[DSTAR_DIGITAL] Testing DSTAR Radios
Motorola developed Digital Coded Squelch (their Digital Private Line or DPL) in band subaudible selective squelch system. The idea was to allow more users share a radio channel and reduce co-channel interference from distant users. DPL used a 132 baud low speed data signal that was added to the voice frequency, and when receiving stations found a match in the code they were receiving and their own code, their loudspeaker opened. For the most part radios using Digital or Tone coded squelch were the same except the digital signal needed much better low frequency response to handle the components of the digital squelch wave form. Much like DSTAR, radio servicing stayed the same. Frequency generation and off frequency operation remained the same until synthesized radios came of being. Rf and IF amps were the same given the operating bandwidths involved. The only big difference was testing the squelch system. Much applies to a DSTAR radio. You can still send an FM audio signal into the receiver and recover the audio at the discriminator. You can still look at the SINAD up to the discriminator. You can key the transmitter, measure power, and look at the modulation waveforms and transmitter frequency deviation. And, sadly to say, if there is a problem in the radio, you will have to send it to a depot. Digital or analog, because much of the density of the circuitry and miniaturization of components don't allow for field repairs. I am sure there are some with microscopes and hot air work stations, but most hams will box and ship, as do most commercial users. Regardless of digital or analog. 73 de steve nu5d -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Digital code squelch
There is call sign squelch and digital coded squelch. Call sign unmutes an individual call sign, and digital coded squelch uses the 2 digit number only in dstar format (not at all like digital coded squelch used in PMR). Is is possible that you have call sign squelch set on one of the radios instead of digital code ? 73, de nu5d Michael Carey wrote: Hi Everybody, I've been trying to get digital code squelch working between my IC-2820H and IC-91AD radios without success. I've set the two digit code the same on both radios and have enabled CSQL in both radios but I cannot get either radio to respond to the transmission from the other. I am trying this out on a simplex frequency and also on a duplex pair of frequencies with the same lack of joy. I've done a quick search through this group and found a comment that this isn't a D-Star protocol function but something Icom has added. Is this correct? How is the two digit code transmitted in the DV stream? Has anyone got digital code squelch working... and does it pass via an Icom repeater with an active Dplus link to another? Regards, Michael. VK5ZEA
[DSTAR_DIGITAL] GMSK What and Why ?
http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/rf-technology-design/pm-phase-modulation/what-is-gmsk-gaussian-minimum-shift-keying-tutorial.php-- OR *http://tinyurl.com/lj9zk7 de nu5d *
[DSTAR_DIGITAL] The 1.2 Ghz DSTAR Repeater - long rambling post.
A couple of years ago I went about making our 1292.1 dstar repeater dual mode, that is dstar or fm voice depending on whether the receiver saw a CTCSS tone or not. The receive part was easy. Just tap the discriminator and bring the demodulated signal to a BNC jack on the front of the repeater. I could then hook an audio monitor to this jack (isolated with a 47K resistor) and listen to dstar data, or an fm tone, depending on what was applied to the receiver. The IF bandwidth is around 12.5 khz for narrow fm (deviation +/- 2.5 kHz) or dstar that is 26 thereabouts dB down @ +/- 3 kHz. from center. The 26 dB channel width is derived from amateur service rules in the US. Commercial and real world folks use around 60 dB to define the skirts for occupied bandwidth, but, that is a whole nutter line of discussion. Anyhow, with the demodulated signal in hand, it is easy to connect many different repeater controllers that use discriminator audio to derive squelch or COR and add a CTCSS decoder. It was also easy to make the repeater disconnect from the dstar controller when ctcss was detected and stay disconnected for a bit. The problem was component size in the transmitter. The ID1 contains emphasis, and deviation limiting circuitry that apply contoured audio to a varactor diode modulator in the transmitter. The 1.2 repeater does not have any of these components besides the varactor diode installed. There are pads, etc and even