Node-Ventures

Minor bug fixes – most importantly the DTMF command *76 and “Disconnect before connect” has been fixed in the ASL3 distribution. Recommended for all users.

73 … Gerry.

We were able to get a considerable supply of components before the current turmoil in international trade set in. However, we are now having to start ordering under the terms of the current import duties, those components that aren’t available in the US, and inevitably have to come from overseas, primarily China.

Interestingly, one of the more costly components is the PCB and we do source that here in California. That cost has more than doubled in the last few months !

We are currently re-calculating the Bill Of Materials and will shortly determine what are the best prices we can offer for our products, to remain profitable enough to stay in business.

Look out for the new pricing around the middle of June.

73 … Gerry.

We got reports that “Disconnect before connect” is not working in the ASL3 installations. That’s confirmed … some changes in the AllStar management interface mean our existing use of the interface is failing. We are going to make a minor change to compensate in the short term – look out for the next API release. Meanwhile the good folks at AllStarLink are looking at that interface and will be releasing their own update at some point …

73 … Gerry.

With this release we are adding support for SIP phone connections into your nodes. See “Node Details > AllStar Setup > SIP Phone Setup” to enable and configure.

Be aware that some of the larger popular hubs will disconnect your node from their system if they detect that you have a SIP connection inbound to your node.

We are aware of an issue with some Polycom phones disconnecting the connection after 30 seconds.

73 … Gerry.

We now have a stable update for the folks running ASL3 on their ClearNodes. You should now start seeing the upgrade offer in your copy of the ClearNode Smartphone app. The new version is “Asterisk 22.2.0+asl3-3.4.5-1.deb12”.

IMPORTANT: Be thoughtful about when you run the update – for most users it will take many minutes – plan to have your node unavailable for some time. Be patient. Don’t interrupt the update. Expect a couple of reboots.

Good luck !

73 … Gerry.

We have finally developed support for multiple USB Audio Setups in both the Smartphone apps. This has been requested by multiple users who have a variety of HTs that have different deviation levels and thus transmit varying audio gain levels through their nodes. Up to now they had to change the default settings every time they switched HTs. Now you can store multiple audio setups and switch between them from a list.

More info here: Audio Tuning

There is no corresponding API release for this new functionality – API 132 remains current.

73 … Gerry.

We’re getting ready to release the latest update to ASL3 for those of you running ASL3 on your nodes. The folks over at AllStarLink.org have been burning the midnight oil to give you reliable and up-to-date functionality in this next release – and they still find time to help us out so we can improve the ClearNode deployment process for ASL3 !

In that vein, this release is aimed at getting those deployment process improvements onto your nodes and Smartphone apps ready for the upgrade. Continue to hold off updating ASL3 for now – there will be announcements soon.

Also included are bug fixes for the incidents we see reported – so this is a release for ALL users. Keep those reports coming !

73 … Gerry.

If you are using ASL3 on your node – DO NOT upgrade to the latest release – continue to wait … we will report back here as soon as the coast is clear.

73 … Gerry.

After considerable user feedback (THANKS !), we’ve added a feature to the ClearNode Smartphone app whereby the user can select WHICH Popular Host Traffic Notifications they receive. You can still turn the feature off/on completely, but now you can restrict the notifications you receive to the hosts that matter to you and ignore the rest.

From the top “Your Nodes” screen tap in the top right corner on the cog or wrench icon to enter the App Settings screen – scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap on “Choose Hosts for Traffic Notifications”. Make your selection and tap the Save icon in the top right corner.

73 … Gerry.

As part of our effort to help folks find the “action” – we’ve implemented a new ClearNode smartphone notification. We watch the reports of connections and key-ups, and aggregate them so we can detect where new traffic has started up. We then send notifications to users who have been using their nodes within the past 24 hours.

By default these notifications are enabled (if you have enabled notifications in your copy of the ClearNode smartphone app) – but you can turn them off – “Your Nodes” > “Settings” > “Accept Traffic Notifications”. This setting is global for your call sign – so turning it off will turn off the notifications for all the instances of the smartphone app you have running.

We just started up these notifications this weekend – so bear with us while we refine the algorithm that detects traffic and how it disseminates the notifications.

We only watch a subset of all the node endpoints out there – generally well known hubs like the WinSystem, Blind Hams Hubs, East Coast reflector, etc. If you are running a hub or net of your own and you’d like it to be included – let us know – send us the node # and description – we’ll include it in the process.

Conversely, if you don’t like the idea of your hub getting attention – let us know – we’ll disable notifications for that endpoint.

These notifications do not relate to your personal node – they only relate to the popular public hubs and nodes. Presently only AllStar and EchoLink are included – we’re thinking about how to include the Digital Modes, but it’s complicated.

Suggestions and experience reports are welcome !

73 … Gerry.