Re: W6CX MultiMode Digital Voice Repeater back online!
Are you sure that the D-Star, DMR and C4FM/Fusion are all working again because when I key up with DMR I get a “Repeater Not Found” message. ? Thanks,
LarryB, KK6QPE
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From: Jim - K6JM via groups.ioSent: Friday, January 27, 2023 12:54 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected]Subject: [W6CX-DigitalVoice] W6CX MultiMode Digital Voice Repeater back online! ? Trevor WA6JAU and Jim K6SOE made the trip up to South Peak and just finished reconfiguring the antenna for our MultiMode repeater.? D-Star, DMR and C4FM/Fusion are all working again.? ?Thanks! ? Users are free to use any of those DV modes.? As a reminder: ? W6CX DV:? 145.000 (+2.5 MHz offset) More info at ? D-Star – Default reflector is REF014C, but feel free, when the repeater is not busy, to link to other reflectors.? As a courtesy, when done, please relink to REF014C, but the system will relink after a period of no inbound D-Star transmissions. ? DMR – Connected to the Brandmeister network.? Default talkgroup is 310606, but feel free to use other TGs when the repeater is not busy. ? C4FM/Fusion – Can connect to YSF and FCS reflectors.? Default is YSF80280 Contra Costa.? As above, feel free to link to other reflectors. ? Remember than once a given mode is being used, the system listens for just that mode for a while, so that QSOs in a given mode are not interrupted.? If near a computer, tablet or smartphone, check out our Dashboard at – and if you want to use the repeater, check your radio in case another mode is actively using it.? Every radio has a way to display it is receiving a transmission.? If you see that but are not hearing anything, probably a mode different is using the repeater.? Just wait a bit until that QSO ends and you are free to use the repeater using your favorite mode. ? ?? Jim – K6JM
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W6CX MultiMode Digital Voice Repeater back online!
Trevor WA6JAU and Jim K6SOE made the trip up to South Peak and just finished reconfiguring the antenna for our MultiMode repeater.? D-Star, DMR and C4FM/Fusion are all working again.? ?Thanks! ? Users are free to use any of those DV modes.? As a reminder: ? W6CX DV:? 145.000 (+2.5 MHz offset) More info at ? D-Star – Default reflector is REF014C, but feel free, when the repeater is not busy, to link to other reflectors.? As a courtesy, when done, please relink to REF014C, but the system will relink after a period of no inbound D-Star transmissions. ? DMR – Connected to the Brandmeister network.? Default talkgroup is 310606, but feel free to use other TGs when the repeater is not busy. ? C4FM/Fusion – Can connect to YSF and FCS reflectors.? Default is YSF80280 Contra Costa.? As above, feel free to link to other reflectors. ? Remember than once a given mode is being used, the system listens for just that mode for a while, so that QSOs in a given mode are not interrupted.? If near a computer, tablet or smartphone, check out our Dashboard at – and if you want to use the repeater, check your radio in case another mode is actively using it.? Every radio has a way to display it is receiving a transmission.? If you see that but are not hearing anything, probably a mode different is using the repeater.? Just wait a bit until that QSO ends and you are free to use the repeater using your favorite mode. ? ?? Jim – K6JM
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South Peak receive problems
Today we noticed the W6CX digital voice repeater was not receiving, though the transmitter was working fine.? ???The problem was reported to Trevor WA6JAU (MDARC’s South Peak site manager), who responded that apparently the shared receive antenna is not working, and the “2 meter analog, 440 receive and multi mode are all down. We will try to run on a single antenna to get the systems up, but it will have to wait till this storm passes.” ? I guess this weather is disrupting a lot of our services.? Just wanted you all to know that the club is aware of the problems and will do its best to fix when that is safe and possible. ? ??? Jim – K6JM ????W6CX Digital Voice Admin
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W6CX-DV service restored today
Trevor and I went back up to South Peak today and discovered the 12v power cable to the RX and TX radios used by the digital voice repeater had an intermittent connector.? It had worked ok after we finished out work on Tuesday, and it was working an hour later when we were back in Walnut Creek, but at some point after that it failed, taking down both radios. ? We repaired the power cable and the W6CX-DV repeater on 145.0 +2.5 came back up at 11:45am this morning.? ? ??? Jim – K6JM
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Ralph,
Thanks.