the AMBE chip is missing (hence no means to take dstar to AF in receive or AF to dstar in TX in a repeater). This makes the repeater only a pass through repeater with no decoded or encoded voice available as John Hayes mentioned in an earlier post. The ID1 has 2 different paths for signal to be applied to the varactor modulator, DSTAR and Voice that are switched depending on what mode is selected. I went ahead and added one very tiny capacitor (after removing sheilding around the varactor modulator and decided to QUIT ! I don't have the facilities to install such tiny components in such a dense circuit board and just plain got cold feet about ruining a working repeater. The point of this post and the link to GMSK is that the radio transmitter uses a varactor diode to directly modulate the frequency. The signal applied to this modulator, voice, modem tones, ttl data, or gmsk data will caused the frequency to shift up and down accordingly. The modulation scheme determines occupied bandwidth and GMSK is intended to help transport a digital signal in less bandwidth than other means. Hope this clears up any misunderstandings about GMSK and FM. 73 and Happy 4th of July in the US. de nu5d -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: more DV / FM questions
Looks like the thread is migrating from connecting a DSTAR radio to an FM radio or repeater, into building a non-Icom DSTAR repeater. It doesn't take much 'magic' to run dstar through a PMR or LMR here in the Colonies, radio. BUT, You loose the DSTAR ID packets and such generated by the repeater - remember you can key your radio and have the repeater automatically place it's call sign in your radio. You loose some of this function. Also you loose the front end of transmissions because of the time it takes for some PMR radios to start sending, unless you leave the TX turned on or buffer the data. I made a couple of UHF GE Phoenix SX PMR radios work as a repeater. I believe PY2JF used a Spectrum repeater with no mods and was able to pass dstar. Great to see some experimentation taking place. 73, steve nu5d Neil wrote: Hi Tony, I spoke to Andy SZM earlier, he was quite pleased that others were interested in modifying PMR gear,
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] IC-91AD group transgression
There is an open source work in progress by Dan Smith, KK7DS at http://chirp.danplanet.com/wiki/ Steve Glen wrote: I can't speak to the 91AD groups but we are in agreement on the icom programmiing software sucking! May I enquire on the link to the other programming software that you mention? 73 de W5EN Steve --- On Tue, 6/23/09, Kuby n6...@yahoo.com wrote: -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: Compression/encoding on data-only transmissions
Would POCSAG be useful in place of FEC for short data exchanges ? de nu5d Dan Smith wrote: So am I right in my understanding that a DStar 2m radio (such as IC-V82 + UT-118) will send (or can be made to send) unadulterated data over the voice+data channel? Yes*. The footnote being that you can't send any byte sequence. Since the radios use XON/XOFF flow control, those values are obviously out. Some of the radios use the data port for programming as well, so there are some escape sequences that you can't send. D-RATS uses yenc-style escaping to only avoid the specific banned values without having to encode the rest. -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: ID-800H Data Port
Only thing I can think of the stop TX would be Data PTT and Squelch or busy channel lockout. Since you are receiving it sounds like the cable is ok unless the tx data lead is broken. Puzzling. steve nu5d Keith Parker wrote: An UPdate to my post. I am receiving data in both D*Chat and D-Rats :-) Just no transmit yet. Thanks Keith AB8CL -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] I am looking for....
Would a remote spk / mic hookup and a 3 wire rs232 cable with 'RS91 Control' software let you remote the radio, control the radio via the control sw, and handle audio and ptt via the spk / mic? steve nu5d Mike VA3MW wrote: Hi Larry The dongle will be your only way to go sadly. -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] fs icom 2820
I will miss chatting with you Chris. Many folks on REF 5A can attest to Chris's radio transmit capability. 73 and all the best, Steve NU5D m0...@rocketmail.com wrote: for sale icom 2820 radio with dstar digitol board and gps £350 (pounds) only 3 months old but quite hi milage -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Which VOIP is going to win out?
