1SVXLINK.CONF(5) File Formats SVXLINK.CONF(5)
2
6 svxlink.conf - Configuration file for the SvxLink server
7
9 svxlink is a general purpose voice service system for ham radio use.
10 This man-page describe the SvxLink server configuration file format.
11 SvxLink look for configuration files in a number of places. First it
13 try to find a user specific configuration file. SvxLink will look for a
14 user specific configuration file in: $HOME/.svxlink/svxlink.conf. If
15 no user specific configuration file can be found, SvxLink will look for
16 the system wide configuration file /etc/svxlink/svxlink.conf. The
17 --config command line option may also be used to specify an arbitrary
18 configuration file.
19
21 The configuration file is in the famous INI-file format. A generic
22 example of how such a file might look like is shown below.
23 [SECTION1]
25 VALUE1=1
26 VALUE2="TWO "
27 VAULE3="Multi "
28 "line"
29 [SECTION2]
31 VALUE1=2
32 This is a simple format that contain name=value pairs that belong to a
34 section. In written text, a specific configuration variable can be
35 referred to as SECTION1/VALUE2 meaning "configuration variable VALUE2
36 in section SECTION1".
37 The same variable name can exist in two different sections. For example
39 VALUE1 in section SECTION1 have the value 1 and VALUE1 in section SEC‐
40 TION2 have the value 2. Values containing spaces at the beginning or
41 end of the line must be surrounded by citation characters (see SEC‐
42 TION1/VALUE2). Likewise with a multi line value (see SECTION1/VALUE3).
43
45 Here is the description of all configuration variables that SvxLink
46 understands. The configuration variables are described section for sec‐
47 tion.
48 GLOBAL
50 The GLOBAL section contains application global configuration data.
51 MODULE_PATH
53 Specify where the SvxLink modules can be found. If MODULE_PATH
54 is not specified, the standard search paths for library files
55 will be used. If that also fails a hardcoded default will be
56 used. What that default is depend on the architecture but typi‐
57 cally on a x86_64 system it is /usr/lib64/svxlink. Leaving this
58 variable unset should work in most cases.
59 LOGICS Specify a comma separated list of logic cores that should be
61 created. The logic core is the thing that ties the transceiver
62 and the voice services (modules) together. It contains the rules
63 for how the radio interface should be handled. The specified
64 name of a logic core must have a corresponding section specified
65 in the config file. This is where the behaviour of the logic
66 core is specified.
67 CFG_DIR
69 Specify the path to a directory that contain additional configu‐
70 ration files. If a relative path is specified, the path will be
71 relative to the directory where the main configuration file is
72 at. All files in the specified directory will be read as addi‐
73 tional configuration. Filenames starting with a dot (hidden
74 files) or not ending in .conf are ignored.
75 TIMESTAMP_FORMAT
77 This variable specifies the format of the timestamp that is
78 written in front of each row in the log file. The format string
79 is in the same format as specified in the strftime(3) manual
80 page. The default is "%c" which is described as: "the preferred
81 date and time representation for the current locale". The envi‐
82 ronment variables LC_TIME, LC_ALL and LANG will affect how this
83 time format will look. For example, setting LC_TIME="sv_SE.UTF8"
84 will give you swedish timestamp representation. Other examples
85 of format specifiers are:
86 · %d - The day of the month as a decimal number (range 01 to
88 31)
89 · %b - The abbreviated month name according to the current
91 locale
92 · %Y - The year as a decimal number including the century
94 · %H - The hour as a decimal number using a 24-hour clock
96 (range 00 to 23)
97 · %M - The minute as a decimal number (range 00 to 59)
99 · %S - The second as a decimal number (range 00 to 61)
101 · %f - Fractional seconds in millisecond resolution (000-999)
103 The last one (%f) is a SvxLink specific formatting specifier.
105 Example: TIMESTAMP_FORMAT="%d %b %Y %H:%M:%S.%f" would give a
107 timestamp looking something like: "29 Nov 2005 22:31:59.875".
108 CARD_SAMPLE_RATE
110 This configuration variable determines the sampling rate used
111 for audio input/output. SvxLink always work with a sampling rate
112 of 16kHz internally but there still are som benefits from using
113 a higher sampling rate. On some sound cards the filters look
114 pretty bad at 16kHz and the amplitude response will not be uni‐
115 form which among other things can cause problems for the soft‐
116 ware DTMF decoder.
117 Some sound cards also sound very bad at 16kHz due to insuffi‐
119 cient anti-alias filtering or resampling effects. These, often
120 cheeper, sound cards sound OK at 48kHz.
121 The downside of choosing a higher sampling rate is that it puts
123 a little bit more load on the CPU so if you have a very slow
124 machine (<300MHz), it might not have the computational power to
125 handle it.
126 Supported sampling rates are: 16000 and 48000.
128 CARD_CHANNELS
130 Use this configuration variable to specify how many channels to
131 use when opening a sound card. For normal sound cards the only
132 practical values to use are 1 for mono and 2 for stereo. The
133 latter is the default.
134 When using the sound card in stereo mode it is possible to use
136 the left and right channels independenly to drive two trans‐
137 ceivers. When using the sound card in mono mode, both left and
138 right channels transmit/receive the same audio.
139 LOCATION_INFO
141 Enter the section name that contains information required for
142 transferring positioning data to location servers. Setting this
143 item makes the system visible on the EchoLink link status page
144 and the APRS network.
145 LINKS Enter here a comma separated list of section names that contains
147 the configuration information for linking logics together (see
148 Logic Linking).
149 Common Logic configuration variables
151 A logic core is what define how SvxLink should behave on the RF chan‐
152 nel. The SvxLink server can handle more than one logic core and so can
153 be connected to more than one transceiver. The configuration variables
154 below are common to all logic types. Configuration variables that are
155 specific to a certain logic core type are described below in a section
156 of its own.
157 TYPE The type of logic core this is. The documentation for the spe‐
159 cific logic core type you want to use describe what to write
160 here.
161 RX Specify the configuration section name of the receiver to use.
163 All configuration for the receiver is done in the specified con‐
164 figuration section.
165 TX Specify the configuration section name of the transmitter to
167 use. All configuration for the transmitter is done in the speci‐
168 fied configuration section.
169 MODULES
171 Specify a comma separated list of configuration sections for the
172 modules to load. This tells SvxLink which modules to actually
173 load on startup.
174 CALLSIGN
176 Specify the callsign that should be announced on the radio
177 interface.
178 SHORT_IDENT_INTERVAL
180 The number of minutes between short identifications. The purpose
181 of the short identification is to just announce that the station
182 is on the air. Typically just the callsign is transmitted. For a
183 repeater a good value is ten minutes and for a simplex node one
184 time every 60 minutes is probably enough. The LONG_IDENT_INTER‐
185 VAL must be an even multiple of the SHORT_IDENT_INTERVAL so if
186 LONG_IDENT_INTERVAL is 60 then the legal values for
187 SHORT_IDENT_INTERVAL are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30,
188 60. If unset or set to 0, disable short identifications.
189 LONG_IDENT_INTERVAL
191 The number of minutes between long identifications. The purpose
192 of the long identification is to transmit some more information
193 about the station status (new voice mails etc). The time of day
194 is also transmitted. A good value here is 60 minutes. If unset
195 or set to 0, disable long identifications.
196 IDENT_ONLY_AFTER_TX
198 This feature controls when identification is done. By default,
199 identification is done every time the SHORT_IDENT_INTERVAL
200 expires. If this feature is enabled, identification will be done
201 only if there has been a recent transmission. This feature is
202 good for nodes using an RF link to provide echolink to a
203 repeater. Often, in this situation, it is not desirable for the
204 link to identify unless legally necessary. Note that
205 SHORT_IDENT_INTERVAL still have to be set for this feature to
206 work. That config variable will then be interpreted as the mini‐
207 mum number of seconds between identifications. The
208 LONG_IDENT_INTERVAL will not be affected by this parameter.
209 EXEC_CMD_ON_SQL_CLOSE
211 Specify a time, in milliseconds, after squelch close after which
212 entered DTMF digits will be executed as a command without the
213 need to send the # character. To disable this feature, either
214 comment out the configuration row or set it to a value less or
215 equal to zero.
216 EVENT_HANDLER
218 Point out the TCL event handler script to use. The TCL event
219 handler script is responsible for playing the correct audio
220 clips when an event occurr. The default location is
221 /usr/share/svxlink/events.tcl.
222 DEFAULT_LANG
224 Set the default language to use for announcements. It should be
225 set to an ISO code (e.g. sv_SE for Swedish). If not set, it
226 defaults to en_US which is US English.
227 RGR_SOUND_DELAY
229 The number of milliseconds to wait after the squelch has been
230 closed before a roger beep is played. The beep can be disabled
231 by specifying a value of -1 or commenting out this line. Often
232 it is best to use the SQL_HANGTIME receiver configuration vari‐
233 able to specify a delay instead of specifying a delay here. This
234 configuration variable should then be set to 0.
235 REPORT_CTCSS
237 If set, will report the specified CTCSS frequency upon manual
238 identification (* pressed). It is possible to specify fractions
239 using "." as decimal comma. Disable this feature by commenting
240 out (#) this configuration variable.
241 TX_CTCSS
243 This configuration variable controls if a CTCSS tone should be
244 transmitted. Use a comma separated list (no spaces!) to specify
245 when to transmit a CTCSS tone. These are the possible values:
246 SQL_OPEN, LOGIC, MODULE, ANNOUNCEMENT or ALWAYS. Commenting out
247 this configuration variable will disable CTCSS transmit. The
248 tone frequency and level is configured in the transmitter con‐
249 figuration section.
250 · SQL_OPEN will transmit CTCSS tone when the squelch is open.
252 This is only useful on a repeater. On a simplex node it
253 doesn't make much sense.
254 · LOGIC will transmit CTCSS tone when there is incoming traf‐
256 fic from another logic core.
257 · MODULE will transmit CTCSS tone when there is incoming traf‐
259 fic from a module.
260 · ANNOUNCEMENT will transmit CTCSS tone when an announcement
262 is being played. Repeater idle sounds and roger beeps will
263 not have tone sent with them though.
264 · ALWAYS will always transmit a CTCSS tone as soon as the
266 transmitter is turned on.
267 MACROS Point out a section that contains the macros that should be used
269 by this logic core. See the section description for macros below
270 for more information.
271 FX_GAIN_NORMAL
273 The gain (dB) to use for audio effects and announcements when
274 there is no other traffic. This gain is normally set to 0dB
275 which means no gain or attenuation.
276 FX_GAIN_LOW
278 The gain (dB) to use for audio effects and announcements when
279 there is other traffic. This gain is normally set to something
280 like -12dB so that announcements and audio effects are attenu‐
281 ated when there is other traffic present.
282 QSO_RECORDER
284 The QSO recorder is used to write all received audio to files on
285 disk. The format for this configuration variable is <com‐
286 mand>:<config section>. The specified command is used to acti‐
287 vate or deactivate the QSO recorder. If the command for example
288 is set to 8, 81 will activate the recorder and 80 will deacti‐
289 vate it. The command may also be left out. It will then not be
290 possible to control the QSO recorder using DTMF commands. Even
291 if the command is left out the colon must always be specified.
292 The config section point out a section in the configuration file
293 that holds configuration for the QSO recorder. Have a look at
294 the QSO Recorder Section documentation for more information.
295 Example: QSO_RECORDER=8:QsoRecorder
297 SEL5_MACRO_RANGE
299 Define two comma separated values here to map the Sel5 tone call
300 to your macro area. E.g. if you have defined:
301 SEL5_MACRO_RANGE=03400,03499 then all incoming Sel5 tone
302 sequences from 03400 to 03499 are mapped to the macros section
303 (refer to Macros Section, next chapter). Other sequences but the
304 one defined under OPEN_ON_SEL5 are ignored so it can be used to
305 call other stations via the repeater without a repeater reac‐
306 tion.
307 ONLINE_CMD
309 Define a DTMF command that is used to switch the node between
310 online and offline mode. When in the off-state, the transmitter
311 will not be turned on by any event. If a module is active when
312 the node is brought offline, it will be deactivated and no mod‐
313 ule activation will be allowed in offline mode. No other com‐
314 mands than the online command will be accepted in the offline
315 state.
316 If the command for example is set to 998877 then 9988771 will
318 set the node online and 9988770 will set it offline. If a module
319 is active or if the ACTIVATE_MODULE_ON_LONG_CMD is used, the
320 command must be prefixed with a star to work as expected. The
321 star means "force core command".
322 STATE_PTY
324 Using this configuration variable it is possible to specify a
325 path to a UNIX 98 PTY that SvxLink state events is published to.
326 The published events is in a simple text format using a space
327 separated list of values. SvxLink will create a softlink to the
328 actual slave PTY. For that reason, SvxLink must have write per‐
329 missions in the directory where the softlink should be created.
330 Monitoring the PTY output is as simple as doing a cat
331 /path/to/pty after starting SvxLink. See STATE PTY FORMAT for
332 more information on the format of the state messages.