Trevor and I are headed up to the site Thursday morning and hopefully will get W6CX-DV back on the air then.?
There was a light dusting of snow up there, with a bit of ice on the roads.? Not enough to prevent us from getting there, but right on the edge.? For a ham who was born and raised in North Iowa, it was a little nostalgic.?? But not too much.
?????? Jim – K6JM
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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Ralph An - K6RAA
Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2022 7:08 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [W6CX-DigitalVoice] W6CX-DV is down
Thanks Jim for all you do for all of us. ?Great job. ?Stay warm. Stay dry. Stay well. Have a great year?
73
Ralph
K6RAA
On Dec 20, 2022, at 7:02 PM, Jim - K6JM via groups.io <jim@...> wrote:
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The digital voice repeater is temporarily down.? Trevor and I went up to the site today to reconfigure the radios so if the UPS or generator were to have problems again and lose power, the DV radios will come up again properly when power is restored.
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We did that and first tested losing power to the radios, then restoring it.? They both restarted properly.? We then did an RF test using D-Star, and it also worked, repeating properly.
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We left the site, and while driving back, another ham used the DV repeater and the Dashboard shows it worked.? Sometime after that, the repeater stopped working.
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We are working to schedule another trip and fix whatever is wrong.? Hopefully it will be something that can be fixed quickly.? I am sorry for this disruption in service on our MultiMode digital voice repeater.? I??????????? will post updates on these two groups.
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???? Jim – K6JM
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Thanks Jim for all you do for all of us. ?Great job. ?Stay warm. Stay dry. Stay well. Have a great year?
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On Dec 20, 2022, at 7:02 PM, Jim - K6JM via groups.io <jim@...> wrote:
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The digital voice repeater is temporarily down.? Trevor and I went up to the site today to reconfigure the radios so if the UPS or generator were to have problems again and lose power, the DV radios will come up again properly when power
is restored.
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We did that and first tested losing power to the radios, then restoring it.? They both restarted properly.? We then did an RF test using D-Star, and it also worked, repeating properly.
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We left the site, and while driving back, another ham used the DV repeater and the Dashboard shows it worked.? Sometime after that, the repeater stopped working.
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We are working to schedule another trip and fix whatever is wrong.? Hopefully it will be something that can be fixed quickly.? I am sorry for this disruption in service on our MultiMode digital voice repeater.? I??????????? will post updates
on these two groups.
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???? Jim – K6JM
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The digital voice repeater is temporarily down.? Trevor and I went up to the site today to reconfigure the radios so if the UPS or generator were to have problems again and lose power, the DV radios will come up again properly when power is restored. ? We did that and first tested losing power to the radios, then restoring it.? They both restarted properly.? We then did an RF test using D-Star, and it also worked, repeating properly. ? We left the site, and while driving back, another ham used the DV repeater and the Dashboard shows it worked.? Sometime after that, the repeater stopped working. ? We are working to schedule another trip and fix whatever is wrong.? Hopefully it will be something that can be fixed quickly.? I am sorry for this disruption in service on our MultiMode digital voice repeater.? I??????????? will post updates on these two groups. ? ???? Jim – K6JM
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The digital voice repeater is temporarily down.? Trevor and I went up to the site today to reconfigure the radios so if the UPS or generator were to have problems again and lose power, the DV radios will come up again properly when power is restored. ? We did that and first tested losing power to the radios, then restoring it.? They both restarted properly.? We then did an RF test using D-Star, and it also worked, repeating properly. ? We left the site, and while driving back, another ham used the DV repeater and the Dashboard shows it worked.? Sometime after that, the repeater stopped working. ? We are working to schedule another trip and fix whatever is wrong.? Hopefully it will be something that can be fixed quickly.? I am sorry for this disruption in service on our MultiMode digital voice repeater.? I??????????? will post updates on these two groups. ? ???? Jim – K6JM
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W6CX-DV D-STAR now linked to new REF014
The W6CX Digital Voice repeater is now linking correctly to the new REF014 reflector – the West Coast D-Star reflector. ? Our DV repeater has traditionally default linked to that reflector, but recently it went offline.? It was discovered that the owner had become an SK.? So Tim K6BIV volunteered to set up (and pay for) a new installation for REF014.? He quickly got it going in a datacenter, but then started a project to move it to his own location.? He upgraded his internet connection, set up a server and today it went live. ? W6CX-DV just got the new internet address and the repeater is again linked to REF014C. ? Thanks, Tim, for providing this popular resource not only to MDARC members, but to many digital voice hams on the West Coast. ? ?????? Jim – K6JM ? PS Thanks also to Robin Cutshaw AA4RC, creator of DPlus and REF reflectors, who installed the software on Tim’s new server on short notice.? ? PPS For those who have their own DV hotspots and also like to link them to REF014, it normally takes a day or so for hotspot hosts files to be updated when a reflector’s IP address changes.? You can just wait until the new hosts files are installed, or if your hotspot runs pi-star, check out .