IRLP and ECHOLINK take plain old FM repeaters and PCs with sound cards and convert analog signals from the analog FM repeaters for transport via the internet, and conversion back to analog voice for transmission through your local analog FM repeater. Some are loud, some are soft, some are bassy, some are tinny, all have some white noise and popping and crackle common to analog FM. DSTAR is digital from the time it leaves your radio until it reaches the receiving station. There is no back and forward conversion between digital and analog. Noise, popping, and static are replaced by loss of sync called r2d2. This is a huge distinction between dstar and other analog technologies. Also dstar takes up less real estate as far as spectrum efficiency goes. Add to this some regrettably oblique user rules and unfriendliness to users (much like an early pc running MS DOS). I don't know if there is a yardstick for other modes, but here are the current stats for dstar: http://www.dstarusers.org/dsm_growth.html Perhaps you know of a like site for IRLP or Echolink that you can post ? 73, steve nu5d ipscone wrote: I'm just getting back into amateur radio after may years of absence. I find the voip an interesting transport mechanism although I do understand the resistance with some ham operators... it's not really radio. Nevertheless, it's here and it's here to stay. -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] IC-91AD Programming question
Adam Karsin wrote: Hello everyone, This is with the RS-91 Programming Software. I was wondering 2 things, First, is there a way to export the data to Excel? 2 Ways come to mind. Dean Gibson's dstarcom.exe and Dan Smith's Chirp. Both let you save to a csv file that Excel or Open Office can work with. Be sure to set the text delimiter to comma without quotation marks. http://www.d-starcom.com/ is a command line application. Chirp is a work in progress - http://chirp.danplanet.com/wiki/ - There is a list server for Chirp. Contact Dan Smith dsm...@danplanet.com for more info. DSTARCOM will not work with the IC92. Chirp does and is intended to transport memories between radio models. And second, is there an easy way to copy the contents of A band to B band? Chirp lets you export either A or B to a csv file. From there you can copy and paste the applicable fields and move A to B as the fields allow. The B band has fields unique to DSTAR that are not used in the A Band. 73, Steve NU5D Or vice versa. Thanks and 73, Adam KG4WWH -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] New U.S. D-STAR map, Updated
Nice Map Greg, I can see that lots of work and time went into it. As DSTAR continues to grow, the next printing may have to be by call area... Thanks for the nice job and 73, Steve NU5D Greg Sarratt wrote: An updated D-STAR map is now available on the Alabama D-STAR web site showing United States repeater systems. There is a new printable PDF and JPG for your use. http://www.arrl-al.org/2009Dstar_031909b.pdf http://www.arrl-al.org/2009Dstar_031909b_800.jpg http://www.arrl-al.org/Alabama_link.htm Thanks to everyone that provided updates. 73, Greg Sarratt, W4OZK -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[DSTAR_DIGITAL] On Line Resource - US Electronic Code of Federal Regulations.
Of interest to radio amateurs in the US. A useful resource for current FCC rules for all services. The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfrtpl=%2Findex.tpl 73, Steve -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Obfuscation of Callsigns (Was: US Topic - Collecting and publishing information)
I probably wasn't very clear - no doubt other monikers in the call sign space would work and you could register them - it would be nice to translate back to the real call sign in the process or have some sort of xlation between moniker / alias and call sign. I don't recognize cryptic aliases, but I do recognize a call sign and relate that to a person. 73, steve Nate Duehr wrote: Easy Steve. check this out. The Gateway software currently allows just about anything in the callsign registration field. You'd have to set up another user, but I tried it. it works. I registered NATE as a callsign last night, and the system didn't care. = [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: New PDF on contacting JA Stations
RPT? is normal for a Dplus Linked call that tricks the gateway into thinking it is going nowhere. :-) steve Nate Duehr wrote: UR?:your repeater call - means call transmitted correctly RPT?:your gateway call - means remote busy or unknown RPT? can also mean you're not solid into your local repeater (callsigns got mangled). It's often the real source of the problem for weak HT users. Their transmission is good enough to be heard locally, but the callsigns in the header got dropped or mangled, and therefore the route to the far end can't work. Nate WY0X [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] D-Star to listen to reflectors or distant repeaters
Excellent info Debbie - might note that JA repeaters do not have Dplus and run G1 Icom Gateway software (at least this is what I have been told) - I understand there is a go between software application running to partially allow G1 and G2 to communicate. By partially, repeater routing is OK, but one touch does not work. Also in routing to a repeater, the 8th character is the band. In Japan, A is the first repeater constructed, and B is the second - not necessarily 23CM or 70CM. Also, the DPLUS Commands are here: http://www.opendstar.org/tools/readme.txt and one of the DSTAR Calculators is here: http://www.dstarinfo.com/Calculator/DSTAR%20Web%20Calculator.aspx 73, Steve Debbie Fligor wrote: I'm one of the newer gateway admins around, but I think I've got all this right, I'm sure someone will point out anything I got incorrect. On Mar 6, 2009, at 0:35, ipscone wrote: But how does one just listen to a distant repeater, or reflector. someone else posted a reference for the calculator that shows this. It lets you pick examples of what you might like to do and how to set up your radio to do them more clearly than I could do in text. -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Better Idea
Hi Evans, There are an A, B, and C repeater in Temple. How do you discern using the Dstar Calculator (which is a great tool) which of the 3 repeaters has the most or any activity ? There are a number of Gateway installations with 2 or 3 modules installed, and only one of the modules showing any activity. I am trying to program the memories in my radio to access repeaters where there is likely to be stations to answer. In some Gateways (only 2 or 3) all three modules have about equal activity. On the other hand there are Gateways with 3 repeaters installed, and all of the activity takes place on one of the three. This info is available using the jfindu link, but I was trying to avoid doing this for the several hundred Gateways with more than 1 module installed yet having activity only on one of the modules. Thank you for your interest and 73, steve nu5d (now off the Chapel) sb Evans Mitchell KD4EFM / AFA4TH FL / WQFK-894 wrote: Is that not what the D-Star Calculator is for that is on www.dstarinfo.com Evans use jfindu or the like - http://www.jfindu.net/dstarlh.aspx?rptr=K5CTX http://www.jfindu.net/dstarlh.aspx?rptr=K5CTX It would be nice if the data readily available could be formatted in a more useful manner for setting up radios - something like an activity meter. 73, Steve NU5D [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: tri band that inlcudes 23cm?
