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Nifty E-Z Guide to D-STAR Operation

1. Y to select MESSAGE POS Press gt to access the MESSAGE POSITION screen Rotate DIAL or use A V to select the RX MESSAGE Press gt to view the RX MESSAGE screen Rotate DIAL or use A Y to toggle between viewing the received MESSAGE or the CALLER s call sign Press 5 4 to return to the RX MESSAGE screen Press MENU to exit and return to normal operation Reviewing Received Status Messages on the IC 2820 Starting with the DV operating mode selected Press F to access the function keys Press MENU to select the MENU screen Rotate MAIN BAND to select DV MESSAGE screen then press MAIN BAND Rotate MAIN BAND to select RX MESSAGE Press MAIN BAND to view the RX MESSAGE screen Press BACK 3 times to exit and return to normal operation Page 60 Chapter 6 Internet Resources Amateur radio is fortunate to have enterprising programmers whom have authored a number of innovative and useful D STAR web page programs Lets examine a couple of the most popular ones D STAR Calculator and jFindu D STAR Routing and Linking Calculator To assist amateurs with programming the call routing parameters for their radios Ed Woodrich WA4YIH has developed an easy to use program D STAR Calculator The program operates on line via the Internet and uses pull down menus to make repeater and routing selections You start out by selecting the local repeater and module that you are using
2. 96 Selecting the DV Tool COM port and Audio Devices 00 97 Setting the Headset and Microphone Audio Levels 0 10 99 DV Donie Operaties ossis onanan nnsa sasara Nai 101 Connecting to Repeaters Linked to a Reflector sssssssssssssisssssse 101 Dongo LED E R ca a 102 nstallati PRGA ONIG anean aa 102 Appendix D STAR Web Pages scsssssscsesssssssssscenensenees 103 Page v Page vi About This Guide Using easy to understand language and illustrations this guide describes how the D STAR system operates and provides guidance for setting up your transceiver to be able to access D STAR s many features and modes of operation We will go light on theory concentrating instead on the practical issues of getting things programmed and making voice and digital data contacts D STAR is an evolving technology Thanks to improvements made by Icom and the effort of many hams creating and maintaining programs such as Dplus d Chat and D RATS D STAR s communication capabilities are far improved from several years ago The creation of the DV Dongle which enables worldwide communication without using a radio has added a whole new dimension to D STAR operations In early 2009 when this book was written the software running on most gateways was Icom s G2 program supplemented by Dplus version 2 2 No doubt future enhancements will continue to provide more exciting new communication capabilities Lets ge
3. Continuing with making selections as in the screen shot below I selected Canada Calgary VE6WRN as my Destination Repeater and module B as my Destination Module which are the last pieces of information needed by the calculator D STAR Calculator 2 1 2 0 STAR a United States Califomia San Diego KIGKQU Gateway After selecting the Destination Module the calculator came up with the results shown in the following screen shot The shaded box contains the information needed to program your radio s Call Sign Routing Register fields UrCall RPT1 and RPT2 If you need it the frequency and offset for your local repeater are also shown Page 63 Below the shaded box the program displays a call routing diagram At the sides and bottom are sample scripts suggesting how to identify when making the call Besides giving their location and the repeater module they are using the scripts show the two hams exchanging repeater frequency and offset information Typically when operating on D STAR exchanging repeater frequencies is unnecessary Tm near San Diego CAUSA Tm talking KI6KQU port DV B and my radio is set 447 8400 5 0000 CQ CQ CQ This is your call sign listening on the San Diego repeater Say Howdy KI6KQU port DV B As you can see the program is simple to use and by making a few list driven selections you are provided with all the parameters necessary for programming your radio to make the cal
4. Page 81 regular basis These could be for sending a CQ instructions on how to reply to your call station identification equipment setup and so on Once programmed these messages can easily be transmitted from the main screen at the click of a button The Custom Banner Message box lets you customize the banner header that appears at the top of the main dChat screen Here you could enter your own call sign club identification special event identification or anything else you might think of This is window dressing and does not get transmitted The Logo button is more window dressing and lets you select a jpg image of your own to replace the logo displayed in the upper right corner of the Settings and main dChat screens When the Show GPS box is checked incoming GPS DPRS messages will be displayed If too many incoming GPS messages get to be a problem uncheck the box to filter them out The Filter Duplicate box lets you filter out received duplicate messages based upon the last two lines of received data Normally the Buffer box is left checked but if you need to see non line terminated data text run together without line breaks such as might be received from D RATS uncheck this box Normally the Show ASCII box is left unchecked If checked the ASCII code representing the character will be displayed in parenthesis following each character This might be used for troubleshooting or other purposes The TxDel
5. a succession of other digital modes has ensued Packet Radio PSK PACTOR and many others D STAR is the latest and perhaps most comprehensive effort to date offering reliable digital voice and data communication all over the world History After three years of research the D STAR protocol was published by the JARL Japanese Amateur Relay League in 2001 The research to investigate digital technologies for use in amateur radio was funded by the Japanese government and undertaken by a committee of Japanese radio manufacturers and interested observers Icom the primary promoter of this new technology provided the equipment used for the development and testing phase of the program At first adoption of the technology outside of Japan was relatively slow However in the last several years D STAR repeater systems have started coming into their own With the increasing availability of D STAR repeater systems and gateways the numbers of hams using these systems is showing dramatic growth D STAR repeaters and gateways are now available in many areas of the United States Europe Canada South America and Australia Repeaters linked to Internet Gateways provide voice and data communications all over the world To encourage equipment suppliers to adopt the technology JARL published the D STAR protocol as an open specification that details the over the air interface and repeater gateway transport requirements for interoperability of D
6. ut 447 20000 DUP 6 00000 125k DV D1 gt D16 epeateriTS L Tone Stn KIGKQU B _KI6KQU G WROBRNE _ WR6BRNG B KIGKAG S KIQIKAB KISJKAG KF6BQKE _ KIBJKAB KIGJKAG wots KISIKA B UKIGKQUB KIIKAB IWREBRNB The above screenshots show the contents for memory channels 13 through 25 which have been programmed for D STAR operation The upper one shows the repeater frequency settings tuning step size operating mode and the name label given to this memory channel The lower screenshot shows the D STAR call sign routing parameters set for each of these memory channels Page 70 Editing a memory channel is a simple matter of clicking in one of the cells and making whatever changes you want similar to making entries on a spreadsheet Some of the cells have a pull down selection menu which is displayed if you hit Enter on the keyboard Pull down selections are used for parameters that have several standard settings such as Duplex Tuning Step Size Operating Mode etc You can select setup menus or other memories to be viewed or edited by either clicking on the file folders shown at the left of the screen or by using the View pull down selection menu The following screen shows the DV Set Mode menu settings which are one of the sub groups found under the Digital Setting group of menu settings Like most PC applications the File pull down on the virtual radio window allows yo
7. a reflector you will only be able to communicate with stations directly connected to the repeater To be able to contact stations on the Reflector side of Page 101 the link you need to disconnect from the repeater and connect to the reflector that the repeater is linked to Then you will be able to communicate with any station or repeater linked to that reflector Dongle LED Status Indicators Four LED indicators visible through the semi transparent plastic case communicate the DV Dongle s operational status A blue LED flashes whenever data is being transmitted from the computer and a flashing yellow LED indicates that data is being transmitted back to the computer A slowly pulsing green LED indicates that the device is idle More importantly for assessing performance the red LED indicates either data overruns or under runs between the computer and the Dongle Occasional overruns aren t too bad but frequent flashing of the red LED indicates a slow computer Shutting down other programs may help otherwise you will need a faster system Installation Problems A variety of problems can occur that will prevent DV Dongle operation One of them is not having a sufficiently current version of Java running on your computer If that is the case the installation instructions found on the DV Dongle web page guides you through getting the latest Java updates downloaded Firewalls protecting your computer network or router may prevent th
8. have two menus that can enable received call signs to automatically replace call signs in the Call Sign Routing Register In general you don t want this to happen so you should verify that they are turned OFF which is the default setting for these two menus The RX Call Sign Auto Write menu should be set to OFF to prevent having received station s call sign automatically replace your UrCall setting The default setting is OFF The Repeater Call Sign Auto Write menu should be set to OFF to prevent having received station s RPT1 and RPT2 call signs automatically replace your RPT1 and RPT2 settings The default setting is OFF Page 23 Multicast Groups Multicast is a feature that Icom added with the G2 version of the gateway software Multicast allows an administrator to associate a group of repeater nodes with an alias a name of his choosing Using a Multicast group name allows an administrator to route transmissions between as many as 11 repeater nodes Multicast group names of up to seven characters long always start with the character When this name is referred to it has the same effect as referencing all of the repeater nodes in the network at once UR CALL CA1200 Multicast group name RPT1 WR6BRN_C Local module you are linking from RPT2 WR6BRN_G_ Gateway for local repeater module MY CALL N6XXX Your own call sign While users don t have the capability of creating Multicast Groups they can m
9. list Rotate DIAL or use A V to select MESSAGE POS Press gt to access the MESSAGE POSITION screen Rotate DIAL or use A V to select TX MESSAGE Press gt to go to the TX MESSAGE editing screen Rotate DIAL or use A V to select one of the five memory channels ChO1 Ch05 or OFF Note OFF is used to disable message transmissions Press gt to start programming your message Use the keys as described at bottom of the screen to enter your message text When editing is complete press 5 to save the message and return to the TX MESSAGE screen Before returning to normal operation rotate DIAL or use A Y to select the message channel Ch01 Ch05 you wish to transmit or select OFF if you wish to disable message transmission 12 Press MENU to exit and return to normal operation Note If enabled the message is transmitted every time you press PTT Page 58 Programming Short Messages on the IC 2820 Starting with the DV operating mode selected Press F to access the function keys Press MENU to select the MENU screen Rotate MAIN BAND to select DV MESSAGE screen then press MAIN BAND Rotate MAIN BAND to select TX MESSAGE MEMORY Press MAIN BAND and then rotate MAIN BAND to select one of the five TX memory channels 01 05 Press MAIN BAND to start programming your message Use the key functions at the bottom of screen to enter or edit your mes
10. location It installs much like any other Windows application and places a dChat2 program entry your computer s Start All Programs list Start the program by clicking on dChat2 in the All Programs list When the dChat nj6n window comes up click on Settings at the top of the screen to display the Settings window Here you can enter your Call Sign and set the Communications Port Settings by selecting the COM port that is connected to your radio and it s baud rate Set the baud rate to one that is supported by your radio Page 80 WWW S04T3 01g The txColor and rxColor buttons are used to set the color for text that appears in the text box on the main screen selected red for transmit and blue for receive The Font button selects the font style for text that is displayed The Settings screen contains two areas for pre formatting messages that you want to send In the QST Message area text that is to be broadcast on a periodic basis can be programmed If you want to broadcast QST messages set the Minutes pull down to a suitable time between broadcasts In the screen above its been set to once every 30 minutes and then check the Send Periodic QST box Since this will periodically ping the repeater you want to be careful about using this The Quick Send Text Messages area allows you to program up to seven different messages that can later be easily recalled and transmitted These are intended for messages that you might use on a
