AllStar has some of the best audio for linking of all the digital modes but it does take some testing to get ti right. What happens if you can’t get a buddy to help or you want to test and hear how it sounds when working on it. Parrot mode to the rescue. Most HAM Radio repeaters have a funtion to record your audio and play it back to you. That is what parrot mode does. It allow you to hear what you sound like over the air. You can use it to tune the audio over your node, or help to test a radio your are working on.
I run an AllStar node built with HAMVoip’s 1.7-01 version of AllStar on a Raspberry Pi. It may work on other versions of AllStar. but I haven’t tested it. If you are running a different version and this also works for you, leave a comment at the bottom and let everyone know.
Enabling DTMF for Parrot Mode
Login to your AllStar node (via the console or SSH) and select option 9 from the menu (Start Bash shell interface)
Change into the Asterisk config directory and edit the rpt.conf file
cd /etc/asterisk
nano rpt.confFind the function section for your node. There should be a section heading (section headings are contained on square brackets []) that is named function and your node number. For example, my node number is 60550 so the section heading I am looking for is: [functions60550]
Note: look around line 1059 in the file.
Under the function heading, add in the following lines (not the [functions60550] line):
[functions60550]
841=cop,21 ; parrot mode (store and forward repeat) enable
840=cop,22 ; parrot mode disable
843=cop,55 ; One time parrotSave the file and exit out of the shell back to the menu. Then use number 13 on the menu to restart Asterisk.
Using Parrot Mode
Now that you are all setup, you should be able ot turn parrot mode on and off with a DTMF tone. *841 will turn parrot mode on. Everything that you say on the node will be repeated back to you. Use *840 to turn it off.
If you only want a single test, then use *843 for a single test. You have to talk right after entering the DTMF tones as it will disable parrot mode again when the carrier is dropped.
Enjoy parrot mode!