I would sure be surprised if Alinco offered any format that competes with their own dv format. Same with Yaesu and Wires. Just my opinion. Steve NU5D John Hays wrote: Shane, Something to think about from a guy that has been in this hobby for over 35 years, If you wait for just the right radio, you miss out on a bunch of fun in the hobby. -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: tri band that inlcudes 23cm?
That would be Charlie, N5TD - n...@vvm.com - in Temple, TX. bea...@aol.com wrote: Does anybody, on this list, actually know of anyone who has an Alinco radio with the DV card installed? Buddy Morgan WB4OMG -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: tri band that inlcudes 23cm?
Hi Nick, This might help thin things down. P25 is a public safety standard - very robust format and works well. No amateur radio product line - surplus public safety stuff only (or brand new for the brave). Alinco's Digital seems to not have taken hold too well. I don't know much about it, though. DSTAR is here and now with a pretty much global network in place and working. Far from perfect, but is all amateur and in it's infancy. My two cents. Best regards, Steve NU5D Nick Marsh wrote: Too bad we can't have a single amateur standard. Nick WB4SQI -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[DSTAR_DIGITAL] More on JA Stations
Visit these active dstar operators qrz listings, http://www.qrz.com/db/JA4NYY/ http://www.qrz.com/db/JF1CXH/ http://www.qrz.com/db/JF1TEU/ I received emails from several JA Stations. JA stations can use the gateways to communicate with other gateways within Japan according to one of the replies. It seems the JA stations use their own first generation gateway system administered by the JARL and not the K5TIT Trusted Server running second generation software. The JA gateway stations do not have DPlus either. I am sure as dstar continues to grow in numbers that changes will need to happen to accommodate growth. In the mean time it is nice to have a work around solution for RF contacts and the DV Dongle for internet contacts, particularly for JL7HHS in Dubai where licensing an amateur radio station can be an issue. Each QRZ Listing above has good information about making contacts between the two disparate systems. 73, Steve NU5D. -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[DSTAR_DIGITAL] 'Possible' Cloning Software Issue
I just received the notice below concerning Vista and USB to Serial adaptors for a commercial radio product. I purposely omitted the brand of the commercial radio and this may not be an issue with Icom cloning software. *Issue: *Potential data corruption issue with IOGEAR GUC232A USB to Serial adapter and Vista operating system. *Affected Models: Some commercial business portable radios. * * * *Recommended Action: *Do not use the IOGEAR GUC232A when programming BK Radios on computers running the Microsoft Vista operating system. Steve NU5D -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] A Couple of Call Sign Routing Questions
I believe, provided you are not using dplus linking, If the far end is busy you will get a RPT * or RPT ? in you display meaning the far end was busy and your call did not go out. If you get YOUR * or UR * then your call reached the far end and went out. I believe it is first come first served. My 2 cents, and I may be wrong. On the receiving end, I have never heard a double - seems like always one winner. Good question and 73, Steve dcooley99 wrote: 1. When attempting a call sign routed call to a station and that repeater/port (the last heard repeater/port of the station called) is currently in use what will happen? -- It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. Mother Teresa [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[DSTAR_DIGITAL] 6th Grade Students - On DSTAR
Tomorrow, Friday the 23rd, around 15:00 Z, or 9:00 AM CST, The Temple Amateur Radio Club will present DSTAR Amateur Radio at the Buckholts, Texas Elementary School to a group of 6th. Grade Students. This will last an hour or so, and Hal Pagel, N5JLL will do some preparatory education to let the students know what to expect before the on the air contacts begin. Local radio amateurs are encouraged to participate, contact hpa...@people.pc.com for more information. We will operate using different reflectors including 1C and 5A. and coordinate contacts between students and radio amateurs. Please be aware of 3rd Party Traffic agreements with the US. We will be operating from Repeater /K5CTX B or /K5CTX C and the station MY is NU5D. (The Club Call, W5LM is already used on the Killeen, Texas DSTAR System and cannot be duplicated in the system). Please make a good presentation of Amateur Radio to these kids. Steve NU5D -- A Decibel saved is a Decibel earned. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: {Disarmed} [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: I'm on the air
