A web/php based announcement scheduler. This would be an extension of the IRLP Web Administration add-on that Dave Cameron, VE3LTD introduced in June 2005. It could be a very powerful add feature on for repeaters equipped with IRLP, but that do not have the expensive DVR option in their controllers. Typically DVR support for your controller will run between $100-200. This is because DVR when technology came out voice storage chips where very costly.
I should note it is possible to do this from the Linux shell via a simple cron job. You simply write a script that plays the wavefile. Then call the script from the cron. This ensures that the environment variables are set correctly.
However making it accessible via a web interface is more desirable as it makes the announcement setup simplified for non-Linux savy repeater control operators.
This idea could be able to use either use a synthesized voice like festival/cepstral or play a pre-recorded wav file. This is should be coded to be a smart announcer. Where it first checks the COR status first.
Some scheduling things to consider..
An event scheduled daily should have the ability to run at a specific time every day, or every other day, every third day, and so on.
An event scheduled weekly also runs at a specific time, but can be set up to run only on certain days of the week. It can also be set up to skip a certain number of weeks.
An event scheduled monthly runs only on a specific day of the month, or can run on a specific weekday of the month, for example, the 3rd Tuesday. Specific months can also be skipped.
An event scheduled one time only runs only at a specific time on a specific date.
Regardless of which type of schedule is selected, the event can also be set up not to start until a specific date, and can be set up to run repeatedly several times throughout the day.
All web entries would be logged from that script, and to a file as this would help on the debugging and testing.
Below is just a start of example front end. It would also be password protected like the web admin add-on. The underlying code would be where the bulk of the magic would be. I don't know how to extract variables using the read_input or cosstate utilities. Forcing the PTT to play a .wav or say something with festival is easy. Reading an existing input, without eating tons of CPU time is another animal. I'm hoping one of the IRLP wizards likes the idea and runs with it. But I'll continue to look into this as time permits.
Feb 2008:
I understand some of the guys associated with the IRLP Visual Admin Console and Micro Node are working on and evaluating scheduler software ( that doesn't not have to depend on custom.crons).
Presently Scheduled Announcements
(This part displays all existing announcements)
Add Announcements
Select the time and day you want this announcement to start
Start Time: Every: weeks
Wait for inactivity before announcing: Inactivity time (sec)
Cancel if delayed more than min
| Monday | Thursday |
| Tuesday | Friday |
| Wednesday | Saturday |
| Sunday |
Synthesized Voice Announcement:
Pre-recorded .wav:
Explanation of some parameters:
Wait for inactivity before announcing: Check this box to to wait until the channel is inactive before playing an announcement. This setting is recommended in order to reduce objectionable interference. If this feature is enabled, when an announcement comes due, the application will first check the channel to be sure it is not busy. If it is busy, the application will delay the announcement until the channel is inactive, up to a maximum time as described below.
Cancel if delayed more than n min: Check this box to cancel a scheduled announcement if it is delayed due to constant activity on the channel. This prevents announcements from becoming "stacked up" to play after a long period of activity.
Inactivity time: This box controls the length of time, in seconds, we will wait after the last signal drops before declaring the channel "inactive".