Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Fooling the GPS firmware in an IC2820 to display position data without a GPS sig

[Daniel G. Thompson]

Now, if you just want the radio to think it knows where it's at, that
is fairly easy. Simply get any pic project board with a serial port on
it and set the port to whatever speed the data needs to be ( I forget
what the 2820 wants when you send in GPS strings to the back of
the radio) and have it send a formated "what appears" to be output
from a GPS. The biggest problem will be something that keeps close
enough time to not munge things up. Turn off the GPS in the 2820,
and I can't recall for sure if you have to feed the data into the back
or the front of the radio, but you can certainly feed it into one of those
ports.

If you are feeling very wealthy and have plenty of realestate, use
a computer to send the data string. A small app to send this information
for either Windows or Linux would not be all that hard to write.

Dan Thompson
d...@waycom.com

- Original Message - 
From: "Jim Kvochick" 
To: 
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2010 10:24 AM
Subject: RE: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Fooling the GPS firmware in an IC2820 to 
display position data without a GPS sig


> Sadly, the radio is buried in a reinforced concrete bunker, and we have
> limited feedline access to the outside world.  This makes using the GPS
> antenna "not attractive".
>
> Thanks for the comments!
>
> Jim WB8AZP
>
>

RE: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Fooling the GPS firmware in an IC2820 to display position data without a GPS sig

[Brian Mury]

Ed,

You sure about that? I'm skeptical. If I turn off the GPS, I can't even
access the 2820's internal GPS functions (the third menu page is not
accessible, so I can't access the position displays at all).
Furthermore, sending NMEA data to the serial port sends it out over the
air regardless of whether the GPS is turned on or off. 

Have you actually tried this and got it to work? I just did (including
sending NMEA data to the radio via the serial port), and it does not
work. It's possible I am missing something.

Brian


On Sat, 2010-02-20 at 22:03 +, Woodrick, Ed wrote:
>   
> Brian,
> 
>  
> 
> The IC-2820 has a serial input just like the ID-800 or ID-880. If you
> want to send data in this port, all you need to do is to turn off the
> internal GPS and the port is available EXACTLY as if it was a ID-880.
> So by just faking the GPS serial stream, you can make the internal
> distance and direction functions come to life.
> 
>  
> 
> Although personally I would think that it would be infinitely more
> useful if D-RATS were used and then all of the position reports would
> be presented on an easy to see screen, as opposed to the harder to see
> screen of the IC-2820 which switches when you talk.
> 
>  
> 
> Ed WA4YIH
> 
>  
> 
> From: dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:dstar_digi...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Brian Mury
> Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2010 2:59 PM
> To: dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Fooling the GPS firmware in an IC2820 to
> display position data without a GPS sig
> 
> 
>  
> 
>   
> 
> I disagree with all the other posters who said this is possible and
> easy.
> 
> This would be easy with an ID-800 or ID-880; they do not have an
> internal GPS, and rely on a serial NMEA feed from an external GPS. The
> IC-2820 has a GPS inside the radio (on the UT-123 D-STAR board). What
> you plug in is not an external GPS - it is just a GPS antenna. What
> you
> want to do would require either simulating the RF transmission from
> several GPS satellites, or injecting the feed into an appropriate
> place
> inside the radio (assuming it uses serial NMEA internally - I don't
> know
> if it does).
> 
> If you want to send and receive position reports via a computer, then
> this is simple and can already be done, but it sounds like you want to
> use the radio's GPS features, which is a different matter.
> 
> 73,
> Brian
> VE7NGR
> 
> On Fri, 2010-02-19 at 16:09 +, jkvochick wrote:
> > 
> > I have a 2820 installed in a place where receiving a GPS signal
> would
> > be very, very, difficult.
> > 
> > Sadly, without receiving a valid GPS signature, some of the other
> cool
> > features, like distance to station doesn't work.
> > 
> > Since this radio is installed in a fixed location, I was wondering
> if
> > you could inject an appropriate rs232 signal from say an Arduino
> > microprocessor board, so that the internal units believed they had
> > valid psiiton data?
> > 
> > Jim WB8AZP
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> 

RE: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Fooling the GPS firmware in an IC2820 to display position data without a GPS sig

[Woodrick, Ed]

Brian,

The IC-2820 has a serial input just like the ID-800 or ID-880. If you want to 
send data in this port, all you need to do is to turn off the internal GPS and 
the port is available EXACTLY as if it was a ID-880. So by just faking the GPS 
serial stream, you can make the internal distance and direction functions come 
to life.

