Hello Tom…

And everyone in the QuadNet2 USA IRC Network QnetGateway group.

Jeff, VE6DV, suggested that I try out this approach to DStar. It sounds like a challenge and fun so we jumped right in with both feet. I like the lightweight nature of this software.

I have a DVAP that I hadn’t used for several years because it would never work consistently on my iMac without restarting it every couple of hours. The Mac would go to sleep and when it did, bye bye DVAP During the past year however I have built up four or five raspberry pi computers and are using them for several radio related projects. It struck me that this would be a great application for one of my raspberry pi’s. I now have the 70 CM DVAP connected via USB to my Raspberry Pi 3B. I installed the latest Buster version of Raspian on the 3B.

I didn’t think I had any problems understanding and performing the configuration or the Building of the Qnet Gateway software. For the most part the logs look normal but I’m missing something because I can’t seem to link to one of the DSTAR Smart Servers and/or any Reflectors. Minor details… hi hi?

It’s has to be something simple I missed but I have been unable to find it. To help anyone that can point me in the right direction I have attached a text file containing the output of the tail of the logs for QnetGateway, QnetLink and QnetDVAP. I have also placed the details of my current configuration in this file! I hope this will make it easy to point me in the right direction.

I use an Icom ID-51A on the radio side. And program it with the RT Systems Programming software. I’m pretty sure I have it setup correctly. But I could have a mistake in there also. I also own an Anytone 868 and use it with Jeff’s multi-network configuration settings on Pi-Star installed on a ZumSpot. The combination is great!?

Do I have to turn off the DMR hotspot when I want to fire up the DSTAR DVAP?

Thank you to anyone who can help me get this system on the air.

73 de Dale - K0HYD







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Dale L Puckett
K0HYD
Goddard, KS 67052
Member Society of Professional Journalists

Can you do a simple E echo from your 51?

Also you don't need to specify the module callsign if it's the same as your ircddb login.

And you can't link to DSTAR2. That "Link at startup" is for a reflector or repeater only. You'll have to subscribe to DSTAR2 after qngateway is logged into rr.openquad.net.

If you want to use DMR and your pistar hot-spot at the same time as your DVAP hot-spot, you should disable ircDDBGateway on you pistar. You shouldn't have multiple hotspots logged into openquad.net using the same callsign and IP.? I think in the pistar expert menu, clear the field that has "rr.openquad.net".

Hello Tom,
Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the help.
Yes I can do a simple E Echo for the id-51.
I could not subscribe to DSTAR2 until this afternoon. At that time I used the Send UR field on the Dashboard and was able to subscribe and was able to listen to the QCWA Net. However, they could not hear me. This (early morning) I changed my Hotspot setting in my RT Systems Programming Software from 446.250 in both transmit and receive with no offset and Simplex selected in the pop up menu to 446.250 in both Rx and Tx and no offset and Dup+ selected in the pop up menu. For the first time this let me link to 1 Charlie and hear operators there. However, they still appear to be not hearing me.
After this change I could also subscribe to DSTAR2 or at least it appears that this was occurring in the logs.
Thanks for note on pi-star DMR hotspot being on at same time. I believe I can turn off the DMR+ network and apply the settings when I want to work with the DSTAR hotspot. This is the connection that uses the quad net server.
I'm still stumped about no one hearing me transmit but it could also be a function of the time (very early morning) and It could be that the one or two stations I hear were adjusting things also. I could see their Id on the Dashboard but I cannot see mine. Am I supposed to?

Thanks again for the help. Any further tips will be appreciated greatly.
73
Dale?
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Dale L Puckett
K0HYD
Goddard, KS 67052
Member Society of Professional Journalists

John,
Thanks for the tips and the step by step. I look forward to trying them out in great detail tomorrow (actually, later today (Monday)). If you have any additional ideas please send. See my reply to Tom regarding partial success Sunday.
Thanks again!
73
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Dale L Puckett
K0HYD
Goddard, KS 67052
Member Society of Professional Journalists

开云体育

Hi Dale,

Nearly everyone that first starts using an Icom radio with a hot-spot makes that error. Never use simplex, always use duplex (+ or -, it doesn't matter) with zero offset. When you set an Icom radio to simplex, it transmits "DIRECT? " in the RPT1 and RPT2 parameters of the header, no matter what might be indicated elsewhere on you radio, and when that happens, your hot-spot won't send your voice stream anywhere.

I vaguely remember discussion in other forums that the 70cm DVAP is a bit more temperamental than the 2M DVAP, but I don't know if that is the source of you problem. If echo is working, then there is probably nothing wrong with the DVAP and I don't have a lot of good advice for you. If you are linking, make sure you are showing up as linked on your target's dashboard. For example, link to XRF735A. That's a much less crowded reflector channel that is also connected to the Quadnet Array, the you can look on to see if your hot-spot module is shown on the right side of the "Last Heard" page. Then when you transmit, the Last Heard page should show a new row for you at the top of the list. If that's working, just keep putting out a "Radio check" call. Somebody will eventually respond.