11. or be set to transmit only on PTT Automatic beaconing every few minutes will result in data being transmitted to all connected nodes causing collisions doubling with other user s transmissions Likewise for the same reason consider delaying DV data mode transmission until the net is over or switch to another repeater system While data can be sent along with a voice transmission if automatic data transmission has been selected it won t wait for a voice transmission to occur It will occur anytime data is ready to be sent Page 26 Chapter 5 DV Short Text Messaging You can configure your transceiver to send short messages whenever you transmit These messages are transmitted along with your voice every time you transmit and will show up the RX Message buffer in other user s radios Typically up to five messages each a maximum of 20 characters in length can be programmed into the radio Before transmitting you select which of the five you wish to transmit The messages are free form and can be used to convey a variety of information It s too bad they are only 20 characters long as it can be a challenge to figure out how to fit what you want to say using only 20 characters Some common uses e Radio configuration Your name and location Your full name first and last Special announcements Radio settings to use for answering your call Reflector you are using Your web page or email address Providing instructions on h
12. scroll around to see repeater installation density in different parts of Page 65 the world If you zoom in far enough you can see where repeaters are located near a city or on mountain ranges More importantly however is the matrix of active repeater D STAR call signs that is below the map Click on a repeater call sign of interest to see detailed information about that repeater as in this screen shot for the VE6WRN repeater located near Calgary Canada Locate VE6WRN Repeaters Range 20nm 1 2 Voice 1287 5000 20 Mhz Range 15nm 1 2 Data 1247 500 Mhz Range 30nm 440 Voice 444 925 5 00 Mhz Range 30am 2m Voice 146 805 0 600 Mhz Ia Iw B Ip Recently Heard DV Stations Station LastHeard Repeater 6d22h36m4s VE6WRN A VE6BGZ 5di6h3im VE6WRN C 17d12h13m28s VE6WRN C The screen above shows the available modules on this repeater including their frequency and offset Below that sorted by module is a list of stations last heard including how long it s been since they were heard If you happen to pull up this screen for your own local repeater you will be able to track recent traffic as you are hearing it on your radio after a delay of a few moments For instance if you make a transmission your own call sign will eventually appear in the list Page 66 Chapter 7 Radio Programming Software If you are going to be programming a lot of repeater frequencies and D STAR access call signs into your radio you sh
13. the DV Tool software that I was running that it is possible to select a module that is not physically present at the repeater site In that case I don t know where your transmission actually goes The PTT Rx button can also be grayed out preventing transmission if you are not registered for gateway transmission Some gateway administrators may use the PIN field as a means of providing access to users not registered in the D STAR gateway system This field is normally left blank The lock function box can be selected if you wish to change the PTT Rx button to operate as a toggle for transmit and receive When set clicking once enables transmission clicking a second time returns to receive You may notice that some repeater nodes do not appear in the Connect to Gateway selection box This can be for a variety of reasons as only gateways that are currently running the required DV Dongle access software and have their IP ports properly forwarded will be displayed Besides being able to select gateways via the pull down menu you may find it faster to type in a desired gateway s call sign By clicking on the Connect to Gateway box and quickly typing you can enter a desired repeater s call sign However if you hesitate only a portion of the call sign is captured which selects the first call that matches the accepted portion Connecting to Repeaters Linked to a Reflector If you connect to a repeater that is currently linked to
14. to be able to operate any D STAR features that involve gateway access to the Internet Without registration you are generally limited to simplex and local repeater operation Except for the Operating Simplex and Local Same Repeater Operation sections below you will need to register for gateway access if you wish to try any of the features described in the following sections Page 13 Operating Simplex D STAR transceivers are capable of working station to station on simplex just like conventional FM transceivers One advantage of a D STAR radio is that it s already equipped for digital communications This can simplify situations when you want to transmit data perhaps for emergency communications or public service events such as aid stations spread along a bike or foot race If high speed communications are required two 1 2 GHz ID 1 transceivers can transfer data directly without the use of a repeater Simplex Operation gt a Voice amp Data Voice amp Data UrCall CQCQCQ UrCail CQCQCQ RPT1 not used RPT1 not used RPT2 not used RPT2 not used MyCall WD6FZA MyCall N6FN To talk to anyone on simplex without having to input their call sign the UrCall field is programmed with CQCQCQ Since repeaters are not used when working simplex depending upon the radio RPT1 and RPT2 are programmed as not used or left blank And of course your own call sign is used in the MyCall field Here we see that N6FN
15. transmitted Upon saving your settings and closing the screen providing File QSTs Enabled has been selected the message will be transmitted at the selected time intervals While the QST Message is being displayed in the QST Monitor window you will see it counting down the transmission timer If you wish the message can be immediately sent by double clicking it handy for bypassing the full time period when testing Page 89 Transferring Files with D RATS Under the File pull down menu there are three different options for initiating file transfers Broadcast Text File Send File and Send Image When clicked these three options allow you to browse to where the file to be transmitted is located so the file to be sent can be selected Use Broadcast Text File when you want to transmit a pre formatted text message that you have created As the name suggests this is not a true file transfer because the file is being sent and received as if it was text data that was typed You can create this file with any text editor such as Windows Notepad or Word pad You don t want your message to contain hidden formatting control sequences that are inserted by word processors If you do use Microsoft Word or some other word processor save the file as a txt file Send File allows you to actually transmit files that will be received as a file by the receiving station When the file comes in D RATS will place it in the location specified by the Pat
16. 0H_ na 9600bps The PC s serial port must be set to match the radio s serial port parameters as follows Baud Rate Set as per the above chart E e Data 8 bit e Parity none e Stop bits l bit e Flow control Xon Xoff Typically the PC s serial port parameters are set using the PC s communication software application Page 77 Automatic PTT Data Transmission Selection On all D STAR compatible Icom radios except for the IC V U82 there is a menu for selecting either Automatic or PTT triggered data transmission PTT is typically the radio s default condition and limits data transmission to when the microphone s PTT key is pressed When set to Auto the radio will start transmitting data whenever it shows up from the PC s communication software application The IC V U82 is fixed to operate in the Auto mode Typically when transmitting data the radio should be set to automatically initiate transmission whenever data is received from the PC But you need to keep in mind that when operating over a repeater especially if you are linked to a reflector that the PC will send data whenever it has it If sending GPS position data or operating other beacon modes this can be a problem because it can collide with other user s transmissions In the case of sending GPS position data the PTT menu option should be selected to prevent continuous pinging of the repeater The procedures for selecting e
17. B W6XYZ_C DV 144 MHz band data voice repeater Port C W6XYZ_G The system s Internet gateway Port G Page 10 To avoid confusion as to which local repeater and port you are operating through always indicate the port you are on For example when making a call through W6XYZ you would announce N6FN using your own call sign calling on W6XYZ port B Notice that the entire repeater system is given a single call sign Repeater call signs are restricted to a maximum of 6 characters Individual repeater modules are identified via the port designation suffix that appears in the 8 character position Unlike conventional repeaters D STAR repeater systems must have unique call signs they cannot be an individual s call sign otherwise Call Sign Routing would not be able to function Page 11 Programming D STAR Call Sign Parameters Programming a transceiver to make calls or for linking to a gateway or reflector involves programming call signs into the four parameters of the Call Sign Routing Register e UR CALL Call of the station node or reflector you are calling e RPT1 Call of the local repeater node you are calling from RPT2 Call of a destination repeater or your local gateway e MY CALL Your own call sign or call sign variations Different transceiver models may display slightly different abbreviations for these four parameters but on all radios they accomplish the same thing These parameters are programmed in differ
18. C 91AD WCS 91 e IC 92AD WCS 92 e IC 2820 WCS 2820 e 1C 2200 WCS 2200 e IC D800 WCS D800 I have not used any of RT System s software for D STAR radios but have used their programs for several conventional transceivers The software I ve used was reliable and did the job Their software is geared towards programming your radio and does not include the virtual radio features discussed below Icom s RS 91 and RS 92 Programming Software Most all programs provide similar programming functionality some of them go a step beyond Here we will review the features of Icom s RS 92 Remote Control software application as an example of what can be done with one of the more enhanced programming packages Unlike most other programming software packages the RS 91 and RS 92 software packages have the capability of actually controlling the radio via a virtual radio looking screen Using this virtual radio is quiet similar to using a remote front panel the connected radio responds just as if you were pushing directly on the radio s front panel buttons In general radio programming software packages do not have this virtual radio capability it is limited to Icom s RS Remote Control series of software Icom s CS series Cloning Software is more typical of what is usually available for programming radios Page 68 When the RS 92 program is started it comes up with the virtual radio screen The first thing you
19. D STAR transceivers currently being supplied by Icom High speed data is limited to radios with 1 2 GHz capabilities For emergency communications one of the advantages of D STAR s digital data capabilities is that messages can be locally transported independent of the Internet when the lines are down But wait there is more A single repeater or a group of repeaters can be connected to the Internet via a device called a gateway and are referred to as a Zone Gateways use the Internet to connect to other D STAR gateways and reflectors anywhere in the world This allows you to communicate to hams located in areas far removed from your local repeater somewhat similar to IRLP operation but with an interesting added capability Whenever you key up your call sign is automatically transmitted via the digital transport mechanism built into the radio When the gateway routes your call it also stores your call sign locally and provides it to the Internet connected Trust Page 6 Server In this way the D STAR system keeps track of which repeater you were last heard on D STAR Zone By entering the call sign of whom you want to contact into your radio you can make a directed call to that specific ham The technique is referred to as Call Sign Routing and unlike IRLP you don t need to know which repeater he is on Periodically all gateways synchronize their local data with data located on the Trust Server The gateway system use
