Don Hinsman – N4VIP

Alden Oyer – AG5S

Alan Hill – N5BGC

Ed James – KA8JMW

What is D-STAR?

D-STAR is an open standard for digital voice and data on Amateur Radio

Developed by Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL)

Uses AMBE vocoder chip from DVSI (only proprietary part in D-Star)

Icom is first manufacturer with base, mobile, handhelds and repeater equipment (non-proprietary)

How does D-STAR work? Voice is converted to digital modulation

and transmitted at 4800 bps○ 2400 bits for voice○ 1200 bits for Forward Error Correction on voice○ 1200 bits for data

Voice and data occupy one 6.25 KHz signal (versus 12.5 KHz FM voice, P25, NXDN and MotoTRBO)

Can operate simplex, repeater or linked to other repeater(s)

What can D-STAR Do?

Transmit or receive voice and 1200 baud data simultaneously on 2m, 440 and 1.2 GHz (no TNC required)

128 Kb data transmission on 1.2 GHz with Internet connectivity (Ethernet bridge to Internet with IP address)

D-PRS (digital APRS) automatic position reporting simultaneous with voice with GPS

Flexible repeater linking with Gateway and Internet connection

Reflectors act as conference bridge for linking multiple repeaters (57 now in operation worldwide)

DV Dongle and DV Access Point (DVAP) allow voice and data access to D-STAR via Internet connection (similar to EchoLink)

D-STAR Continues to Grow As of October 20, 2012 – 987 Gateways,

~2,072 Repeaters and 24,630 registered users

Users

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D-STAR Reflectors and Nets 57 reflectors available worldwide to act as “conference bridges”

linking multiple repeaters, Dongle, DVAP, hotspot users

Each reflector has four separate modules for independent conference bridges (A, B, C, D) and echo function (E)

○ Many use module D exclusively for data functions

52 regional, national and international nets established through reflectors

Linking repeaters to reflectors allows local users to participate with no special programming

View repeaters and users connected to reflectors (http://refnumber.dstargateway.org/status.html)

Complete Net listing on www.DSTARinfo.com

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Typical D-Star Handheld (ID-31A) UHF (analog FM, Digital Voice), 5W GPS receiver Global D-Star repeater list pre-

programmed microSD card 1252 Memory channels, all NM FM & all

Southwest D-Star repeaters

D-Star demonstration

FM – simplex and repeater (442.825 MHz)

Digital voice – simplex and repeater (442. MHz)

Echo Linked (through W5PMZ to W5SF) DV Dongle, Acces Point and Node

Adapters (KA8JMW)

DV Dongle, Access Point and Node Adapters

Dongle provides access to D-STAR repeaters via PC without radio

Access Point creates instant local access point for limited area without D-STAR repeater

Node Adapter provides D-STAR interface to FM radio and can be used to create hotspot or repeater

EmComm operation

Quickly setup linked repeaters building ad-hoc networks

Without Internet, repeater still provides expanded voice/data features

Without repeater, simplex operation still provides expanded capabilities

D-RATS

By Dan Smith - KK7DS

Chat

FTP style file transfers

Messaging including E-mail

APRS like mapping

OVERVIEW

Chat

Free-form multicast chat messages– Checksum-protected– No ACK/NAK from remote stations (yet)– Channels and “private” chat– Automated QSTs– Quick messages

Messaging Email gateway

SMTP for outgoing emails Rich forms go as HTML emails POP3 gateway for remote mail checks

WL2K gateway Any internet-connected station can gateway Experimental RMS packet client Seamless and bi-directional

SMTP/POP3 servers integrated Paclink-like functionality

File transfer

Ratflector

Connect to other D-RATS users via Internet Easy and clean for testing Data-only reflector Configure D-RATS radio port for one of:

Network port on ref.d-rats.com, port 9000 Network port on ref.d-rats.com, port 9001

User-run ratflectors too! Included in download