Although personally I would think that it would be infinitely more useful if 
D-RATS were used and then all of the position reports would be presented on an 
easy to see screen, as opposed to the harder to see screen of the IC-2820 which 
switches when you talk.

Ed WA4YIH

From: dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com [mailto:dstar_digi...@yahoogroups.com] On 
Behalf Of Brian Mury
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2010 2:59 PM
To: dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Fooling the GPS firmware in an IC2820 to display 
position data without a GPS sig



I disagree with all the other posters who said this is possible and
easy.

This would be easy with an ID-800 or ID-880; they do not have an
internal GPS, and rely on a serial NMEA feed from an external GPS. The
IC-2820 has a GPS inside the radio (on the UT-123 D-STAR board). What
you plug in is not an external GPS - it is just a GPS antenna. What you
want to do would require either simulating the RF transmission from
several GPS satellites, or injecting the feed into an appropriate place
inside the radio (assuming it uses serial NMEA internally - I don't know
if it does).

If you want to send and receive position reports via a computer, then
this is simple and can already be done, but it sounds like you want to
use the radio's GPS features, which is a different matter.

73,
Brian
VE7NGR

On Fri, 2010-02-19 at 16:09 +, jkvochick wrote:
>
> I have a 2820 installed in a place where receiving a GPS signal would
> be very, very, difficult.
>
> Sadly, without receiving a valid GPS signature, some of the other cool
> features, like distance to station doesn't work.
>
> Since this radio is installed in a fixed location, I was wondering if
> you could inject an appropriate rs232 signal from say an Arduino
> microprocessor board, so that the internal units believed they had
> valid psiiton data?
>
> Jim WB8AZP
>
>
>
>
>

RE: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: Position Reports

[Woodrick, Ed]

Let's talk apples to apples here. EVERY D-STAR radio will do APRS, just like 
EVERY FM radio will do APRS. All you need to do is to hook a TNC or Tracker up 
to it.

What becomes the details is that some FM radios are setup to automatically 
switch frequencies when they get a transmission request from a connected TNC. I 
don't believe that any D-STAR radio (except maybe the IC-2820) will do this.

And if you want to dedicate a D-STAR radio to doing just APRS, that works quite 
well, although there are definitely cheaper ways to do it.

Again, ALL D-STAR radios will do APRS.

And you are indeed somewhat correct that D-STAR doesn't do APRS like APRS does. 
With D-STAR DPRS, we don't have to dedicated repeaters or radios to provide 
position reports.  We can do that on our normal repeaters. And when we're 
talking about beaconing, I believe that most people would agree with me in that 
beaconing at an interval of less than an hour can be irritating (if there's 6 
people beaconing every hour, that's 1 beacon every 5 minutes). But beaconing 
once every 12 hours probably isn't a real irritation to most repeater users.
So DPRS isn't that great for watching every mile that a vehicle travels, but 
when the family wants to know what part of the country you are in, it does do a 
respectable job.


Ed WA4YIH

From: dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com [mailto:dstar_digi...@yahoogroups.com] On 
Behalf Of n1...@snet.net
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2010 1:38 PM
To: dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: Position Reports




First, thank you Mr. King for your service.

I disagree that the D-Star radio can replace the radios they have just because 
it does FM. It seems to me that they are using APRS extensively to allow loved 
ones to track them as they travel around.

While the D-Star radio will provide location while working a D-Star repeater, 
it won't when not on a D-Star repeater. Further, there will only be locations 
recorded when they key the radio.

