Transcript DSTAR Essentials

DSTAR Essentials
How to More Fully use your Radio !
DSTAR Radios are FM transceivers that have the
same features as most everyday VHF / UHF,
single or dual band, ham radios. If you never
use DSTAR features these are still fully
functional ham radios with Memories, VFOs,
Scan, Subaudible Tones, and Power Settings.
DSTAR Essentials
This presentation will focus on how to use your
DSTAR Radio in the Digital Voice Mode.
There are similarities like entering Send and
Receive frequencies, and setting an offset
frequency for repeater operation, bandwidth,
and power levels that are the same for Analog
FM or Digital Voice.
Manual Programming is not discussed in this
presentation due to differences in models of
radio.
Cloning / Control Software
We can provide model specific information if
there is sufficient demand.
Radios can be programmed manually, but this is a
very tedious job and cloning software makes it
easy to add or change features. Your favorite
Ham Radio Store will provide OEM Icom
copyrighted software and cables at a nominal
cost. Dan Smith KK7DS offers open source
cloning software available at
http://chirp.danplanet.com/wiki/
Cloning / Control Software
Cloning Software allows you to create a
personality for a radio and download to and
upload from the radio.
Control Software lets your PC interact with your
radio and lets you control your radio from the
PC in real time.
Icom Cloning Files are stored at *.icf files
Control / Cloning Software
Chirp lets you export a cloning file to a Comma
Separated Variable (CSV ) file that can be
imported and edited using Microsoft Excel or
Open Office Calc Spreadsheets. This makes it
easy to edit a Temple DSTAR File and send it to
the UK for use there, or to transport memory
channels between different radio models.
Chirp Cloning Software
CSV File in Open Office Calc
Icom CS-D800 Cloning Software
Icom RS-91 Cloning Software
Chirp – Cloning Software
IC91 / IC2820 Cloning Cable
Cloning cables for the IC91 and IC2820 are
simple to build using a readily available DB9
Female Plug and a 2.5 mm Miniature Stereo
Plug. Newer computers not equipped with a
COM port require an USB to COM port adaptor
and driver software. Remember to configure
the COM port number after installation.
The ID800 requires a different cloning cable that
includes an RS-232 to TTL level shifter and
may not be practical to build at home.
IC91 / IC2820 Cloning Cable
ID800 / IC2820 Cloning Cable
In addition to the simple do it yourself cable for
the 2820, the ID800 (OPC-478U) cable will
program the IC2820 through the external
speaker jack. Normally the 2820 programs
through the data port.
4 DSTAR Fields
The 'Ohms Law' of DSTAR
UR – Sets who you send to.
RPT 1 – Sets the local repeater call and band.
RPT 2 – Sets Call Routing – Local or Distant.
MY – Who YOU are.
http://www.dstarinfo.com
UR=
UR determines where your transmission will go.
UR along with RPT2 determines whether your
transmission stays on your local repeater or is
routed to other places.
It is important to mention that DSTAR radios
control SENDING. It is up to the station on the
other end to send back to you. You cannot just
enter a UR and listen to what is taking place on
the distant repeater station. (Reflector Linking –
mentioned later - is an exception and you can
listen to distant call when both repeaters are
linked to a reflector).
UR=CQCQCQ – RPT2=NOT USE
UR=CQCQCQ tells the gateway not to route your
call to any particular repeater or station.
RPT2=NOT USE prevents your call from being
routed to the internet.
What happens here stays here.
Responses to a Call
After transmitting your radio will display a
response.
UR* or YOUR* means your call reached the
destination repeater and should have gone out
over the air.
RPT? means either the far end was busy, the call
was mis-programmed, the far end Gateway was
off line, or the call was directed to a Reflector or
Link.
RPT1 – Example R1=KE5RCS^B
Rpt 1 is used much like tone coded squelch to
activate only one repeater. In areas where there
is an overlap in coverage, only the Repeater 1
you have programmed will repeat. Other
Repeaters sharing the radio channel will key up
and send ID data, but only the repeater you have
programmed in RPT1 will repeat your call. In
the example above ^ represents a blank space.
KE5RCS is the call sign of the Walburg, TX
repeater, and 'B' signifies the B or 70 cm Band.
(B is in the 8th Character Position).
RPT2 – Example R2=W5LM^^^G
Choices are:


(NOT USE) – Local calls to UR=CQCQCQ or to a
directed local call sign.
