha, ClearZero or ClearRPT. We’re going to publish episodes periodically – some come back often and join us !)

It’s fair to say that the Raspberry Pi is an amazing little device – and generally it costs under $50 ! Having said that it does have some weak spots – but if you’re aware of them you can minimize the potential for bad things to happen.

USB Power Connector

Probably the weakest spot is the Micro-USB power connector on any of the Pi 3 devices. It may also be the case for the USB-C connectors in the Pi 4 devices, but they haven’t been in the field long enough to observe.

Many of you take your ClearNode traveling which often entails repeatedly pulling and re-inserting the power cable into the connector on the side of the Raspberry Pi PCB. Unfortunately this does tend to loosen up the connector over time – eventually the connection becomes intermittent. If your finding that your ClearNode mysteriously reboots or works intermittently – that’s a good place to start looking.

It’s best if you can avoid repeatedly reconnecting power – try to keep that connector permanently in the node. The pins on the “wall-wart” end of the power supply are much more robust – disconnect there instead. In general, our advice is keep you node powered 24×7 with a weekly reboot to clear out the log files – if that’s an option.

So in short – do your best to minimize the number of times you reconnect that USB power connector – it will stay functional a whole lot longer.

SD Card and Housing

The other weak spot is the SD Card housing – we’ve had nodes returned for repair where that socket was torn completely away from the Raspberry Pi PCB, necessitating replacement of the Raspberry PI. Do your best to minimize the number of times you remove and re-insert the SD Card.

Many of you are religious about making backups of your SD Cards in case of failure. This has been a source of many calls to Support – the card gets trashed by some means during this process. Keep in mind that the historical justification for making backups is a little less credible when you’re dealing with ClearNode.

We use the HamVoIP.org distribution as our base image, which is configured to write log and temporary files to memory and not the SD Card. This has effects on the longevity of the SD Card. Firstly, since the system is not constantly writing to the SD Card, the possible destruction of the card by accidentally interrupting power is by and large eliminated. Secondly, the number of times a “bit” can be written to a location on the card is finite – they wear out ! Again, this issue is drastically limited because the system rarely writes to the card.

You are far more likely to zap the SD Card by mishandling it than it is to age out from normal use.

When handling an SD CARD always, always, always use a grounding strap on your wrist to eliminate static discharges.

It is a relatively simple process for us to regenerate your SD Card for you – generally including your latest configuration if it’s backed up to our servers. Maybe making copies of your SD Card is less justified than you think.

Raspberry Pi availability

If your ClearNode is based on the Pi 3 – we no longer have stock of that board and there are none available for purchase at the moment. If your Raspberry Pi 3 fails – you will be between a rock and a hard place !

In conclusion – give some thought to the well being of your Raspberry Pi – keep your node running as long as possible.

73 … Gerry.

Editing Supermon titles …

Many of you use the Supermon website on your ClearNode to monitor and control connections. It’s not our preferred way and you certainly shouldn’t use Supermon to change any of your ClearNode’s configuration parameters, but for some it’s convenient since it can be accessed from your PC’s web browser.

In any web browser just type in the IP Address of your ClearNode e.g. 192.168.120.24 (you maybe able to use the node’s host name e.g. node49855, but that depends on your WiFi/Router).

We recently enhanced your ability to control some of the display values on this web page, including the titles and location. And you can also set the password for the ‘admin’ login to get to this page, as well as what HTTP port is used by the web server (80 is the default/standard).

In your ClearNode mobile app, at the bottom of the Node Details screen, tap on “AllStar Setup”. Scroll down to about half way down.

After you’ve made your adjustments, don’t forget to tap the “Save” icon in the top right corner and wait for your node to reboot.

73 … Gerry.

(This is the seventh episode in a series of posts to help you discover all the functionality that you might not know exists in your ClearNode, ClearAlpha, ClearZero or ClearRPT. We’re going to publish an episode each Sunday evening – come back and join us each week !)