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Info.? For most hotspots, it may take a day or two for your network to pick up the new IP address.? Or, you can reboot your hotspot’s computer and it should be able to access REF014 reflectors again right away. ?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Tim K6BIV via groups.io Sent: Tuesday, November 1, 2022 8:18 AM To: [email protected]Subject: [w6cx-dstar] Reflector 014 ? Good Morning All:
Reflector 014 has moved to a new location with a new IP number.
The New IP is 149.28.215.50
The Western Reflector is back and ready for use.
Thanks,
Tim
K6BIV
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D-STAR Registrations have been moved to REGIST
This note is for people who registered their callsign for D-STAR on the W6CX D-STAR gateway.
If you need to modify your D-STAR registration info, that has been moved to the REGIST gateway which is operated by the D-STAR Trust Server Team. If you need to make changes:
* Go to
* Change your password using the "Forgot password?" portion of the page (enter callsign & email address)
* After password has been changed, log on to above link as normal and make your changes
Background: When we updated the repeater to MultiMode supporting D-STAR, DMR and C4FM/Fusion, we moved the ICOM registration database and web pages to a cloud server located at w6cx.dstargateway.org. This was done so the holders of the over 2,000 callsigns registered there would not be rudely disrupted had we simply shut down. We promised to keep this server going until November 2022.
The D-STAR REGIST team has helped move the remaining callsigns to REGIST and the W6CX D-STAR registration server has been taken offline. Hats off to the REGIST team for making the transition as easy as possible.
Jim - K6JM
W6CX-DV Admin
Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club
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-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Jim - K6JM via groups.io Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2022 11:03 AM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [w6cx-dstar] For those with D-STAR registrations at W6CX A great way to check if your callsign is still on W6CX or has been moved to REGIST is to go to In your case, Trevor, your callsign has been successfully moved to the REGIST server and deleted (meaning delete flag is set) from the W6CX database. So you are good to go and don’t need to do anything more to continue using D-STAR. Background ---------------- The D-STAR Trust Server Team, who operates the D-STAR network and also administers the REGIST D-STAR callsign registration gateway, has graciously offered to move callsigns registered at W6CX to REGIST. They are moving callsigns manually. I’ve given them the logon credentials to our W6CX registration system so they can delete a callsign from W6CX, then add it to REGIST. I have not asked them how long they think all this will take. When W6CX was a D-STAR only repeater, we ran ICOM software which includes the registration function. When we converted to MultiMode, we shut off the ICOM software. Usually that means if people who are registered on a gateway that is offline, they are out of luck if they want/need to make an update to their registration. While this is not needed very often, sometimes if one buys a new radio with new features, you need to update your registration to make use of a new feature. That is when people discover they can’t log onto the place where their callsign is. I did not want to do that to people who in good faith had registered at W6CX, so I set up a cloud server and installed the parts of the ICOM software that do registration. So people already registered at W6CX continued to be able to modify their info. Our registration page at has been directing people wanting to do a new registration to REGIST, but existing users have been ok using our cloud registration server. And now the Trust Server Team is gradually moving people to REGIST, one by one. When they are done, I will be able to shut down the cloud server. Jim – K6JM
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W6CX DV repeater still down