20. N s call sign to answer his call The other three fields were probably already set since he has recently been using the W3OL__C repeater Before the ham you are calling can respond he needs to program his radio s UrCall field with your call sign The responding station can manually enter your call into his radio or select it if already has it in memory or he can use the RX CS one touch key on his radio if it has one The more recent D STAR capable transceivers have the one touch capability to copy a received station s call sign to the UrCall field Page 19 Using the one touch reply RX CS key only temporarily copies N6FN s call sign into the UrCall field and will last until something else is placed into the UrCall field It s not permanently saved anywhere One touch operation is described in the following section Note that both stations have set RPT2 to their local gateway Doing so has allowed the gateway system to rout N6FN s call to the last repeater module that W3XXX has been heard on As a side note it also allows Dongle users to hear both sides of the conversation One of the issues with Call Sign Routing is that the last heard on process can take an hour or more to update the database therefore the user may no longer be on that repeater One way to partially get around the problem so that you can immediately receive calls when away from your local repeater is as soon as you are on another D STAR
21. Nifty E Z Guide to D STAR Operation D STAR Voice and Data Operating Modes Gateway Registration and Usage Call Sign and Gateway Call Routing Setting Call Sign Memories Locating Repeaters and Last Heard Stations d Chat and D RATS Digital Software Applications Bernie Lafreniere NFN Nifty E Z Guide to D STAR Operation Another guide in the Nifty Ham Accessories Easy Guide Series 5 l Coy Nifty Ham Accessories www niftvaccessories com Copyright Copyright 2009 by Nifty Ham Accessories Bernard Lafreniere N6FN All rights reserved no part of this book or portions thereof may be reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying recording or by any other means without permission in writing from the publisher Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability While every effort has been made to make this publication as accurate as possible Nifty Ham Accessories and the author assume no liability for the contents regarding safety or damage to equipment and do not guarantee the accuracy herein Contents About TRIS Gulda seeennccedoa cot eeicpsanenteostaseticneabi cee ndempparemnenenions 1 GA 1 Bf ec eee EE 2 Ghantor T D STAR iiciin aa 3 Hist nnana aia aN a iea E Ei oe aE 3 D STAR OVE E Wygnani 4 T BAR S Bitrand BYS a N a G 8 Repeater System Configuration ssssssnsssrsseessssisrssersassovonssseesossssenssoss 9 Programming D STAR Call Sign Parameters csscce
22. STAR equipment To date Icom is the only manufacturer of D STAR capable repeater systems and radios As the technology becomes more widely adopted other manufacturers may chose to offer equipment as well Page 3 D STAR Overview D STAR Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio offers digital voice and slow and high speed data communications The slow speed digital voice and data is transported at 4800 bps with 3600 bps being used for voice and voice error correction the remaining 1200 bps is used for synchronization and general use Of this 1200 bps about 900 bps is available for transporting data High speed digital data communication is transported at 128 kbps supports Ethernet packets and is fast enough for interactive Internet applications By connecting repeater sites over the Internet forming a world wide radio network the D STAR system provides state of the art functionality to amateur radio repeater systems D STAR In D STAR voice communication is referred to as DV mode digital voice operation Voice is converted to a digital format using an electronic chip called a CODEC which encodes and decodes audio signals in the AMBE Advanced Multi Band Excitation format To the critical ear the audio quality of a D STAR voice signal might sound slightly inferior to a high quality FM signal but is more than adequate for intelligible voice communications Page 4 The nice thing about digital voice operation is
23. ake use of the feature by placing the group name in their UrCall field When a user transmits using a Multicast group name he will be heard on all the repeater nodes in the group The user s local gateway accomplishes this by sending a stream of data to each of the nodes in the group So that users on remote repeaters can respond it is important to announce the repeater you are calling from and the network name being used If responding stations don t use the network name in their UrCall field they will not be heard on all the repeaters in the network Important At the end of the round table or net and going back to normal operation it is important that each station terminate multicast operation by resetting their UrCall field back to CQCQCQ or something else Otherwise their transmissions will still go out to the entire group of repeaters Page 24 Identify Where You Are Calling From and Wait Whenever making calls on a D STAR system it is imperative that you identify the repeater and port you are calling from Otherwise when a station hears your call he won t know if you are local or elsewhere If you are not on his local repeater he may need to know where you are transmitting from in case he needs to change the settings in his UrCall and RPT2 call sign fields Typically you would state the location of the repeater and which port you are on For instance if operating on the PAPA system Mount Palomar repeater you might say that
24. and WD6FZA except for their individual call signs have their radios set the same way and will be able to talk to anyone on their simplex frequency Page 14 Local Same Repeater Operation When working locally on a single D STAR repeater module the call sign of the local repeater module is used in RPT1 and depending upon the radio RPT2 can be marked as not used or left blank Single Local Repeater Operation Mi Repeater i UrCall CQCQCQ UrCall CQCQCQ RPT1 KIGMGN B RPT1 KIGMGN B RPT2 not used RPT2 not used MyCall WD6FZA MyCall N6FN In the above example notice that the call sign for RPT1 is KI6MGN_B which indicates it is a 440 MHz repeater attached to port B of the controller Using CQCQCQ in the UrCall field allows inter communication between all users on the repeater without having to enter a specific station s call sign With the call signs set as shown operation is very similar to a conventional FM repeater with everyone being able to hear each other and participate in the conversation Note So that linked gateways reflectors and DV Dongle users can hear your traffic most D STAR system administrators recommend that the RPT2 field be set to your local gateway In the case of the PAPA system KI6MGN repeater RPT2 would be set to KI6MGN_G Page 15 Local Cross band Repeater Operation If your local repeater system has two or more modules you can work cross band just as if you were operat
25. and click on Edit to open it So you can freely experiment without modifying the original form use the Form builder window and change the name in the ID box to something else and Save it as a test form Now using this as a test form closely examine its Form Elements modifying them and adding new ones to learn how the form was created Periodically use the Preview button to evaluate your modifications After some experimentation you will learn how to edit and create your own forms Page 92 Stations and Sessions Tabs The Stations tab allows you to see the call signs and GPS position if sent of stations that have been received Stations can be deleted from this list via the Remove and Clear All buttons Clicking on Address places the station s call sign in the Send text box When you click on one of the stations in the list it becomes highlighted press Forget if you wish to reset the Last Seen time stamp to Never If you press Reset a selected station s Last Seen time stamp is set to the current time The Sessions tab can provide current status of transfers in progress and other information When transferring files it s instructive to see the file transfer s progress displayed on this page especially if you are having file transfer difficulties Other D RATS Capabilities The above sections describe the main features and functionality of the D RATS application However there are other features that advanced users may find
26. ay box is used to set the maximum random delay that is used between each line that is sent A random delay is inserted to help avoid collisions simultaneous transmissions with other stations Normally the default setting of 1500 ms should be fine When you are finished with the Settings screen be sure to click the Save button at the bottom to save you work To go back to the main dChat screen click on the Settings button Page 82 d Chat Program Operation Before running the program make sure the following items have been set on your radio If necessary refer to the above sections for information on setting these parameters e Ifrequired for your radio set the radio s serial port settings e Select Automatic data transmission e Ifrequired for your radio disable GPS transmission Once installed and setup d Chat is relatively simple to operate When started the program displays the following screen dChat nj n Fle Settings Connect Dianannact South Orange Amateur Radio Association Www soafa org d Chat a Delay ms COM3 opened Recall Send 2 1 9 c 2008 Brian Roode NJEN njin soaia org First making sure your radio is connected and tuned to a D STAR repeater or DV mode simplex frequency clicking on the Connect button should result in a COMx opened port status being displayed just to the left of the Recall button COM3 opened is shown above Page 83 Transmitting consists of sending some t
27. e Common Air Interface or CAI protocol and is made up of a Radio Header followed by the data payload The Radio Header consists of a series of synchronizing and control bits followed by four call signs used to route the signal to its intended destination The data payload portion consists of alternating Frames of Voice and Data information a frame of 72 bits of voice followed by a frame of 24 bits of data a pattern which continuously repeats until followed by a unique termination frame of 48 bits This pattern of alternating digital voice and data frames occurs regardless if there is voice and no data or if there is data and no voice Space in the payload is always reserved for the voice and data frames regardless of whether they are used or not For those interested in the detailed structure of the Common Air Interface protocol and other technical details of the D STAR over the air protocol an English copy of the JARL specification can be downloaded from www jarl com d star shogen pdf A more comprehensive look at the D STAR over the air protocol is provided by Peter Loveall AESPL in his excellent paper titled D STAR Uncovered This paper provides additional insight and information beyond what is in the JARL specification including a summary of Icom s enhancements to the base specification http www aprs is net downloads DStar DSTARUncovered pdf Page 8 Both of the above documents are quite technical describing the air link c
28. e program from communicating over the Internet Other problems may arise with getting volume controls set or being able to record from the microphone If you are having difficulty the Yahoo DV Dongle group found at http groups yahoo com group DVDongle may be able to provide assistance With hundreds of postings covering just about any type of problem you can imagine you should be able to find one that matches your problem If you can t find a solution in the threads that are already posted you might try registering and asking a question of your own Page 102 Appendix D STAR Web Pages Here are additional D STAR web pages that you might find useful D STAR Users Source for D STAR Information hitp dstarusers org lastheard php has last heard lists D STAR repeater directory gateway registration links and links to D STAR accessory hardware and software and more D STAR Information FAQ s and More http www dstarinfo com default html D STAR news applications links nets reflectors and more K5TIT The Texas Interconnect Team http jwww kStit org Repeater group in Texas lots of useful information Instructions for Making Icom Radio Interface Cables http epaares org dstar icom_cables htm gt GPS interface and PC programming cable wiring diagrams for home made cables WY1U s D STAR Repeater and Reflector Finder hitp home comcast net timmik dstarsearch html good for finding repeaters in different parts of the wo