Have you asked George ? I checked as admin on our local site and you are not registered. You and George need to be talking, or else which ever gateway is closest to you. Best success and hope to hear you on the air soon, Steve NU5D n1ic4 wrote: I contacted him last week and sent in my application how would I know if I was offically added? -- A Decibel saved is a Decibel earned. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] New to DSTAR:
UR=CQCQCQ R1=K6LRG^^B R2=K6LRG^^G MY=(Your Call Sign) '^' represents a blank space. Frequency should be 444.6875 DUP+ Best success and WELCOME to dstar. Steve NU5D The repeater calls must have the 'B' for 70cm and the 'G' for Gateway in the 8th character position. You also must be registered with your local system to gain gateway access (local calls are OK regardless of registration). Steve H. wrote: Hi from Steve in Newark, Ca. I just got my new 91AD in the mail yesterday and wondering if someone might be able to help. I am able to access the local DSTAR repeater K6LRG however when I hear people talking it's like they don't hear me. In the yrcall field I have CQCQCQ. I have also tried to connect to other DSTAR systems thru K6LRG to test and not sure if they hear me either. I just want to rule out the possibility of a defective radio and to make my first QSO on DSTAR. Thanks and 73 de Steve Bay Area, Northern Calif. -- A Decibel saved is a Decibel earned. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Season's Greetings to all!
Wow - ever grab the wrong mic, Scott ? Scott Heath wrote: Whatever you celebrate Have a merry one!! For pictures of my mobile station, go to this link: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2630240 Scott Heath (AF4KK) -- A Decibel saved is a Decibel earned. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Voice out on a data only TX
Greetings Michael, I believe your assessment is correct that a marginal non voice signal may be incorrectly decoded to imitate voice. It seems in the US that there may be fewer GPS only signals or perhaps people are sending GPS concurrent with voice transmissions and not so much on a timed basis. While GPS-A with CRC is more reliable in the GPS side of things I do not believe the CRC will help false voice decoding. Also you can turn off the beep generated in the receiving radio for a little more quiet. Anyhow that is my thoughts. VY 73, Steve NU5D oz1bzj wrote: Hi This might in the past have been covered before, but it is Christmas soon so pleas be tolerant if so :-) On the Repaeter system in Central Copenhagen we are on module C running a lot of GPS reporting for mobile stations interfacing to APRS. All of those data packed are data only. So triggered by the timer in the radio alone with out interference by human... [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] ID-800H
I have several DSTAR radios including a couple of ID800's. Both ID800s are used fixed station. I have had NO issues with the 800 and believe it is probably the best value going Except - Limits - Dual Band Radio - receives one band at one time - not a big deal for me. Easy to add GPS outboard receiver or feed the radio with an emulator program for fixed use. 100 UR memories MAX..54 RPT memories MAX. It is impossible to load up every gateway repeater (close to 300 now days) and preload reflectory Link and unlink. The display only shows 6 characters at a time so you can see the call sign but not the A, B, C or G in the display (but the display is really large and easy to read). You need a level shifter / programming cable to program the radio. Other models use just a cable without electronics. Size is nice - detachable front. Programming is CLONING and NOT CONTROL software. Dan Smith's CHIRP software works well as does the CS800 from Icom. Radio does run a little hot but has not been a problem. And finally, for ME a bit difficult to program without cloning software. Also I have used non standard splits on VHF - 1 Mhz and 600 kHz, but not tried 7.6 mHz on UHF. I don't forsee any problem in that department. I am comparing this against my familiarity with ID1, IC-2820, IC2720 (not dstar) IC91AD and IC92. You might think I like Icom.I DO. Merry Christmas, Steve NU5D dd...@vajk.de wrote: Hello all I am interested in a ICOM ID-800H to use it with D-Star .. can anyone tell me little more about this rig, cause in Germany it is not available from icom .. Best wishes, Vajk / DD1GV Please TRIM your replies or set your email program not to include the original message in reply unless needed for clarity. ThanksYahoo! Groups Links -- A Decibel saved is a Decibel earned. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[DSTAR_DIGITAL] Neat DSTAR Site - AE4EG
http://dstarradioclubinternational.tech.officelive.com/default.aspx Spoke to Pete, AI4UE this afternoon and he told me about his live audio stream and website. Nice site to visit. Merry Christmas, Steve NU5D -- A Decibel saved is a Decibel earned. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [dstar_digital] Re:JOTA on D-Star?
