I merged a new version of QnetGateway into the master branch of the QnetGateway repository. This has a cool new feature especially designed for mobile users who like to route, but will benefit others as well.

As part of this new feature release, I have completely rebuilt all the voice message mechanisms in QnetGateway. They use a totally different format and voicemail, echo data and the various voice prompt files are significantly smaller. Originally stored as file format, the new format only contains the raw AMBE data. When needed by QnetGateway or QnetLink, they will dynamically build an appropriate header and package the raw AMBE data into properly formed AMBE voice packets.

Two new messages have been added to help a user do routing. First, you will hear a "Connected to QuadNet" message after you boot up when QnetGateway has fully logged into . Any attempt to try to route before you hear this message will be ignored by QnetGateway, so having this voice announcement will be very helpful to mobile users.

The way routing works is that while QnetGateway is running, it maintains a database (a cache) of all other users that are using the QuadNet network. Whenever anyone keys up, all users on the network are sent a message containing the callsign of the user and the repeater channel, gateway and IP address of the repeater they used. When you first start QnetGateway, you cache is empty. If you try to route before your QnetGateway knows about your intended target, it will ask the QuadNet server how to complete your call. This request talks less than a second to complete with a typical internet connection. The second new message, "Not in cache, please try again" will be played if you attempt to route but your gateway doesn't yet know the IP address and the last used repeater of your target. By the time you hear the "Not in cache, please try again" message, your gateway will ask the QuadNet server the data of your target and you can key up again to complete your Smart Group subscription or place you Callsign Route to your friend. This will be a huge benefit to mobile users, and anyone who like to route.

If you hear the "Not in cache, please try again" message a second time, either the QuadNet server has no data for your target, or you are having internet problems with your client. (It's also possible that the QuadNet network is down, but this is extremely rare.)

FInally, the systemd startup scripts will try to make sure that QnetGateway will only start after the network has been established by you node. However, when your node is tethered to a smart-phone, QuadNetGateway may not initialize properly on the first attempt. If that happen and you never hear the "Connected to QuadNet" message, or your repeatedly hear the "Not in cache, please try again" message while attempting to route, you can restart your QnetGateway program by putting "????? GX" in your radio's YOURCALL and keying up. This new command will execute a script that will cause systemd to restart QnetGateway. This is useful because you won't have to reboot Linux, you'll just be restarting your gateway.

Please refer to the WIKI for information about how to upgrade you software.