[Dstar] Australian D-Star Network News

Thu Feb 11 19:12:53 CST 2010

G’day,

Here is the latest News for the Australian National D-Star Network.

Repeater Announcements

The 4 second announcements on the majority of the WIA D-Star repeaters has
been reduced from ½ hourly to hourly.

This has been done to reduce the confusion the announcements were having on
some operators when they work working remote stations.

REMEMBER - It is good manners, good operator practice and still important
for all D-Star operators to leave a 4 second brake between overs.

The 4 second brake is essential to

–                allow the local repeater to radio hand shaking

–                to allow for audio delays for remotely linked repeaters and
DV-Dongles

–                to provide dead air time so that remote operators can join
in on local conversations.

I’ve receive a number of comments from overseas D-Star operators complaining
that they can not access a VK repeater  as the local VK operators were not
leaving breaks between overs.

New D-Star repeater for Australia

VK3RNP is now on air in Geelong.

It is operating on 438.175 Mhz with a -5,4 Mhz offset. The repeater is
currently standalone however Nik VK3BA, the repeaters owner has plans to add
a Gateway to the system in the near future.

The repeater has a coverage area of approximately 50Kms and is located at
VK3BAs QTH. Nik is experimenting with new ways to increase VK3RNP’s coverage
area.

Well done Nik and thanks for supporting Amateur radio!

For more information on VK3RNP visit http://www.qrz.com/callsign/VK3BA

VK4RBX Gateway Installed.

The Ipswich D-Star repeater VK4RBX is now Gateway enabled.  A 60Km WiFi
network was built to provide broadband to the repeater site. Thanks to Rob
VK4HW, the repeaters own for all the hard work he has done to support
Amateur Radio. The investment Rob has made in D-Star has added up to
hundreds of hour of work and over $5000 of equipment. 

VK4RWN Maintenance Update

The VK4RWN (Gold Coast) D-Star repeater’s 70cm and 23cm DV modules are off
air. Commercial work at the site has caused antenna issues for these
repeaters.

There is currently a fault with the 2mtr antenna at the site so a temporary
2mtr antenna is being used. This may result in reduced repeater coverage.

Repeater Linking for Nets

It has been decide collectively by the VK D-Star repeater administrators
that automatic linking of repeaters for nets will no longer be implemented.

With the implementation of operator controlled Linking and Unlinking of all
repeater Ports, it will now be up to individual operators to Link repeaters
when they wish the participate in a net.

To lean how to use Linking see the documentation at www.dstar.org.au
<http://www.dstar.org.au/>  

Australian D-Star Reflectors

Australia has 2 D-Star reflectors available for use.

Reflectors allow multiple repeaters to connect to one central system that
allows operators on all connected repeaters to ‘hear’ each other.

The two Australian Reflectors are REF003 and REF023. Each reflector has 3
Ports, A, B & C below is an explanation of each ports use.

REF003A  Ad-hock & Emergency Use - Australia.

REF003B  Default Link for Repeaters, including all WIA Port B Repeaters –
Australia

REF003C  Australian Nets. & VK3 Port Cs Default Link

REF023 A - Experimental, all Gateways, Dongles and Hotspots welcome.  Non
D-STAR devices may be connected, only with prior permission on a case by
case basis.  

REF023 B - General Use, all Gateways,  Dongles and Hotspots welcome.  

REF023 C – VK4 Port Cs  Default Link & General Use, 

D-Star Repeater Status Summary

VK2RAG – Operational

VK2RDS – Operational on all bands except 23cm DD. 

–         2mtrs Port C running on reduced power

VK2RWN – Operational on all bands except 23cm DD & DV. 

VK3RBA – Not Operational 

–         Repeater temporarily removed from service.

VK3RDK – Operational

–         Currently no gateway connection

VK3RNK – Operational

–         Currently No gateway connection

VK3RWN – Operational

–         23cm DV & DD currently off air due to site issue

VK3RWW – Operational for system testing only.

VK3RMM –Operational on 70cm & 2mtrs.