333 Example: STATE_PTY=/tmp/state_pty
335 DTMF_CTRL_PTY
337 Using this configuration variable it is possible to specify a
338 path to a UNIX 98 PTY that allows a dtmf control of each single
339 SvxLink logic. SvxLink will create a softlink to the actual
340 slave PTY. For that reason, SvxLink must have write permissions
341 in the directory where the softlink should be created. Sending
342 commands to the PTY is as simple as doing a echo '*1#' >
343 /path/to/pty after starting SvxLink. The device works bidirec‐
344 tional, received dtmf characters (from Rf) are output via this
345 interface.
346 Example: DTMF_CTRL_PTY=/dev/shm/dtmf_ctrl
348 Simplex Logic Section
350 The Simplex Logic section contains configuration data for a simplex
351 logic core. The name of the section, which in the example configura‐
352 tion file is SimplexLogic, must have a corresponding list item in the
353 GLOBAL/LOGICS config variable for this logic core to be activated. The
354 name "SimplexLogic" is not magic. It could be called what ever you like
355 but it must match the namespace name in the SimplexLogic.tcl script.
356 The configuration variables below are those that are specific for a
357 simplex logic core.
358 TYPE The type for a simplex logic core is always Simplex.
360 MUTE_RX_ON_TX
362 Set to 1 to mute the receiver when the transmitter is transmit‐
363 ting (default) or set it to 0 to make the RX active during
364 transmissions. One might want to set this to 0 if the link is
365 operating on a split frequency. Then the link can accept com‐
366 mands even when it's transmitting. The normal setting is 1, to
367 mute the RX when transmitting.
368 MUTE_TX_ON_RX
370 Set to 1 to mute the transmitter when the squelch is open
371 (default) or set it to 0 to make the TX active during squelch
372 open. One might want to set this to 0 if the link is operating
373 on a split frequency or if it's connected to some full duplex
374 device. The normal setting is 1, to mute the TX when the
375 squelch is open.
376 Repeater Logic Section
378 A Repeater Logic section contains configuration data for a repeater
379 logic core. The name of the section, which in the example configura‐
380 tion file is RepeaterLogic, must have a corresponding list item in the
381 GLOBAL/LOGICS config variable for this logic core to be activated. The
382 name "RepeaterLogic" is not magic. It could be called what ever you
383 like but it must match the namespace name in the RepeaterLogic.tcl
384 script. The configuration variables below are those that are specific
385 for a repeater logic core.
386 TYPE The type for a repeater logic core is always Repeater.
388 NO_REPEAT
390 Set this to 1 if you do NOT want SvxLink to play back the incom‐
391 ing audio. This can be used when the received audio is directly
392 coupled by hardware wiring to the transmitter. What you win by
393 doing this is that there is zero delay on the repeated audio.
394 When the audio is routed through SvxLink there is always an
395 amount of delay. What you loose by doing this is the audio pro‐
396 cessing done by SvxLink (e.g. filtering, DTMF muting, squelch
397 tail elimination) and the ability to use remote receivers.
398 IDLE_TIMEOUT
400 The number of seconds the repeater should have been idle before
401 turning the transmitter off.
402 OPEN_ON_1750
404 Use this configuration variable if it should be possible to open
405 the repeater with a 1750Hz tone burst. Specify the number of
406 milliseconds the tone must be asserted before the repeater is
407 opened. Make sure that the time specified is long enough for the
408 squelch to have time to open. Otherwise the repeater will open
409 "too soon" and you will hear an ugly 1750Hz beep as the first
410 thing. A value of 0 will disable 1750 Hz repeater opening.
411 OPEN_ON_CTCSS
413 Use this configuration variable if it should be possible to open
414 the repeater with a CTCSS tone (PL). The syntax of the value is
415 tone_fq:min_length. The tone frequency is specified in whole Hz
416 and the minimum tone length is specified in milliseconds. For
417 examples if a 136.5 Hz tone must be asserted for two seconds for
418 the repeater to open, the value 136:2000 should be specified.
419 OPEN_ON_DTMF
421 Use this configuration variable if it should be possible to open
422 the repeater with a DTMF digit. Only one digit can be specified.
423 DTMF digits pressed when the repeater is down will be ignored.
424 OPEN_ON_SEL5
426 Use this configuration variable if you want to open your
427 repeater by using a selective tone call that is often used in
428 commercial radio networks. Example: OPEN_ON_SEL5=03345 opens
429 your repeater only if that sequence has been received. You can
430 use sequence lengths from 4 to 25.
431 CLOSE_ON_SEL5
433 Use this configuration variable if you want to close your
434 repeater by using a selective tone call that is often used in
435 commercial radio networks. Example: CLOSE_ON_SEL5=03345 closes
436 your repeater if that sequence has been received. You can use
437 sequence lengths from 4 to 25.
438 OPEN_ON_SQL
440 Use this configuration variable if it should be possible to open
441 the repeater just by keeping the squelch open for a while. The
442 value to set is the minimum number of milliseconds the squelch
443 must be open for the repeater to open.
444 OPEN_ON_SQL_AFTER_RPT_CLOSE
446 Activate the repeater on just a squelch opening if there have
447 been no more than the specified number of seconds since the
448 repeater closed.
449 OPEN_SQL_FLANK
451 Determines if OPEN_ON_SQL and OPEN_ON_CTCSS should activate the
452 repeater when the squelch open or close. If set to OPEN, the
453 repeater will activate and start retransmitting audio immedi‐
454 ately. No identification will be sent. If set to CLOSE, the
455 repeater will not activate until the squelch close. An identifi‐
456 cation will be sent in this case.
457 IDLE_SOUND_INTERVAL
459 When the repeater is idle, a sound is played. Specify the inter‐
460 val in milliseconds between playing the idle sound. An interval
461 of 0 disables the idle sound.
462 SQL_FLAP_SUP_MIN_TIME
464 Flapping squelch suppression is used to close the repeater down
465 if there is interference on the frequency that open the squelch
466 by short bursts. This configuration variable is used to specify
467 the minimum time, in milliseconds, that a transmission must last
468 to be classified as a real transmission. A good value is in
469 between 500-2000ms.
470 SQL_FLAP_SUP_MAX_COUNT
472 Flapping squelch suppression is used to close the repeater down
473 if there is interference on the frequency that open the squelch
474 by short bursts. This configuration variable is used to specify
475 the maximum number of consecutive short squelch openings allowed
476 before shutting the repeater down. A good value is in between
477 5-10.
478 ACTIVATE_MODULE_ON_LONG_CMD
480 This configuration variable activate a feature that might help
481 users not aware of the SvxLink command structure. The idea is to
482 activate the specified module when a long enough command has
483 been received. The typical example is an EchoLink user that is
484 used to just typing in the node ID and then the connection
485 should be established right away. Using this configuration vari‐
486 able, specify a minimum length and a module name. If no module
487 is active and at least the specified number of digits has been
488 entered, the given module is activated and the command is sent
489 to it. To be really useful this feature should be used in coop‐
490 eration with EXEC_CMD_ON_SQL_CLOSE.
491 For example, if this configuration variable is set to
493 "4:EchoLink" and the user types in 9999, the EchoLink module is
494 first activated and then the command 9999 is sent to it, which
495 will connect to the ECHOTEST server.
496 IDENT_NAG_TIMEOUT
498 Tell repeater users that are not identifying to identify them‐
499 selvs. The number of seconds to wait for an identification,
500 after the repeater has been activated, is set using this config‐
501 uration variable. A valid identification is considered to be a
502 transmission longer than the time set by the IDENT_NAG_MIN_TIME
503 configuration variable. We don't know if it's really an identi‐
504 fication but it's the best we can do. Setting it to 0 or com‐
505 menting it out disables the feature.
506 IDENT_NAG_MIN_TIME
508 This is the minimum time, in milliseconds, that a transmission
509 must last to be considered as an identification. This is used as
510 described in the IDENT_NAG_TIMEOUT configuration variable.
511 ReflectorLogic
513 The ReflectorLogic is used to connect to an SvxReflector server. The
514 SvxReflector will distribute all audio to all connected nodes. To actu‐
515 ally send audio to the reflector from a logic core, set up a link
516 between the two logics using LogicLinking. More than one logic core can
517 be connected.
518 TYPE The type for a reflector logic core is always Reflector.
520 HOST The hostname or IP address of the reflector server.
522 PORT The TCP/UDP port number used by the server. The client do not
524 need to open any ports in the firewall. Default: 5300.
525 CALLSIGN
527 The callsign of this node. The callsign also serves as the user‐
528 name when authenticating to the SvxReflector server.
529 AUTH_KEY
531 The authentication key, or password, used when authenticating to
532 the SvxReflector server.
533 JITTER_BUFFER_DELAY
535 A jitter buffer is used to prevent gaps in the audio when the
536 network connection do not provide a steady flow of data. Set
537 this configuration variable to the number of milliseconds to
538 buffer before starting to process the audio. Default: 0.
539 QSO Recorder Section
541 The QSO recorder is used to record all received audio to files on disk.
542 All audio from receivers, modules and logic links are recorded.
543 Announcements are not recorded.
544 REC_DIR
546 Use this configuration variable to specify in which directory to
547 write the audio files. A good place is
548 /var/spool/svxlink/qso_recorder.
549 MIN_TIME
551 If the duration of the recorded content for a file is less then
552 MIN_TIME milliseconds, the file will be deleted when the file is
553 closed. Default: 0 (empty files will be deleted).
554 MAX_TIME
556 Setting this configuration variable will set an upper limit for
557 the file size of a recording. No more than MAX_TIME seconds of
558 content will be recorded to a single file. When the maximum time
559 have been reached, the file is closed and another file is cre‐
560 ated. Note that it is not the maximum time that the recording
561 has been active that we are setting a limit for but rather how
562 much content that have been recorded to the file. If nothing is
563 recorded, the file can stay open indefinitely. Default: 0 (no
564 limit)
565 SOFT_TIME
567 To not get abrupt breaks in recordings it is possible to set a
568 soft break time. Let's say that MAX_TIME is set to 3600 seconds
569 (one hour). If we set SOFT_TIME to 300 seconds (five minutes)
570 the QSO recorder try to close the file on a squelch close some‐
571 where between 55 and 60 minutes. In this way we may avoid get‐
572 ting transmissions split up between files. Default: 0 (no limit)
573 MAX_DIRSIZE
575 Specify the maximum total size in megabytes of the files in the
576 recording directory. If the limit is exceeded, the oldest files
577 are deleted. The directory size is checked upon file close so
578 the size may grow temporarily past the limit with at most the
579 size of one recorded file. Only files which have a filename
580 starting with "qsorec_" will be considered for deletion. If
581 using an ENCODING_CMD, make sure that the "qsorec_" prefix is
582 not removed from the target filename unless you really want the
583 MAX_DIRSIZE feature to skip them. Default: 0 (no limit)
584 DEFAULT_ACTIVE
586 If this configuration variable is set to 1, the QSO recorder
587 will be activated by default when SvxLink start. Default: 0
588 (default inactive)
589 TIMEOUT
591 If a timeout is specified, the activation state of the QSO
592 recorder will return to the value specified in the
593 DEFAULT_ACTIVE configuration variable when the node has been
594 idle for the specified number of seconds. When DEFAULT_ACTIVE is
595 unset or 0, if the QSO recorder is manually activated it will be
596 automatically deactivated after the specified amount of time of
597 inactivity. When DEFAULT_ACTIVE is set to 1, if the QSO
598 recorder is manually deactivated it will be automatically acti‐
599 vated after the specified amount of time of inactivity.
600 Default: 0 (no timeout)
601 QSO_TIMEOUT
603 Set this configuration variable if you want to close the cur‐
604 rently opened file and open a new one after each QSO. The number
605 of seconds the node should be idle before closing the file
606 should be specified. Default: 0 (no QSO timeout)
607 ENCODER_CMD
609 Specify a command to be executed after a new wav file have been
610 written to disk. This makes it possible to use an external
611 encoder utility to encode the wav file to another format. Even
612 though this configuration variable was added to run an external
613 encoder it could do more complicated things with the file if
614 needed. A couple of examples would be to transfer the file to
615 another computer or to send a notification e-mail. If the com‐
616 mand line get too complicated it may be a good idea to write a
617 script instead.
618 The encoder command will be run under a shell so normal shell
620 operators like redirects and pipes may be used. The shell speci‐
621 fied in the SHELL environment variable will be used and if not
622 set, /bin/sh will be used. The "-c" command line option will be
623 added so the complete command will look something like: $SHELL
624 -c "$ENCODER_CMD". A number of %-codes can be included in the
625 command. They have the following meaning:
626 · %f - The full filename with full path
628 · %d - The directory part (what REC_DIR is set to)
630 · %b - The basename, that is, the filename without path and
632 extension
633 · %n - The filename without path but with extension
635 The encoder will be started in the background and it will not be
637 stopped even if SvxLink exits. It will run in the background
638 until it's done. As long as SvxLink is running it is monitoring
639 the encoding processes. If a process run for longer than one
640 hour it will be killed.