When power came back, our Digital Voice repeater on 145.0 failed to come back online. The Pi that controls it did come back and is functioning, but the RX and TX radios did not power up when power was restored. Trevor will be returning from out of town on Sunday and I am also on a trip, returning Monday. We think we know the problem – the default config of the Motorola radios (CDM1250) used by the W6CX-DV repeater is not to power up when power is restored. My bad in not reconfiguring that with a pair of jumpers. Trevor’s current plan is to go up the hill on Sunday, put in the jumpers if possible, and power up both radios. I don’t think we have all the facts about the outage, but it is possible the radios would have remained on and working if our generator had not failed. Not sure about that though, and in any case, the correct configuration when used as a repeater is to come back online when power returns. Just think – 25 years or more ago, all radios had a physical on-off switch and if power were lost, then restored and if the power switch were in the on position, the things would just automatically power up. Now, according to the Motorola manual, the logic in the radio looks at 4 conditions until it decides to actually let the radio power up. Jim – K6JM From: mailto: [email protected] [mailto: [email protected]] On Behalf Of Trevor Hall Sent: Monday, September 5, 2022 8:28 PM To: MDARC W6CX; mailto: [email protected]Subject: Re: [MDARC] Power Out On Mt. Diablo Power has been restored to Mt. Diablo and the repeaters are back in service. Trevor Hall MDARC Technician On Monday, September 5, 2022 at 08:24:52 PM PDT, Trevor Hall <mailto:wa6jau@...> wrote: Dear HAM Community PG&E is reporting a power outage at the Mt. Diablo Radio Vault. There is a generator, but it could have either overheated or ran out of fuel. All repeaters are out of service and PG&E is not giving a restoration time. We will monitor the system. Sincerely Trevor Hall MDARC Technician
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Re: LimeSDR enables multi-carrier, multi-standard amateur radio base stations based on MMDVM
The BIG limitation on LimeSDR at the moment is availability! Also from Crowd Supply in the same listing Jim quotes above: "End of Life Announcement" There is no product inventory of LimeSDR or LimeSDR Mini at this time. The new and improved LimeSDR Mini 2.0 is due out before the end of the year. I had been waiting for a year with an order for the LimeSDR Mini and in late May when the End of Life announcement was made I had to change to the Mini 2.0. Hopefully there will not be another chip shortage! They will be shipped in the order of receipt of orders. I am somewhat near the beginning of that line. For more information on the LimeSDR Mini 2.0 see here:
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LimeSDR enables multi-carrier, multi-standard amateur radio base stations based on MMDVM
Info about an interesting open source project targeting a wide range of RF
configurations, including amateur radio:
The following is from
-- Below this
general info, I'm forwarding a note about using this platform for amateur
radio digital voice.
Jim - K6JM
A Software Defined Radio for Everyone
LimeSDR is a low cost, open source, apps-enabled (more on that later)
software defined radio (SDR) platform that can be used to support just about
any type of wireless communication standard. LimeSDR can send and receive
UMTS, LTE, GSM, LoRa, Bluetooth, Zigbee, RFID, and Digital Broadcasting, to
name but a few.
While most SDRs have remained in the domain of RF and protocol experts,
LimeSDR is usable by anyone familiar with the idea of an app store - it's
the first SDR to integrate with Snappy Ubuntu Core. This means you can
easily download new LimeSDR apps from developers around the world. If you're
a developer yourself, you can share and/or sell your LimeSDR apps through
Snappy Ubuntu Core as well.
The LimeSDR platform gives students, inventors, and developers an
intelligent and flexible device for manipulating wireless signals, so they
can learn, experiment, and develop with freedom from limited functionality
and expensive proprietary devices.
