[Dstar] Australian D-Star News

Sun Mar 14 21:56:14 CST 2010

G'day,

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

Repeater Link Announcements

The VK3 D-Star repeaters VK3RWN & VK3RMM are currently testing new software
that announces the status and remote end point connection of the link. This
announcement occurs at 15 minute intervals if there has been no activity on
the repeater for the past 60 seconds or so.

The Link Status Announcements proved a much needed addition to the D-Star
repeaters which keeps all local Amateurs informed of the where the local
D-Star repeater is linked too.

The Link Status Announcements software will be rolled out to all WIA
repeaters shortly.

VK3RDK New Gateway 

The Wimmera Amateur Radio Clubs D-Star repeater VK3RDK has joined the
International D-Star Network with the installation of their new D-Star
Gateway.

The Club is currently testing the functionality and expanded communications
abilities of their repeater with the Gateway.

Doug VK3KAY and Andy VK3AS have invested may hours of hard worked to get the
Gateway up and running.

VK3RMC D-Star Repeater On Air

The Moorrabbin and Frankston and Mornington Peninsula Amateur Radio Clubs
have joined forces and installed a new D-Star repeater at the VK3RMC
repeaters site in Berwick.

The repeater is operating on 146.7625 MHz. The clubs are currently in the
process of building a Gateway to connect their system to the International
D-Star Network. 

Congratulation to both clubs for getting the system up and running.

VK4RWN Gateway Off line

Unfortunately late last week the VK4RWN UPS blew up taking the Gateway
Server with it. This has left the RF side of the repeater system with out
network access to the International D-Star network.

The Gateway will be off for some time as new equipment etc has to be found.

VK3RWW On The Move

The portable D-Star repeater VK3RWW is on the move. The repeater will be
moving to Mt Carrajung for a few months to enable the Gippsland Amateur
community a broader D-Star experience.

VK3RWW operates Digital Voice (DV) on a frequency of 438.150 MHz with an
offset of -5.4 MHz and Digital Data (DD) is available on 1298.90 MHz.

To use VK3RWW set RPT1 to VK3RWW B and RPT2 to VK3RWW G in your D-Star
radio.

VK3RWW will be operational from Mt Carrajung from Late Sunday the 14th of
March.

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

-         Gateway operational

VK3RMC - 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

-         Gateway not operational

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 Connection Status.

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

REFLECTOR 003 Port C 

VK3RDK C

VK3RWN C

VK3RMM C

VK3RWW B

VK4RBX C

VK4RDS C

REFLECTOR 003 Port B

VK2RWN B

VK3RWN B

VK3RMM  B

VK5RWN B

VK6RWN B

REFLECTOR 023 Port C

(Nil connections)

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

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, 

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.

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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