641 Note that SvxLink will never remove the original recording so
643 that have to be done in the encoder command. Here are a couple
644 of examples:
645 ENCODER_CMD=/usr/bin/oggenc -Q \"%f\" && rm \"%f\"
647 ENCODER_CMD=/usr/bin/lame --quiet \"%f\" \"%d/%b.mp3\" && rm
648 \"%f\"
649 ENCODER_CMD=/usr/bin/speexenc \"%f\" \"%d/%b.spx\" 2>/dev/null
650 && rm \"%f\"
651 ENCODER_CMD=/usr/bin/opusenc \"%f\" \"%d/%b.opus\" 2>/dev/null
652 && rm \"%f\"
653 Macros Section
655 A macros section is used to declare macros that can be used by a logic
656 core. The logic core points out the macros section to use by using the
657 MACROS configuration variable. The name of the MACROS section can be
658 chosen arbitrarily as long as it match the MACROS configuration vari‐
659 able in the logic core configuration section. There could for example
660 exist both a [RepeaterLogicMacros] and a [SimplexLogicMacros] section.
661 A macro is a kind of shortcut that can be used to decrease the amount
663 of key presses that have to be done to connect to common EchoLink sta‐
664 tions for example. On the radio side, macros are activated by pressing
665 "D" "macro number" "#". A macros section can look something like the
666 example below. Note that the module name is case sensitive.
667 [Macros]
669 1=EchoLink:9999#
670 2=EchoLink:1234567#
671 9=Parrot:0123456789#
672 For example, pressing DTMF sequence "D1#" will activate the EchoLink
674 module and connect to the EchoTest conference node.
675 Logic Linking
677 A logic linking configuration section is used to specify information
678 for a link between two or more SvxLink logic cores. Such a link can for
679 example be used to connect a local repeater to a remote repeater using
680 a separate link transceiver. The link is activated/deactivated using
681 DTMF commands and/or automatically depending on your configuration.
682 When the link is active, all audio received by one logic will be trans‐
683 mitted by the other logic(s).
684 The name of the logic linking section can be chosen freely. In the
686 example configuration file, there is a section [LinkToR4]. To use a
687 logic linking section in a logic core it must be pointed out by the
688 LINKS configuration variable in the GLOBAL section. Example:
689 GLOBAL/LINKS=LinkToR4
690 CONNECT_LOGICS
692 A comma separated list of logic specifications for the logic
693 cores to connect together. Each logic specification has three
694 parts separated by colons: <logic name>:<command>:<announcement
695 name>. The "logic name" is the name of the logic to include in
696 the link. To manually activate or deactivate the link from the
697 just specified logic, "command" is used. The "announcement name"
698 is used when announcing link related activities like activation
699 or deactivation. Both "command" and "announcement name" may be
700 left empty if no manual control is wanted. An example config
701 line may look like this:
702 RepeaterLogic_2m:99:SK3GW,RepeaterLogic_70cm:94:SK3GK
704 It will include two logics in the link, RepeaterLogic_2m and
706 RepeaterLogic_70cm. From the 2m side, the link will be activated
707 when the user send command 991 and deactivated when the user
708 send command 990. Upon activation, an announcement like "acti‐
709 vating link to SK3GW" will be played back. From the 70cm side
710 the command will be 941 and 940 respectively. The announcement
711 when activating the link from the 70cm side will be something
712 like "activating link to SK3GK".
713 DEFAULT_ACTIVE
715 The link will be connected automatically during startup of
716 SvxLink if this configuration variable is set to 1. Also, if a
717 link is manually disconnected by a user it will be automatically
718 reconnected after some time of inactivity. The time is specified
719 by setting the TIMEOUT configuration variable. If the TIMEOUT
720 variable is not set, no automatic reactivation will be done.
721 TIMEOUT
723 The number of seconds after which the link will be automatically
724 deactivated if there have been no activity. If 1 have been spec‐
725 ified for DEFAULT_ACTIVE, this configuration variable will spec‐
726 ify after how many seconds the link will be reactivated after
727 being manually deactivated.
728 AUTOACTIVATE_ON_SQL
730 Enter a comma separated list of logics, which should automati‐
731 cally activate the link if there is activity (e.g. squelch open)
732 in it. One possible application for this is for example to make
733 the connection of a microphone/speaker combination (without DTMF
734 encoder) for brief announcements but without having to con‐
735 stantly listen in. Example: AUTOACTIVATE_ON_SQL=MicSpkrLogic
736 Local Receiver Section
738 A local receiver section is used to specify the configuration for a
739 receiver connected to the sound card. In the default configuration file
740 there is a Local configuration section called Rx1. The section name
741 could be anything. It should match the RX configuration variable in the
742 logic core where the receiver is to be used. The available configura‐
743 tion variables are described below.
744 TYPE Always "Local" for a local receiver.
746 AUDIO_DEV
748 Specify the audio device to use. Normally alsa:plughw:0. Have a
749 look at the AUDIO DEVICE SPECIFICATIONS chapter for more infor‐
750 mation.
751 AUDIO_CHANNEL
753 Specify the audio channel to use. SvxLink can use the left/right
754 stereo channels as two mono channels. Legal values are 0 or 1.
755 SQL_DET
757 Specify the type of squelch detector to use. Possible values
758 are: VOX, CTCSS, SERIAL, EVDEV, SIGLEV, PTY, GPIO or HIDRAW.
759 The VOX squelch detector determines if there is a signal present
761 by calculating a mean value of the sound samples. The VOX
762 squelch detector behaviour is adjusted with VOX_FILTER_DEPTH and
763 VOX_THRESH. VOX is actually a bit of a misnomer since it's a
764 "Voice Operated Squelch" and VOX actually means "Voice Operated
765 Transmitter". However, the term VOX is widely understood by hams
766 all over the world so we'll stick with it.
767 The CTCSS squelch detector checks for the presence of a tone
769 with the specified frequency. The tone frequency is specified
770 using the CTCSS_FQ config variable. The thresholds are speci‐
771 fied using the CTCSS_OPEN_THRESH and CTCSS_CLOSE_THRESH config
772 variables. Other config variables that effect the CTCSS squelch
773 is: CTCSS_MODE, CTCSS_SNR_OFFSET, CTCSS_BPF_LOW, CTCSS_BPF_HIGH.
774 The SERIAL squelch detector use a pin in a serial port to detect
776 if the squelch is open. This squelch detector can be used if the
777 receiver have an external hardware indicator of when the squelch
778 is open. Specify which serial port/pin to use with SERIAL_PORT
779 and SERIAL_PIN.
780 The EVDEV squelch detector read squelch events from a
782 /dev/input/eventX device. An example where this could be useful
783 is if you have a USB audio device with some buttons on it. Some
784 of these devices generate key press events, much like a key‐
785 board. Specify which /dev/input device node to use using the
786 EVDEV_DEVNAME config variable. Set which events that should open
787 and close the squelch using the EVDEV_OPEN and EVDEV_CLOSE con‐
788 fig variables.
789 The GPIO squelch detector read a pin on the GPIO Port. Depending
791 on the level of the pin, the squelch is switched. A HIGH (3.3V)
792 at the pin set the squelch to open and a LOW (GND) level will
793 set the squelch to closed. Specify which squelch pin to use
794 with the GPIO_SQL_PIN configuration variable. On some devices,
795 like the Orange Pi, you also need to set the GPIO_PATH configu‐
796 ration variable.
797 The SIGLEV squelch detector use signal level measurements to
799 determine if the squelch is open or not. Which signal level
800 detector to use is determined by the setting of the SIGLEV_DET
801 configuration variable. The open and close thresholds are set
802 using the SIGLEV_OPEN_THRESH and SIGLEV_CLOSE_THRESH configura‐
803 tion variables. If using the NOISE signal level detector note
804 the following. The detector is not perfect (it's affected by
805 speech) so you will also want to setup SQL_HANGTIME to prevent
806 it from closing in the middle of a transmission. A value between
807 100-300ms is probably what you need. If using this squelch type
808 in cooperation with a voter, you'll also probably need to setup
809 SQL_DELAY to get correct signal level measurements. A value of
810 about 40ms seem to be OK. Also, when using the NOISE signal
811 level detector the input audio must be unsquelched since silence
812 will be interpreted as a high signal strength.
813 The PTY squelch expects a very easy protocol over a pseudo-tty
815 device, created by SvxLink on runtime. An 'O' over this pty
816 device indicate an open squelch, a 'Z' is a closed squelch.
817 Define the slave pty in PTY_PATH (e.g. PTY_PATH=/tmp/sql) and
818 SvxLink will create a link to the specified path from it's pseu‐
819 dotty slave device (/dev/pts/X). This can be used by a script to
820 interface custom devices, modems or other hardware to SvxLink.
821 Look for nhrcx.pl to see an example.
822 The HIDRAW squelch supports human interface devices (HID), USB
824 devices like CM108 soundcard e.g. used in the URI Echolink
825 adapter made by DMK.
826 SQL_START_DELAY
828 The squelch start delay is of most use when using VOX squelch.
829 For example, if the transceiver makes a noise when the transmit‐
830 ter is turned off, that might trigger the VOX and cause an infi‐
831 nite loop of squelch open/close transmitter on/off. Specify the
832 number of milliseconds that the squelch should be "deaf" after
833 the transmitter has been turned off.
834 SQL_DELAY
836 Specify a delay in milliseconds that a squelch open indication
837 will be delayed. This odd feature can be of use when using a
838 fast squelch detector in combination with the signal level
839 detector. A squelch delay will allow the signal level detector
840 to do its work before an indication of squelch open is sent to
841 the logic core. A delay might be needed when using the voter to
842 choose among multiple receivers. A normal value could be some‐
843 where in between 20-100ms.
844 SQL_HANGTIME
846 How long, in milliseconds, the squelch will stay open after the
847 detector has indicated that it is closed. This configuration
848 variable will affect all squelch detector types.
849 SQL_EXTENDED_HANGTIME
851 At low signal strengths it can be beneficial to use a longer
852 squelch hangtime so that it is less likely for the squelch to
853 close. This configuration variable is unset by default. A value
854 of 1000 milliseconds may be a good value to start out with. To
855 enable the extended squelch hangtime feature, set up the
856 SQL_EXTENDED_HANGTIME_THRESH variable.
857 SQL_EXTENDED_HANGTIME_THRESH
859 At low signal strengths it can be beneficial to use a longer
860 squelch hangtime so that it is less likely for the squelch to
861 close. This configuration variable is unset by default. When set
862 to a signal level it will activate the extended squelch hangtime
863 feature. When the signal strength during a transmission fall
864 below the set threshold, the extended hangtime will be used.
865 Start out with a value between 10 to 15. The SQL_EXTENDED_HANG‐
866 TIME variable is used to set how long the extended squelch hang‐
867 time should be. Make sure that you have calibrated the signal
868 level detector before turning this feature on. Otherwise it will
869 not work as expected.
870 SQL_TIMEOUT
872 Use this configuration variable to set an upper limiti, in sec‐
873 onds, for how long the squelch is allowed to be open. If the
874 timeout value is exceeded the squelch is forced to closed. If
875 the squelch close for real, everything is back to normal. When
876 it opens the next time a squelch open will be signalled. For
877 example, use this feature to make sure that a faulty receiver
878 cannot block the system indefinitly.
879 VOX_FILTER_DEPTH
881 The number of milliseconds to create the mean value over. A
882 small value will make the vox react quicker (<200) and larger
883 values will make it a little bit more sluggish. A small value is
884 often better.
885 VOX_THRESH
887 The threshold that the mean value of the samples must exceed for
888 the squlech to be considered open. It's hard to say what is a
889 good value. Something around 1000 is probably a good value. Set
890 it as low as possible without getting the vox to false trigger.
891 CTCSS_MODE
893 This configuration variable set the CTCSS detection method used.
894 These are the ones to choose from:
895 · 0 (Default) Will choose the detection mode that is the
897 default in the software. At the moment this is the "Esti‐
898 mated SNR" mode.
899 · 1 (Neighbour bins) This detection mode will use three narrow
901 frequency bands (~8Hz) to do the detection. One band is cen‐
902 tered around the tone to be detected and then there are one
903 band above and one below the tone. These bands are used to
904 estimate the noise floor. This is the detector that have
905 been used in SvxLink for a long time. It is however rather
906 slow with its detection time of about 450ms. There is no
907 good reason to use this detector anymore but it is kept in
908 case the new detector does not work for some hardware setup.
909 · 2 (Estimated SNR) This is a newer detector implementation
911 which have some improvements. The most notable difference is
912 that it is faster. The mean detection time will be around
913 200ms. This is the default detection mode if not specified.
914 This detector will use a larger passband to estimate the
915 noise floor which make it more stable. The default config
916 use the whole CTCSS passband but this can be customized
917 using the CTCSS_BPF_LOW and CTCSS_BPF_HIGH config variables.
918 · 3 (Estimated SNR+Phase) This detector is a bit experimental.
920 It is even faster and more narrow than the other detection
921 modes. The mean detection time will be something like 150ms.
922 The detection bandwidth is very narrow and very sharp so
923 that no adjacent tones will trigger the detector. The price
924 to pay for these improvements is that is it a bit less sen‐
925 sitive.
