Talk to me about D-Star.....

[WX2MIG]

Until now I haven't seen any real benefit to spending the extra money and investing in this D-Star digital mode of operation. It has been around this area for a while, and seems to be growing in popularity, but even at that, good old analog FM has got me to where I want or need to go....

Now comes the twist.....

I've been working with the City of Ocean City (NJ) OEM in building an amateur radio station, we have been working closely with the Cape May County OEM in this project. The funds finally became available, and I submitted an order for an analog dual band radio, plus all the other accessories to get us on the air at OEM.
The head guys from the county informed us that they have been changing most of their equipment over to D-Star, and that it would be to our advantage to also purchase a D-Star ready radio. With that I submitted a change in the purchase order to include a new Icom ID-880H.

Now I don't know jacksh*t about D-Star, how it works, how to program the radio for D-Star repeaters, or anything associated with this mode of operation, so if there is any advice any of you can offer, I sure would appreciate it......

 

[Heater]

I'll admit I am not familiar with this technology/mode either. However a google came up with this:

Importance of Digital Technology and D-STAR

As long as the signal strength is above a minimum threshold, and no multi-path is occurring, the quality of the data received is better than an analog signal at the same strength.

The system today is capable of linking repeaters together locally and through the Internet utilizing callsigns for routing of traffic. Servers are linked via TCP/IP utilizing proprietary "gateway" software, available from Icom. This allows amateur radio operators to talk to any other amateurs participating in a particular gateway "trust" environment. The current master gateway in the United States is operated by the K5TIT group in Texas, who were the first to install a D-Star repeater system in the U.S.[3]

Another important aspect of D-STAR technology is its ability to send large quantities of data to emergency responders in the event of a disaster. Served agencies can instantly relate to sending "email" or a "word files" to someone. The data sent can be high-volume, where traditional amateur radio "modes" are capable of getting a message through albeit slowly, D-STAR can place documents into the hands of those that need them most—fast image, text and document data exchanges.

Kind of makes me think about receiving images via fax but in a faster digital mode. I can see its usefulness when talking about OEM work. Too bad most of it is proprietary and thus widespread adoption (by manufacturers and consumers) is likely to be small.

 

[C2]

I think fax was limited to 56 kbps...or was it less for actual fax?

Anyway, that is old dialup modem speed, which compared to what D-Star can do, around 9.6 kbps, is lightning fast.

Is that right?

 

[WX2MIG]

So far in my own researching, I found some information concerning the D-RATS software that is supposed to work with D-Star, mostly in the emcom field.

Most everything I've found more or less tells you what D-Star can do, but it doesn't tell you how to do it.......

 

[KingCobra_CDX882]

Well...

D-Star can do quite a bit..

However programming it can be quite hard indeed..
Well yes and no..

That meaning...forget about programming it by hand ( you will be old and grey by time you have it finished).

To program D-Star you need to do so via a windows ( XP works well) computer ..

I use the ID 800H and IC 91AD ( outside of nyc on nj side)

 

[Moleculo]

I would like to have some D-Star equipment, but boy is it pricey. I saw the DRATS software at Dayton this year...it's kind've like digital APRS over D-STAR. Alot (most/all?) D-Star repeaters are also hooked up to the internet so it's possible to talk to people all over the world from an HT. If you have a GPS module for your HT/Rig, the GPS location can also be sent when you key up to the other station - you can imagine how useful this would be for an Ecom event.

 

[dudmuck]

Although reducing bandwidth used, and having the digital features are good things, the AMBE vocoder used in d-star is proprietary. Proprietary has no place in ham radio: its codes & cyphers.

 

[WX2MIG]

Although reducing bandwidth used, and having the digital features are good things, the AMBE vocoder used in d-star is proprietary. Proprietary has no place in ham radio: its codes & cyphers.

My understanding is that it's proprietary to the Japan Amateur Radio Club, and not any one business, corporation, or manufacturer, and because of that it slides under the part 97 rules concerning codes and cyphers.

That part doesn't really concern me though, I'm really not diving into this D-Star stuff by choice, it was kinda dumped into my lap, and I have the job of figuring it out, and making it work for our OEM.....

 

[WX2MIG]

OK....so our new radio equipment for the OEM arrives, I get a call to come inspect the shipment to insure everything is there. I look over the goods, and we take it to the OEM headquarters where it will be installed soon.
I take the radio with me so I can start reading the instructions, and program the radio.....that's when I realized HRO sent us the wrong radio.....:headbang

I ordered the ID-880H, they sent me the ID-800H.....

At this point in time I don't know if we will be sending this radio back and make them send us the right one, or if we will just keep this radio, and have them adjust the bill to reflect the lower price of the ID-800H.....

Either way I can't really do anything with it until I know for sure, and the way municipal governments work, that could be weeks.......

 

[KingCobra_CDX882]

I have not used the newer ID-880
I do use the ID-800 and it works great indeed

 

[WX2MIG]

Got my first taste of D-Star today, after reading the instruction manual, reading a D-Star programming guide posted on the website of the Jersey Cape D-Star users group, I attempted fate and programmed in one of the area D-Star 440 Mhz. repeaters.....and much to my amazement someone answered me.
I then programmed in a 2 meter D-Star repeater, and again I got an answer.
I'm only programming these into memory to access the local repeater and not the gateway, since this radio will be for OEM use only. If and when I get one of these digital radios for myself, I'll go with the ID-880H since one of it's key features is one touch change over from local repeater access to gateway access and back.
I even figured out how to program in a Tx message, and set it to transmit whenever I key the mic......"Ocean City OEM".....kind of an added identifier to let everyone know that the station is not my home QTH, but OEM headquarters.

Programming all the analog repeaters and simplex frequencies was just as easy, if not easier than on my IC-2200H, the D-Star stuff requires a bit more information, I can see why most folks prefer doing this on the computer, programming D-Star repeaters via the front panel is a major league pain in the ass......

There's a learning curve here, and I'm just scratching the surface......