This would require "kerchunking" if they wished to have a continuous stream of 
tracking data. Bad form, and it requires continuous D-Star coverage.

While D-Star has it's qualities, vehicle tracking is not one of it's strong 
suits.

Now, if there was a radio that did D-Star AND APRS, that would be nice, but it 
seems that ICOM may be concentrating on D-Star and getting away from APRS. I 
would love to be wrong about that though.

--- In dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com, 
Jack mailto:jack.mrfixit...@...>> wrote:
>
> Rex and Vickie, Please remember that the Dstar radios also do FM as well as 
> Dstar so if you were to purchase them they can replace the radios you have.
> Also know that the programming of them does intimidate some people but do not 
> let that stop you as there are lots of people on here that can and will help 
> you to get them set up they can also be programmed from a computer this makes 
> it very easy and convent(plug in a cable and upload the file to the radio and 
> it is programmed) I use the software and cable from 
> www.rtsystemsinc.com and they work very well I 
> have the software that allows me to program all of the different radios I 
> have and use ONE file so all the radios can have the same info in the same 
> channel slots.
>
> N6UYB/4
> Jack E. Foster
>

Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Fooling the GPS firmware in an IC2820 to display position data without a GPS sig

[Brian Mury]

I disagree with all the other posters who said this is possible and
easy.

This would be easy with an ID-800 or ID-880; they do not have an
internal GPS, and rely on a serial NMEA feed from an external GPS. The
IC-2820 has a GPS inside the radio (on the UT-123 D-STAR board). What
you plug in is not an external GPS - it is just a GPS antenna. What you
want to do would require either simulating the RF transmission from
several GPS satellites, or injecting the feed into an appropriate place
inside the radio (assuming it uses serial NMEA internally - I don't know
if it does).

If you want to send and receive position reports via a computer, then
this is simple and can already be done, but it sounds like you want to
use the radio's GPS features, which is a different matter.

73,
Brian
VE7NGR

On Fri, 2010-02-19 at 16:09 +, jkvochick wrote:
>   
> I have a 2820 installed in a place where receiving a GPS signal would
> be very, very, difficult.
> 
> Sadly, without receiving a valid GPS signature, some of the other cool
> features, like distance to station doesn't work.
> 
> Since this radio is installed in a fixed location, I was wondering if
> you could inject an appropriate rs232 signal from say an Arduino
> microprocessor board, so that the internal units believed they had
> valid psiiton data?
> 
> Jim WB8AZP
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Fooling the GPS firmware in an IC2820 to display position data without a GPS sig

[Daniel G. Thompson]

Jim,

There is something up that isn't being said here. I have never seen
a GPS that did not require an antenna. It may be external or in most
cases nowdays built right into the unit itself. Any way that you look
at this you have an antenna that needs to see the sky, and you have
to have a serial cable of some sort coming back to the radio to feed
it with data from the GPS. What difference does it make if that is a
serial cable or an antenna wire? Now, if you are thinking about using
something like a bluetooth enabled gps externally to "cut the wire"
now you have a legitimate question. There are some other problems
with this, (like the third harmonic of the UHF band and a radio system
with no frontend ie: bluetooth).

Dan Thompson
d...@waycom.com

- Original Message - 
From: "Jim Kvochick" 
To: 
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2010 10:24 AM
Subject: RE: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Fooling the GPS firmware in an IC2820 to 
display position data without a GPS sig