926 CTCSS_FQ
928 If CTCSS (PL,subtone) squelch is used (SQL_DET is set to CTCSS),
929 this config variable sets the frequency of the tone to use. The
930 tone frequency ranges from 67.0 to 254.1 Hz. There actually is
931 nothing that will stop you from setting the frequency to some‐
932 thing outside this range but there is no guarantee that it will
933 work.
934 CTCSS_OPEN_THRESH
936 If CTCSS (PL, subtone) squelch is used (SQL_DET is set to
937 CTCSS), this config variable sets the required tone level to
938 indicate squelch open. The value is some kind of estimated sig‐
939 nal to noise dB value. If using CTCSS mode 2 or 3 it is helpful
940 to set up the CTCSS_SNR_OFFSET config variable. This will make
941 the SNR estimation pretty good. Default threshold is 15dB.
942 CTCSS_CLOSE_THRESH
944 If CTCSS (PL, subtone) squelch is used (SQL_DET is set to
945 CTCSS), this config variable sets the required tone level to
946 indicate squelch close. The value is some kind of estimated sig‐
947 nal to noise dB value. If using CTCSS mode 2 or 3 it is helpful
948 to set up the CTCSS_SNR_OFFSET config variable. This will make
949 the SNR estimation pretty good. Default threshold is 9dB.
950 CTCSS_SNR_OFFSET
952 This config variable is used when CTCSS_MODE is set to 0, 2 or
953 3. It will adjust the estimated SNR value so that it becomes
954 very close to a real SNR value. This value will have to be
955 adjusted if CTCSS_FQ, CTCSS_MODE, CTCSS_BPF_LOW or
956 CTCSS_BPF_HIGH changes. Use the siglevdetcal utility to find
957 out what to set this config variable to. There is no require‐
958 ment to set this config variable up. The downside is that you
959 will then need to experiment more with the CTCSS_OPEN_THRESH and
960 CTCSS_CLOSE_THRESH config variables to find the correct squelch
961 level.
962 CTCSS_BPF_LOW
964 When CTCSS_MODE is set to 0, 2 or 3, this config variable will
965 set the low cutoff frequency for the passband filter. It nor‐
966 mally should not have to be adjusted but could improve the
967 detector if some interference falls within the passband (e.g.
968 mains hum). Note however that the more narrow you make the pass‐
969 band, the less stable the detector will be. You may need to com‐
970 pensate by increasing the open/close thresholds or by setting up
971 SQL_DELAY and SQL_HANGTIME. Default is 60Hz.
972 CTCSS_BPF_HIGH
974 When CTCSS_MODE is set to 0, 2 or 3, this config variable will
975 set the high cutoff frequency for the passband filter. It nor‐
976 mally should not have to be adjusted but could improve the
977 detector if some interference falls within the passband. Note
978 however that the more narrow you make the passband, the less
979 stable the detector will be. You may need to compensate by
980 increasing the open/close thresholds or by setting up SQL_DELAY
981 and SQL_HANGTIME. Default is 270Hz.
982 SERIAL_PORT
984 If SQL_DET is set to SERIAL, this config variable determines
985 which serial port should be used for hardware squelch input (COS
986 - Carrier Operated Squelch). Note: If the same serial port is
987 used for the PTT, make sure you specify exactly the same device
988 name. Otherwise the RX and TX will not be able to share the
989 port. Example: SQL_PORT=/dev/ttyS0
990 SERIAL_PIN
992 If SQL_DET is set to SERIAL, this config variable determines
993 which pin in the serial port that should be used for hardware
994 squelch input (COS - Carrier Operated Squelch). It is possible
995 to use the DCD, CTS, DSR or RI pin. If inverted operation is
996 desired, prefix the pin name with an exclamation mark (!).
997 Example: SQL_PIN=!CTS
999 SERIAL_SET_PINS
1001 Set the specified serial port pins to a static state. This can
1002 be good if using a pin for reference voltage or if a pin have to
1003 be in a certain state to not interfere with the operation of
1004 some equipment. There are two pins that are possible to use, RTS
1005 and DTR. If prefixed with an exclamation mark (!), the pin will
1006 be cleared and if not it will be set.
1007 Example: SERIAL_SET_PINS=RTS!DTR will set RTS and clear DTR.
1009 EVDEV_DEVNAME
1011 Specify which /dev/input device node to use for the EVDEV
1012 squelch detector. To find out which device node and event codes
1013 to use, install the evtest utility. Find a candidate device node
1014 under /dev/input/ or /dev/input/by-id/ and try the evtest util‐
1015 ity on it. Press some keys on the device you want to read events
1016 from. If you're in luck, events will be printed on the screen.
1017 EVDEV_OPEN
1019 Use the evtest utility, as described above, to find out type,
1020 code and value for the event you want to use to open the
1021 squelch. For example if type is 1, code is 163 and value is 1,
1022 set this config variable to 1,163,1.
1023 EVDEV_CLOSE
1025 Use the evtest utility, as described above, to find out type,
1026 code and value for the event you want to use to close the
1027 squelch. For example if type is 1, code is 163 and value is 0,
1028 set this config variable to 1,163,0. If you set the same
1029 type,code,value combination for both EVDEV_OPEN and EVDEV_CLOSE,
1030 that event will toggle the squelch.
1031 GPIO_PATH
1033 Use this configuration variable to set the path to the sys con‐
1034 trol devices for GPIO. This normally is /sys/class/gpio but on
1035 some hardware, like the Orange Pi, the path is
1036 /sys/class/gpio_sw.
1037 GPIO_SQL_PIN
1039 If SQL_DET is set to GPIO this configuration variable is used to
1040 choose which GPIO pin to use for squelch input. The most common
1041 name is gpio<number>, like gpio4. Some GPIO drivers use more
1042 complex names, like gpio33_pe11. If inverted operation is
1043 desired, prefix the pin name with an exclamation mark (!).
1044 Example: GPIO_SQL_PIN=!gpio4
1046 SIGLEV_DET
1048 Choose which type of signal level detector to use. The available
1049 choices are: "NONE", "NOISE", "TONE" or "SIM". Depending on
1050 other configuration there may be more choices available. For
1051 example, if a Ddr receiver is used there will also be a DDR sig‐
1052 nal level detector available. The signal level detector is
1053 only needed when using multiple receivers in a voter configura‐
1054 tion or when using the SIGLEV squelch type.
1055 Type NONE disable the signal level detector. This may be used if
1057 no signal level detector is needed.
1058 Type NOISE use a bandpass filter in the range of 5 - 5.5kHz
1060 (CARD_SAMPLE_RATE >= 16000) or a highpass filter at 3.5kHz
1061 (CARD_SAMPLE_RATE = 8000) to estimate the amount of noise
1062 present on the signal. If the passband contain a small amount of
1063 energy, a strong signal is assumed. If the passband contain more
1064 energy, a weaker signal is assumed. The noise detector must be
1065 calibrated for the receiver and audio levels you use. This is
1066 done using the SIGLEV_SLOPE and SIGLEV_OFFSET configuration
1067 variables. See chapter CALIBRATING THE SIGNAL LEVEL DETECTOR
1068 below for more information.
1069 Type TONE is not really a signal level detector but rather a
1071 transport mechanism for getting signal level measurements from a
1072 remote receiver site, linked in via RF, to the main SvxLink
1073 site. It is using ten tones, one for each signal level step, in
1074 the high audio frequency spektrum (5.5 - 6.4kHz, 100Hz step) to
1075 indicate one of ten signal levels. Only the receiving part have
1076 been implemented in SvxLink at the moment. On the remote
1077 receiver side an Atmel AVR ATmega8 is used to map the signal
1078 level voltage to tone frequencies. Use the TONE_SIGLEV_MAP con‐
1079 figuration variable to map each tone to a corresponding signal
1080 level value in between 0 - 100.
1081 Type SIM is a simulated signal level detector that can be used
1083 to debug problems in the SvxLink software. Use the SIGLEV_MIN,
1084 SIGLEV_MAX, SIGLEV_DEFAULT, SIGLEV_TOGGLE_INTERVAL and
1085 SIGLEV_RAND_INTERVAL configuration variables to configure the
1086 simulator.
1087 HID_DEVICE
1089 This parameter defines the device your hidraw adapter is con‐
1090 nected to. This port is created by the linux/hidraw driver.
1091 e.g. HID_DEVICE=/dev/hidraw3
1092 HID_SQL_PIN
1094 Define the pin your hardware squelch (from RX) is connected to.
1095 Valid values are VOL_UP, VOL_DN, MUTE_PLAY or MUTE_REC.
1096 Example: HID_SQL_PIN=VOL_UP
1098 SIGLEV_SLOPE
1100 The slope (or gain) of the signal level detector. See chapter
1101 CALIBRATING THE SIGNAL LEVEL DETECTOR below for more informa‐
1102 tion.
1103 SIGLEV_OFFSET
1105 The offset of the signal level detector. See chapter CALIBRATING
1106 THE SIGNAL LEVEL DETECTOR below for more information.
1107 SIGLEV_BOGUS_THRESH
1109 This configuration variable set an upper threshold for the esti‐
1110 mated signal level when using the noise signal level detector.
1111 If the estimation goes over the given threshold, a signal level
1112 of 0 will be reported. This can be used as a workaround when
1113 using a receiver with squelched audio output. When the squelch
1114 is closed, the receiver audio is silent. The signal level esti‐
1115 mator will interpret this as a very strong signal. Setting up
1116 the bogus signal level threshold will counteract this behavior
1117 but a better solution is to use unsquelched audio if possible.
1118 By default this feature is disabled. If enabling it, start with
1120 a value somewhere around 120.
1121 TONE_SIGLEV_MAP
1123 This configuration variable is used to map tones to signal level
1124 values when SIGLEV_DET=TONE. It is a comma separated list of ten
1125 values in the 0 - 100 range. The first value map to the 5500Hz
1126 tone, the second to the 5600Hz tone and so on. The last value
1127 map to the 6400Hz tone. What levels the tones should be mapped
1128 to depends on the tone sender implementation. The default tone
1129 map is 10,20,30...,100.
1130 The Atmel AVR processor used by the author have a reverse map‐
1132 ping so that the first tone (5500Hz) indicate the highest signal
1133 strength and the last tone (6400Hz) indicate the lowest signal
1134 strength. It is also not linear since it's more important to
1135 have fine measurement granularity in the lower signal strength
1136 range. This is how the mapping look for the AVR:
1137 100,84,60,50,37,32,28,23,19,8.
1138 SIGLEV_OPEN_THRESH
1140 This is the squelch open threshold for the SIGLEV squelch detec‐
1141 tor. If using the NOISE signal level detector, make sure to
1142 first calibrate the signal level detector using the SIGLEV_SLOPE
1143 and SIGLEV_OFFSET configuration variables. The signal level
1144 detector should normally be calibrated so that full signal
1145 strength is 100 and no signal is 0. Depending on your background
1146 noise level a good value for this configuration variable is
1147 between 5 and 20.
1148 SIGLEV_CLOSE_THRESH
1150 This is the squelch close threshold for the SIGLEV squelch
1151 detector. If using the NOISE signal level detector, make sure
1152 to first calibrate the signal level detector using the
1153 SIGLEV_SLOPE and SIGLEV_OFFSET configuration variables. The sig‐
1154 nal level detector should normally be calibrated so that full
1155 signal strength is 100 and no signal is 0. Depending on your
1156 background noise level a good value for this configuration vari‐
1157 able is between 1 and 10.
1158 SIGLEV_MIN
1160 The minimum signal level used by SIM signal level detector.
1161 SIGLEV_MAX
1163 The maximum signal level used by SIM signal level detector.
1164 SIGLEV_DEFAULT
1166 The default signal level set on startup by the SIM signal level
1167 detector.
1168 SIGLEV_TOGGLE_INTERVAL
1170 The interval, in millisecods, that the SIM signal level detector
1171 will use to toggle between the maximum and the minimum signal
1172 levels.
1173 SIGLEV_RAND_INTERVAL
1175 The interval, in milliseconds, that the SIM signal level detec‐
1176 tor will use between randomizing a new signal level value. At
1177 each interval, the simulator will randomly either increase or
1178 decrease the signal level with one step.
1179 DEEMPHASIS
1181 Apply a deemphasis filter on received audio. The deemphasis fil‐
1182 ter is used when taking audio directly from the detector in the
1183 receiver, like when using a 9k6 packet radio connector. If not
1184 using a deemphasis filter the high frequencies will be amplified
1185 resulting in a very bright (tinny) sound.
1186 SQL_TAIL_ELIM
1188 Squelch tail elimination is used to remove noise from the end of
1189 a received transmission. This is of most use when using CTCSS or
1190 SIGLEV squelch with unsquelched input audio. A normal value is a
1191 couple of hundred milliseconds. Note that the audio will be
1192 delayed by the same amount of milliseconds. This does not matter
1193 much for a simplex link but for a repeater the delay might be
1194 annoying since you risk hearing the end of your own transmis‐
1195 sion.
1196 PREAMP The incoming signal will be amplified by the specified number of
1198 dB. This can be used as a last measure if the input audio level
1199 can't be set high enough on the analogue side. A value of 6dB
1200 will double the signal level. Note that this is a digital ampli‐
1201 fication. Hence it will reduce the dynamic range of the signal
1202 so usage should be avoided if possible. It's always better to
1203 correct the audio level before sampling it.
