Setting Up Your Radio for D-Star Voice Usage

Gateway Usage

Most D-Star repeater sites have a Gateway installed that will let you communicate across the Internet to any other D-Star Gateway in the world, and this is a situation where you would again use the 'RPT1' and 'RPT2' parameters.  

Just as the 'A', 'B' and 'C' suffixes are used to designate a repeater port, the Gateway has a 'G' assigned to it in the rightmost eighth position, and is entered into the 'RPT2' field. 

Please Note:  In all the examples below, the "WB3W" call sign in the "MyCall" field should be replaced with your own call sign.  This should only be done once when you do your initial Radio setup.

If you wanted to initiate a call through the Gateway to W3ZZZ and he is on a different repeater system that is connected via the Internet Gateway, and you are on the 70cm side locally, you would configure as follows:

You don't need to know what repeater or Gateway W3ZZZ is on --The gateway accesses a database to find where the UrCALL callsign was last heard and will send your data to that system. 

Here's another trick... to call 'CQ' on the 2 meter port of a distant repeater (for example, K5TIT in Texas) using the Gateway, enter '/K5TIT_C' in UrCALL. Now you will be heard by all the folks listening on 2 meters in Texas!  Here it is:

Once you hear that station or another station from the remote Gateway come back to you press the one-touch UrCALL key --- On the 2820H you PRESS "F" twice and then "R>CS", and on a 91AD or 92AD then PRESS and HOLD  the lower right button "RX-CS"--- Once you do this you can talk to that station and any other station on the remote Gateway you are connected to...

For additional specific programming to any one particular distant repeater click  here or the "Gateway Calculator" button on the top left menu.

Responding to Incoming Gateway or Dongle Users

 A remote station on a distant repeater and a 'Dongle' user on a PC is coming through the Gateway.  You will hear their audio, but they will only be able to hear you or any other local station until you move their call sign into the 'UrCALL' field and 'W3OI _ _ _G' into RPT2.  

The easiest way to do this is to setup a memory channel as below, and then when you hear the Dongle or Remote Gateway station ID and their call sign shows on the bottom of your display, switch to that memory channel, and then press R>CS or the RX-CS to move their call into the URCALL field.

We strongly recommend that when you program the 2 meter port and the 440 port into your radios that you put the W3OI _ _ _ G into the RPT2 field.  This should be your default so you don't have to program the RPT2 field each time you want to talk to a remote station on the Gateway.  

Checking Your Audio Quality

We have a utility installed on the W3OI Gateway to allow you to check your audio quality.  Just set your DV options up as shown in the chart below, and then key you mic, speak something with your voice, and then it will play back your transmission....

NOTE: Always replace the "WB3W" call sign in the MyCALL field examples above with your own station call sign

D-Star User Linking and Port Linking is similar to making a telephone call or telephone conference call. You just need to dial in the callsign you want.  

But, remember, just as with any telephone call you Must hang up after the call. To hang up your D-Star call when you have finished talking you must change UrCALL to CQCQCQ and remove the RPT2 entry...

Checking to see if the repeater is linked to a Reflector

We sometimes link to other repeaters or to a "Reflector", similar to an IRLP Reflector or an Echolink Reflector (for more info on Reflectors click here).  To see if we are currently linked, program the callsign fields as below, and press your PTT button.  An audio message will play indicating the link status. You will hear a recording come back with either "Not Currently Linked", or Remote System Linked".

NOTE: Always replace the "WB3W" call sign in the MyCALL field examples above with your own station call sign

Tips for making a Call to a Distant Gateway..........

When you make a call to another gateway, to see if anyone is around, speak slowly and clearly. State where you are located AND WHICH GATEWAY AND BAND MODULE YOU ARE ON. Wait a few moments so anyone around can find their radio and/or mic, and then repeat the information at least one more time.

Why? Well, most people are not sitting with fingers on the PTT waiting for a call. Even if they were, until they know how to program your call sign into their UrCall field, they can't get back to you. 

Some people use call capture, and SOME DO NOT, so they need to put your callsign or, more likely, your band-module into their UrCall 

This takes time -- give them a minute or two before you QSY even if you have given enough information for them to get back to you.

 Remember, very few people can respond quickly.

As a side note, some people also use the "one-touch" feature on their radio, so stay keyed down for a few extra seconds to allow them to do that.

AND -- don't place a blind call to ALL modules on the distant repeater -- SPECIFY THE PORT you want to connect to...

An example of placing a CQ call to connect to the W3EOC repeater in Chester County on the VHF module would be as follows.  Program the "UrCall" field with "/W3EOC _ C" (there is a slash "/" in front of W3EOC and in this example the "_" indicates a blank with the "C" in the eighth position.  And, make sure that you have the local repeater port in RPT1 (i.e.  W3OI _ _ _ C  or  W3OI _ _ _ B) AND that the Gateway is in RPT2 (W3OI _ _ _ G)

Then, press your PTT button and  say something like -- "This is WB3W in Allentown PA on the W3OI repeater connecting to the W3EOC repeater via Port C -- and listening"......

If no one answers,  or you end a QSO on that repeater, you MUST "hang up" afterwards -- to do that simply change the memory channel on your radio for a moment, or put "CQCQCQ" into the UrCall field.

Notes to Dongle users when a repeater is connected to a Reflector:

If you connect direct to a repeater that is linked to any of the Reflectors, you will be able to communicate with the local stations on that repeater, but will not be able to communicate to any station on the Reflector side.  In this situation, you should log out and reconnect to the specific reflector that the repeater is linked to.  Now, you will be able to communicate to anyone or any repeater linked to that reflector. To find out what reflector that W3OI might currently be connected to click this link:  https://dstargateway.org/dplus-status.txt

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