29. ection to a PC some data communication software and you re in business In general you can use the same cable that is used to program your radio Cables for different model transceivers are available from Icom or you can make your own Information for fabricating your own data cables can be found at http epaares org dstar icom_cables htm DV mode digital data can be sent simultaneously with voice transmission As explained in Chapter 1 the basic D STAR digital packet structure has space reserved for data and voice in the same packet DV mode transmission consists of a continuous stream of digital packets for as long as you are transmitting Even when you are not transmitting data the packet structure still includes space for the data Voice and data transmission on the same signal are inseparable even though one or the other are may not be used As a result voice communication is not adversely impacted while data is being sent at the same time Conversely data throughput does not increase when not transmitting voice Data transmission through the D STAR system is software and protocol independent To software applications the PC s data path to the originating transceiver through the repeater s gateway to the Internet and on to similar equipment at the other end appears just like a cable Even though the data path is complex software running on a PC is not involved with any of the packet formation or routing issues All of that i
30. eeseeees 12 Using D STAR Gateway ssnin 13 Operating SMO IDE nissciscsenalans ipsineb sarap seisa ngosi sasini a 14 Lo al Same Repeater Operation s sssoapiosssstssvesssosiovssissssisavonsssnisas 15 Local Cross band Repeater Operation sessssssrorersssssesssssesessseses 16 Repeater INOS Rong i tisi jes soosivcciatonsensivetemsacaveneenteseesaaaraaes 17 GASE RONIE eerren 19 Setting the UrCall field back to CQCQCQ sscssssisssisisssiissssisssssssaiit 21 One touch Reply re oieee ARA A 22 Automatic Call Sign Update Prevention cccsecseesseseseeseeneees 23 MUL CASt OHO DS cacscssesczavevccscsnpsascrscevsvesexcancsdsseseaWircolevaesscessexeuseesia 24 Identify Where You Are Calling From and Wait cesesseeeeee 25 Limiting Position Beaconing and Data Mode Operation 26 Chapter 2 Dplus Gateway Operation csssscccscssssesesseenes 27 Dolus Gateway CMRE srianan AAE A i 28 Establishing a Dplus Gateway LinK ssssissssscscsircssscssesssssissness s 29 Delis Retlector Linke ansasen R NA 30 Establishing a Reflector Link se spesnsssossesosesseeserserocoyressoensesoseset 34 Local Siula Si envcanasisaneaninn 35 Echo Adio Quality Tasting raian i 36 Checking Repeater Link ID Status c n ccc rsesesensesscenegeeroneenensens 37 Chapter 3 Gateway User Registration scccsecesssseeees 39 GBI Ronen acises sec aiesnvsces sce Cayonencscnnne ah amuiasacbce sctausenstascaveess 39 Page iii Chap
31. ent ways depending upon how you are making the call simplex local repeater Repeater Node or Call Sign Routing and Gateway or Reflector linking UR CALL This is either the station you want to talk to or is set to CQCQCQ so you can call CQ or work round table as on a conventional FM repeater When using a gateway UR CALL is used to designate the call sign of the individual you are calling or it can also be used to control gateway linking or for accessing a reflector RPT1 Used to enter the call sign of the local repeater you are using The 8 character position is special as it specifies the band and port you are operating on You need to insert spaces as necessary to make sure that the port switch letter A B or C falls in the 8 character position RPT2 This is the call sign of where we want our transmission to go either to one of the other ports on the same repeater system or to the gateway used to access the D STAR network Again the 8 character position is special because it is used for the port switch designation letter A B C or G MY CALL This is used for your own call sign or perhaps a variation of it with a suffix indicating different radios that you might be using Page 12 In this book the Call Sign Routing Register refers to the call sign memory that the radio uses to make D STAR calls As we will see in Chapter 4 depending upon the radio there are several ways for making entries into the Call Sign Routing Regis
32. essages that you might use on a regular basis select File Quick Messages which displays the Quick Messages editing screen Here you can enter edit and re arrange messages for later use Quick messages can be transmitted by selecting the Quick Message tab on the main D RATS screen and then double clicking on the message you want to send ES Quick Messages Bed N6FN Testing data mode with D RATS CQ CQ de N6FN if you can copy this please reply Thanks To determine if any other stations are online you can send a ping command and any connected D RATS stations will respond with the reply that was set in their station s configuration setup Ping reply box The Ping Station button is found under the File pull down menu You can ping specific stations that have been recently been heard by using the pull down box or by entering the stations call directly into the box Enter CQCQCQ in the box to receive replies from any stations that are online Page 88 Configuring and Sending D RATS QST Messages QST messages can automatically be transmitted on a periodic basis To pre format QST Messages click on the File pull down menu and select Auto QST Settings which brings up a screen for creating the message and selecting the time to delay between transmissions x d rats exe Enabled Interval 4 Type lt Content Rel eae g s Text N6FN testing D RATS auto QST messaging Checking the Enabled box selects the QST Message to be
33. et your microphone recording level to match received D STAR signal audio levels To do this we need to monitor some D STAR activity Click on the Connect to Gateway button and select a D STAR gateway with some traffic This could be your own local gateway or a reflector or a distant repeater Next select the repeater s Module if just looking for traffic select the asterisk to be able to hear traffic on any of the modules If you have not already done so enter your own call sign in the Callsign box By the way even though you don t transmit your call sign will be picked up by the D STAR system and displayed as monitoring the selected repeater or reflector amp etion gt Audio Loopback Only AMBE Audio Loopback Record Playback Record to Fite Playback from File Filename Es Browse Connect to Peer Part Listen for Connection from Peer Port Connectto Gateway Reon x Module in TR Click Callsign ern Pi URCALL RPTI RPT2 Connect to Gateway Page 99 Once the call sign of the repeater or reflector to be monitored has been set and your own call sign has been entered click on the Start button to begin monitoring If you don t hear any traffic on the selected repeater you can access the last heard list at http dstarusers org lastheard php to find repeaters with some activity Monitor a few stations adjusting the volume control for a comfortable listening level As wit
34. ext by either typing in the Text to Send box or by clicking on one of the messages in the Quick Send box which copies the message to the Text to Send box When the data in the Text to Send box is ready to be sent click on the Send button or hit the Enter key on your computer s keyboard Data is transmitted a line at a time If the text you sent is immediately echoed back and the NO DIALTONE error message is displayed it was not actually transmitted and you may not have selected the correct COM port or baud rate on the PC If you wish to re send the last line sent press the Recall button If your text box starts to get cluttered it can be cleared by clicking on the Clear button Pre formatted small messages can also be broadcast by selecting Send Bulletin under the File pull down menu This feature cannot be used for file transfers Instead it is a way of pre formatting small multi line messages for transmission Messages sent this way show up in other users text window just like any other messages Page 84 D RATS Application Installation and Setup D RATS written and maintained by Dan Smith KK7DS has more features and consequently is a bit more complex to use than d Chat Dan actively encourages user input periodically providing new releases implementing changes requested by D RATS users The program can be downloaded from his web page http d rats com Installation instructions and downloads are provided for the Windo
35. gram On the same screen you will also see the Ping reply box When another D RATS user issues a Ping Station command either to a specific station or all stations via CQCQCQ any online D RATS stations will automatically respond with an answer This is where you can program your own reply to a ping Typically this might be your call location a greeting equipment setup or anything else you desire If you intend to perform file transfers under the Preferences section click on Paths to set a file folder to which incoming files will be downloaded The default Download Directory setting places them on the desktop You will notice that you can also select a folder for where maps will be stored Also under the Preferences section by clicking on GPS you can either enable an attached GPS unit or set a fixed Latitude Longitude and Altitude If you don t attach a GPS providing you are connected to the Internet you can easily set the Latitude and Longitude by clicking on the Lookup button and entering an address zip code or an intersection If connecting an External GPS to your computer check the Use External GPS box to enable it and select the COM port and baud rate to be used i Initially you can use the default settings for Appearance and Chat under the Preferences section Next click on the Radio section to set the computer s Serial Port and baud rate setting Set the baud rate to be the same as being used on your radio The other i
36. h conventional FM repeaters you may notice volume level differences between received stations If necessary select a compromise volume setting that allows all stations to be comfortably heard Once your listening volume has been set press Stop to disconnect from the D STAR system so that the microphone recording level can be set To access your computer s microphone level control select Properties under the Options pull down of the Volume Control window This brings up the Properties window where you can select the Recording button which in turn displays the Recording Control window On the DVTool window select the Audio Loopback Only function and then press Start again While listening to your own voice adjust the Microphone level control to match the listening level set earlier If you want to verify hear how your digitized voice will sound over the D STAR network and verify the performance of the DV Dongle press Stop select the AMBE Audio Loopback function and then press Start again Here it will be a bit easier to monitor your own voice as it is delayed by a few seconds Page 100 DV Dongle Operation In setting the volume levels we have already covered how to monitor a D STAR node To transmit just press and hold the PTT Rx button If it is grayed out preventing transmission and the asterisk has been selected as the Module you need to select a valid module either A B or C Be aware that at least on Version 1 11 of
37. hey can be transmitted together on the same signal without any interference to your voice conversation Don t be misled by the term slow speed 1200 bps DV mode data is more than capable of keeping up with typing on a keyboard and for transmitting short messages and small amounts of data Subtracting out header and message blocking overhead DV mode data has about 900 bps available for general use and is much faster than PSK31 but slower than 9600 bps packet operation Like packet DV mode data is unsuitable for sending large files or surfing the web In addition to the slow speed DV data that can be transmitted simultaneously with your voice on the 144 440 MHz and 1 2 GHz bands D STAR supports a high speed digital data rate of 128k bps on the 1 2 GHz band Due to packet overhead and other factors actual Page 5 throughput is closer to 90k bps Referred to as DD mode digital data this high speed data capability is unique in amateur radio because it is fast enough to support exchanging large files pictures and for user interactive Internet e mail and web browser applications Connecting your PC laptop or PDA is simply a matter of connecting a cable to the radio no external TNCs or other devices are required For slow speed data depending upon the radio either an RS 232 serial or USB cable is used High speed data connections are made using a standard Ethernet cable Low speed data capabilities are built into all VHF UHF
38. hile the radio is limited to saving only the last received message this screen displays a list of prior calls in addition to the most current DNGL BILL CONTINENTAL OH DOUG SAN DIEGO NORTH CO SAN DIEGO NORTH CO 92AD Page 72 Received messages are displayed in the lower half of the window The upper section lets you format and select short messages of your own You can have up to five of these and the one currently showing is the one that will be transmitted In the lower left corner of these two windows is a box that can be checked to have the window pop up whenever a new record is received Depending upon what you are trying to do having these windows popping up can be annoying If so just unclick the Displays when new message is received box Another useful screen that facilitates D STAR operation is the Select Call Sign window This handy screen lets you conveniently configure the Call Sign Routing Registers Select Call Sign When operating from a station where you can use a PC the windows described above can all be placed on the PC s desktop and monitored while operating It s quite informative to see the data displayed as calls are received especially when contacting hams in foreign countries Page 73 Page 74 Chapter 8 DV Mode Slow speed Data Icom s D STAR compatible VHF and UHF transceivers come factory ready for 1200 bps data communication All you need is an RS 232 interface cable for conn