Hi Tony, You recommendation (using the reflectors as a calling 'channel' and moving to a working connection) makes a lot of sense. The shortcoming will be skilled DSTAR operators being able to link, set up a contact, unlink, and enter the UR of the contact station, make the contact, and then relink for another setup. The link and unlink UR's can easily be saved in memory but it will take a little coordination to go through the steps. These folks most likely will not have dstarusers.org available via internet. It may be more functional to spread contacts out over several different reflectors ? or put together a quick list of participating URs that can be pre-programmed into the field radios ? Thanks, Steve NU5D Tony Langdon wrote: At 01:24 PM 10/13/2008, you wrote: Hi Stan, There will be a few Scout Groups using VK3RWN B and VK4RGC B or C for JOTA. From discussions on this list we will link VK3RWN port B to REF004 A for part of the JOTA weekend. Just a thought, based from previous experience with JOTA and IRLP. Back in 2001 and 2002, I was involved in JOTA on IRLP. Back then, we used a similar idea, encouraging JOTA stations to connect to a particular reflector. What we found was that while the reflector was an excellent meeting place to make initial contact, where problems occurred is when stations stared holding QSOs on the reflector. When this happened, two JOTA stations would effectively tie up the reflector, and everyone else would be sitting on the side, waiting their turn. On the last JOTA I was involved with, we tried an experiment, and used the reflector as a calling frequency, and when JOTA stations made contact, we'd pair them off and get them to make direct contact. This worked to a point. Where there was a skilled operator on one end, the JOTA stations would go away, connect directly and put the kids on to talk. When they'd finished, they'd come back to find someone else. As a service, I'd keep a list of waiting stations, so they could be paired up as quickly as possible. Where this fell down was that a lot of JOTA operators were inexperienced (in some cases, this was their first contact) with IRLP, and were relatively inactive on air, except for JOTA. In the worst cases, the JOTA operators were given no information or training in how to use IRLP. I fear, this could be a big issue for D-STAR. Anyway, just throwing in a few thoughts. Good luck, and I hope D-STAR is a success for this year's JOTA. I'm interested to know how it goes. 73 de VK3JED http://vkradio.com - [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [dstar_digital] D800 Repeater Indication
RPT * means you did not reach the distant station. The exception being DV DOngle calls and Reflector or link calls. UR* indicates you have reached the distant repeater and that is is not busy. There is a excel spread sheet in the files section here with info for the IC91 and such. The ID800 does not give the call but if the '*' is displayed above the TONE button, there is a call captured in memory - press and hold the TONE button to do the equivalent of one touch (if the * is displayed). 73, Steve NU5D John wrote: I have the D800H programmed and setup. There is a message indicated after TX RPT * On the 92AD HT it comes back with the entire repeater call sign that I am utilizing. Does the D800H not display the entire call as the 92AD HT?? There is nothing in the user manual that talks about it. 73's N0MEQ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [dstar_digital] Different D-Rats problem
Hi Andy, Be sure GPS is turned OFF and also are you able to use the cloning software with the 91? I use a prolific USB/COM adaptor and have no problems after setting the proper Com Port number is the system hardware settings in my PC. 73, Steve NU5D Andrew Thall wrote: I am able to get D-Rats working on one lap-top computer that has a built-in serial port. However, I have been unable to get it working with my other computers that only have USB ports. I have an adapter cable that goes from USB to serial and I connect my data cable to it. I cannot get the computer to recognize the 91AD. I've tried using all the different com port settings. If anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate hearing them. Thanks. Andy, W5AST [ED - There is an active D-RATS support and discussion group at http://lists.danplanet.com/mailman/listinfo/drats_users ]
