As the D*Star system is catching on and
looks to generate a lot of interest, we're giving it a page of its
own. Stay tuned for important updates in this interesting area of our
hobby.
Many thanks for the generous donation by Thorsten
(K5TCP) of the repeaters, Astron power supplies and amplifiers for
the VHF/UHF nodes.
We would also like to thank the anonymous
donor that contributed a 23cm duplexer for the system.
August 2016
The DStar system now has dextra installed on both gateways. Please review the
documentation for new commands you'll need to know.
The automatic linking feature has been disabled for now. Users are welcome to manually link and unlink.
The Dstar system is now fully operational at the Denton
County EOC.
W5NGU A is the 1.2 ghz port on 1293.400 - 20 mhz
W5NGU B is the 70cm port on 442.925 + 5mhz
W5NGU C is the 2m
port 147.450 - 1.0 mhz (NON STANDARD OFFSET!!!!)
The data
access point is operational. This operates on 1253.600 SIMPLEX.
The gateway is now fully operational.
If you are
registered with any other gateway on the Dstar network you can use
W5NGU with no further intervention.
If you have a Dstar radio, are not already registered with another Dstar gateway, and would like to register on W5NGU, please
see this page
for detailed instructions on how to register.
http://dstarusers.org/
has a list of Dstar repeaters, and a list of users using Dstar in
real-time on other repeaters connected to the network. If you are
making the system correctly, your call will show up on this list.
The time stamp listed here is in UTC/GMT, so subtract either
5(DST) or 6(no DST) hours to get Central time.
Calls Screen basics:
MYCALL is your call sign
URCALL
can be one of 3 things:
* CQCQCQ for a general
call
* a specific station call sign
* / repeater call for a zone call. Essentially this is a CQ to
the specific port.
RPT1 is the call sign of the repeater you are
going into the system on.
* You must have the right call sign for
the port you are coming in on (A,B,C) or you will not get repeated.
RPT2 is the call sign of the repeater you are going out of the
system on.
* This can be another radio port (A,B,C) or the
gateway which is designated with a G in the 8th slot.
Remember
the port designator is in the 8th slot and the * in the following
examples means a blank space.
Example of a single port:
I
am on the 2 meter port W5NGU C and wanting to talk to Thorsten also
on the 2 meter port
MYCALL KD5WYU
URCALL K5TCP
RPT1
W5NGU**C
RPT2 NOT USE
Example of cross banding between
ports:
I am on the 2 meter port W5NGU C and wanting to talk
to Gerald listening on his ID-1 on W5NGU A.
MYCALL KD5WYU
URCALL
WB5NZV
RPT1 W5NGU**C
RPT2 W5NGU**A
Gateway voice
usage examples:
The gateway is treated as another port on the
system with a G in the 8th slot. W5NGU blank blank G.
Routing
to a specific user no matter where they are works intelligently.
You must kerchunk to tell Dstar you are there.
I am in New York
listening to K2DIG and have kerchunked to register there.
Stewart is on VHF here and wants to talk to me so sets up his 91AD
like this:
MYCALL KE5UT
URCALL KD5WYU
RPT1 W5NGU**C
RPT2 W5NGU**G
I am here on the UHF repeater, and want to
see if anyone's listening on the 440 port of K6MDD in California.
MYCALL KD5WYU
URCALL /K6MDD**B
RPT1 W5NGU**B
RPT2
W5NGU**C
Data access point usage:
The data access point operates
on a simplex frequency and works much like a WiFi access point does.
When you are registered with the gateway, you receive a
static private IP address in the class A private block (10.x.x.x)
This address is associated with your call sign and the computer or
router must be configured with it or will not function.
Set up
the ID-1 like this (using myself as an example)
MYCALL KD5WYU
URCALL W5NGU
RPT1 W5NGU**A
RPT2 W5NGU**G
The data
access point is also considered to be the A port.
Any
computer or router that speaks TCP/IP (basically any at this point in
time) will work, regardless of OS.
Set up the network
settings like so:
The IP address will be the static IP address you are assigned as part of the gateway registration process.
If you cannot remember your IP, you can log into the gateway server at
https://dstargateway.dcara.net/Dstar.do with your callsign and password and go to the "Personal Information" page.
The "Local IP" associated with your call sign is the IP address you need to use.
Netmask will be 255.0.0.0
Default gateway will be 10.0.0.1
DNS servers will be 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2
-If you are using a Windows system, please turn
off File and Printer Sharing as well as the automatic updates feature
in Windows or any other software packages that do this. 2-3
computers doing this can CRIPPLE the channel for everyone else.
-We
ask that you follow Part 97 rules-- G/PG rated content, no business
content, no codes or ciphers.
-Note that any application that
requires you to be a "server" to the Internet will not
work. This would include things like VoIP programs, file transfer or
video chat features of instant messaging programs, and peer to peer
applications.
-Basic browsing, retrieving email, and downloading
small files works well.
Brent's updated
D*Star Tech Talk presented at the July '09 DCARA meeting.
Reference Information
DCARA Policy for D-STAR Registrations
Other DStar systems
GB7SF repeater in Sheffield South Yorkshire