39. hs Download Directory box found under the Preferences section of the Config window If you send files on a regular basis press your computer s F1 key as a shortcut to using the Send File option on the Files menu The Send Image selection true to its name is used to send jpg gif and other types of image files Be careful with sending images as files can be quite large and may be unsuitable for transmission via D STAR s low speed DV mode Page 90 File Transfer Problems If text and quick messaging are working fine but you are having difficulty transfering files you might try the following to solve the problem Data Block Transfer Problems Best throughput performance will be had with larger block sizes If you are having trouble completing file transfers a high block size may prevent you from getting blocks through Reducing the block size reduces the odds of incurring errors within the block which may reduce file transfer difficulties To change the default block size select Main Settings under the File pull down menu and then select Radio Transfers on the Config screen The program default block size is 512 which is relatively large To see if smaller block sizes can alleviate block transfer problems you might try block sizes of 256 or 128 Mixing File Transfers with voice This is from the D RATS web page Because of the effect timing has on the ability to detect failed or missing blocks and retry interrupting a f
40. ile transfer can cause problems Talking on the digital voice side while doing a file transfer will prevent the proper negotiation from happening in a timely manner and may cause the transfer to time out Try to avoid talking while sending a file if possible Page 91 Using and Creating D RATS Forms There are a number of pre made forms available To view available forms click on the File pull down menu and select Manage Form Templates which displays all available forms Click on one of the forms in the list and then click on Edit which displays the Form builder window The Form builder window allows you to create or edit forms Click on Preview to view the selected form After examining the forms click on Cancel twice and then click on Close to return to the main D RATS window To select a pre made form so it can be filled out from the main D RATS window select the Form Manager tab and click on New which displays the Choose a form window Select one of the forms using the pull down box and then click OK to display the form Now it can be filled out and then saved sent exported to a file folder or printed If you wish to create your own forms under the File pull down menu use the Manage Form Templates button to access the Form Manager window From this screen you can either edit and rename an existing form or build one from scratch To learn how a form is created or edited click on one of the existing forms to highlight it
41. ing on a single repeater In this case RPT1 specifies which repeater you are operating through and RPT2 specifies the destination repeater The local repeater controller takes care of routing the signals between the two ports Local Cross Band Operation Repeater 5 440 MHz Controller Repeater KIGMGN B H UrCall CQCQCQ UrCali CQCQCQ RPT1 KIGMGN B RPT1 KIGMGN C RPT2 KIGMGN C RPT2 KIGMGN B MyCall WD6FZA MyCall N6FN In this example WD6FZA is going through the KI6MGN_B 440 MHz repeater and N6FN is going through the KI6MGN_C 146 MHz repeater It is important that the port switch designation the letters B and C in this case is programmed into the 8 character position Notice that since the two stations involved are on separate repeater modules serviced by the same repeater controller that a gateway is not being used and that the call signs they programmed into RPT1 and RPT2 of their radios are reversed When the station hearing the call in this case N6FN wants to respond he needs to set his radio s RPT2 field to the radio module being used by the calling station in this case KI6MGN_B But keep in mind that the calling station needs to identify which module he is on so the answering station can configure his radio to the repeater module that the calling station is using Page 16 Repeater Node Routing Repeater Node Routing also called Source Routing Port Linking or a Zone Call allows the
42. ither Auto or PTT data transmission for the IC 91AD IC 92AD and the IC 2820 are shown below Consult the Icom user manual for the IC 2200H and the ID 800H Automatic PTT Selection on the IC 91AD and IC 92AD Starting with the DV operating mode selected and a D STAR repeater frequency being displayed on the screen Press MENU which brings up the menu list Rotate DIAL or use A Y to select DV SET MODE Press gt to the DV SET MODE menu Rotate DIAL or use A V to select DV DATA TX Press gt to the DV DATA TX option setting screen Rotate DIAL or use A V to select either PTT or AUTO Press MENU to exit and return to normal operation Page 78 Automatic PTT Selection on the IC 2820 Starting with the DV operating mode selected Press F to access the function keys Press MENU to select the MENU screen Rotate MAIN BAND to select DV SET MODE screen then press MAIN BAND Rotate MAIN BAND to select DV DATA TX then press MAIN BAND Rotate MAIN BAND to select either PTT or AUTO Press BACK 3 times to exit and return to normal operation Disabling GPS Mode Transmission To be able to transmit slow speed data with the IC 91AD IC 92AD and IC 2820 transceivers its first necessary to turn off GPS mode operation otherwise the radio will not transmit For other radios consult the Icom user manual to see if GPS needs to be turned off Disabling GPS Transmis
43. l D STAR Calculator can be found at the following URL http jwww dstarinfo com Calculator Page 64 jFindu Repeater Locator and Last Heard Lists Another useful function is to be able to find out when and on what repeater a station was last heard By clicking on the Last Heard Lists link found at http www jfindu net home page you can find out In the example below I have input WD6FZA and clicked the Include D STAR last heard box jFindu Locator Site Home gt Last Heard Lists Enter callsign no SSID or object name Include D STAR last heard or enter a 3 8 character prefix List Positions The result is displayed as shown below If the person has been using APRS a status line for that mode is also displayed WD6FZA Last Heard on DSTAR Last Stati Heard eee WD6FZA 3h47m43s KIGKQUBDV Another useful jFindu function is to find out where a repeater is located what modules it has and who has been using it recently This information as well as recent D STAR D PRS APRS activity can be determined by accessing http www jfindu net and clicking on the D STAR Activity link and when the next page displays clicking on D STAR Repeaters The D STAR Repeaters link brings up a page showing a world map which will gradually populate itself with the call signs of all D STAR repeaters These call signs are geographically located on a satellite view world map Like many on line maps you can zoom in and
44. l data repeater module is required A repeater system can be configured without including a PC gateway server to the Internet Of course the repeater system loses the capability of communicating with remote gateways and repeaters but still provides functionality similar to that provided by conventional stand alone FM mode repeaters It s common practice to refer to individual repeater modules connected to a repeater controller in a D STAR system as nodes modules or ports For example the four repeater modules shown in the preceding diagram can alternately be referred to as nodes modules or ports Regardless of which term is used they all refer to a specific repeater module The term port is derived from the practice of referring to individual repeater modules as being connected to a repeater controller s ports The agreed upon practice for naming these modules is to add a letter designating the individual port after the main call sign for the system Regardless of the length of the main call sign the port designation is always placed in the 8 character position preceded by as many spaces as necessary to fall in the 8 position The _ underline characters below are only used to illustrate the required spaces When entering an actual call use real spaces not the underline W6XYZ_A DV 1 2 GHz voice repeater Port A W6XYZ_A DD 1 2 GHz high speed data repeater Port A W6XYZ__B DV 440 MHz band data voice repeater Port
45. ming Software csscsseeseeseeeeesceneeeeeees 68 Icom s RS 91 and RS 92 Programming Software sseseee 68 D STAR Operation Using the RS 92 Software 71 Chapter 8 DV Mode Slow speed Data cscsssssecsenereesenees 75 D STAR Oriented Data Communication Software s008 76 Radio PC Configuration for Low speed data Operation 77 emi ean Seral Ps sa cscecccasegayiagcmcnendaccraadanceepaaeeed TT Automatic PTT Data Transmission Selection c ccsseeeees 78 Disabling GPS Mode Transmission scsersesosenssssesectsonensonsess 79 d Chat Application Installation and Setup cccsecseseeseeeeeeees 80 GE THE Programi CATACH cin a ae ART 83 D RATS Application Installation and Setup scseseeeeeees 85 D RATS Program Operation os ceccssonvecevssravebseviovesasibintanensovsnasntusaps 87 Configuring and Sending D RATS QST Messages 00 89 Transferring Files with D RATS i iine 90 Page iv File Transfer Problems ccccsssccsssssssccsssesssssscccssessscessesseees 9 Using and Creating D RATS Forms ccccseeseeseesseeeeeeeeeeeeees 92 Dtations dad Sessions TADS uussa E N RA 93 Otber D RATS Capabilities assress erisroriesroesprrsnereritiroraseasnoap osrin 93 Chapter 9 DV Dongle D STAR Adaptel ccsssssccesssereees 95 Computer System Requirements sossarnas 96 Installing the DV Dongle Software on Your Computer
46. n the IC 91AD and IC 92AD 1 Starting with the DV operating mode selected and a D STAR repeater frequency being displayed on the screen 2 Press 0 CQ until you hear a beep then release Setting UrCall field to CQCQCQ on the IC 2820 1 Starting with the DV operating mode selected 2 Ifnecessary press F twice to access the DV mode function keys CS CD CQ R gt CS etc 3 Press CQ to set the UR field to CQCQCQ To set CQCQCQ on other radios refer to the Icom user manual for your radio Page 21 One touch Reply The one touch feature available on newer model Icom transceivers that have the RX CS key is a handy way of responding to a call As calls are received they are automatically stored in the Call History memory and are available for use by the one touch feature Pressing the RX CS key sets the radio to respond to the most recent called received However if another called is received after the one you want to respond to you will need to select the desired call from the Received Call History memory as shown in step 3 below Be aware that if the repeater produces a transmission after the desired call was received one touch may copy the repeater s gateway call sign to the UrCall field If so skip step 2 and use step 3 to select the desired call Using One touch on the IC 91AD and IC92AD l First make sure that your own call sign has been set into the MY call field and that RPT1 and RPT2 are se
47. ndows is a two step process bringing up the Found New Hardware Wizard two times Make sure you complete both installs After installing the USB driver you can download the DV Tool software application to a suitable place on your computer The web site instructions suggest you download and extract the files to your desktop Preferring not to do that I downloaded them to a DVTool sub folder I created in my Program Files directory which is where I keep all my other applications After extracting the files by unzipping them to whatever location you prefer the application is started by double clicking or opening the DVTool jar file found in the DVTools folder Rather than having to open the folder whenever you want to run the program you might want to put a shortcut to the program on your desktop or in the PC s START menu On Windows to place a short cut on the desktop right click on the DVTool jar file and select Send to Desktop from the pull down window that pops up To insert a shortcut into the START All Programs menu drag the DVTool jar file to the START button wait until the All Programs option shows and then drop place the shortcut where you want it to appear in the list of programs Selecting the DV Tool COM port and Audio Devices On the DV Dongle home web page select the Using the DV Dongle tab to access the operating instructions Before starting the DVTool program make sure the DV dongle is plugged in Upon starting the
48. need to do is click on the Option pull down menu and select the PC COM port that you will be using The program will read the radio s current settings which takes a second or two then the virtual screen will display the same information that is being displayed on the radio s screen While the computer is reading the balance of your radio s settings called synchronizing the button near the top of the display will be red synchronization is complete when it turns black DUAL BAND TRANSCEIVER To examine or edit the radio s memory wait for the synchronization to complete C button turns black and click on the View pull down and select Edit Memory Channel and the Memory CH screen pops up At the left side of the screen a series of folders and sub folders are displayed in typical Windows format These folders contain all of the memories setup menus and other parameters that can be programmed on the radio Page 69 The frequency memory channels are partitioned into two folders A Band and B Band within these two folders the memory channels are displayed in 100 channel increments Only the B Band can be used for DV mode operation The two screenshots below shows a selection of memories from the first group of memories in the B Band ALL folder These screenshots are segments of a wider display as seen on a PC E Memory CH 5 00000 12 5k _DV_ D 108 0 60000 k DV DI gt DI0B k DV DIDS