1204 PEAK_METER
1206 This is a help to adjust the incoming audio level. If enabled it
1207 will output a message when distorsion occurs. To adjust the
1208 audio level, first open the squelch. Then increase the audio
1209 level until warning messages are printed. Decrease the audio
1210 level until no warning messages are printed. After the adjust‐
1211 ment has been done, the peak meter can be disabled. 0=disabled,
1212 1=enabled.
1213 DTMF_DEC_TYPE
1215 Specify the DTMF decoder type. Set it to INTERNAL to use the
1216 internal software DTMF decoder. To use the S54S interface fea‐
1217 turing a hardware DTMF decoder, set it to S54S. To control it
1218 over a pseudo tty device set it to PTY. Setting it to PTY will
1219 install the PTY dtmf decoder. SvxLink creates a symlink linked
1220 to a slave pty device on runtime. The name has to be defined
1221 with DTMF_PTY. NONE or commenting it out will disable DTMF
1222 detection.
1223 DTMF_MUTING
1225 Mute the audio during the time when a DTMF digit is being
1226 received. Note that the audio will be delayed 75ms to give the
1227 DTMF detector time to do its work. This does not matter much on
1228 a simplex link but on a repeater it could be annoying since you
1229 will hear the last 75 milliseconds of your own transmission. To
1230 counteract the added delay one can set up the SQL_TAIL_ELIM con‐
1231 figuration variable to at least 75 milliseconds. Legal values
1232 for DTMF_MUTING are 0=disabled, 1=enabled.
1233 DTMF_HANGTIME
1235 This configuration variable can be used if the DTMF decoder is
1236 too quick to indicate digit idle. That does not matter at high
1237 signal strengths but for weaker signals and mobile flutter it's
1238 not good at all. Each DTMF digit will be detected multiple
1239 times. Using this configuration variable, the time (ms) a tone
1240 must be missing to be indicated as off can be extended. Setting
1241 this value too high will cause the decoder to be a bit sluggish
1242 and it might consider two digits as one. The hang time only
1243 affect consecutive digits of the same value (e.g. 1 1). If a
1244 detected digit differs from the previously detected digit (e.g 1
1245 2), the hang time is immediately canceled and the detected digit
1246 is considered as a new one. A good default value is 50-100ms.
1247 DTMF_SERIAL
1249 When using an external hardware DTMF decoder this config vari‐
1250 able is used to specify a serial port (e.g. /dev/ttyS0).
1251 DTMF_PTY
1253 When using the PTY DTMF "decoder" this configuration variable
1254 will set the path to the PTY slave softlink that the external
1255 interface script use to communicate to SvxLink. Over this sym‐
1256 link a very easy communication protocol is used to tell SvxLink
1257 received DTMF digits: 0-9, A-F, *, #. "E" is the same as "*" and
1258 "F" is the same as "#". Sending a digit tell SvxLink when it
1259 starts. To tell SvxLink that the digit has ended, send a space
1260 character.
1261 The PTY DTMF "decoder" can be used by an external script to
1263 interface custom devices, modems or other hardware to SvxLink.
1264 Look for nhrcx.pl to see an example.
1265 Example: /tmp/rx1_dtmf.
1267 DTMF_MAX_FWD_TWIST
1269 DTMF use two tones to encode digits 0-9, A-F. These two tones
1270 should normally have the sample amplitude. The difference in
1271 amplitude is called twist. Forward twist is when the higher fre‐
1272 quency tone is lower in amplitude than the lower frequency tone.
1273 According to the standards, 8dB forward twist should be allowed.
1274 Some transmitters do not correctly modulate the DTMF tones to
1275 get zero twist. The most common situation is that the forward
1276 twist is too large. Increasing this configuration variable above
1277 8dB might allow DTMF from these transmitters to be detected.
1278 When doing this, the DTMF detector will be more sensitive to
1279 noise and might cause more false triggers.
1280 DTMF_MAX_REV_TWIST
1282 DTMF use two tones to encode digits 0-9, A-F. These two tones
1283 should normally have the sample amplitude. The difference in
1284 amplitude is called twist. Reverse twist is when the lower fre‐
1285 quency tone is lower in amplitude than the higher frequency
1286 tone. According to the standards, 4dB reverse twist should be
1287 allowed but SvxLink will allow 6dB by default. The most common
1288 reason for getting reverse twist is a bad de-emphasis filter or
1289 that none at all is used, like when taking audio directly from
1290 the FM discriminator. Have a look at the DEEMPHASIS configura‐
1291 tion variable before starting to modify this configuration vari‐
1292 able.
1293 DTMF_DEBUG
1295 Set to 1 to continuously print software DTMF decoder decision
1296 parameters. This should only be used for a short while to pin‐
1297 point problems with the DTMF decoding since it will print one
1298 row of analysis parameters 100 times per second. The following
1299 parameters are printed.
1300 · pwr - The power in the audio signal. Must be over about
1302 -50dB.
1303 · q - Quality. Should be close to 1.00 for a good detection.
1305 If the signal is strong but the value is low anyway, the
1306 signal probably is distorted for some reason. The input
1307 audio level may be too high for example.
1308 · twist - The amplitude difference between the two tones.
1310 Should be around 0dB, which means the tones should ideally
1311 be of the same strength. By default, values between -6dB to
1312 +8dB are accepted but the thresholds can be set using the
1313 DTMF_MAX_FWD_TWIST and DTMF_MAX_REV_TWIST configuration
1314 variables.
1315 · rowq - Quality of the row (low group) tone. Should be close
1317 to one.
1318 · colq - Quality of the column (high group) tone. Should be
1320 close to one.
1321 · digit - The digit mapped to the two detected tones.
1323 · row3rd - The row tone relation to its third overtone.
1325 Should be close to zero. If it's not, the signal is probably
1326 distorted.
1327 · col3rd - The column tone relation to its third overtone.
1329 Should be close to zero. If it's not, the signal is probably
1330 distorted.
1331 · im - The relation of the two tones to their intermodulation
1333 product. Should be close to zero. If it's not, the signal
1334 is probably distorted.
1335 1750_MUTING
1337 Mute the audio during a call tone of 1750Hz is received. Note
1338 that the audio will be delayed 75ms to give the tone detector
1339 time to do its work. This does not matter much on a simplex
1340 link but on a repeater it could be annoying since you will hear
1341 the last 75 milliseconds of your own transmission. To counter‐
1342 act the added delay one can set up the SQL_TAIL_ELIM configura‐
1343 tion variable to at least 75 milliseconds. Legal values for
1344 1750_MUTING are 0=disabled, 1=enabled.
1345 SEL5_TYPE
1347 Define here your selective tone call system. You have the choice
1348 of the following types: ZVEI1, ZVEI2, ZVEI3, PZVEI, PDZVEI,
1349 DZVEI, CCITT, EEA, CCIR1, CCIR2, NATEL, EURO, VDEW, AUTO-A,
1350 MODAT, PCCIR and EIA. Only one system can be used at the same
1351 time. Please take into consideration that some Sel5 standards
1352 are using the same or similar tones so it may have some unwanted
1353 effects if you define ZVEI1 for SvxLink and a (e.g.) ZVEI3
1354 sequence is received.
1355 SEL5_DEC_TYPE
1357 At the moment only SEL5_DEC_TYPE=INTERNAL is valid. Maybe we
1358 have support for some external tone detectors later. To disable
1359 SEL5 tone decoding, specify NONE or just comment the configura‐
1360 tion variable out.
1361 RAW_AUDIO_UDP_DEST
1363 Setting this configuration variable makes it possible to stream
1364 the raw audio from the sound device to an UDP socket. The sample
1365 format is the one used internally in SvxLink, that is each sam‐
1366 ple is represented by a 32 bit float. The sample rate is the
1367 same as the one chosen for the audio device. The destination is
1368 specified as ip-address:port.
1369 Example: RAW_AUDIO_UDP_DEST=127.0.0.1:10000
1371 Ddr Receiver Section
1373 A special kind of local receiver is the Digital Drop Receiver (DDR). It
1374 will use either the rtl_tcp utility or a direct USB connection to
1375 interface to a RTL2832U based DVB-T USB dongle and use that as a wide‐
1376 band receiver. These USB dongles can be bought cheeply from an Internet
1377 shop (~$10). The radio performance may not be great but better than one
1378 might think. Usage as a cheap local coverage receiver or as a link
1379 receiver may work very well.
1380 One big advantage of using a wideband receiver is that it is possible
1382 to monitor more than one narrow band channel at a time. The only limit
1383 is the CPU power and the bandwidth of the wideband tuner. You probably
1384 need a Pentium4 or better to fulfill the CPU demands.
1385 Getting the DVB-T dongle running is out of scope for this document but
1387 what you absolutely need to do is to find out the frequency error on
1388 your specific dongle. When you have figured out what the frequency
1389 error is, set up the FQ_CORR configuration variable in the wideband
1390 receiver configuration section.
1391 The rtl_tcp utility is in a package named similar to something like
1393 rtl-sdr. When you have the rtl-sdr stuff installed, just start
1394 rtl_tcp. No command line arguments are needed. Then configure a Ddr
1395 receiver in SvxLink. All configuration variables that are available for
1396 an ordinary local receiver is also available for a Ddr receiver, except
1397 the audio device related ones which are just ignored. The following
1398 configuration variables are available in addition to the ordinary ones.
1399 FQ The narrowband channel frequency to tune to.
1401 MODULATION
1403 The modulation used on the channel. Legal values are: "FM" (two-
1404 way radio frequency modulation), "NBFM" (two-way radio narrow
1405 frequency modulation), "WBFM" (broadcast wideband frequency mod‐
1406 ulation), "AM" (two-way radio amplitude modulation), "NBAM"
1407 (two-way radio narrow band amplitude modulation), "USB" (Upper
1408 Sideband), "LSB" (Lower Sideband), "CW" (Continuous Wave, e.g.
1409 Morse), "WBCW" (CW wide).
1410 WBRX The configuration section for the wideband receiver to connect
1412 this DDR to. See "Wideband Receiver Section" below.
1413 SIGLEV_DET
1415 For a Ddr there also is a special signal level detector avail‐
1416 able, DDR, that will measure the RF power before demodulation.
1417 This is much more reliable than estimating the signal power
1418 through the audio which is normally done in SvxLink. The draw‐
1419 back is that the Ddr signal level is not completely comparable
1420 to the ordinary SvxLink signal level measurements since it have
1421 a larger dynamic range. Set SIGLEV_DET=DDR to activate the Ddr
1422 signal level detector.
1423 Wideband Receiver Section
1425 A wideband receiver section is used to configure access to a wideband
1426 receiver which can be used by a Digital Drop Receiver (DDR), described
1427 above, to handle multiple narrowband channels using the same hardware.
1428 The only hardware supported at the moment is RTL2832U based DVB-T USB
1429 dongles. SvxLink access the dongle directly via USB or through the
1430 rtl_tcp utility, which make the dongle available on a TCP network port.
1431 The following configuration variables are available:
1432 TYPE The type of wideband receiver used. The only supported values
1434 right now are "RtlTcp" and "RtlUsb".
1435 DEV_MATCH
1437 When using RtlUsb, this configuration variable is used to select
1438 the dongle to use if there are multiple dongles connected to the
1439 computer. When looking for dongles, SvxLink will try to match
1440 the string given in this configuration variable in different
1441 ways. First, if it's a digit, a match against the device index
1442 is tried. The device index is just a number, zero and up, that
1443 is given to a dongle when it's inserted.
1444 If the device index does not match, a match against the begin‐
1446 ning, end or the whole serial number will be tried.
1447 Default: 0 (first device found)
1449 HOST The name of the host that the rtl_tcp utility is running on
1451 (Default: localhost).
1452 PORT The TCP port that rtl_tcp is listening on (Default: 1234).
1454 SAMPLE_RATE
1456 The sample rate used by the dongle. Legal values are 960000 and
1457 2400000 (Default: 960000).
1458 FQ_CORR
1460 This is probably the most important configuration variable. Most
1461 dongles are far off in frequency so they need to be calibrated.
1462 Calibrating the dongle can be done in multiple ways. The recom‐
1463 mended way is to use the devcal utility that is distributed
1464 along with SvxLink. The calibration procedure is described in
1465 the devcal (1) manual page.
1466 The end result should be a correction value for how far off the
1468 dongle is in frequency counted in parts per million (PPM). That
1469 is, how many Hz per MHz is the tuner off by. Typical values are
1470 in the range -100 to 100.
1471 CENTER_FQ
1473 The frequency, in Hz, that the wideband tuner should be placed
1474 at. This configuration variable should normally be left unset
1475 since SvxLink will try to place the wideband tuner to cover all
1476 set up Ddr frequencies. SvxLink will also try to avoid placing a
1477 Ddr on the center frequency of the wideband spectrum since there
1478 is usually some noise there. Only use this configuration vari‐
1479 able if you need to override the automatic placement for some
1480 reason.