> Sadly, the radio is buried in a reinforced concrete bunker, and we have
> limited feedline access to the outside world.  This makes using the GPS
> antenna "not attractive".
>
> Thanks for the comments!
>
> Jim WB8AZP
>
>
> -Original Message-
> From: dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com [mailto:dstar_digi...@yahoogroups.com]
> On Behalf Of Daniel G. Thompson
> Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 2:35 PM
> To: dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Fooling the GPS firmware in an IC2820 to
> display position data without a GPS sig
>
>
> Jim,
>
> If you can run a cable to the radio from a GPS why can't you run the 
> little
> tiny wire for the GPS antenna ??  The radio  comes (if you buy the DStar
> ready one) with a 20+ foot cable attached to the GPS antenna. So my 
> question
> is, if you can get a serial cable to the radio, why not just make the the
> cable the gps antenna cable so that you can use the features?
>
> Dan Thompson
> d...@waycom.com
>
> - Original Message -
> From: "jkvochick" 
> To: 
> Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 11:09 AM
> Subject: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Fooling the GPS firmware in an IC2820 to display
> position data without a GPS sig
>
>
>>I have a 2820 installed in a place where receiving a GPS signal would
>>be very, very, difficult.
>>
>> Sadly, without receiving a valid GPS signature, some of the other cool
>> features, like distance to station doesn't work.
>>
>> Since this radio is installed in a fixed location, I was wondering if
>> you could inject an appropriate rs232 signal from say an Arduino
>> microprocessor board, so that the internal units believed they had
>> valid psiiton data?
>>
>> Jim WB8AZP
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 
>>
>> Please TRIM your replies or set your email program not to include the
>> original  message in reply unless needed for clarity.  ThanksYahoo!
>> Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> 
>
> Please TRIM your replies or set your email program not to include the
> original  message in reply unless needed for clarity.  ThanksYahoo! Groups
> Links
>
>
>
>
>
> 
>
> Please TRIM your replies or set your email program not to include the 
> original  message in reply unless needed for clarity.  ThanksYahoo! Groups 
> Links
>
>
>
> 

[DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: Position Reports

[n1...@snet.net]

First, thank you Mr. King for your service.

I disagree that the D-Star radio can replace the radios they have just because 
it does FM.  It seems to me that they are using APRS extensively to allow loved 
ones to track them as they travel around.

While the D-Star radio will provide location while working a D-Star repeater, 
it won't when not on a D-Star repeater.  Further, there will only be locations 
recorded when they key the radio.

This would require "kerchunking" if they wished to have a continuous stream of 
tracking data.  Bad form, and it requires continuous D-Star coverage.

While D-Star has it's qualities, vehicle tracking is not one of it's strong 
suits.

Now, if there was a radio that did D-Star AND APRS, that would be nice, but it 
seems that ICOM may be concentrating on D-Star and getting away from APRS.  I 
would love to be wrong about that though.

--- In dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com, Jack  wrote:
>
> Rex and Vickie, Please remember that the Dstar radios also do FM as well as 
> Dstar so if you were to purchase them they can replace the radios you have.
> Also know that the programming of them does intimidate some people but do not 
> let that stop you as there are lots of people on here that can and will help 
> you to get them set up they can also be programmed from a computer this makes 
> it very easy and convent(plug in a cable and upload the file to the radio and 
> it is programmed) I use the software and cable from www.rtsystemsinc.com and 
> they work very well I have the software that allows me to program all of the 
> different radios I have and use ONE file so all the radios can have the same 
> info in the same channel slots.
> 
> N6UYB/4
> Jack E. Foster
>

[DSTAR_DIGITAL] ARRL/TAPR 2009 Digital Conference DVDs Now Available

[Gary Pearce KN4AQ]

ARVN has released a new 6-DVD set of videos from the ARRL and TAPR 2009 
Digital Communications Conference, held last September near Chicago.


This year's conference didn't have as much D-STAR info as the 2008 DCC did. 
Tom Azlin N4ZPT has a presentation on using the DD mode and ID1's at the 
Marine Corps Marathon, and John Ronan EI7IG has been experimenting with 
what he calls "Delay and Disruption Tolerant Networking in AX.25 and DSTAR 
Networks."


Other topics presented include: equipment design and construction, Software 
Designed Radio, AMSAT/ARISSat, packet, advanced APRS, and Digital ATV. It's 
all interesting, but I found the Digital ATV presentations to be 
particularly new and intriguing.


The six DVDs are organized around common topics. Each DVD has several 
presentations, and most presentations run about 45 minutes (good for club 
meeting programs, if your club leans a bit technical).