49. ng on an older 1 GHz system and performance was unsatisfactory Operation on my Intel Dual Core 1 6 GHz laptop was quite usable with infrequent overruns In addition to a fast computer you also need a high speed Internet connection Dial ups will not work The Internet service that comes bundled with my cable TV subscription worked fine If you don t already have one you will need a headset and microphone that is compatible with the audio jacks on your computer typically 3 5mm 1 8 audio jacks There are a lot of inferior quality headset mic products being sold for the mass consumer PC market for optimum voice reception and transmission you will want to get a higher quality unit Most of the cheap units have small ear cuffs that don t block out ambient noise and quickly become uncomfortable to wear Installing the DV Dongle Software on Your Computer After purchasing a Dongle the latest version of the DV Tool software is downloaded from the DV Dongle web page http dvdongle com DV_Dongle Home html Clicking on the Installation tab accesses installation instructions and sample screen shots Instructions and different software downloads are provided for the Microsoft Windows Mac OS X Leopard and Linux operating systems Page 96 Note that on Windows systems inserting the Dongle will bring up the Found New Hardware Wizard to assist you with installing the required USB drivers Installation of USB Drivers on Microsoft Wi
50. o keyboard communication with a friend or two D RATS on the other hand while still capable of keyboard to keyboard communication sports a much more extensive list of features such as file transfers GPS position reporting and mapping message filtering email reception and forwarding and even a method for creating and using forms Several premade forms can be used for sending eMail radiograms and other purposes Also included are several sample forms for supporting EMCOMM incident communications Existing forms can be edited to suit your purposes or you can create your own D RATS is a multi platform application that can run on Windows Linux UNIX and MacOS X operating systems Page 76 Radio PC Configuration for Low speed data Operation Setup for low speed data operation is relatively simple Other than configuring the PC communication software application that will be used there are three things to be concerned about on the radio e Serial port settings e Selection of Automatic or PTT triggered data transmission e Disabling GPS transmission Configuring Serial Ports The serial port data rate for some Icom transceivers is fixed for others it can be set via a setup menu This chart identifies serial port data rate setting capability by radio model Model Data Rate to Set ic 2820_ 9600 bps na IC 92AD_ 384kbps na IC 31AD_ 384kbps na Ic viu82 na 9600bps IC 2200H_ na 600bps ID 80
51. ocols likely to be used in this fashion are very chatty and depend on a lot of back and forth handshaking to complete While you should be prepared for this the functionality should still be quite useful Further information can be found at http www d rats com wiki TcpForwarding D RATS Repeater Operation D RATS also has a repeater program which can be used as a repeater with multiple radios or as a network proxy instead of or in addition to the repeater function Further information can be found at http www d rats com wiki Repeater Connecting D RATS to a DPRS Interface Two separate pieces of software D RATS and DPRS Interface developed by Pete Loveall AESPL can be configured to operate simultaneously across a D STAR radio s low speed DV channel DPRS Interface is designed to pass GPS A DPRS messages received from a D STAR radio s low speed DV channel and pass them on to the APRS IS network where it is combined with APRS and DPRS traffic world wide As many internet connected D STAR repeaters already have an operational DPRS gt APRS IS interface the D RATS interface is only intended for use in cases where that connectivity is not available Further information can be found at http www d rats com wiki DPRS Interface Page 94 Chapter 9 DV Dongle D STAR Adapter Besides being a solution for hams that don t have local access to a gateway equipped D STAR repeater the DV Dongle is fantastic for quickly and easily c
52. of interest Ratflector As described on the D RATS web page http d rats danplanet com wiki Ratflector the Ratflector is available for testing and asking questions of users that may be connected Accessed via the Internet the Ratflector is a non RF connection that allows you to test and experiment with the various D RATS modes of operation Instead of routing data out a COM port to the radio it is sent over the Internet You can do just about everything that you would normally do over the air but in this case the data packets are transferred via the Internet Using the Ratflector you could exchange data with a friend or use two computers side by side to simulate two stations intercommunicating Page 93 Internet email D RATS can be used to send and receive email to and from the Internet A D RATS station can be set up as an email server so that stations without a direct Internet connection can still receive and send email messages Emails are created and retrieved via the D RATS Form Manager Further information can be found on the D RATS web page http www d rats com wiki InternetEmail TCP Forwarding From the D RATS web page D RATS has generic TCP forwarding support This means you can pipe some TCP traffic across the radio to a remote station This may be useful for bridging SMTP traffic to a remote location or for doing POP3 for remote mailbox access In it s native form this will be rather slow given that most of the prot
53. ommunication protocol in exacting detail and are the basis for how the system is designed These documents are primarily of interest to those designing D STAR compatible equipment or software If this bits and bytes stuff is all Greek to you don t worry a detailed understanding of the underlying voice and data transmission protocol is not essential for enjoying the benefits of D STAR operation It s really no different than driving modern automobiles using computers or accessing the Internet all of which rely on complex systems and do not necessitate our detailed understanding before being able to successfully operate them Repeater System Configuration As shown below a D STAR repeater system consists of one or more repeater modules that are interconnected via a repeater controller which also supports a connection to the Internet via a PC running a D STAR compatible gateway program under the LINUX operating system D STAR SYSTEM CONFIGURATION o i ID RP2D 1 2GHz Data repeater SEEDS F wen OOV UHF 440MHz digital voice repeater la ial ID RP2000V VHF 144MHz digital voice repeater Page 9 A repeater system can be configured with repeater modules supporting digital voice on the 144 MHz 440 MHz and 1 2 GHz bands A given installation may include any combination of the three voice modules Notice that if high speed digital data is to be supported a separate 1 2 GHz digita
54. on was broadcast in Japan I was the cause of several minutes of unintended interference on their repeater Not good This can happen when using any of the D STAR modes where you are either routed to or connected to a remote repeater or reflector Its important to remember to reconfigure your radio s UrCall field and if necessary also the RPT1 and RPT2 fields back to where they need to be to prevent interference on a remote repeater node Stay alert and don t let this happen to you Page 18 Call Sign Routing With Call Sign Routing also referred to as User Linking you can make a call to a specific ham without having to know what repeater system he is on Providing a ham has registered for gateway operation whenever he transmits on a gateway equipped system the D STAR gateway system s database is updated with the repeater system module he was last heard on When you make a directed call to a specific amateur s call sign the gateway system automatically routes your call to the repeater module where that station was last heard Call Sign Routing la O A pr Internet A 146 MHz Gat ro Repeater NN a Gateway w301 C UrCall W3XXX UrCall N6FN RPT1 KIGMGN B RPT1 W301 C RPT2 KISMGN G RPT2 W301 G MyCall NFN MyCall W3XXX In this example Call Sign Routing is being used by N6FN to locate and talk to W3XXX which happens to be on the W3OL__C module at the moment Notice that W3XXX has set his UrCall field to N6F
55. onnecting to gateways and reflectors all over the world It s especially suited for situations when you are out of town and want to get back in to your local repeater Developed by Robin Cutshaw AA4RC and Moe Wheatley AE4JY the DV Dongle provides an alternative method for participating in D STAR communications without using a radio Housed in a small semi transparent blue plastic enclosure the Dongle connects to your computer s USB port via a short interface cable Since world wide D STAR communications are facilitated by sending digitized voice packets over the Internet the only thing a PC needs to be able to participate in D STAR communications is some suitable software and a means of encoding and decoding D STAR s digital voice streams Taking advantage of a PC s high speed USB 2 0 data port circuitry inside the Dongle uses an AMBE digital voice CODEC to encode and decode voice data streams to the D STAR protocol Robin Cutshaw s DV Tool software than takes care of transporting these data streams back and forth over the Internet to remote gateways and reflectors Page 95 Computer System Requirements The DV Dongle application needs a relatively fast computer to run properly It s recommended that you have a 2 GHz or faster machine and turn off any compute intensive applications to prevent data overruns between your computer and the Dongle The Dongle s red LED flashes whenever overruns occur I first tried installi
56. ould definitely consider purchasing programming software for your radio Not only is it much easier to do you might be able to import programming files from others that can significantly simplify setting up your radio Another plus for programming software is that once you have your radio setup a copy of your radio s frequency memories and setup menus can be saved to your computer This can be a lifesaver should you need to reload your radio for any reason Besides the software itself an interface cable for connecting between the radio and your computer is required Most of the time a standard RS 232 PC serial port is used on the computer side However on the radio side the connector is often unique to the radio Frequently the required cable comes with the purchase of the programming software Icom s Programming Software Icom provides programming software frequently called cloning software for their radios The following list identifies the software packages used with Icom s D STAR radios Most of these come with a cable but some do not e I C 91AD RS 91 software e IC 92AD RS 92 e IC V82 CS V82 e IC 2820 CS 2820 e IC 2200 CS 2200 e IC D800 CS D800 Page 67 RT System s Programming Software RT Systems also provides radio programming software for radios of all types Their software kits generally come with the required cable Here are the RT part numbers for the software kits used with Icom s D STAR radios e I
57. ow users should set their radio to make a return call back to you is an interesting use for short status messaging I found several Japanese stations using this technique Their short status messages were formatted similar to this Set Ur to JP1 XXX and I ve seen others with the message Use One Touch Button Even if you don t use this technique yourself it s worth remembering if you hear a call and are unsure of how to call back They might be telling you via short messaging Programming DV Short Messages Programming messages into the radio is relatively straightforward I like using lower case characters to help make run together words or abbreviations understandable without having to insert a space For instance here is what I have programmed in one of my memories Bernie SanDiego NoCo This comes to exactly 20 characters and Page 57 would not have fit had I used spaces NoCo stands for North County and may not be obvious but SanDiego is quite understandable Unfortunately there is a drawback to using lower case characters Earlier radios such as the ID 800H IC V82 and perhaps others can only display upper case characters so a message received on those radios may not display as intended Programming and Transmitting Short Messages on the IC 91AD and IC 92AD Starting with the DV operating mode selected and a D STAR repeater frequency being displayed on the screen Press MENU which brings up the menu