Top (left) and bottom (right) of the LimeSDR PCBA
From Radio Astronomy to Personal Telcos
Here are just some of the applications that are possible with the LimeSDR:
* Radio astronomy
* RADAR
* 2G to 4G cellular basestation
* Media streaming
* IoT gateway
* HAM radio
* Wireless keyboard and mice emulation and detection
* Tire pressure monitoring systems
* Aviation transponders
* Utility meters
* Drone command and control
* Test and measurement
* Many more...
With state-of-the-art technical specs, fully open hardware and toolchain,
and integration with Snappy Ubuntu Core's app distribution platform, LimeSDR
is limited only by our collective imagination.
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-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Adrian M Sent: Saturday, September 3, 2022 1:52 AM To: [email protected]Subject: [OpenDV] LimeSDR enables multi-carrier, multi-standard amateur radio base stations based on MMDVM Using LimeSDR equipment (LimeNET-Micro / LimeSDR-mini) and MMDVM + GNU Radio as core components, the implementation of a full duplex SDR base station was created in order to support the DMR, System Fusion, D-Star and M17 amateur digital voice standards in a multi-carrier configuration, with up to 7 transmitted carriers within 200 kHz bandwidth, in any combination of operating modes and with a configurable channel separation. The channel / mode matrix is entirely user configurable by using multiple MMDVM instances, each of them dedicated to one operating channel. The long term goal is to continue software development and combine LimeSDR equipment with the LimeRFE front-end and capable computing hardware to supply a self-contained, easily deployable base station in NITB style. The end-user should only need to supply their own antennas, power amplification and duplexing hardware for a complete SDR base station solution. The current testing status has confirmed operation of the DMR and System Fusion standards, while D-Star and M17 modes are still theoretical and need to be tested. There is interest in further extended support for the new M17 open digital voice standard and investigating how a multi-carrier approach can provide amateur radio operators new avenues of experimentation with topics like trunking, multiple access, IP network facilities and other such topics. Work is in progress to improve code, refine user documentation and create deployable packages. A video demonstrating the operation of a four-channel mixed DMR and System Fusion duplex repeater system can be seen here: All credit for the work supporting this project goes to Jonathan Naylor, Peter Rakesh and all the people who created or contributed to MMDVM and GNU Radio along the years. Regards, Adrian
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W6CX has not enabled analog FM as another mode on the W6CX DV repeater at 145.0, but the G4KLX suite of DV program now supports that. Our club already has a really good analog FM 2 meter repeater. But I am glad analog FM was added to the MMDVM software, since some situations could benefit. The G4KLX program MMDVMHost currently supports D-STAR, DMR, Fusion (with YSF and FCS reflectors, but not Wirex-X rooms), P-25, NXDN and analog FM. The M-17 project is well-underway and MMDVMHost will support that new DV mode as it becomes available (this will be the first Open Source DV codec with full network support). I can see W6CX enabling M-17 once radios supporting that mode become commercially available. Currently testing is being done using modified DMR radios (small hardware mods plus replacing the radio’s firmware). Users of a multi-mode repeater have a small transition to make – before calling out when the repeater appears to be unused, they need to check their radio in case the repeater is actually being used by another mode -- for example, if they have a DMR radio and there is currently a D-Star QSO going on. All radios have some way of indicating a signal is being received, and if that indicates activity but your radio is not decoding that to audio, then you know another DV mode is being used. Most multi-mode repeaters are configured to ensure another mode cannot easily take over a QSO in progress. For example, W6CX has configured the setting called hang-time to 20 seconds. If there has been no RF activity for 20 seconds, the repeater begins listening for all enabled modes. But once a given mode is heard, the repeater listens only for that mode (for up to <hang-time> seconds) to allow uninterrupted QSOs. We are using the Pi-Star image, which is a ready-to-go package of all needed multi-mode programs, plus configuration for Admins and a Dashboard. It was originally built for personal hotspots, but increasingly repeater admins are using it also. In the case of W6CX, we replaced our Intel gateway pc running ICOM’s gateway software with a Pi 3B+ loaded with Pi-Star. Jim – K6JM From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of n9rhg via groups.io Sent: Saturday, June 4, 2022 5:48 PM To: [email protected]Subject: [W6CX-DigitalVoice] Repeater questions I do not know if this has been covered yet but can the repeater operate in analog mode also or does the audio routing prevent that? Also if programmed though pi star could you also do P25? I have liked what you have done here and may want to make one. Thanks Darren N9RHG Lincoln, CA
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I do not know if this has been covered yet but can the repeater operate in analog mode also or does the audio routing prevent that? Also if programmed though pi star could you also do P25? I have liked what you have done here and may want to make one. Thanks
Darren N9RHG?