You can buy individual DVDs covering the area you're interested in for $15 
each (+ $3 shipping), or the whole set for $75 (but still just $3 
shipping).  The DVDs are produced in NTSC standard definition video.


And a reminder that DVDS of the D-STAR presentations at the 2008 and 2009 
Dayton Hamventions are also available. If you find yourself hungry for more 
D-STAR information, these DVDs should help fill you up (or at least keep 
you busy for a day).


Free previews, details and ordering at:  www.ARVideoNews.com.

73,
Gary KN4AQ

ARVN: Amateur Radio//Video News
Gary Pearce KN4AQ
508 Spencer Crest Ct.
Cary, NC 27513
kn...@arvideonews.com
919-380-9944
www.ARVideoNews.com  

RE: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Position Reports - Learning about D-STAR

[Gary Pearce KN4AQ]

At 08:25 AM 2/20/2010, E.A. King III W5EAK wrote:
...We are leaning toward the D Star, but need to wait until there are 
repeaters in our area before spending the bucks.


73,
Rex W5EAK, Vicki K5VLK


Hi, Rex and Vicki,

There is a relatively inexpensive ($200) "entry" to D-STAR from outside a 
D-STAR repeater area - the DVDongle (www.DVDongle.com). It's a little USB 
plug-in to your computer that lets you listen and talk through D-STAR 
repeaters via the Internet (more than half the D-STAR repeaters on the air 
today have an Internet connection). If you're familiar with Echolink, it's 
a similar concept, except it costs $200 and only works through D-STAR 
repeaters.  It's been very popular, and if you end up getting deeper into 
D-STAR, it will continue to serve you well when traveling.


I also invite you to visit my web site (www.arvideonews.com) for lots of 
D-STAR information.  I have a video (Digital Voice for Amateur Radio, $20 
DVD) that provides a good introduction to D-STAR, though it does not go 
into depth on the GPS aspect, and several other related videos from 
conferences and seminars.


And yes, Georgia is building out an extensive D-STAR network. It will 
eventually have nearly statewide coverage, though I'm sure there will be a 
dead spot here and there. And while it is going to be a few years before 
most repeaters have a strong local user community, the ability to connect 
the repeaters to "reflectors" (servers that link multiple repeaters 
worldwide) means that you can have lots of activity anywhere and anytime 
you want.


73,
Gary KN4AQ

ARVN: Amateur Radio//Video News
Gary Pearce KN4AQ
508 Spencer Crest Ct.
Cary, NC 27513
kn...@arvideonews.com
919-380-9944
www.ARVideoNews.com  

Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Position Reports

[Jack]

Rex and Vickie, Please remember that the Dstar radios also do FM as well as 
Dstar so if you were to purchase them they can replace the radios you have.
Also know that the programming of them does intimidate some people but do not 
let that stop you as there are lots of people on here that can and will help 
you to get them set up they can also be programmed from a computer this makes 
it very easy and convent(plug in a cable and upload the file to the radio and 
it is programmed) I use the software and cable from www.rtsystemsinc.com and 
they work very well I have the software that allows me to program all of the 
different radios I have and use ONE file so all the radios can have the same 
info in the same channel slots.

N6UYB/4
Jack E. Foster

RE: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Fooling the GPS firmware in an IC2820 to display position data without a GPS sig

[Jim Kvochick]

Sadly, the radio is buried in a reinforced concrete bunker, and we have
limited feedline access to the outside world.  This makes using the GPS
antenna "not attractive".

Thanks for the comments!

Jim WB8AZP
 

-Original Message-
From: dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com [mailto:dstar_digi...@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Daniel G. Thompson
Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 2:35 PM
To: dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Fooling the GPS firmware in an IC2820 to
display position data without a GPS sig


Jim,

If you can run a cable to the radio from a GPS why can't you run the little
tiny wire for the GPS antenna ??  The radio  comes (if you buy the DStar
ready one) with a 20+ foot cable attached to the GPS antenna. So my question
is, if you can get a serial cable to the radio, why not just make the the
cable the gps antenna cable so that you can use the features?