VK4RWN – Operational

–         70cm DV& 23cm DV off air

–         Running on temporary 2mtr antenna

VK4RDS – Operational

VK4RBX – Operational

VK5REX – Operational

–         Experimentation continues with Home Brew equipment and D-Star
HotSpot

VK5RWN - Operational on all bands except 23cm DD & DV

–         Experiencing some Reflector Linking issues

VK6RWN – Operational on all bands except 23cm DV

VK8RAD – Check with local repeater operators

Reflector 003 – Operational

Reflector 023 - Operational

For more details visit www.dstar.org.au <http://www.dstar.org.au/>  or
http://www.wia.org.au/members/repeaters/data/

Weekly Nets

Some weekly nets of interest:

EMDRC Net

 <http://www.emdrc.com.au/> www.emdrc.com.au

Thursday 8pm ESST (10:00 UTC)

VK3RWN C

REF003 C

Ozark Mountain D-STAR Net

http://www.w0omd.org/

Monday 11am ESST  (02:00 UTC)

W0OMD C

REF001 C

If you would like your local D-Star net listed here please email me.

A list of D-Star nets can be found at http://www.dstarinfo.com/Nets/Nets.htm

Reflector Connections.

The following default connections are currently established between
Reflectors and VK D-Star Repeaters:

REFLECTOR 003 Port C 

VK3RWN C

VK3RMM C

VK4RBX C

VK4RDS C

REFLECTOR 003 Port B

VK2RWN B

VK3RWN B

VK3RMM  B

VK5RWN B

VK6RWN B

REFLECTOR 023 Port C

VK4RWN C

Reflector REF003 port B is the Australian National D-Star connection port.

NOTE: The D-Star linking application occasionally has problems. If you are
taking on a link (such as port B) and getting no response it is possible
that the linking system may need to be reset. Please place an email
notification of the problem on this list for assistance.

Linking Instructions

Operators can link and unlink all Ports on the following repeaters;

VK2RDS, VK2RWN, VK3RWN, VK3RMM, VK4RBX, VK4RDS, VK4RWN, VK5RWN & VK6RWN.

Linking allows operators on the local D-Star repeater port to link to a
remote D-Star reflector or repeater port without the operator needing to
program anything special in their URCALL field. This enables a virtual
repeater to be set up between the local port and one or more (if using a
reflector) remote D-Star repeater ports around the world.

Operational hints;

–         The local WIA repeater systems are configured to automatically
unlink the connection in 15 minutes if there is no local RF activity.

–         At selected times when nets are scheduled the repeater system may
automatically drop any links, temporarily disable operator linking on the
port and set the system up for the net. After the net is completed
operations will be restored to normal.

–         The local WIA repeater will transmit a link status text message to
all radios on the RF port every 10 minutes.

–         An voice announcement indicating the port you are on is linked
will be played every 15 minutes.

This functionality has been made possible with enhancements to the Dplus
Gateway application and development of a number of supporting scripts by
various people.

For details on how to use D-Star linking please read the Guide at
http://www.dstar.org.au/Australian_D-Star_Repeater_Linking_User_Guide_V1.1.p
df

WIA D-Star repeater Port Bs are Now enabled for operator unlink & link
control.

Non WIA D-Star repeaters may or may not have operator linking available.

DPRS Beacons

Remember to set your Auto transmit beacon rate for DPRS to 10 Minutes for
mobiles and 30 Minutes for home stations.

Do Not Auto Beacon During an Nets in progress on your local repeater.

If your station is unattended turn off all DPRS beacons.

Multicasting.

A Multicast group has been set up on all VK D-Star repeaters port C to allow
you to call multiple VK remote repeaters.

By placing /VKC in URCall of your radio you enable Multicast for the VKC
Multicast group.

The VK Multicast group currently has VK3RWN C, VK4RGC C, VK5RWN C, VK5REX B,
VK6RWN C and VK3RWW B as group members.

All operators taking part in a Multicast group net must have /VKC in their
URCall. After you have completed the Multicast group net you must ‘Hang up’
by placing CQCQCQ in URCall.

When you wish to establish a Multicast net place /VKC in URCall, announce
that you are using the /VKC Multicast group so that other local and remote
operators can configure their URCall and take part in the Multicast net.
Then see who joins in the fun.

This current VKC Multicast group has been set up as an experiment to enable
everyone to see how D-Star Multicasting works. Why not give it a go and see
what happens.

You can use Callsign Routing, Node Linking or Multicasting when you wish to
call any remote operators. For help with radio configurations for Routing
visit the D-Star Calculator at
<http://www.dstarinfo.com/Calculator/Default.htm>
www.dstarinfo.com/Calculator/Default.htm

More information on D-Star is at www.dstar.org.au <http://www.dstar.org.au/>

Cheers,

Richard

VK3JFK

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