1481 XVRTR_OFFSET
1483 If a transverter is used, this configuration variable can be set
1484 to the frequency offset that the transverter introduce. The fre‐
1485 quency set here will be added to the center frequency of the
1486 wideband receiver.
1487 GAIN If unset, automatic gain is used. Do not use automatic gain con‐
1489 trol if using the DDR signal level detector. That may mess up
1490 the measurements. Finding a good gain setting may be hard. Too
1491 little and you will not hear the signals you want to hear. Too
1492 much and the tuner will be driven into distorsion. One way to
1493 decide the maximum usable gain is to use the PEAK_METER
1494 explained below. When there are no distorsion warning messages
1495 printed or just a single one now and then you have found the max
1496 gain. You should probably back at least one step down from this
1497 value. If the signals you want to receive are very strong, set
1498 the gain as low as possible.
1499 What gain values that are available is tuner dependent. SvxLink
1501 will print the available gain values when it establishes the
1502 connection to the tuner. Typical values are in the range -10 to
1503 50dB.
1504 PEAK_METER
1506 If PEAK_METER is set to 1, a warning will be printed every time
1507 the tuner is driven into distorsion. If it happens too often the
1508 gain should be lowered. At most, one warning per second will be
1509 printed.
1510 LocalSim Receiver Section
1512 A simulated local receiver can be used to debug problems in the SvxLink
1513 software. The only thing that this very simple simulator does is to
1514 play a tone. The generated tone can be controlled using some configura‐
1515 tion variables.
1516 SIM_WAVEFORM
1518 Set the waveform to use; SIN=sine wave, SQUARE=square wave.
1519 SIM_TONE_FQ
1521 Set the frequency of the tone in Hz.
1522 SIM_TONE_PWR
1524 Set the tone power in dB. 0dB corresponds to the power in a
1525 full-scale sine wave.
1526 Voter Section
1528 Receiver type "Voter" is a "receiver" that combines multiple receivers
1529 and selects one of them to take audio from when the squelch opens.
1530 Which receiver to use is selected directly after squelch open. It is
1531 possible to set up a voting delay which will make the voter wait a
1532 while before choosing which RX to use. This will give all receivers
1533 some time to report their signal strengths. After the initial choice
1534 have been made a periodic check is done to see if any of the other
1535 receivers receive a stronger signal. In the default configuration file
1536 there is a voter section called Voter.
1537 TYPE Always "Voter" for a voter.
1539 RECEIVERS
1541 Specify a comma separated list of receivers that the voter
1542 should use. Example: RECEIVERS=Rx1,Rx2,Rx3
1543 VOTING_DELAY
1545 Specify the delay in milliseconds that the voter will wait after
1546 the first sqeulch open detection until the decision of which
1547 receiver to use is made. This time must be set sufficiently high
1548 to allow all receivers to calculate and report the signal level.
1549 Incoming audio and DTMF digits will be buffered for all
1550 receivers during the delay time so nothing will be lost, but of
1551 course the audio will be delayed the specified amount of time.
1552 This is most noticeble when using a repeater logic. Use the BUF‐
1553 FER_LENGTH configuration variable to adjust the buffer length.
1554 The default voting delay is 0.
1555 BUFFER_LENGTH
1557 Use this configuration variable to adjust the length of the vot‐
1558 ing delay buffer. If not specified, the buffer length will be
1559 the same as the voting delay. When using the voter with a
1560 repeater logic, try to keep this variable at 0 to reduce the
1561 latency. Only increase it if you feel audio is lost in the
1562 beginning of transmissions.
1563 REVOTE_INTERVAL
1565 This is the interval time in milliseconds with which the voter
1566 will check if another receiver is receiving a stronger signal.
1567 If that is the case, a receiver switch will be initiated.
1568 Default is 1000 milliseconds.
1569 HYSTERESIS
1571 The hysteresis setting will prevent the voter from switching
1572 back and forth between two receivers that are equal in signal
1573 strength. For a switch to occur, the other receivers signal
1574 strength must exceed the current receivers signal strength by
1575 the percent specified in this configuration variable. So if the
1576 hysteresis is set to 50% and the received signal strength on the
1577 current receiver is 40, a signal strength of 40*1.5=60 is
1578 required on another receiver to initiate a switch. At squelch
1579 open, if the received signal strength plus hysteresis is larger
1580 than 100, the voting delay will be skipped. The default hys‐
1581 teresis is 50 percent.
1582 RX_SWITCH_DELAY
1584 When a receiver switch is initiated by the voter, it will wait
1585 the number of milliseconds specified in this configuration vari‐
1586 able before actually performing the switch. The switch will only
1587 occur if the other receivers signal strength is still higher.
1588 Default is 500 milliseconds.
1589 SQL_CLOSE_REVOTE_DELAY
1591 The voter will wait the number of milliseconds specified in this
1592 config variable after a squelch close before voting in another
1593 receiver. There are two reasons for using this delay. The first
1594 is to prevent the voter from going into idle state immediately
1595 when the squelch close for a fluttery signal. If it goes to
1596 idle, the procedure with voting delay may cause longer dropouts
1597 than necessary. The second reason to use this config variable
1598 is if different receivers have different hang times (explicitly
1599 or implicitly). If both a slow and fast receiver is receiving
1600 the same signal and the faster is currently chosen, when the PTT
1601 is released the slower receiver will be voted before closing.
1602 This will cause a double squelch tail and double roger beep.
1603 Default is 500 milliseconds.
1604 COMMAND_PTY
1606 Specify the path to a PTY that can be used to control the voter
1607 from the operating system. Available commands:
1608 · ENABLE rx_name - Enable the given receiver
1610 · DISABLE rx_name - Disable the given receiver
1612 Commands can be issued using a simple echo command from the
1614 shell. Example: echo "DISABLE Rx1" >/dev/shm/voter_ctrl
1615 Networked Receiver Section
1617 A networked receiver section is used to specify the configuration for a
1618 receiver connected through a TCP/IP network. In the default configura‐
1619 tion file there is a networked receiver configuration section called
1620 NetRx. The section name could be anything. It should match the RX con‐
1621 figuration variable in the logic core where the receiver is to be used.
1622 The available configuration variables are described below. How to use a
1623 networked receiver is further described in the remotetrx(1) manual
1624 page.
1625 TYPE Always "Net" for a networked receiver.
1627 HOST The hostname or IP address of the remote receiver host.
1629 TCP_PORT
1631 The TCP port that RemoteTrx listen on. The default is 5210.
1632 LOG_DISCONNECTS_ONCE
1634 Set this configuration variable to 1 to suppress logging of mul‐
1635 tiple disconnect messages in a row, like when there is no
1636 RemoteTrx running on the other side. Thus, failed reconnect
1637 attempts will not be logged at all. This may be of use if a
1638 RemoteTrx is missing for a long time or if it's only used from
1639 time to time. The default is 0 which means that all reconnect
1640 attempts will be logged.
1641 AUTH_KEY
1643 This is the authentication key (password) to use to connect to
1644 the RemoteTrx server. The same key have to be specified in the
1645 RemoteTrx configuration. If no key is specified in the
1646 RemoteTrx config, the login will be unauthenticated. A good
1647 authentication key should be 20 characters long. If the same
1648 RemoteTrx is used for both RX and TX, the same key must be spec‐
1649 ified in the RX as well as in the TX configuration section. The
1650 key will never be transmitted over the network. A HMAC-SHA1
1651 challenge-response procedure will be used for authentication.
1652 CODEC The audio codec to use when transferring audio from this remote
1654 receiver. Available codecs are: RAW (512kbps), S16 (256kbps),
1655 GSM (13.2kbps), SPEEX (8-25kbps), OPUS (8-64kbps). These are raw
1656 bitrate values. There will be some overhead added to this so the
1657 real bitrates on the wire are a little bit higher. The OPUS
1658 codec is the most modern one and it also have the best quality
1659 for a given bitrate.
1660 SPEEX_ENC_FRAMES_PER_PACKET
1662 Speex encoder setting. Each Speex frame contains 20ms audio. If
1663 using a low bitrate configuration, the network overhead will be
1664 quite noticeable if sending each frame in its own packet. One
1665 way to lower the overhead is to send multiple frames in each
1666 network packet. The drawback with doing this is that you get
1667 more delay. If setting this option to something like 4
1668 (default), the delay will be about 4x20=80ms.
1669 SPEEX_ENC_QUALITY
1671 Speex encoder setting. Specify the encoder quality using a num‐
1672 ber between 0-10. Lower values give poorer quality and lower
1673 bitrates.
1674 SPEEX_ENC_BITRATE
1676 Speex encoder setting. Specify the bitrate to use. Speex will
1677 snap to the nearest lower possible bitrate. Possible values
1678 range from 2150 to 24600 bps. You should probably not specify
1679 quality at the same time as bitrate. Not sure though...
1680 SPEEX_ENC_COMPLEXITY
1682 Speex encoder setting. The complexity setting (0-10) tells the
1683 encoder how much CPU time it should spend on doing a good job.
1684 The difference in SNR between the lowest and highest value is
1685 about 2dB. Set it as high as possible without overloading the
1686 CPU on the encoding computer (check CPU usage using command
1687 "top").
1688 SPEEX_ENC_VBR
1690 Speex encoder setting. Enable (1) or disable (0) variable
1691 bitrate encoding. If enabled, the encoder will try to keep a
1692 constant quality by increasing the bitrate when needed.
1693 SPEEX_ENC_VBR_QUALITY
1695 Speex encoder setting. The quality (0-10) to use in variable
1696 bitrate mode.
1697 SPEEX_ENC_ABR
1699 Speex encoder setting. The average bitrate encoding will try to
1700 keep a target bitrate by continuously adjusting the quality.
1701 This configuration variable specify the target bitrate and
1702 enable ABR. It also need to have VBR enabled so don't force it
1703 to off.
1704 SPEEX_DEC_ENHANCER
1706 Speex decoder setting. Enable (1) or disable (0) the perceptual
1707 enhancer in the decoder. Perceptual enhancement is a part of
1708 the decoder which, when turned on, attempts to reduce the per‐
1709 ception of the noise/distortion produced by the encoding/decod‐
1710 ing process. In most cases, perceptual enhancement brings the
1711 sound further from the original objectively (e.g. considering
1712 only SNR), but in the end it still sounds better (subjective
1713 improvement).
1714 OPUS_ENC_FRAME_SIZE
1716 Opus encoder setting. Specify how large, in milliseconds, each
1717 audio packet should be. Default: 20ms.
1718 OPUS_ENC_COMPLEXITY
1720 Opus encoder setting. The complexity setting (0-10) tells the
1721 encoder how much CPU time it should spend on doing a good job.
1722 Set it as high as possible without overloading the CPU on the
1723 encoding computer (check CPU usage using command "top").
1724 Default: 10.
1725 OPUS_ENC_BITRATE
1727 Opus encoder setting. This is the bitrate that the encoder will
1728 encode for. Rates from about 8000 to 64000 bits per second are
1729 meaningful but the codec can handle from like 2500 to 512000
1730 bps. Default: 20000bps.
1731 OPUS_ENC_VBR
1733 Opus encoder setting. Enable (1) or disable (0) variable bitrate
1734 encoding. If enabled, the encoder will try to keep a constant
1735 quality by increasing the bitrate when needed and decrease it
1736 when the quality can be assured with a lower bitrate. The target
1737 average bitrate is the one set by OPUS_ENC_BITRATE. Default: 1.
1738 Local Transmitter Section
1740 A local transmitter section is used to specify the configuration for a
1741 local transmitter. In the default configuration file there is a config‐
1742 uration section called Tx1. The section name could be anything. It
1743 should match the TX configuration variable in the logic core where the
1744 transmitter is to be used. The available configuration variables are
1745 described below.
1746 TYPE Always "Local" for a local transmitter.
1748 AUDIO_DEV
1750 Specify the audio device to use. Normally alsa:plughw:0. Have a
1751 look at the AUDIO DEVICE SPECIFICATIONS chapter for more infor‐
1752 mation.
1753 AUDIO_CHANNEL
1755 Specify the audio channel to use. SvxLink can use the left/right
1756 stereo channels as two mono channels. Legal values are 0 or 1.
1757 PTT_TYPE
1759 Use this configuration variable to specify which type of hard‐
1760 ware to use to control the PTT. Specify "SerialPin" for using a
1761 pin in the serial port, "GPIO" to use a pin in a GPIO port,
1762 "PTY" if you want to use an external interface script via a
1763 pseudo tty port or "Hidraw" to use the linux/hidraw driver to
1764 support hidraw devices like CM108 sound card, e.g. URI device
1765 from DMK.
1766 Set PTT_TYPE to "Dummy" or "NONE" to not use any PTT hardware at
1768 all. It is an error to not specify PTT_TYPE.
1769 Use PTT_PIN to specify the pin to use for "SerialPin" or "GPIO".
1771 PTT_PORT
1773 Specify the serial port that the PTT is connected to. E.g.
1774 /dev/ttyS0 for COM1.
1775 PTT_PIN
1777 If PTT_TYPE is set to "SerialPin", specify the pin(s) in the
1778 serial port that the PTT is connected to. It is possible to
1779 specify one or two serial port pins. Some interface boards
1780 require that you specify two pins since one pin does not provide
1781 enough drive power to the circuit. A "!" in front of the pin
1782 name indicates inverted operation. Some of the possible values
1783 are RTS, DTRRTS, !DTR!RTS or even DTR!RTS.