Dan Thompson
d...@waycom.com

- Original Message -
From: "jkvochick" 
To: 
Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 11:09 AM
Subject: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Fooling the GPS firmware in an IC2820 to display
position data without a GPS sig


>I have a 2820 installed in a place where receiving a GPS signal would 
>be very, very, difficult.
>
> Sadly, without receiving a valid GPS signature, some of the other cool 
> features, like distance to station doesn't work.
>
> Since this radio is installed in a fixed location, I was wondering if 
> you could inject an appropriate rs232 signal from say an Arduino 
> microprocessor board, so that the internal units believed they had 
> valid psiiton data?
>
> Jim WB8AZP
>
>
>
>
> 
>
> Please TRIM your replies or set your email program not to include the 
> original  message in reply unless needed for clarity.  ThanksYahoo! 
> Groups Links
>
>
>
> 





Please TRIM your replies or set your email program not to include the
original  message in reply unless needed for clarity.  ThanksYahoo! Groups
Links

Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Position Reports

[Francis Miele]

Rex,

There are 12 repeaters in Ga and 23 in Tx.

You can check here to see where they are located.
http://www.dstarusers.org/repeaters.php?repeatersort=5

Fran Signature

--

Fran, W1FJM







On Sat, Feb 20, 2010 at 8:25 AM, E.A. King III W5EAK  wrote:

>
>
> Thanks everyone for the education on D Star position reports.  We now have
> a better understanding on how the system works.
>
> We live in our motorcoach and not being in the best of health, we like
> having our kids and grandkids following us, as we travel.  Often they will
> call us if they don't see us moving. Hi Hi!  We appreciate their concern for
> us.  We are encouraging each of our 6 kids and 10 grandkids to get their
> ticket so they can communicate with us.
>
> Investing in D Star has become a difficult issue.  We have no repeaters in
> our area yet, but we're promised a state wide system in Georgia in the next
> year.  We are presently on an extended visit with 3 of our kids who live in
> Georgia, and plan to be here for a while longer.  Our home QTH is Texas, and
> I don't see hardly any D Star coverage there yet.  Of course we remember
> back when we thought hard about purchasing a Heath Kit Two Meter FM Rig,
> since all we had ever used was HF, and we didn't know if 2 Meter FM was
> going to be just a fad.
>
> We have HF, and a dual band with APRS in both the Motorcoach and our Tahoe
> (check out http://www.aprs.fi/db/W5EAK to see our equipment), and now we
> are looking at adding 2 more (expensive) radios.  You can understand why we
> want to gather as much information about the technology as we can before
> spending the money.  Besides, we are retired living on a pension, this does
> not allow us to spend lots of money for radios, especially for ones that may
> not work where we may be located.
>
> Thanks to each of you!  We really appreciate your assistance.  We are
> leaning toward the D Star, but need to wait until there are repeaters in our
> area before spending the bucks.
>
> 73,
> Rex
> W5EAK
> Vicki
> K5VLK
>
> 02 Tahoe: 
> http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=w5eak-9&radar=***
> 02 Monaco Windsor:
> http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=k5vlk-9&radar=***
>
>  
>

[DSTAR_DIGITAL] Icom software in redhat linux using Crossover

[Adrian]

Just a quick tip on getting a nice display on your RS-92 or ID-1
software running under Crossover (may also be applicable to wine).

The software looks for Microsoft Truetype fonts, and looks damn ugly if
it reverts to the native linux fonts available.

Solution is to install;

rpm -Uvh
http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/files/msttcore-fonts-2.0-3.noarch.rpm

Also the dosdevices folder will share a comport symlink with other
bottles, if you run other transceiver software as well, so try to avoid
having the same comport number in more than one bottle.

73

vk4tux

RE: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Position Reports

[E.A. King III W5EAK]

Thanks everyone for the education on D Star position reports.  We now have a 
better understanding on how the system works.  

