I’ve got my new low-power AllStar simplex radio link node up and running. Allstar is a amateur radio linking network based upon the open-source Asterisk PBX. It’s mainly used to remotely link radio repeaters together, but many amateurs also run low power nodes as a personal “hotspot” at their homes.
To use the AllStar system, you have to be a licensed amateur, and you must register your node with them. One you register your node, you can connect with amateurs from around the world.
Since Asterisk is essentially a VoIP-based PBX, it operates using touch tones, much like a modern phone. You use the keypad on your radio to command it to connect to another ‘node’, which can be a repeater, a personal hotspot, a conferencing node [useful for conducting ‘nets’], and even a radio-less node. It’s that easy.