About

In late August  a GMRS user I knew from a few miles away contacted me. He was a member of a group that hosted a few hubs through the Asterisk software that supported radio interface. A lot of people refer to this as AllStar. In reality AllStar is a registration service that uses the Asterisk Software. They simply configure the software to connect to their service as we do. He indicated that a friend of his and himself were very unhappy with the way they were treated and the direction of the group of hubs. He asked if I could create something similar so they could connect their radios. I took the challenge. Not knowing anything about Asterisk I had lot of reading to do.

I quickly learned Asterisk was very powerful and was capable of much more then what the other group was doing. Using a outside service I quickly put together a network and was online. We didn’t want just a few hubs like the others did. We wanted to be able to let users create their own things and move around at will. They should be in control of their own equipment at all times. That is why no password exist for the software and users are free to modify it as they please.  We just ask that if users want to do anything that is ‘oustside’ of the GMRS Live network that they do it on another computer or use a different SD card. We want to keep the network intact with no chance of cross connecting.

In April 2021 a new registration server went online. All test showed it to be solid so it went in to full service the first of May 2021. This allowed us to stop using the outside service we started out with and were 100% on our own.

In August of the same year we added a DYNDNS server so users could use their node number to access their devices without needing the ip address or having to signup for a outside service.

At the time of this writing we have over 200 nodes connected at any given time. Multiple users have setup their own HUBs or networks if you will. They are using radios and repeaters. They have IAX-RPT (Dvswitch) as well as Zello. Some are small groups others are large. Some advertise for other users to join and a few have private groups. The options of the network are almost endless. It is a great hobby.

Along the way we have had many people step up and help. That is what makes the network what it is today. We also have had many offer to do things. We appreciate all that have helped and those who have offered. With the many things going on we can’t always show our appreciation but we do appreciate each and everyone of you.