One slight correction. If the repeater does not have a gateway, it can share a user's callsign. I know of at least one repeater stack where this is the case and has been operating for about 3 years (WA7GIE). So during the "standalone" phase, you could use your own callsign, but if you are going to run a gateway then the club callsign is the best route and Bob's advice is correct.
Side note: There is no protocol reason that a repeater couldn't use the same callsign as a user, it is a side effect of the gateway code implementation. Bob McCormick W1QA wrote: > > > > > I know that with a D-star repeater, the repeater cannot have the same > > > callsign as the owner's and one needs to get a frequency pair from the > > > repeater council. I read over the application from the repeater > > > council's site and it asks for the repeater's callsign. Should I get a > > > callsign for the repeater from the fcc first, then apply with the > > > repeater council? > (snip) > > Apply for a club call through ARRL or W5YI. Then use that call to fill > > out your coordination paperwork. You will need to have a site selected > > and committed before submitting your coordination. > > Expanding on that: > > Not sure who your coordinator is - but by now they should know > something about D-STAR and the requirement that D-STAR have > unique callsigns. To kick off the coordination put your own > or a club's callsign in - and note that you will be applying > for a unique callsign for the D-STAR repeater. > > Apply to the FCC for the club call. Note that you will get > back (almost instantly from my experience with the ARRL) > a class-D callsign (2x3). > > If you want a vanity call - you can then apply for one; > that takes a little longer. > > This can all happen in parallel to getting the frequency > coordination and equipment. > > Changing a callsign on a D-STAR repeater is an extremely > simple task: connect your PC to the control port and > update it. > > BUT: if you are going to get your D-STAR controller setup > with a gateway ... you will want to setup that gateway > with the final callsign that you'll use on the repeater. > It is NOT a trivial process to change the callsign of > the gateway computer system - in effect you have to > rebuild it from scratch. > > HTH and GL! > Bob W1QA > -- John D. Hays Amateur Radio Station K7VE <http://k7ve.org> PO Box 1223 Edmonds, WA 98020-1223 VOIP/SIP: [email protected] <sip:[email protected]> Email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