1784 If GPIO was specified in PTT_TYPE, set the PTT_PIN config vari‐
1786 able to the pin name of the GPIO-pin to use. The most common
1787 name is gpio<number>, like gpio3. Some GPIO drivers use more
1788 complex pin names like gpio33_pe11. Have a look at the USING
1789 GPIO section for information on how to set up the operating sys‐
1790 tem. Normally, the pin will be active high but if the pin name
1791 is prefixed with an exclamation mark it will be active low
1792 instead. For some hardware platforms you may need to also set
1793 the GPIO_PATH configuration variable.
1794 GPIO_PATH
1796 Use this configuration variable to set the path to the sys con‐
1797 trol devices for GPIO. This normally is /sys/class/gpio but on
1798 some hardware, like the Orange Pi, the path is
1799 /sys/class/gpio_sw.
1800 PTT_PTY
1802 If PTT_TYPE is set to "PTY" this configuration variable will set
1803 the path for the PTY slave softlink that is used by the external
1804 script to communicate to SvxLink.
1805 SvxLink sends a 'T' to start transmitting and a 'R' to turn the
1807 transmitter off. This can be used by an external script to
1808 interface custom devices, modems or other hardware to SvxLink.
1809 Look for nhrcx.pl to see an example.
1810 HID_DEVICE
1812 Define the device node where your hidraw device is accessible
1813 at.
1814 Example: HID_DEVICE=/dev/hidraw3
1816 HID_PTT_PIN
1818 Define the pin your ptt control is connected to. Valid parame‐
1819 ters are are GPIO1,GPIO2,GPIO3,GPIO4. Note that some sound cards
1820 like SSS1621 may not support GPIO3 and GPIO4! You can invert the
1821 behaviour with a "!" in front of the name. Only one value is
1822 supported.
1823 SERIAL_SET_PINS
1825 Set the specified serial port pins to a static state. This can
1826 be good if using a pin for reference voltage or if a pin have to
1827 be in a certain state to not interfere with the operation of
1828 some equipment. There are two pins that are possible to use, RTS
1829 and DTR. If prefixed with an exclamation mark (!), the pin will
1830 be cleared and if not it will be set. This configuration vari‐
1831 able can only be used when PTT_TYPE is set to "SerialPin".
1832 Example: SERIAL_SET_PINS=RTS!DTR will set RTS and clear DTR.
1834 PTT_HANGTIME
1836 Use this configuration variable to set a PTT hangtime. This can
1837 be good to have on a transmitter in combination with using a
1838 tone squelch. When the transmitter is ordered to stop transmit‐
1839 ting, the tone is immediately turned off, causing the squelch to
1840 close on the other side. Since the transmitter keeps transmit‐
1841 ting for a while, no squelch tail will be heard.
1842 Another use is on a remote receiver link transmitter where you
1844 don't want the transmitter to turn on and off between transmis‐
1845 sions or if the squelch close and open quickly due to for exam‐
1846 ple mobile flutter.
1847 TIMEOUT
1849 This is a feature that will prevent the transmitter from getting
1850 stuck transmitting. Specify the number of seconds before the
1851 transmitter is turned off. Note that this is a low level secu‐
1852 rity mechanism that is meant to only kick in if there is a soft‐
1853 ware bug in SvxLink. Just so that the transmitter will not
1854 transmit indefinately. It is not meant to be used to keep people
1855 from talking too long.
1856 TX_DELAY
1858 The number of milliseconds (0-1000) to wait after the transmit‐
1859 ter has been turned on until audio is starting to be transmit‐
1860 ted. This can be used to compensate for slow TX reaction or
1861 remote stations with slow reacting squelches.
1862 CTCSS_FQ
1864 The frequency in Hz of the CTCSS tone to transmit. It is possi‐
1865 ble to specify fractions using "." as decimal comma (e.g.
1866 136.5). For the tone to be transmitted the CTCSS_LEVEL variable
1867 must also be setup and also the TX_CTCSS variable in the logic
1868 core configuration section.
1869 CTCSS_LEVEL
1871 The level in percent (0-100) of the CTCSS tone to transmit. What
1872 level to set is hard to say. The FM modulation swing of the tone
1873 should be in between 500-800 Hz. That is a bit hard to measure
1874 if you don't have the right equipment. A normal FM station have
1875 a maximum swing of 5kHz so if you manage to calibrate everything
1876 so that you get maximum swing when the sound card audio is at
1877 peak level, the tone level should be in between 10-16%. However,
1878 most often the audio settings are configured a bit higher than
1879 max since the audio seldom reaches maximum level. Then the level
1880 of the CTCSS tone should be reduced. The default in the configu‐
1881 ration file is 9%. For the tone to be transmitted the CTCSS_FQ
1882 variable must also be setup and also the TX_CTCSS variable in
1883 the logic core configuration section.
1884 PREEMPHASIS
1886 [EXPERIMENTAL] Enable this feature if you are modulating the FM
1887 modulator directly, like through a 9k6 packet radio input. If no
1888 preemphasis filter is applied to the audio, it will sound very
1889 dark when received. If you modulate the transmitter through the
1890 microphone input the radio will apply a preemphasis filter so
1891 this feature should be disabled. 0=disabled, 1=enabled.
1892 DTMF_TONE_LENGTH
1894 The duration, in milliseconds, of DTMF digits transmitted on
1895 this transmitter. 100ms is the default.
1896 DTMF_TONE_SPACING
1898 The spacing, in milliseconds, between DTMF digits transmitted on
1899 this transmitter. 50ms is the default.
1900 DTMF_DIGIT_PWR
1902 The power, in dB, of DTMF digits transmitted on this transmit‐
1903 ter. Zero dB will give the same power in the generated signal as
1904 there is in a maximum amplitude (full scale) sine wave. -15dB is
1905 the default.
1906 TONE_SIGLEV_MAP
1908 It is possible to transmit one of ten tones along with the nor‐
1909 mal transmission to indicate a signal strength value to the
1910 receiver. This is of most use when using a local transmitter as
1911 a link transmitter in a RemoteTrx. It is not implemented, and
1912 probably not useful, in SvxLink Server. Another requirement is
1913 that SvxLink has been compiled in 16kHz mode. Otherwise this
1914 feature is disabled.
1915 The TONE_SIGLEV_MAP configuration variable is used to map tones
1917 to signal level values. It is a comma separated list of exactly
1918 ten values in the 0 - 100 range. The first value map to the
1919 5500Hz tone, the second to the 5600Hz tone and so on. The last
1920 value map to the 6400Hz tone. What levels the tones should be
1921 mapped to depends on the tone receiver implementation. Typi‐
1922 cally, if using a SvxLink application as a receiver, the
1923 TONE_SIGLEV_MAP should be the same in the RX configuration for
1924 that node.
1925 TONE_SIGLEV_LEVEL
1927 It is possible to transmit one of ten tones along with the nor‐
1928 mal transmission to indicate a signal strength value to the
1929 receiver. This is of most use when using a local transmitter as
1930 a link transmitter in a RemoteTrx. It is not implemented, and
1931 probably not useful, in SvxLink Server. Another requirement is
1932 that SvxLink has been compiled in 16kHz mode. Otherwise this
1933 feature is disabled.
1934 The TONE_SIGLEV_LEVEL configuration variable is used to set the
1936 tone level. It is a value in the 1-100 range which indicate the
1937 output level in percent of the maximum possible level. The
1938 default is 10.
1939 MASTER_GAIN
1941 This configuration variable can be used to fine tune or increase
1942 the audio gain for all transmitted sound if it's not possible to
1943 do using the normal sound card hardware gain controls. The gain
1944 should be given in dB and can be both positive and negative.
1945 Networked Transmitter Section
1947 A networked transmitter section is used to specify the configuration
1948 for a transmitter connected through a TCP/IP network. In the default
1949 configuration file there is a networked transceiver configuration sec‐
1950 tion called NetTx. The section name could be anything. It should match
1951 the TX configuration variable in the logic core where the transmitter
1952 is to be used. The available configuration variables are described
1953 below. How to use a networked transmitter is further described in the
1954 remotetrx(1) manual page.
1955 TYPE Always "Net" for a networked transmitter.
1957 HOST The hostname or IP address of the remote transmitter host.
1959 TCP_PORT
1961 The TCP port that RemoteTrx listen on. The default is 5210.
1962 LOG_DISCONNECTS_ONCE
1964 Set this configuration variable to 1 to suppress logging of mul‐
1965 tiple disconnect messages in a row, like when there is no
1966 RemoteTrx running on the other side. Thus, failed reconnect
1967 attempts will not be logged at all. This may be of use if a
1968 RemoteTrx is missing for a long time or if it's only used from
1969 time to time. The default is 0 which means that all reconnect
1970 attempts will be logged.
1971 AUTH_KEY
1973 This is the authentication key (password) to use to connect to
1974 the RemoteTrx server. The same key have to be specified in the
1975 RemoteTrx configuration. If no key is specified in the
1976 RemoteTrx config, the login will be unauthenticated. A good
1977 authentication key should be 20 characters long. If the same
1978 RemoteTrx is used for both RX and TX, the same key must be spec‐
1979 ified in the RX as well as in the TX configuration section. The
1980 key will never be transmitted over the network. A HMAC-SHA1
1981 challenge-response procedure will be used for authentication.
1982 CODEC The audio codec to use when transferring audio to this remote
1984 transmitter. Available codecs are: RAW (512kbps), S16
1985 (256kbps), GSM (13.2kbps), SPEEX (8-25kbps), OPUS (8-64kbps).
1986 These are raw bitrate values. There will be some overhead added
1987 to this so the real bitrates on the wire are a little bit
1988 higher. The OPUS codec is the most modern one and it also have
1989 the best quality for a given bitrate. There also is a NULL codec
1990 that will just throw away samples which can be used in special
1991 situations when the audio is sent through another audio path.
1992 SPEEX_ENC_FRAMES_PER_PACKET
1994 Speex encoder setting. Each Speex frame contains 20ms audio. If
1995 using a low bitrate configuration, the network overhead will be
1996 quite noticeable if sending each frame in its own packet. One
1997 way to lower the overhead is to send multiple frames in each
1998 network packet. The drawback with doing this is that you get
1999 more delay. If setting this option to something like 4
2000 (default), the delay will be about 4x20=80ms.
2001 SPEEX_ENC_QUALITY
2003 Speex encoder setting. Specify the encoder quality using a num‐
2004 ber between 0-10. Lower values give poorer quality and lower
2005 bitrates.
2006 SPEEX_ENC_BITRATE
2008 Speex encoder setting. Specify the bitrate to use. Speex will
2009 snap to the nearest lower possible bitrate. Possible values
2010 range from 2150 to 24600 bps. You should probably not specify
2011 quality at the same time as bitrate. Not sure though...
2012 SPEEX_ENC_COMPLEXITY
2014 Speex encoder setting. The complexity setting (0-10) tells the
2015 encoder how much CPU time it should spend on doing a good job.
2016 The difference in SNR between the lowest and highest value is
2017 about 2dB. Set it as high as possible without overloading the
2018 CPU on the encoding computer (check CPU usage using command
2019 "top").
2020 SPEEX_ENC_VBR
2022 Speex encoder setting. Enable (1) or disable (0) variable
2023 bitrate encoding. If enabled, the encoder will try to keep a
2024 constant quality by increasing the bitrate when needed.
2025 SPEEX_ENC_VBR_QUALITY
2027 Speex encoder setting. The quality (0-10) to use in variable
2028 bitrate mode.
2029 SPEEX_ENC_ABR
2031 Speex encoder setting. The average bitrate encoding will try to
2032 keep a target bitrate by continuously adjusting the quality.
2033 This configuration variable specify the target bitrate and
2034 enable ABR. It also need to have VBR enabled so don't force it
2035 to off.
2036 SPEEX_DEC_ENHANCER
2038 Speex decoder setting. Enable (1) or disable (0) the perceptual
2039 enhancer in the decoder. Perceptual enhancement is a part of
2040 the decoder which, when turned on, attempts to reduce the per‐
2041 ception of the noise/distortion produced by the encoding/decod‐
2042 ing process. In most cases, perceptual enhancement brings the
2043 sound further from the original objectively (e.g. considering
2044 only SNR), but in the end it still sounds better (subjective
2045 improvement).
2046 OPUS_ENC_FRAME_SIZE
2048 Opus encoder setting. Specify how large, in milliseconds, each
2049 audio packet should be. Default: 20ms.
2050 OPUS_ENC_COMPLEXITY
2052 Opus encoder setting. The complexity setting (0-10) tells the
2053 encoder how much CPU time it should spend on doing a good job.
2054 Set it as high as possible without overloading the CPU on the
2055 encoding computer (check CPU usage using command "top").
2056 Default: 10.
2057 OPUS_ENC_BITRATE
2059 Opus encoder setting. This is the bitrate that the encoder will
2060 encode for. Rates from about 8000 to 64000 bits per second are
2061 meaningful but the codec can handle from like 2500 to 512000
2062 bps. Default: 20000bps.
