On Jul 13, 2010, at 8:34 AM, Will wrote:
Hello D-STAR People,
Well Im new to the group and have only been `playing' with D-STAR
for a month or so but I am having fun while learning this new
technology. I am a hardware design engineer working in the Data
Storage industry so I love all things technical, and enjoy
understanding new technologies and have been a ham since before
Packet Radio came out (yes a long time).
Welcome to D-STAR, you have a grand adventure ahead of you.
I purchased an Icom IC-80AD and have been using it to chat with
forks on the W6DHS and K6MDD D-STAR repeaters which I can reach with
an outside antenna at my home QTH. But my real reason for getting
into this technology is to utilize it's message passing capabilities
for EMCOMM functions. I am the Assistant Coordinator and Team
Trainer for an Amateur Radio Team (part of a large well funded CERT
Organization ) sponsored by the Metro Fire District here in the
Sacramento Valley.
With all that said, I am trying to teach myself all things D-STAR;
reading everything I can find and then trying it in the evenings
with my IC-80AD.
Glad to hear you are reading and learning and we'll try to help you
with your questions.
But… I have lots of questions that my sometimes `thick-skull' can't
understand from what I have read. To Start:
Q. General Question regarding the DVAP hardware – To use the DVAP
appliance, must the radio be D-STAR ready and therefore it's only
use is for hams who do not have a D-STAR repeater in range, giving D-
STAR capable radios RF access around the house or office into the
network?
To use D-STAR with the DVAP does require the user's radio to be a D-
STAR radio. The DVAP does not contain any AMBE encoding or decoding
technology, it is simply a bridge to the DPLUS network. Of course
Robin has been adding other features that will facilitate other uses
of the device; e.g. spectrum analyzer, Echolink for analog FM, and so
forth.
There is a lot of DVAP expertise in your area -- hook up with the net
on K6MDD (and REF014C) hosted by WW6USA [Worldwide DVAP Net Wednesday
01:00 UTC REF014 C] (That's this evening in CA if I did the math
correctly)
If so too bad, it would be a great tool if a generic 2M HT could
talk to it and the DVAP handle the additional routing functions.
This would allow many more hams to get into the digital erra… Still
I want one as I could use at my office to have access to the network
as I can't hit the repeaters from my desk or from home when I am
away from the outside feed line.
There's a lot of history here, but the short message here is that many
D-STAR users and gateway administrators do not want analog FM links
feeding the D-STAR system. There are a lot of reasons for this, but
one of the primary ones is that there is a certain preference for the
clear and even audio of a digital signal vs the fade and various
injected sounds on analog systems. Most agree there could and
probably should be a way to bridge during a real emergency, but
otherwise the preference is to keep them separate. (You also have a
number of issues related to identification of the link, which D-STAR
handles fine, but might require additional work on FM -- if you were
just using the FM HT as a wireless mike, this might not be as big of a
deal, but you have little control over someone coming in on your
analog port and accessing the system, under your callsign on D-STAR)
There are also some operational issues, that I have written a couple
of entries discussing the topic:
http://k7ve.org/blog/2007/07/d-star-repeater-audio-linking/
http://k7ve.org/blog/2009/02/more-thoughts-on-the-interconnection-of-d-star/
http://k7ve.org/blog/2009/06/id-translation/
Q. I am trying to configure a demonstration for my sponsoring agency
to show the abilities of D-STAR for message handling. I am working
with D-RATS (Awesome effort by the developer) and I can send and
receive email and messages computer to computer using the internet
and the ref.d-rats.com reflector but I have been unable to pass any
messaging if I move one system to an RF link. I know it's in my
configuration, but Im not sure where? [it's not a connection issue
as I can read and program the radio all day long using the Icom
CS-80_800 application]. Everything I have read so far references
setting up D-RATS and not much on the radio [Thick-Skull Syndrome
kicking in here].
On the Radio I am using W6DHS__C as RPT1, and W6DHS__G for RPT2 and
my call N7IPY for MY CALL, but what should I use for the YOUR Call
field? Ultimately I hope to be able to send an email and message
text to an internet connected system via the above RF hardware link.
Is that Possible? [As I only have one D-STAR radio and a second one
is not in the current budget, I can't experiment simplex.]
There is an active list to address these questions at
http://intrepid.danplanet.com/mailman/listinfo/drats_users
Sorry for the long winded message, any help, emails, informative
links, etc., for the next new guy would be great. I have lots more
questions but this is a good start…
Thanks and 73s
Will Waters – N7IPY – [email protected]
John D. Hays
Amateur Radio Station K7VE
PO Box 1223
Edmonds, WA 98020-1223 VOIP/SIP: [email protected]