W5LM^^^G – Gateway or Linking Calls with 'G'
for Gateway in the 8th Character Position.
W5LM^^^G is the call sign for the Killeen
DSTAR Repeater.
MY=NU5D/IC91 - MY=NU5D/800H
The MY field contains the call sign you have
registered. The call sign can contain up to 8
characters plus an additional 4 characters after
the '/' that are not recognized by the system.
Folks sometimes put their name or rig model in
this space.
Registration
Before your radio can access the DSTAR
Gateway system, your Callsign must be
registered with the System Administrator. This
process assigns an 'internal' internet address and
provides you Gateway access to any DSTAR
Repeater that uses the Dallas Texas Trusted
Server. The repeater directory at
http://www.dstarusers.org has a Registration
link for each system listed. Follow this link for
Registration.
Registration
UR=CQCQCQ – RPT2=K5CTX G
UR=CQCQCQ tells the gateway not to route your
call to any particular repeater or station.
RPT2=K5CTX G tells the Gateway to present
your call to the internet for additional routing.
The routing character 'G' must be in the 8th
character position. Use RPT2=K5CTX G
(Your local repeater's Callsign plus G) in all
cases except calls that are local only or simplex
calls.
UR=/XX#YYYZ – Call Routed to a
Gateway
The '/' forward slant in the first character position
tells the gateway that this call is destined to
another repeater.
XX#YYY represents the call sign of the
destination repeater – For Waco this would be
W5ZDN
The 8th character, Z tells the Gateway which band
to use at the far end. Japan uses 'A' for the first
repeater installed, 'B' for the second, and 'C' for
the third.
UR=/XX#YYYZ – Call Routed to a
Gateway
The 8th Character in the rest of the world
represents the Frequency Band at the far end.
'A' represents 23cm., 'B' represents 70cm., and
'C' represents 2M.
Reflectors have 'streams' instead of bands,
arbitrarily 'A', 'B', and 'C'. (More on Reflectors
later in the program).
See http://www.dstarusers.org for a Repeater
Directory.
Repeater Directory
Dstarusers.org Last Heard List
UR=AA#BB – Call Routed to a Call
Sign
Calls can also be routed to an Individual Callsign
using the Gateway System. Whenever a
DSTAR radio transmits, the MY Callsign and
Location are propagated throughout the
Gateway system. This allows calls to a station
when you are not sure what repeater the called
station is listening to. This is ideal to reach
hams who travel extensively.
There may be several minutes of lag time between
when a roaming station keys up a distant
repeater and when the distant repeater updates
the rest of the Gateways in the world.
Answering a Call
So far the talk has been about placing a call.
There is some skill involved in answering a call.
The sending station controls where his call is
routed. It is up to the sending station to tell the
receiving station how to answer his call.
When you initiate a call, tell the receiving station
where you are calling from. Announcing 'this is
AB5AP calling from K5CTX Repeater B Bravo,
Temple, TX', 'or 'this is W5DK calling
Reflector 5A' lets folks hearing the call know
how to answer.
Answering a Call
When I hear 'this is KJ4VO calling from KI4SBA
repeater C, Cumming GA', I either use ONE
Touch, or else go to a pre-programmed memory
channel with Cumming C already loaded, and
reply.
When finished, be sure and go back to CQCQCQ
or else you will continue to be heard in
Cumming GA, and your local repeater.
Answering a Call – WA6YTD calling
Suppose you hear WA6YTD calling. It is up to
him to let you know how to answer his call.
One way is to announce 'This is WA6YTD calling
from K6MDD Repeater B, Mt. Diablo. This
tells the receiving station to either capture his
call (One Touch) or go to a pre-programmed
memory channel with either UR=/K6MDD B or
UR=WA6YTD
It is also helpful if the calling station has a
transmit message like 'SET UR=/K6MDD B'.
Answering a Call – WA6YTD calling
We have added a level of complexity at this point.
If the local repeater is linked to a reflector, and
the distant repeater is not, then the receiving
station has to first UN-LINK, then answer.
Otherwise the reply would try and travel two
different routes causing either very slow or
garbled transmission.
More on Reflector Linking later.
Answering a Call – WA6YTD calling
ONE TOUCH. One touch is a name for Call Sign
Capture or Reply ID, where the receiving
station writes the received Callsign into the UR
location automatically. This is good except it
does not work for calls from Japan or calls from
a reflector link.
