[Xastir] EOC Network Setup - Forward over RF

Sun Sep 14 18:33:17 EDT 2014

On Sun, Sep 14, 2014 at 09:22:41PM +0000, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <neillt at neillt.com> flavor, containing:
> Yes, it is Xastir... sorry for not making that clear.  Also the EOC workstations do have their calls and passwords configured.  The packets they originate are going out to the real APRS Tier 2 network, and show up on aprs.fi.  Just not out onto the real RF APRS network.
> 
> I just looked at aprsc, but it looks like it's a great hub to the internet servers, but what I really need is a consolidated way to transmit new objects and stations entered by an EOC workstation back out on to RF via the bridgehead server.
> 
> I am trying to avoid putting a radio on every single workstation.  That just seems like a waste of time, money, and added complexity.
> 
> Neill

By design, Xastir is intended NOT to transmit anything to RF that comes in over
its network interfaces except for messages destined for stations in its
recently heard lists.

Other than that, the main way to get Xastir to forward traffic from a network 
interface to RF is to use the "nws-stations.txt" file, which you place into 
the .xastir/data directory.

The intended purpose of this file is to make an Xastir station retransmit
NWS alerts and objects it receives over a network interface, but it can be
used to force data from other places to RF, too.

The format of the file is simply a list of prefixes that should be gated
to RF.  If you give all of your private EOC "stations" a common prefix, 
e.g. "NMEOCxxxx", then add "NMEOC" to .xastir/data/nws-stations.txt, it 
*SHOULD* gate posits and objects from the NMEOCxxxx stations.

If you set your EOC machines never to transmit regular posits, but allow them
to transmit objects created on their Xastir instances, you will probably 
be able to achieve what you want.

Another option is to set up AX.25 networking on the machine that has the TNC
attached, and to use ldsped to serve that TNC across the network.  ldsped is
a Linux daemon that provides an AGWPE-compatible network port, and can be 
connected to by Xastir using its AGWPE interface type.

In this option, you configure all the machines to have an interface that
connects to ldsped, and they can all send data directly out through the 
TNC.

ldsped can be found at http://www.on7lds.net/42/node/2

In either case, opening up direct access to the TNC does require that you 
can trust the operators of the EOC private machines to originate only traffic
appropriate for the amateur service --- but that shouldn't be too hard a
task.

If I were setting this up, I'd use the ldsped option rather than trying to
(mis)use the Xastir NWS alert feature.  In fact, I do use this option at home,
where I serve my tnc across my home LAN.  Any APRS software I set up in the
house therefore automatically has access to the TNC as if it were its own.

> ________________________________________
> From: xastir-bounces at lists.xastir.org <xastir-bounces at lists.xastir.org> on behalf of Tate B <ka7o at casperarc.net>
> Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2014 2:17 PM
> To: Xastir - APRS client software discussion
> Subject: Re: [Xastir] EOC Network Setup - Forward over RF
> 
> Neil - what is your "Bridghead" server running? I think you're using Xastir
> - right? I ask in that I do a very similar setup, but I run an actual ARPS
> IS server - aprsc. I find it works quite well. You can also run Xastir on
> your 'Bridgehead' and have it connect to the same aprsc instance.
> 
> You just have to ensure the proper passcode is configured for each Xastir
> station, Transmit on IS is enabled, etc.
> 
> http://he.fi/aprsc/
> 
> On Sun, Sep 14, 2014 at 2:15 PM, Neill Thornton <neillt at neillt.com> wrote:
> 
> >
> > All,
> >
> > Now that I have solved my Ubuntu serial port problem, I wanted to bounce
> > something off of the gurus....
> >
> > I am looking to set up an EOC network with several Xastir workstations.
> > One of which will be the "bridgehead" station that has an RF interface, and
> > the connection to the APRS internet servers.  That station has the server
> > ports enabled, and "subordinate" stations would connect via IP to that
> > machine.  So...
> >
> > (RF Network  ) - (TNC) ---- \                              / (Private EOC
> > Station)
> > (GPS Receiver)-------------- (Bridgehead Server) ----------- (Private EOC
> > Station)
> > (Internet    )? - (NIC) ---- /                              \ (Private EOC
> > Station)
> >
> > So far, this seems to be working.  I get a data feed from the RF side and
> > internet servers, to each of the EOC stations.  I can create stations and
> > objects on the subordinate servers, and it gets rolled up into the
> > bridgehead and forwarded on to the internet servers.
> >
> > My problem is that it does not then transmit on the RF interface objects
> > and stations that are created by the private workstations.  To clarify:
> >
> > RF > TNC > Bridgehead > Internal Workstation    Works!
> > Internet > Bridgehead > Internal Workstation    Works!
> > Internal Workstation > Bridgehead > Internet    Works!
> > Internal Workstation > Bridgehead > TNC > RF    NOPE
> >
> > I have Allow RF->Inet and Inet->RF Traffic selected for the TNC.?
> > Igate->RF Path is set to WIDE2-1.
> >
> > How do I get my bridgehead machine to realize it should transmit new
> > stations and objects sent by the internal workstations out over RF?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Neill
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Xastir mailing list
> > Xastir at lists.xastir.org
> > http://xastir.org/mailman/listinfo/xastir
> >
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Casper ARC - W7VNJ
> www.casperarc.net <http://casperarc.net>
> <http://wyominghamcon.org>
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-- 
Tom Russo    KM5VY   SAR502   DM64ux          http://www.swcp.com/~russo/
Tijeras, NM  QRPL#1592 K2#398  SOC#236        http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?DDTNM
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