Lincoln, CA
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Re: [MDARC] DMR radio for under $100
Roger, ? (I’m copying this to MDARC’s digital voice forum also.) ? I just checked at https://dstar.info/query.html ?and see your callsign is properly registered for D-Star.? So you are in good shape for that. ? The fastest way to get a D-Star radio up and running is: - In your radio’s settings, put your callsign into MYCALL – the radio’s manual will explain how and you can do that without programming software.? (If you have software for a given radio, though, using that is a little easier.)
- To talk to most repeaters, you can then put your radio into “DR Mode”.? ICOM has loaded their radios with lists of repeaters, so normally you don’t have to set up a detailed codeplug. You can just search the radio to find your target repeater and you are ready to have a QSO.
? BUT, ICOM shipped a lot of radios with an error for W6CX digital repeater’s frequencies.? I contacted them some time back, and I think they finally fixed it, but if either your 9700 or 7100 has the frequencies wrong for our digital voice repeater, then you will first have to fix the W6CX entry before you can use DR Mode on W6CX DV.? You can fix it just using the radio’s buttons, or you can fix it using programming software if you have it for the radio. ? I just did a search for some simple documents that will help people get going on D-STAR.? I found many long documents that try to teach everything with details.? What I wanted was something very short with just the important steps.? I did find a 3-page document for the 7100 that in my opinion is still too long, but I am attaching that to this note.? Go directly to the section “Using your local repeater with Gateway Access” and find W6CX in Concord. ?The (TX) frequency your radio should listen on is 145.000 and the offset is 2.500 mHz.? ? - So using the above doc with radio in DR Mode, set FROM by accessing the Repeater List, find the USA West repeaters, then Mt Diablo W6CX and see what frequencies your radio has for our repeater.?
- If they are wrong, let us know if you have programming software or if you want to fix this using the radio’s buttons and I can give more info.
? ???? Jim – K6JM ? ?
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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of n3rcn3rc
Sent: Sunday, May 1, 2022 9:20 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [MDARC] DMR radio for under $100? Can I get a codeplug for these from MDARC? I have a Icom 9700 and 7100? and have not been able to get them going on DSTAR. Live in Sebastopol have strong sigs from MDARC machines.
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Re: Linking/Touting to other Repeaters
Hi Jim,
Thank you for your reply; I never thought about linking restriction due to bandwidth issues; that does make a lot of sense. Thanks too for the overview of the gateway software and pointing out that DPlus is an add-on? providing for REF reflectors and G4KLX software supports the other types of reflectors.
Contacting the Trustee or D-Star administrator for my selected systems (selected at random, my only criteria is they have accessible online dashboards so I can see if I have made a connection) will be my next step.. I will also check the dashboards to see if the systems are linked to a reflector and connect to that and take it from there.
The w6cx MMDVM is such a nice system for the area to have available.