2063 OPUS_ENC_VBR
2065 Opus encoder setting. Enable (1) or disable (0) variable bitrate
2066 encoding. If enabled, the encoder will try to keep a constant
2067 quality by increasing the bitrate when needed and decrease it
2068 when the quality can be assured with a lower bitrate. The target
2069 average bitrate is the one set by OPUS_ENC_BITRATE. Default: 1.
2070 Multi Transmitter Section
2072 A multi transmitter section is used if one wants to transmit on multi‐
2073 ple transmitters simulaneously. The name of the section can be any‐
2074 thing. Just point it out from another transmitter specification like
2075 the TX variable in a Logic core configuration.
2076 TYPE Always "Multi" for a multi transmitter section.
2078 TRANSMITTERS
2080 A comma separated list of transmitters.
2081 Module Section
2083 A module section contain the configuration for a specific module. It
2084 have some general configuration variables and some module specific con‐
2085 figuration variables. The general configuration variables are listed
2086 below.
2087 NAME The name of the module. This name must match the namespace used
2089 in the TCL event handling script. If not set, NAME will be set
2090 to the section name.
2091 PLUGIN_NAME
2093 The base name of the plugin. For example if this configuration
2094 variable is set to Foo, the core will look for a plugin called
2095 ModuleFoo.so. If not set, PLUGIN_NAME will be set to the same
2096 value as NAME.
2097 ID Specify the module identification number. This is the number
2099 used to access the module from the radio interface.
2100 TIMEOUT
2102 Specify the timeout time, in seconds, after which a module will
2103 be automatically deactivated if there has been no activity.
2104 Module specific configuration variables are described in the man page
2106 for that module. The documentation for the Parrot module can for exam‐
2107 ple be found in the ModuleParrot.conf(5) manual page.
2108 LocationInfo
2110 STATUS_SERVER_LIST
2111 Enter a space separated list of EchoLink status servers that
2112 should be used to send node status beacons. Your node informa‐
2113 tion can be found on http://www.echolink.org/links.jsp. The
2114 format is host:port. Host - hostname or IP address, port - UDP
2115 port. Don't change the default unless you know what you are
2116 doing. If you don't want to update the EchoLink status server,
2117 comment out this configuration variable.
2118 Example:
2120 STATUS_SERVER_LIST=aprs.echolink.org:5199
2121 APRS_SERVER_LIST
2123 This configuration variable specifies connection parameters for
2124 connecting to an APRS server network using the TCP protocol. In
2125 this case, the positioning information is forwarded to the
2126 worldwide APRS network. Have a look at http://aprs.fi/.
2127 To choose a suitable APRS server from the so called tier 2 net‐
2129 work, have a look at http://www.aprs2.net/. Either choose a spe‐
2130 cific server or one of the regional addresses. The regional
2131 addresses bundle all APRS servers within a region so that a ran‐
2132 dom tier 2 server is chosen within the region. There are five
2133 regions defined: noam.aprs2.net - North America, euro.aprs2.net
2134 - Europe, asia.aprs2.net - Asia, soam.aprs2.net - South America
2135 and Africa, aunz.aprs2.net - Austrailia and New Zeeland. The
2136 format is a space separated list of host:port entries. Host -
2137 hostname or IP address, port - TCP port.
2138 Example:
2140 APRS_SERVER_LIST=euro.aprs2.net:14580
2141 LON_POSITION
2143 The longitude of the station position, entered as
2144 "degrees.arcminutes.arcseconds"
2145 Example:
2147 LON_POSITION=09.02.20E
2148 LAT_POSITION
2150 The latitude of the station position, entered as
2151 "degrees.arcminutes.arcseconds"
2152 Example:
2154 LAT_POSITION=51.02.22N
2155 CALLSIGN
2157 Enter your callsign for the APRS network with a prefix that
2158 indicates the type of station, (ER- for repeaters, EL- for
2159 links).
2160 Examples:
2162 CALLSIGN=EL-DL1ABC # callsign for a link
2163 CALLSIGN=ER-DB0ABC # callsign for a repeater
2164 FREQUENCY
2166 The tx-frequency of the link/repeater in MHz. For repeaters,
2167 information about the RX/TX shift in the COMMENT configuration
2168 variable may be useful.
2169 Example:
2171 FREQUENCY=430.050 # tx-frequency is 430.050 MHz
2172 TX_POWER
2174 The power of your transmitter in watts.
2175 Example:
2177 TX_POWER=10 # tx output is 10 watts
2178 ANTENNA_GAIN
2180 The gain of your antenna in dBd.
2181 Example:
2183 ANTENNA_GAIN=5 # antenna gain is 5 dBd
2184 ANTENNA_HEIGHT
2186 The height of the link-/repeater antenna in meters or feet above
2187 the terrain, not sealevel.
2188 Example:
2190 ANTENNA_HEIGHT=10m # 10 meters above the ground
2191 ANTENNA_HEIGHT=90 # 90 feet
2192 ANTENNA_DIR
2194 Main beam direction of the antenna in degrees. If an omni direc‐
2195 tion antenna is used, specify -1 as the direction.
2196 Example:
2198 ANTENNA_DIR=-1 # an omni directional antenna is used
2199 ANTENNA_DIR=128 # main beam direction is 128 degrees
2200 PATH The PATH variable controls the way of forwarding your beacon
2202 inside the APRS network if it is gated by a local APRS digi‐
2203 peater. In some cases it has to be changed according to local
2204 requirements. Please contact your local APRS sysop for further
2205 information. Changes should be made only according to the NEWn-N
2206 paradigm. Leave this variable untouched if you are unsure of its
2207 setting. No spaces or control characters are allowed. PATH has
2208 no influence on the propagation on non-RF networks.
2209 Examples:
2211 PATH=WIDE1-1
2212 PATH=WIDE1-1,WIDE2-2
2213 BEACON_INTERVAL
2215 The interval, in minutes, with which beacons will be sent to the
2216 APRS network. A good value is 10 minutes. If your beacon is
2217 gated via RF, please increase the interval a bit to keep the
2218 APRS traffic on RF produced by the APRS RF gate as low as possi‐
2219 ble. Intervals shorter than 10 minutes will be changed to 10.
2220 Example:
2222 BEACON_INTERVAL=30 # APRS-beacons will be sent every 30 min‐
2223 utes.
2224 TONE The CTCSS subaudible tone that is to be used for operation over
2226 your link or repeater. If you don't use tone control set it to
2227 0.
2228 Examples:
2230 TONE=136 # we are using a CTCSS-tone of 136.5 Hz
2231 TONE=0 # we don't use CTCSS subaudible or call tones
2232 TONE=1750 # the link/repeater use a tone burst of 1750 Hz
2233 STATISTICS_INTERVAL
2235 Defines the interval in minutes in that a aprs statistic is sent
2236 into the aprs network. Range: 5-60, default is 10 minutes
2237 COMMENT
2239 Specify a short comment here, maybe a link to your website or
2240 information that could be interesting for others. The length
2241 should not exceed 255 characters and may not have control char‐
2242 acters like "Carriage Return" (\r) or "Line Feed" (\n) inside.
2243 Make your comment as short as you can to give users with a small
2244 display (TH-D7) the chance to display the full comment text.
2245 Example:
2247 COMMENT=[svx] Running SvxLink by SM0SVX
2248 PTY_PATH
2250 Specify a path to a communications PTY that can be used by
2251 external applications to inject APRS packets into the APRS-IS
2252 network.
2253
2255 The AUDIO_DEV configuration variables specify which audio device to use
2256 for a receiver or transmitter. SvxLink support a number of different
2257 audio input and output devices. The format of the configuration vari‐
2258 able is "type:dev_spec". There are three different types of audio
2259 devices supported, "alsa", "oss" and "udp".
2260 The "alsa" type will use the specified Alsa device. Example:
2262 "alsa:plughw:0". Describing the format of Alsa device names is outside
2263 the scope for this document.
2264 The "oss" type will use the specified OSS audio device. Example
2266 "oss:/dev/dsp". OSS is the old sound system used by Linux. Alsa should
2267 be used when possible.
2268 The "udp" type is not really an audio device but instead will read and
2270 write audio from/to a UDP socket. This can be used to interface SvxLink
2271 to all sorts of audio sources/sinks capable of streaming raw audio
2272 through UDP. One example usage is to interface SvxLink with GNU Radio.
2273 Example: "udp:127.0.0.1:10000". Note however that the only supported
2274 format is raw 16 bit signed samples, two interleved channels. Sampling
2275 frequency can be chosen using the CARD_SAMPLE_RATE config variable as
2276 usual.
2277
2279 GPIO (General Purpose IO) is used to access hardware pins that are made
2280 available for example on an embedded system. Before starting to use a
2281 pin in SvxLink some setup need to be done in the operating system. With
2282 the standard distribution of SvxLink there is a pair of scripts that
2283 help with setting up and taking down the GPIO pins. The scripts are
2284 named svxlink_gpio_up and svxlink_gpio_down. The configuration file,
2285 which can be found among the other SvxLink configuration files (typi‐
2286 cally in /etc/svxlink), is called gpio.conf.
2287
2289 The signal level detector is used when using multiple receivers or when
2290 using the SIGLEV squelch. The signal level is used by a voter to choose
2291 the receiver with the highest signal strength. The choice is made
2292 directly after squelch open. For the voter to make a correct choice,
2293 the signal level detector must be calibrated on each receiver.
2294 To use the noise signal level detector, first set SIGLEV_DET=NOISE.
2296 There are two configuration variables that is used to calibrate the
2297 detector. They are SIGLEV_SLOPE and SIGLEV_OFFSET in a local receiver
2298 section. The slope is the gain of the detector and the offset is used
2299 to adjust the detector so that when there is no input signal, the
2300 detector will return 0. The goal is to adjust the detector so that when
2301 no signal is received, a value of 0 is produced and when full signal
2302 strength is received, a value of 100 is produced. It will never be
2303 exakt but that does not matter.
2304 The calibration is normally done by using the siglevdetcal(1) applica‐
2306 tion. To be able to do a correct calibration, it must be possible to
2307 open the squelch so that only noise is received. The antenna cable
2308 should be disconnected or a dummy load should be used. WARNING: Before
2309 starting the siglevdetcal application, pull the PTT cable since the PTT
2310 might get triggered during the calibration procedure.
2311 The siglevdetcal utility will also measure the CTCSS tone SNR offset so
2313 that the CTCSS_SNR_OFFSET config variable can be set up to a proper
2314 value.
2315 If the siglevdetcal application cannot be used for some reason, the
2317 manual procedure below might be used. This procedure will only work for
2318 a receiver with unsquelched audio. Note: To calibrate a remote
2319 receiver it must be connected to the SvxLink server. Otherwise the
2320 squelch will not open.
2321 1 Connect a dummy load or disconnect the antenna from the
2323 transceiver. If you disconnect the antenna, make sure to
2324 also disconnect the PTT.
2325 2 Set SIGLEV_SLOPE=1 and SIGLEV_OFFSET=0 and restart SvxLink.
2327 3 Open the squelch so that there is only noise coming into
2329 SvxLink.
2330 4 Use a second transceiver to make a short, unmodulated trans‐
2332 mission. Release the PTT when the "Squech OPEN" message is
2333 printed. Repeat this for about five times.
2334 5 Calculate the mean diff (open level - close level) and the
2336 mean lower (squelch close) value. Make sure to use at least
2337 four significant digits in your calculations.
2338 6 SIGLEV_SLOPE = 100 / (mean diff)
2340 7 SIGLEV_OFFSET = - (mean lower) * SIGLEV_SLOPE
2342 8 After changing SIGLEV_SLOPE and SIGLEV_OFFSET, restart
2344 SvxLink and check to see that the squelch open value is now
2345 around 100 and the squelch close value is around 0.
2346
2348 The format of the output from the state PTY is:
2349 <timestamp> <context>:<event name> <event data>
2351 where the different parts mean:
2353 timestamp = <seconds since 1 jan 1970>.<milliseconds>
2355 context = Name of context
2356 event_name = Name of event
2357 event data = Event specific data
2358 The following specific events exist.
2361 Voter:sql_state
2363 Report the state of all squelches for all receivers. The format
2364 of the event specific data is:
2365 <rx name><state><siglev> [<rx_name><state><siglev> ...]
2367 where the different parts mean:
2369 rx_name = Configuration file section name for receiver
2371 state = _ (sql closed), : (sql open), * (sql open and rx
2372 selected)
2373 siglev = The measured signal level
2374
2377 /etc/svxlink/svxlink.conf (or deprecated /etc/svxlink.conf)
2378 The system wide configuration file.
2379 ~/.svxlink/svxlink.conf
2381 Per user configuration file.
2382 /etc/svxlink/svxlink.d/*
2384 Additional configuration files. Typically one configuration file
2385 per module.
2386
2388 Tobias Blomberg (SM0SVX) <sm0svx at users dot sourceforge dot net>
2389
2391 svxlink(1), remotetrx(1), siglevdetcal(1), devcal(1)
2392Linux NOVEMBER 2015 SVXLINK.CONF(5)