At 08:30 PM 3/22/2009, you wrote: >Ok, I've used the "/" when calling a Japan destination. I had thought this >was because Japan was using older software. But am I confused on the reason? > >1) Is the "/" required on ALL calls, where one is using a repeater vs an >individual callsign, in the UR field? Even in the U.S.? > >2) If a "/" is used, is it the protocol to announce your calling repeater, >to allow the called station to know your origination repeater? I had >assumed (probably falsely) that this was the protocol only when calling a >Japan station. > >Can this "/" be explained in a little more detail, for various scenarios? > >Thanks, >Mike >KC7VE
I don't know about older software in Japan, but the "/" is required to precede all REPEATER call signs entered in the UR field when you want to route your transmission to that repeater, anywhere in the world. The "/" symbol tells the Gateway that you want to send your transmission to another repeater, as opposed to an individual ham. The repeater maintains a table of Gateway IP addresses based on the call signs. When it sees a /, it looks up the IP address and sends your transmission to the remote repeater. By the way, it does this on a transmission-by-transmission basis, so every time you press the PTT button, you need to be sending the repeater routing info in the UR field. As for announcing your origination repeater, here's the deal: At the distant repeater, your voice is heard, and data is received that can allow stations to use their "one touch reply" buttons to set up a route back to you. But in case that doesn't work, if the distant ham knows where you're coming from, he can load that information in manually. It also lets them know that you ARE coming over the network. Nothing else really tells them that. The special case in Japan, I believe, is that "one touch reply" doesn't work from their end, so they have to route back manually. This call sign routing has caused a lot of confusion among D-STAR users who were used to repeater linking where everyone heard everyone on the two (or more) linked repeaters. So AA4RC developed some software in his DPLUS add-on package to allow repeaters to link to each other, and to the reflectors that were set up to let multiple repeaters link together. As you noted in your first inquiry, you use the UR field of your radio to set up that link, but the content of the field is a little different. You enter a repeater call sign and port letter (no /) followed by "L". And as another responder noted, you can get the specific data to enter in the YOUR, RPT1 and RPT2 fields for any given route and method by selecting the route on the D-STAR calculator page: www.dstarinfo.com/Calculator/DSTAR Web Calculator.aspx Hope that clears it up! 73, Gary KN4AQ ARVN: Amateur Radio//Video News Gary Pearce KN4AQ 508 Spencer Crest Ct. Cary, NC 27513 <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected] 919-380-9944 www.ARVideoNews.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