73
John
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? | ? ? I am not endorsing and don’t speak for MDARC, but wanted to post this in case anyone is looking for a good but not expensive DMR HT.?? The owner of Connect Systems, Jerry Wanger, has attended Pacificon and spoken a bit at our “Digital Dinners”.? ? The W6CX DV repeater, as most of you know, is now a Multi-Mode repeater and is able to repeat D-STAR, DMR and C4FM.? So if you have been thinking of getting into DMR and can hit our repeater on Mt Diablo, you will have access to a good DMR repeater with a great footprint. ? ???? Jim – K6JM ? |
? ? ? ? If you want the best dual band DMR radio you can buy, get the AnyTone AT-D878UVII Plus from us for $299. Our competitor is raising their price to $319. However, if you want a better value and pay about 1/3 the price, the RT3S is the radio to get. This is the perfect radio to get if you have a hot spot and don't need the fancy features of the AnyTone radio or you are traveling and are afraid of damaging a more expensive radio. The RT3S is basically a dual band MD380 with 3,000 channels and 120,000 contacts. So if you want a radio you are familiar with, this is the radio for you. This radio includes the belt clip, battery, antenna, battery charger, power supply, strap, manual and programming cable. |
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Re: Linking/Touting to other Repeaters
John, Very interesting post. First, I’m glad you are making use of sending radio commands to link the W6CX DV repeater to various D-STAR reflectors or repeaters. MDARC encourages users to make full use of the repeater’s capabilities (obviously first making sure the repeater is not busy). As you have probably noticed, when you link somewhere, if there is no local RF activity for a while, it will automatically reset to the default reflector. Every D-STAR repeater/gateway can be configured to accept incoming direct links or not, and if allowed, the max number of links at one time. So when a direct to repeater link attempt does not work, it is likely either the gateway admin is blocking incoming links, or currently the max number has been reached. It’s also true there are several gateway software packages being used on D-STAR repeaters. The two most used are ICOM’s G2 or G3, usually with the DPlus add-on that supports REF reflectors, and G4KLX gateway software, which supports REF, DCS, XRF and XLX. W6CX uses the MMDVM (multi-mode) version of G4KLX’s software to allow support of D-STAR, DMR and C4FM. Both ICOM and G4KLX have configuration settings that can manage inbound linking. If you have a particular repeater you’d like to link to directly and are unable, you might try to track down that repeater’s trustee or D-STAR Admin and ask if they support inbound linking. One reason why inbound linking is not always enabled is internet bandwidth to the repeater site. Most reflectors are located in commercial data centers with very high network bandwidth, while most repeaters are located at remote sites with limited internet bandwidth. Admins may find inbound direct links take up too much bandwidth at the remote site. Generally, if you want to target a given repeater, you can find out if that gateway has a Dashboard showing current link status. If that gateway is linked to a default reflector (e.g. for W6CX, that is currently REF014C), then you can link to that reflector and get access to the target repeater. And since you are linking to a reflector most likely in a data center, you are not affecting the repeater’s network bandwidth usage. Jim – K6JM From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of John Crowley - KF6WSK via groups.io Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2022 11:33 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [W6CX-DigitalVoice] Linking/Touting to other Repeaters Jim, Thank you for your reply. I have been able to link to reflectors; what I was trying to do was linking to individual repeaters. That was an interesting point that for the REF you need to be registered and have your call in the radio's MYCALL For example there is a digital voice repeater in the UK GB7DC which I have successfully linked to using; UR GB7DC.BL Before linking I drop the REF014C link on W6CX then establish the link and switch to UR CQCQCQ to make voice contact. Their system is running MMDVM with a dashboard where I can see that the link and subsequent CQ call have gone through. I have also just routed to the GB7DC system using UR /GB7DC.B and that has worked What does not seem to work is when I try to Link or route to a repeater using I believe G2/G3 systems For example the Western Oregon Radio Club has a D-Star system When i put UR WB7DZGBL to link or /WB7DZGB to route nothing happens other than the W6CX repeater announcing Not Linked when attempting to link They have a DPlus Dashboard which I look at after attempting to link or route but do not see my callsign. Another system I tried to connect to was KR4AIK a D-Star system in South Carolina. I did not know if it has to do with the types of server software G2/G3; the Oregon and South Carolina are using the USROOT Director according to dstarinfo There was another system in Oregon I believe I also could not work but it was using ircDDB USROOT for their directory although they may still in the process of setting it up. This is just curiosity on my part. I do appreciate the W6CX system and connecting to the Washington Digital Radio Enthusiasts weekday morning nets on REF029A 73 John KF6WSK -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
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Michael Warren - W6MEW