58. program verify that the serial port showing in the DV Device window is correct If not select the correct one from the pull down list Page 97 FF Dy Too File Help DV Dongle Port Boot Version Firmware Version Audio Input SigmaTel Audio Audio Output parsi Audio i Next verify that the Audio Input and Output devices selected are the ones you want to use If unsure leave the default settings for now you can come back to this and try other settings while doing Audio Loopback testing Click on Open to establish communication with the DV Dongle hardware If all is well you should see the Device Name Boot Version Serial Number and Firmware Revision fields filled in as shown below If communication was not established you may have the wrong COM port selected Try a different setting DV Dongle ven E E J Remote Host Port Device Name DV Dongle Boot Version 1 04 Serial Number DV051578 Firmware Version 1 11 Audio input sigmatel Audio i x Audio Output SigmaTel Audio x Page 98 Setting the Headset and Microphone Audio Levels Open your computer system s Volume Control settings window usually accessed by right clicking on the speaker icon found in the system tray at the bottom right of the computer screen Before setting the record level you should first set the headset volume level for comfortable monitoring of other D STAR station s transmissions Once that is set you can then s
59. repeater system place a call back to your local repeater Then at least your local repeater system will immediately know what repeater you are on and if anyone calls you from there using Call Sign Routing their call will be forwarded to where you are at Of course if your friend is using CQCQCQ in the UrCall field when operating on your local home repeater you will not receive any calls directed to you unless he knows you are out of town and switches over to Call Sign Routing by entering your call sign into his UrCall field By the way if out of town what method do you use to call back to your home repeater system You have a couple of choices you could either use Call Sign Routing if you wanted to call a particular station or if you just wanted to check in with a general call on your home repeater you could use Repeater Node Routing When you are done talking with your friend you need to change your UrCall field back to CQCQCQ otherwise when making any further contacts even on your local repeater your voice will still be routed to and heard on the remote repeater where your friend was last operating Page 20 Setting the UrCall field back to CQCQCQ As we have seen its important to change your radio s UrCall call sign routing field back to CQCQCQ after setting it to something else for making calls to specific stations repeaters or sending linking commands as we will see in the next chapter Setting UrCall field to CQCQCQ o
60. rld APRS IS DPRS Information http www aprs is net operating information APRS IS activity APRS DPRS conversion software specifications and more Enabling GPS Position Reporting through D STAR http nj6n com dstar dprs translating Icom GPS data to be compatible with APRS Includes sample APRS radio setup guides Yahoo D STAR Forum Group http groups yahoo com group dstar_digital D STAR discussion group problem solving and other topics Page 103 Icom Tech Support Knowledge Base http www icomamerica com en support kb Default aspx Select the following pull downs for all D STAR articles Product Line Amateur Product Class D STAR Model General Balance of fields leave blank Press Search d Chat Communications Software Home Page http nj6n com dstar dstar_chat html Feature list software download installation instructions D RATS Communications Software Home Page http d rats com Feature list screenshots software download installation instructions user forum FAQs D StarCom Icom icf Radio File Conversion Utility http jwww d starcom com Program for converting Icom icf files from one radio type to another jFindu Home Page http www jfindu net Last heard lists D STAR Repeater and DPRS activity D STAR repeater locator map and more DV Dongle Home Page http dvdongle com DV_Dongle Home html Technical info Installation instructions Software screenshots FAQs DV Dongle Yahoo Support Group h
61. s handled by the transceiver and the gateway The PC s software only sees a stream of data bytes stripped of all packet header and routing information Since the entire data transport pathway as complex as it is appears no different than a cable to software applications existing terminal emulation or data transport programs can be used without modification Familiar programs such as Hyper Terminal found on Page 75 most PC s and ProComm a long time favorite for modem communication can readily be used The catch is that the user at the other end has to either use the same program or one that is at least compatible with the data that is being sent by the originating program D STAR Oriented Data Communication Software Of course hams are never satisfied with just making do with what is readily available Several have developed D STAR data communication software applications that seek to improve performance and capability beyond programs originally developed for old style modem communications While there are a number of D STAR data communication programs out there the two most popular seem to be d Chat and D RATS d Chat D STAR Chat is a simple to use Windows based keyboard to keyboard communication application Keyboard to keyboard communication on D STAR is somewhat similar to using RTTY or PSK31 except text data is transmitted a line at a time This is probably the program to use if you want to experiment with keyboard t
62. s that data to figure out which repeater your friend was last heard on and automatically routes your call to that repeater Call Sign Routing can be thought of as being similar to how a cell phone operates As you travel around the cell system knows where you are at and directs incoming calls to the cell tower nearest to your location D STAR works much the same way With Call Sign Routing after entering the call sign of the person you are trying to reach the D STAR system can automatically route your call to other repeaters even if they are on a different band or in a different city As a result no matter which repeater your friend might have switched to your call will be routed to where he was last heard This solves the problem of having to make calls on all the repeaters that your friend might frequent Page 7 D STAR s Bits and Bytes D STAR DV mode slow speed digital and voice transceivers produce an RF signal that is quite different than those produced by conventional FM transceivers The voice portion of the output signal is not FM modulated audio is directly converted to a digital data stream using a AMBE Audio Multi Band Encoder codec chip in turn the AMBE voice data is combined with other digital data to form a simultaneous composite voice and digital data stream which is then transmitted as a GMSK modulated signal Within the D STAR specification the exact format of this composite digital stream is defined as th
63. sage a Press ABC to select between lower and upper case b Press 1 to select between numbers and symbols c Rotate MAIN BAND to select characters d Use lt and gt keys to move entry position cursor e Press CLR to clear selected characters f Press CLR 1 sec to clear all characters after the cursor When message is complete press MAIN BAND to save it To exit the TX MESSAGE MEMORY screen and return to normal operation press BACK as required Transmitting Short Messages on the IC 2820 Starting with the DV operating mode selected Press F to access the function keys Press MSG to select the MESSAGE screen Rotate MAIN BAND to select TX MESSAGE screen then press MAIN BAND Rotate MAIN BAND to select the channel to be transmitted Ch01 CHO5 or select OFF to disable message transmission Press BACK as required to return to normal operation Note If enabled the message is transmitted every time you press PTT Page 59 Reviewing Short Messages Only the last message received can be viewed This can present a problem because it can be overwritten if another message happens to arrive before you have a chance to view the message Reviewing Received Short Messages on the IC 91AD and IC 92AD 1 Starting with the DV operating mode selected and a D STAR repeater frequency being displayed on the screen Press MENU which brings up the menu list Rotate DIAL or use 4
64. sion on the IC 91AD and IC 92AD 1 Starting with the DV operating mode selected and a D STAR repeater frequency being displayed on the screen Press MENU which brings up the menu list Rotate DIAL or use A to select DV SET MODE Press gt to the DV SET MODE menu Rotate DIAL or use A V to select GPS TX MODE On the IC 91AD select GPS MODE Press gt to the GPS TX Mode option setting screen Rotate DIAL or use A Y to select DISABLE or OFF Press MENU to exit and return to normal operation Page 79 Disabling GPS Transmission on the IC 2820 Starting with the DV operating mode selected Press F to access the function keys Press MENU to select the MENU screen Rotate MAIN BAND to select DV GPS screen then press MAIN BAND Rotate MAIN BAND to select GPS AUTO TX then press MAIN BAND Rotate MAIN BAND to select OFF Press BACK 3 times to exit and return to normal operation d Chat Application Installation and Setup d Chat written and maintained by Brian Roode NJ6N can be downloaded from his web page http nj6n com dstar dstar_chat html Installation is simple and straightforward following the instructions found on the web page I downloaded the program to my computer by clicking on the link in step 3 of his instructions which seemed like the simpler of several options presented The program downloaded is a zip file that you can extract to some convenient
65. t for Call Sign Routing from your local repeater Only use Step 2 or 3 After a call has been received press and hold the CALL RX CS key one second to set the Call Sign Routing Register to respond to the most recently received call Or if you want to select a call sign from a list of recently received call signs press and hold the CALL RX CS key and rotate DIAL to select the desired call sign record Recently received call signs stored in the Call History Memory are displayed at the bottom of the screen 4 Everything is now set press PTT to transmit Page 22 Using One touch on the IC 2820 1 First make sure that your own call sign has been set into the MY call field and that RPT1 and RPT2 are set for Call Sign Routing from your local repeater After a call has been received press F twice to access the DV mode function keys CS CD CQ R gt CS etc Only use Step 3 or 4 Press R gt CS key to set the Cail Sign Routing Register to respond to the most recently received call Or if you want to select a call sign from a list of recently received call signs press the CD key and rotate MAIN BAND to select the desired CALLER call sign from the RX CALL SIGN history memory Everything is now set press PTT to transmit Important After using the one touch feature to make a reply be sure to change your radio s UrCall field back to CQCQCQ Automatic Call Sign Update Prevention Icom s D STAR radios
66. t he is calling from Page 17 A receiving station in addition to hearing the transmitting station identify the repeater he is calling from can also examine the Received Call memory on his radio Refer to the Received Call History procedure in Chapter 4 for details on how to examine the Received Call memory When you are finished with your QSO on the remote repeater you need to change the UrCall field back to CQCQCQ otherwise when making any further contacts even on your local repeater your voice will still be routed to and heard on the remote repeater indicated in the UrCall field This is an easy mistake to make and I suppose everyone has done it at one time or another I supposedly know better but here is how easy it is to make a mistake Hearing Toshi JF1CXH a Japanese station calling on our local D STAR repeater I configured my radio for Node Routing back to his repeater by placing his local repeater call sign JPIYIQA into my radio s UrCall field So far so good and the QSO went fine The problem snuck in after my QSO with Toshi in Japan ended Just as I signed off with Toshi I was immediately called by another station on my local repeater Not thinking I returned his call and we chatted a bit about making contacts to Japan and a few other topics Only after finishing the follow on QSO did I remember that I had neglected to switch my UrCall field back to CQCQCQ The result was that my side of the follow on conversati
67. t started Page 1 Special Thanks To We wish to thank all those that helped in the creation of this book Special thanks to Icom who materially supported the project with technical help and generously allowed us to use the graphics from various Icom publications Ray Novak N9JA Icom s Amateur Radio Division Manager was especially helpful in providing contacts that were of assistance in completing the project Fred Varian WDSERD with Icom Technical Support not only answered my many questions but also reviewed a draft copy of this book We are also indebted to Cecil Casillas WD6FZA administrator and champion of the Southern California PAPA repeater system who supported the project by answering my questions and allowing me access to their excellent system of DSTAR repeaters Without their support I would have been unable to perform the testing and experimentation necessary to verify many of the DSTAR features and procedures presented in this book Several other PAPA system members were also supportive of my efforts Allen Klisky KB60YA answered questions and helped me run tests using digital mode operation with the d Chat and D RATS programs Ted Petrina W6SAT and Craig Davis KM6AW both took of their valuable time to review draft copies of the book providing me with corrections and suggestions Page 2 Chapter 1 D STAR Hams have a long history of applying digital technology to amateur radio communications Starting with RTTY
