MB6AM, 2m D-Star Simplex Node: Tring, Herts. After several weeks in testing, MB6AM went live this afternoon, sharing the same mast as the 70cm GB3TU repeater. MB6AM is located in Tring, North West of London and is well appointed to provide Digital Voice (DV) coverage across many of the Home Counties and parts of Oxfordshire.
MB6AM is the reincarnation of the old GB7AM packet node, using the same antenna and 2m frequency. Chris, G0WTZ, kindly donated his own Yaseu FT-7800R for the project and David, G4ULF provided custom software to link into the global D-Star network. G4ULF's software was developed with the full cooperation of the Trust Server team and has been fully tested for G2 compatibility, with support for G2 direct routing and dplus linking across to other D-Star repeaters, via the Internet. MB6AM will be routinely connected to reflector REF013B which has been dubbed TechNet, a meeting place for repeater keepers, software developers and D-Star hardware hackers. User control of dplus linking and unlinking is enabled, so mobile users on the busy M1 and M40 motorways, can re-task the simplex node as required. When the dplus connection is left unlinked, a script will automatically reestablish contact with TechNet. To access MB6AM, users should configure their radios in simplex mode on 144.8625 MHz, with no RPT settings required. If RPT settings are used, then the following settings must be programmed: YOUR: CQCQCQ RPT1: MB6AM^^C (^ = space) RPT2: MB6AM^^G Duplex Offset: +/- 0 MHz D-Star users can make use of all the usual dplus and G2 routing commands, so they can link to other nodes or call directly around the D-Star network. Iain, G0RDI, the NoV holder for MB6AM, extends his personal gratitude to Rod Wilkinson (Ofcom), Chris (G0WTZ), David (G4ULF) and Darren (G7LWT) for their assistance with the implementation of this project. MB6AM is the first simplex G2 gateway in the UK; radio amateurs wishing to apply for a Notice of Variation (NoV) to operate a simplex DV node, should complete the recently updated form "E1" here: http://www.ukrepeater.net/forms.html Further information on the work of the Amersham Wireless Repeater Group can be found here: http://www.77hz.com Reception reports are welcomed via the "Contact Us" page on the web site above.
