What is Peanut? How to Join the ARRG.US XLX Rooms

What Peanut is

Peanut is a push-to-talk client for licensed amateur radio operators. You speak into a phone or computer microphone; the app sends that audio to a Peanut master on the internet. Some rooms stay inside Peanut (HD “local” rooms such as ENGLISH or DUTCH). Rooms whose names start with XLX, XRF, or REF are bridged onto D-Star reflectors through AMBEServer vocoder hardware. That is how a phone ends up in the same conversation as an Icom handheld on a hotspot.

The project is free, written by PA7LIM in his spare time, and restricted to licensed hams. Clients from anyone else are not allowed on the network. It is still described as beta. Treat it as an on-ramp to digital voice — not a replacement for a radio when you have one, and not something to run while driving.

What ARRG.US actually hosts

We do not run the Peanut app or the Peanut master. David runs those. What we run is the vocoder side of the USA rooms that land on our reflectors: a dedicated host (ambeserver) with two USB-3003 sticks and Java AMBEServer3003, giving six simultaneous vocoder channels. That is a different stack from XLX’s optional AmbED transcoder. Our XLX reflectors are same-mode only — they do not convert D-Star to DMR or YSF. Peanut users on an XLX room are speaking D-Star after the vocoder. Operators on DMR or YSF on the same module will not hear you.

Live status for our rooms is on the xlxreflector.org home page. A light is green only when three things are connected: the Peanut process, the reflector, and AMBEServer. The same data feeds the Peanut-USA dashboard.

ARRG.US Peanut rooms

These rooms exist on the Peanut-USA master. They are not on XLX104 or XLXARG.

Start on XLX102B unless a net or club asks for another module. Listen first. Identify with your call sign. The same QRZ.com name and email requirement as the rest of the array applies.

1. Get a Peanut code

1. You must hold a valid amateur radio license. Peanut is not open to unlicensed listeners except where a country’s rules force listen-only (for example French F0 calls).
2. Request a code at register.peanut.network. Upload a copy of your license. If the form rejects the file, rename it license.jpg or licence.png. A phone photo of the paper license is fine.
3. Wait for email (usually within a day; the site currently warns it can take up to 48 hours). Check spam. If nothing arrives, email peanut@pa7lim.nl with the license attached — do not submit multiple web forms.
4. Keep the code. It is not your DMR ID, RadioID, or D-Star registration password.

After the code is issued, PA7LIM states that the uploaded license copy is deleted from the registration server. Optional: confirm US Trust / DMR registrations at pa7lim.nl/callcheck if you also want DPLUS (REF*) or DMR rooms. Those extra registrations are not required for our XLX rooms.

2. Install the official client

Apple builds are TestFlight betas. PA7LIM has said the current Apple developer contract runs through 6 November 2026 and may not be renewed without donations. If TestFlight expires, use Android or Windows until a new build appears. Details: pa7lim.nl/peanut-apple.

3. Configure the app for ARRG.US

1. Open Setup.
2. Enter your call sign (the same one on your license and QRZ.com).
3. Enter your Peanut code.
4. If the app asks for a DMR ID, fill it only if you have one. Leave it blank for XLX/D-Star rooms.
5. Choose the master:
   • TEST (Peanut-USA) — peanut-usa.pa7lim.nl — this is the one with XLX102 and XLX103 rooms
   • GLOBAL — peanut.pa7lim.nl — largest server; different room list
   • JAPAN — peanut.xreflector-jp.org — JH1TWX’s master
6. Save, then switch the app On / Connect.
7. From the room list, select XLX102B (or another row in the table above). You do not need to disconnect to change rooms — stay connected and pick a different room.
8. On Android, grant microphone permission or PTT will do nothing or drop the session.

4. On the air

• Watch the home-page Peanut lights or the USA dashboard before you blame your phone. Red lights mean the bridge is down, not your code.
• Listen. Then give your call. Pause for the vocoder — there is a little extra delay versus RF.
• PTT is the on-screen button (Windows/Android can also bind a hardware PTT on some devices).
• You will show up on the XLX dashboard as a D-Star station on that module, alongside hotspots and repeaters.
• Do not use Peanut to interlink or bridge other systems (EchoLink, AllStar, a second reflector, a hotspot in TX). PA7LIM forbids it; it also loops audio.
• Do not operate Peanut while driving.
• The Android and iOS apps do not keep working in the background. Leave the app open.
• Keep the client updated. Old versions are refused after protocol changes.

If it does not connect

Official FAQ: pa7lim.nl/peanut-qa. Array issues (lights red for everyone): admin@xlxreflector.org.

Other things worth knowing

HD local rooms (ENGLISH, SPANISH, DUTCH, and so on) never touch our vocoders. They are Peanut-to-Peanut and usually sound better than an XLX room because nothing is squeezed through AMBE. Use them for a ragchew that does not need to reach D-Star radios.

SSTV rooms exist on the Global master for sharing still pictures from the app — see peanut.pa7lim.nl/sstv.

Network radios (some Inrico / POC sets) can run the Android client. Same code, same master, same rooms.

BlueDV is PA7LIM’s other project: it talks D-Star/DMR/YSF directly when you own a ThumbDV / DVStick. Peanut is the opposite design — the AMBE chip sits at the reflector end so you do not need a dongle. Do not mix the two as a cross-link.

Capacity. Six vocoder channels serve five published ARRG rooms. A busy net plus a ragchew can fill the sticks. If PTT seems to hang with green lights, wait a round; you are sharing hardware in a garage, not a carrier POP.

How the sticks got here. In June 2026 the USA Peanut path to XLX102/103 was down until Linda (N9NON) shipped the AMBE transcoders to Sarasota. The vocoders now live on a Pi with a fan, because an earlier Pi without cooling made Peanut audio sound like R2-D2. Longer version: Ham Radio Meets IT.

Support the author. Peanut is one person’s night-and-weekend project, not a company. Software, docs, and donation links: pa7lim.nl/peanut.