Thursday 13 March 2014

Raspberry Pi + svxlink = Low power echolink node

What is the easiest way to get echolink node up and running on raspberry pi? Surely, get a premade image which has everything inside. I've created one image which can fit into 2GB SD card for this, just follow the following steps to get it up and running:

For hardware, you need to have the following:
    • Raspberry Pi for sure, with a minimum 4GB SD card
    • A USB echolink interface, can be commercially sourced or DIY. There are many DIY schematics out there that you could follow.  
    • Here is the configuration on how to get the things working together, courtesy of svxlink.de website:


For software:
  1. Download the following prepared image from google drive, it is based on raspbian-2015-02-16 image and has pre-installed svxlink-14.08. raspi-wheezy-svxlink.img.zip
  2. Unzip the file and copy it to your SD card using the following instructions that can be found here.
  3. Boot up the RasPi, if you do not have an HDMI monitor, you may want to access the RasPi from your terminal emulator (putty or the like), connect the RasPi to your router via CAT5 cable. 
  4. To find the IP address of your RasPi, just go to your router status and look for the hostname raspberrypi. 
  5. Use SSH connection, logon to the RasPi using the default username/password which should be: pi/raspberry
  6. If you've bigger SD card then the 4GB image, you may want to use fullest capacity of the SD card, run the raspi-config command as sudo:
    • $ sudo raspi-config
    • Choose the first option to expand rootfs. Exit when done.
  7. Edit the following config files for svxlink (command):
    • $ sudo nano /etc/svxlink/svxlink.d/ModuleEchoLink.conf (edit the callsign - use sysop -L callsign, password, sysop, location and description)
    • $ sudo nano /etc/svxlink/svxlink.conf (edit the callsign), if you're using echolink interface that uses VOX, just leave the others as is. Edit the APRS info too as required.
  8. To tune the mic/speaker, use alsamixer:
    • $ sudo alsamixer (use the up/arrow to tune the volume, right/left to move between speaker and mic sliders). 
    • If the slider has MM underneath them, it means that they're muted, press 'M' to unmute.
  9. You should be done with the configuration, you may run the svxlink now to test it out.
    • $ sudo svxlink
  10. Your node should appear in the echolink now. Try to use your PC or android client to connect to your node and see if it is working. You may need to configure your router to allow echolink to work, use port forwarding and forward the UDP port 5198-5199 and TCP port 5200 to your RasPi IP address.
  11. If everything is working as expected and you want to run svxlink as a service, follow the steps here. The link to auto start the server has been vanished, so the best to do an autostart of the svxlink is by running the following command (if the /etc/init.d/svxlink is not present, copy the script over from the source under distribution/debian/etc/init.d/):
    • update-rc.d svxlink defaults

18 comments:

Z31MA.BLOGSPOT.COM said...

very nice job! De z31ma 73

Anonymous said...

Seems to work here, need a few more tests to use for our club...Nice work
73
de KA2WYE

Anonymous said...

I can't open my link from the outside ( iPhone) it gives me a time out. What is missing, the installation went perfectly the application starts without problems from the raspberry pi and connects to the echolink server but as mentioned above no connection from outside, any recommendations? Thanks in advance. KV4LP Manfred
My email: manfred_f@hotmail.com

9M2TPT said...

Hi Manfred,

Have you done the step 10 which is opening up the ports?

Anonymous said...

Still not work, any other recommendation?

Anonymous said...

Good work
73s EA3IK

Anonymous said...

Hi can anyone help with a missing config file
sudo nano /etc/svxlink/svxlink.d/ModuleEchoLink.conf (edit the callsign - use sysop -L callsign, password, sysop, location and description)
this file has no content,and I dont know the format to enter my callsign etc

9M2TPT said...

Is it missing from my image? I thought I have it tested before I did the image. The file can be found from svxlink's github at:

https://github.com/sm0svx/svxlink/blob/master/src/svxlink/modules/echolink/ModuleEchoLink.conf

Steve Butler said...

Will this image run on Pi Ver2?

9M2TPT said...

I have never try it, but this is based on the generic image found on the official website.

Jadilson said...

Estou usando essa imagem pre instalada e esta funcionado perfeito valeu obrigado PY7JD Jadilson

Anonymous said...

Hello
I would like to know , assuming that the set up was done correctly, if it is possible to be connected on start up to echolink without any human action ?

Thanks in advance for the reply

Unknown said...

I tried to installed, I can't get my ptt to work. I'm usinga easy pogo.with a usb serial connector.
K7oax

Unknown said...

Why use the UM2102? Can't you use the GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi?

9M2TPT said...

Hi Lester, yes, you can use GPIO. The above guide/diagram was taken from svxlink website. I believe the diagram was done before they put the GPIO patch. I've receive only setup with SDR, hence, I don't really need the transmit part in my setup.

Michel ON7FI said...

Hi Hamid,Your image run on our repeater ON0HC in Belgium very well but I'm interested to put out the sonar sounds during squelch closed transmission. Do You know where I can change it. I don't fund a 'sonar.wav' file. Thanks for the job. Michel ON7FI
on7fi@skynet.be

9M2TPT said...

Is that a roger beep? If yes, check the file mentioned here:
https://sourceforge.net/p/svxlink/mailman/message/31317796/

Anonymous said...

Hi OM, job nicely done, got it installed on my pi B and svxlink seems to work with callsign showing up on Echolink listing. However it can't trigger PTT on FT1500M, my interface is using the Silabs CP2102 chipset and it works well on PC. Could you tell me what USB interface and chipset you are using? Any hints on driver installation? 73, Dawood VR2XNG

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