Week 7 – Update MMDVM HS Duplex Firmware

To start this week, I updated the firmware on the duplex MMDVM hot spot board. Follow the steps below to do that.

From where I left off previously, I still needed to select the board/modem in the configuration first.

Selecting the Board

  1. Login to the Pi-Star dashboard and click on the configuration page.
  2. Under “General Configuration” find the option that says “Radio/Modem Type.” and select the MMDVM board that you’re using. In my case I selected the MMDVM_HS_DUAL_HAT for Pi (GPIO).
  3. After making your selection, don’t forget to click “Apply.”

Update MMDVM HS Duplex firmware

Next we’ll update the firmware.

  1. First open the “expert” tab and then click “SSH Access.”
  2. Login with the pi-star user.
  3. Run the following command:
    sudo pistar-update
  4. When the update is complete you should see the following:
  5. Next, restart the Raspberry Pi by going to the “Admin” tab and clicking “Power,” then click “Restart/reboot.”
  6. For the MMDVM_HS_DUAL_HAT board with the 14.7456 TXCO like I’m using, you will want to run the following command:
    sudo pistar-mmdvmhshatflash hs_dual_hat

Reference: https://github.com/juribeparada/MMDVM_HS

Author: Tyler Morris

I am a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. I earned a B.S. in Computer Information Systems & Technology with a minor in Digital Graphic Design in Dec. of 2018. My focus is on computer repair and web design. I also earned my extra class amateur radio (ham radio) license in 2008. I currently spend my time helping other hams setup DSTAR/Digital repeaters, maintaining a local DSTAR hotspot, taking photographs, occasionally volunteering on committees at Pitt-Bradford, and keeping goldfish and koi.

7 thoughts on “Week 7 – Update MMDVM HS Duplex Firmware”

    1. If you’re running sudo pistar-update and it stalls, you likely have a corrupt image and should reimage the SD card and try again. That isn’t something I can help with, you’d need to talk to a developer for pistar as the pistar firewall is beyond my knowledge of the system/software.

  1. Have gone through these steps two times through this process: I complete the

    ” sudo pistar-update ” No Issues

    The second part seems to corrupt the SD card. The command

    ” sudo pistar-mmdvmhshatflash hs_dual_hat ” Completes and prompts for Reboot.

    The Pi never comes back and I have to re-image the SD card to restore Pi-Star operation. I wonder if the Dual Hat MMDVM flashing seems to complete but how can I tell?

  2. Is the Reboot between steps 5 and 6 required?

    Prior to running the second command do you need to complete a reboot as requested in step 5?

    I did not reboot prior to step 6 running the ” sudo pistar-mmdvmhshatflash hs_dual_hat”

    Could that be why my SD card is getting corrupted?

    1. I wouldn’t think that the reboot is necessary between steps 5 and 6 and I would think not rebooting would not corrupt the sd card.

      These instructions are now 4 years old or so, so things may have changed since then. I haven’t kept up with Pi-Star as well as I’d liked to have.

      You could try getting the SD card to boot (reimage it), update the pi using the pi-star update button (or just leave the board/Pi on overnight and it should update automatically). Then skip the firmware update for the MMDMVHS hat. It’s not completely necessary and it sounds like it completes anyway – so no need to keep repeating that step. The firmware after being updating remains on a chip in the MMDVM hat not on the pi so even if you reimage the sd card with Pi Star then the firmware is still up to date, it doesn’t change with the Pi.

      If you have more problems feel free to contact me and I can reply by email and try to help too. I’m always willing to do that. 🙂 Good luck!

      1. Thanks for responding. Do you know a way I can check the firmware version on the MMDVM Board? A command that I could look at before and after version numbers on the MMDVM board? Thanks again for responding and sorry I just got back to this topic.

        73s /Jerome

        1. Of course. I’m not aware of a command to check the current version (though I’m positive there is one), however, if you go to your Pi-Star Dashboard on the left hand side of the page under “Radio Info” it will tell you the current firmware version next to “FW”. I’m not aware of a way to see the previous version though. I don’t think that’s possible. If it doesn’t list a firmware, it could be that the board has not been configured in the Pi-Star Dashboard configuration page. You would need to do that before you can check the current firmware version on the dashboard.

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