We live in our motorcoach and not being in the best of health, we like having 
our kids and grandkids following us, as we travel.  Often they will call us if 
they don't see us moving. Hi Hi!  We appreciate their concern for us.  We are 
encouraging each of our 6 kids and 10 grandkids to get their ticket so they can 
communicate with us.

Investing in D Star has become a difficult issue.  We have no repeaters in our 
area yet, but we're promised a state wide system in Georgia in the next year.  
We are presently on an extended visit with 3 of our kids who live in Georgia, 
and plan to be here for a while longer.  Our home QTH is Texas, and I don't see 
hardly any D Star coverage there yet.  Of course we remember back when we 
thought hard about purchasing a Heath Kit Two Meter FM Rig, since all we had 
ever used was HF, and we didn't know if 2 Meter FM was going to be just a fad. 

We have HF, and a dual band with APRS in both the Motorcoach and our Tahoe 
(check out http://www.aprs.fi/db/W5EAK to see our equipment), and now we are 
looking at adding 2 more (expensive) radios.  You can understand why we want to 
gather as much information about the technology as we can before spending the 
money.  Besides, we are retired living on a pension, this does not allow us to 
spend lots of money for radios, especially for ones that may not work where we 
may be located.

Thanks to each of you!  We really appreciate your assistance.  We are leaning 
toward the D Star, but need to wait until there are repeaters in our area 
before spending the bucks.

73,
Rex
W5EAK
Vicki
K5VLK
02 Tahoe: http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=w5eak-9&radar=***
02 Monaco Windsor: http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=k5vlk-9&radar=***

RE: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Position Reports

[Evans F. Mitchell KD4EFM]

read the path it usually has an indication it is a dstar mobile/base
 
Dstar Repeaters have a Star with a D in it
Look for KJ4ACN for starts. That is the site I maintain in Florida
KJ4ACN-A, -B, -C are 23cm, 440, and 2m modules.
 
Just so you can see a little more then aprs.fi, go to the following site,
 
www.dstarusers.org
 
There you can even click and see the mobile it's self, the repeater site,
and do a qrz on the call.
 
Good question there, thanks for asking!
 
 
 

Evans F. Mitchell
KD4EFM / WQFK-894

 Fla. D-Star Tech Support Group
 http://www.florida-dstar.info  

 Polk ARES A.E.C.
 http://www.polkemcomm.org  

BB8330 PIN: 30965B58



 

  _  

From: dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com [mailto:dstar_digi...@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of E.A. King III W5EAK
Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 9:30 PM
To: dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Position Reports


  

Thanks for the answer!  At APRS.FI, is there a way to tell which contact is
a D Star Contact? 

73,
Rex
W5EAK
02 Tahoe: http://www.findu.

com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=w5eak-9&radar=***
02 Monaco Windsor: http://www.findu.

com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=k5vlk-9&radar=***

[DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: Position Reports

[n0...@ymail.com]

This is one line from the  aprs.fi website with my call:

ast path:   N0XIA>APDPRS via DSTAR*,qAR,KJ4MMC-C (good)

You can see "DPRS via DSTAR" so you know it is from a D-STAR gateway, which is 
the KJ4MMC repeater-gateway. The one thing I would like to mention is that DPRS 
is not like analog aprs. Aprs configured radios are beaconing all the time on a 
simplex frequency. DPRS is coming from the radio on a repeater-gateway 
connection that is also handling the voice part, so you cannot run a beacon. 
Digital users will only send coordinates when actually talking  on the radio. 
To enable the beacon has the potential to disrupt qso's in progress or to have 
fellow hams listen to their radios receiver opening and closing all the time 
when no one is talking (can be annoying). If you want to be seen all the time, 
you can still have a digital radio, but use the analog side of it on the aprs 
simplex frequency with a Tracker or similar device. I don't need to be seen all 
the time, so using PTT to send coordinates on my radio is good enough for me 
when I am actually talking.

73's

James, N0XIA

--- In dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com, "E.A. King III W5EAK"  wrote:
>
> Thanks for the answer!  At APRS.FI, is there a way to tell which contact is a 
> D Star Contact?
> 73,
> Rex
> W5EAK