68. tems under the Radio heading can be left at their default settings Click on Save to save your settings and exit the Config screen Page 86 D RATS Program Operation Before running the program make sure the following items have been set on your radio If necessary refer to the sections earlier in this chapter for information on setting these parameters e Ifrequired for your radio set the radio s serial port settings e Select Automatic data transmission e Ifrequired for your radio disable GPS transmission You are now ready to receive and transmit messages Anything typed in the send box will be sent as an entire line either by clicking on the Send button or by pressing the Enter key on your computer Unlike PSK31 or other programs text is not sent character by character as you type it s sent a line at a time Sending text a line at a time improves throughput by dramatically reducing the number of packets sent over the D STAR network O de N6FN if you can copy this please reply Thanks testing XG de N6PN Testing data mode wit CQ CQ de NGFN iF you can copy this please reply Thanks L N6FN Testing data mode with D RATS If you wish to clear the upper messages window click on the View pull down menu and select Clear Even after clearing the upper message window you can retrieve older data by clicking on the View pull down menu and selecting Log for this tab Page 87 If you wish to pre format short m
69. ter e Manually editing the current Call Sign Routing Register e Copying from the UrCall Repeater and MyCall memory banks e Using the RX CS key one touch reply feature e Recalling a memory channel that has these parameters set Generally you would not want to be programming call signs whenever you wish to call someone And you certainly don t want to attempt programming call signs while driving The normal practice is to store in advance all call and repeater node combinations you expect to use into call sign memories within the transceiver Once your transceiver has been programmed it s a simple matter of recalling the correct call sequence from memory Local DSTAR repeater groups typically provide the information required for accessing your local repeaters In addition as we shall see in Chapter 6 there are several web based resources providing call sign information for D STAR systems all over the world Using D STAR Gateways One of the key features of D STAR is the ability to communicate with other D STAR systems over the Internet Indeed connecting repeater systems via gateways is one of the most powerful aspects of D STAR operation Most of the enhanced capabilities of D STAR repeater systems rely on their gateway connection Since so much can be done via the gateway system the creators of D STAR have implemented a worldwide gateway user registration system in order to prevent misuse of the resource Users must register
70. ter 4 Setting Up Call Sign Memories 00000 41 Call Sign Memes sscssissccescccasiniccnssctsacticccnncaceccnsasod tometer 41 Editing the Call Sign Routing Register ccccceseseesesesseeeeeeeees 42 Copying from UrCall Repeater and MyCall Memory Banks 43 Programming UrCall Repeater and MyCall Memory Banks 45 Programming Your Own Call Sig ssssssssscsssorissosssososssvsoscsacsrsssosss 47 Recalling Call Sign Fields from a Frequency Memory 064 48 Organizing D STAR Repeater Calling Modes in Memory 48 Received Call History ssssscssisecsceccsctestarsieseenincnnmiarcaancmanes 51 Examining Calls in the Received Call Memory cccccseeeseees 51 Copying Calls from the Received Call Memory cssessesseesees 54 Chapter 5 DV Short Text Messaging cccccsesessrecesseserenees 57 Programming DV Short Messages c sssssssessessscssesesssessssessees 57 Reviewing Short MSSASES cunnen A a NA 60 Chapter 6 Internet RESOuUrCesS ccccsssccscscssscsssssceseesscnses 61 D STAR Routing and Linking Calculator cccscescesseseseeseees 61 Operating the D STAR Calculator Program sccsceseseseeeneees 61 jFindu Repeater Locator and Last Heard Lists 0 cccsseseseeees 65 Chapter 7 Radio Programming Software ccssssseeee 67 Icom s Programming Software crecocsscss2cssasessercsasssecsesonss 67 RT System s Program
71. that the quality of the signal remains crystal clear until it is lost As long as the signal remains above a minimum threshold it can be decoded without degradation and will remain clear without the path noise or picket fencing weak signal artifacts common on traditional FM mode communications If the signal falls below the level required for decoding communication will drop out or become garbled sounding a bit like the R2D2 Star Wars character At first operating D STAR is a bit unnerving After years of using conventional FM repeaters its strange not to hear a squelch tail after releasing PTT D STAR repeaters drop the carrier almost immediately upon releasing PTT on the transceiver consequently the momentary squelch tail hiss that we are accustomed to is not there Being conditioned to delay transmission until after you hear a courtesy beep and then operating on a repeater without a beep can throw you off Even though D STAR repeaters don t broadcast courtesy beeps it s still important to pause before replying as it gives other stations a chance to break in Not to worry though after using D STAR a bit that strange feeling soon goes away being replace by the thrill of using this new mode of communication Interestingly in DV mode slow speed 1200 bps digital data can be transmitted at the same time and on the same frequency while you are engaged in a voice conversation Since both voice and data are being handled digitally t
72. to get to the gateway Next you select the D STAR call routing mode that will be used to route the call Finally the remote repeater module you want your signal to come out of is selected After all this information has been selected the calculator displays the settings you need to program into your radio for making the call This program really simplifies finding repeaters and programming the Call Sign Routing Register anybody can do it Operating the D STAR Calculator Program This program contains a full list of repeaters and reflectors that are available for use worldwide US repeaters are listed by state and city If you want to make a call to a foreign country a pull down list makes it easy to determine which repeaters are available by country province and city Page 61 In the sample screen shot below after I selected my local repeater using the Source Repeater pull down menu the program displayed a list of repeater modules that are available on the selected repeater In this case there was only one Source Module displayed so I selected it United States Califomia San Diego KIGKQU Gateway As shown above I then selected the D STAR routing linking Function that I wanted to use from a list of available functions The list includes all the routing and linking modes that were discussed in Chapters 1 and 2 plus one more High Speed Data In this example I selected Source Route as the mode of routing I wanted to use Page 62
73. ttp igroups yahoo com group DVDongle DV Dongle discussion and support RT System s Programming Software http iwww rtsystemsinc com index cfm RT System s home page Radio programming software and cables Page 104
74. u to save your settings to the PC and download files containing memories and configuration settings to the radio D STAR Operation Using the RS 92 Software One of the great benefits of using the RS 91 and RS 92 software is that you can actually operate the radio via screens on your PC This can be a whole new D STAR operating experience Page 71 While monitoring activity on a repeater received call signs and the caller s D STAR call sign routing parameters are dynamically displayed in the Received call record as calls are received These entries are the same ones that are found in the Received Call Sign History found on the radio but without having to go into the radio s menu system to see them Because the Received Call Record displayed on the PC shows all of a caller s data on a single line with multiple lines showing prior received calls its much more convenient than accessing the same data via the radio s keypad and small screen FONGL CQCQCO KI6KQUG K6DAF KI6KQU G 2 04 02 2009 18 50 13 fous CQCQACQ KI6KQUB 04 02 2009 18 50 07 WOSFZA KI6KQU G 04 02 2009 18 38 30 2820 CQCoCO KI6KQU amp 04 02 2009 18 37 49 ZIAD cececg KI6KQU G 04 02 2009 18 20 29 CRCC KI6KQU G 04 02 2009 15 20 00 KI6VFU KI6KQU G wefanfores me treter Likewise as seen below the short messages of stations being monitored are displayed as calls are received A big advantage of the RS 92 s Message Reception and Transmission window is that w
75. user to specify a specific repeater node as the destination for his transmission This can be used to place a call to a specific ham or perhaps as a way of announcing your presence or calling CQ on a distant repeater Using this method a user can either send his signal to a different port on the same repeater system or to any gateway connected repeater node in the world Repeater Node Routing 440 MHz AA i 146 MHz Repeater Repeater KIMGNB j Gateway NON lt Gateway ya c lal 1 f UrCall W301 C UrCall KISMGNB RPT1 KIGMGN B RPT1 W301 C RPT2 KISMGN G RPT2 W301 G MyCall N6FN MyCall W3XXX To use Repeater Node Routing a is placed in front of the destination repeater s call sign in the UrCall field The leading character lets the controller know you are making a call to a specific repeater node and that it s not the call sign of a person Note After N6FN made his call to the W3OI__C repeater W3XXX configured his radio using Node Routing to route his call back to N6FN s repeater KI6MGN_B The G suffix in the 8 character position of the RPT2 field indicates that the signal is to be routed to the gateway When someone answers a call made using Node Routing they must configure their radio to route their signal back to the repeater module that the source radio is using Therefore as is generally the case when using D STAR the calling station needs to identify which repeater and por
76. ws MacOS X and Linux operating systems Of the two options provided for Windows installation I took the simpler option and downloaded and installed the binary release version of the program which has everything needed for the installation packed into a single zip file Installation is simple and straightforward following the instructions found on the web page Unzip the download to a convenient location The program does not install itself into your computer s Start gt All Programs list instead it s started by accessing the folder you placed the program in and clicking on the d rats exe file For convenience you can save a short cut to the desktop or drag the d rats exe file to your Start gt All Programs list To setup the program start the application and on the D RATS main screen select File gt Main Settings which displays the Config screen Spron Message Z Enabled Onine DRAT Sigr off Message Z Enabled Going offine O RATS Units Imperial Show time in UTC C Enabled TCP Gateway Private defaut Enabled TCP Forwarding Outgoing Email Incoming Email Email Access Page 85 Under the Preferences section enter your Call Sign and Name When the Sign on and Sign off Message boxes are checked short messages are automatically transmitted indicating whenever you open and close the D RATS program Uncheck the boxes if you don t want these messages transmitted every time you start the pro
77. you are using Mount Palomar port B This brings up the second point to remember when making calls over the D STAR system After making a call monitor long enough for a responding station to make any radio changes necessary Since it is likely that the responding station was otherwise preoccupied it may take a few minutes for him to put down what he was doing change his radio settings and return your call Repeating your call once or twice don t get carried away here like calling CQ on HF may allow the station to make note of where you are at so he can make the required settings On repeaters with frequent traffic you may also want to hold transmission a sufficient amount of time to allow a receiving station to use his one touch reply key to copy your call sign information to his radio s D STAR call sign fields Remember he has to hear your call pick up his radio and then press the key If your call is too short by the time he is ready to press the key your signal may have been pushed down in the stack of calls in the Call History Memory Remember one touch retrieves the most recent call from the Call History Memory Page 25 Limiting Position Beaconing and Data Mode Operation Whenever multiple D STAR repeater nodes are linked together for group emergency or net operations via Multicast or the Dplus linking methods described in the next chapter automatic APRS DPRS GPS position beaconing should be turned off

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