You can also program your radio for Auto
Received Call Write, but this causes another set
of problems when you use linking or a local
station breaks into a Gateway call and changes
the UR in your radio.
Linking and Reflectors
Up to this point Icom Gateway features have been
used to route your calls. There is another
software application from Robin Cutshaw,
AA4RC that 'sniffs' data from the Icom
Gateway system and provides additional routing
capability. This software is called Dplus.
When you set UR=CQCQCQ and RPT2 for
Gateway operation, the Icom Gateway presents
your signals to the internet, but with
UR=CQCQCQ, they have no place to go. This
is where Dplus does the driving.
Linking and Reflectors
DPLUS today allows any user to UNLINK a
system.
The system administrator has to option to allow
individual users the privilege of linking and
unlinking other Gateways on a per user basis.
The Temple and Killeen Systems allow any
registered user full access to linking and
unlinking.
DPLUS Linking
DPLUS Commands are used to link, unlink, echo,
and report the status of a repeater.
DPLUS Commands are entered in the UR= field.
To send a command, enter the command in the
UR, key your mic, and listen to the voice reply.
To check repeater status, UR=K5CTX^^I
The reply will be Robin's voice saying 'Not
currently linked' or 'Remote system linked'.
DPLUS Commands
http://www.opendstar.org/tools/readme.txt
To link from Killeen, TX to Folkestone, Kent, UK
Go to the Killeen DSTAR Repeater. 440.675 + 5.0
UR=GB7FK^BL
R1=W5LM^^^B
R2=W5LM^^^G
MY=Valid Callsign
To UNLINK, change UR=^^^^^^^U
Use Press to Talk to send the commands.
DPLUS Commands
Routing calls between different gateways is a
momentary action. When I send a call with the UR
on my radio =/W5LM^^B my call is routed to the
W5LM, 70 cm repeater for the duration of my
transmission.
DPLUS routing is a static action. When I send a call
with the UR on my radio =W5LM^^BL a link will be
completed by DPLUS until I send UR=^^^^^^^U to
un-link.
DPLUS Commands
After linking and hearing 'Remote System Linked'
you must go from a command UR to
UR=CQCQCQ. Otherwise you will hear
'Remote System Linked' after every
transmission. I store Temple B and Temple C in
Call Channels 1 and 2, so all I have to do is
press and hold the CALL button to jump to a
call channel. I keep the Reflector links in
memory channels.
The Reflector
A DSTAR Reflector is a 'repeater' for repeaters.
Many repeaters can LINK to a reflector and every
repeater linked to a reflector hears conversations
from every other repeater linked to that
reflector.
A reflector is actually a computer with a high
bandwidth internet connection that receives
communications from one location and
distributes these communications, voice or data,
to every one connected.
The Reflector
Once a reflector link is established on your
repeater, set UR=CQCQCQ to prevent repeated
connect messages.
Set RPT1=XX#YYY^Z where XX#YYY is the
repeater call sign, and Z is the band identifier,
A, B, or C, in the 8th Character Position.
Set RPT2=XX#YYY^G where XX#YYY is the
repeater call sign and G for Gateway is in the 8th
Character Position.
The Reflector - Courtesy
Reflectors may connect DSTAR Repeaters all
over the world. There are a few simple
common courtesy guidelines to follow.
Keep your transmissions short. If you pause to
breathe you have transmitted TOO LONG.
Direct your transmission to another station in a
round table manner. DSTAR does not tolerate
collisions very well and when stations collide,
no one wins.
The Reflector - Courtesy
Leave plenty of space between transmissions to
allow other stations to join in.
Don't monopolize a reflector – make a few
contacts and move on. If you want to chat with
your close friend across the globe, drop the
reflector and chat repeater to repeater, where
you don't tie up many repeaters with a semi
private chat.
DPLUS DASHBOARD - Status
Gateway Status
DPLUS Command Line
dstar_digital Yahoo Group
texasdstargroup Yahoo Group
DV Dongle
The dongle connects to a USB port on your
computer and to uses software available at
http://www.dvdongle.com/DV_Dongle/Home.ht
ml to connect your PC via Internet to DSTAR
Repeaters or Reflectors. Add a Logitech or
other headset and you can operate DSTAR in
locations not served by a DSTAR repeater. You
do have to register with a system administrator,
just as you would with a radio, and the dongles
are individually serial numbered. They are
available from most Ham Stores for $199.
DV Dongle
DV Dongle
Download this presentation at
http://www.bosshardradio.com/dstar.ppt