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The W6CX Digital Voice repeater (145.0 +2.5 mHz) that repeats D-Star, DMR and C4FM/Fusion was upgraded yesterday. Trevor and I spent about 4 hours at the South Peak site. The key changes were: * DV software was changed from Pi-Star to the new WPSD by W0CHP. While Pi-Star was wonderful and many people still run it on their Pi-based digital voice hotspots, Pi-Star is no longer being maintained. Fortunately, Chip W0CHP has taken over the Pi-Star system, made major upgrades to it, renamed it WPSD and is keeping it up to date. * Updated the firmware in the MultiMode Digital Voice Modem -- we now have the latest with various enhancements including support for the new M17 open source digital voice mode. The new WPSD Dashboard does look a little different from our previous Pi-Star dashboard. You can check it out at http://dv.mdarc.org . Any feedback or comments on these changes are welcome. Jim - K6JM

Anyone know of any changes to REF014C? I have been unable to connect to this reflector on my pi-star and the local D-Star repeater KS6HRP. I can connect to REF030C on both my pi-star and the local repeater. It looks like W6CX is still connected to REF014C and I can see activity on the D-Star last heard page. Any Ideas? Thanks, Jay - KE6GLA

Trevor called from South Peak where he had just finished re-configuring the antenna for the W6CX digital voice repeater on 145.0. I just finished initial tests and the repeater is working really well with excellent weak signal sensitivity. I’ve tested D-Star, DMR and C4FM/Fusion. Nice job, Trevor, and thanks! Jim – K6JM PS – For those with a D-Star, DMR or Fusion radio, check out our Dashboard page at http://dv.mdarc.org/ -- and for more info on this repeater, check out https://www.mdarc.org/repeater-systems/digital-voice . This multi-mode repeater quietly listens for all three digital voice modes. When it hears one of them, it repeats out in that mode and keep listening for that mode for a short while to allow for a QSO in that mode. If nothing is heard, it reverts to checking for all three modes again. If you notice your radio is showing a signal is being received but you don’t hear anything, probably someone is using the repeater using a different mode from yours. Wait a few minutes and give it another try.

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 https://www.mdarc.org/repeater-systems/digital-voice 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 http://dv.mdarc.org – 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

I am getting the same thing here. I was able to get into the DV repeater, just not so well from south of the tower, but now I cannot get in at all. I got a note from Trevor about problems with the combiner system that allows a single antenna to be shared across two repeaters. Sounds like there is more work to do…. A friend of mine in LA, who is what I would call a “grizzled veteran of repeaters,” told me these unexpected problems come up all the time. Repeaters are not that easy to put and and keep up…. Jim From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Larry Bradley Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2023 5:38 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [W6CX-DigitalVoice] 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

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

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

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

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

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 http://pi-star.blogspot.com/2020/05/manually-edit-pi-star-hosts-file-how-to.html .

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. 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

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 https://regist.dstargateway.org * 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 -----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 https://dstar.info/query.html 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 https://w6cx.dstargateway.org/Dstar.do 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

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

Info about an interesting open source project targeting a wide range of RF configurations, including amateur radio: The following is from https://www.crowdsupply.com/lime-micro/limesdr#products -- 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. -----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: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbQeckQ6M1g 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

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

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

First of all I would like to thank you for the MDARC DV Repeater. I had used the repeater prior to the instillation of the MMDVM and PiStar and seem to remember being able to link to other repeaters (callsign port L in 8th position and routing to them /Callsign. That does not seem to work with the MMDVM setup with the exception of one PIStar MMDVM in the UK where it did link. Just curious form someone whose understanding of the technical side is limited. Thanks, John KF6WSK

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 Buy The RT3S Radio Now for $99.99 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. RT3S Radio for $99.99 This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com

You can again make your own changes to your D-STAR callsign registration info. Since the attached email was written, I have been able to install the ICOM Registration page on a cloud server. Immediately after we shut down our ICOM D-STAR repeater and replaced it with our W6CX-DV MultiMode repeater, D-STAR users registered at W6CX had no way to make changes to their registration info. Though I was able to get the gateway pc working at my home, sans connections to a controller and radios, people have had to email me to make changes. So I have installed the ICOM registration page app and database on an inexpensive cloud server. The plan is to keep this available through November of this year, to give people a chance to manually move their registrations to another ICOM gateway, for example, the REGIST gateway. I will be sending out emails to users registered at W6CX to encourage them to move their registrations off of our system at a time that’s convenient for them, so they do not lose their ability to use D-STAR. For now, to access the W6CX D-STAR callsign registration page, go to our Dashboard at http://dv.mdarc.org and click on the Registration link. On that page, click on the link called “Your callsign is registered at W6CX… Click here”. Alternatively, you can go there directly: https://w6cx.dstargateway.org/Dstar.do Jim - K6JM From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Jim - K6JM Sent: Saturday, November 27, 2021 1:51 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [w6cx-dstar] More Info about the new W6CX DV repeater Ken, Regarding callsign registration page -- Sorry about that. I am writing a post that will explain what’s going on, but basically our D-STAR callsign registration page is down and will be for about 3 weeks. During that time, if someone registered at W6CX needs to add or change terminals on their callsign registration account, I will need to ask the Trust Server Team to remove them from the W6CX connection and the person can then re-register at another gateway, for example, the REGIST gateway. I see from https://regist.dstargateway.org/regcheck/index.php that you currently have 2 terminals – the standard one with a space in the initial or module letter, and another with a Z. I suspect the latter has the AccessPoint box checked. What kind of new terminal or changes to your current terminals do you need to make? I will be happy to help you re-register so you can proceed with the changes if that’s what you’d like to do. Jim – K6JM From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Ken Thomas - N6KEN Sent: Friday, November 26, 2021 10:32 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [w6cx-dstar] More Info about the new W6CX DV repeater I'm trying to update my settings which I could do just two weeks ago at https://w6cx.dstargateway.org/. This website appears to be down. Where do we go now to do this as I was registered in D-Star with this gateway? If I try to log on here, https://regist.dstargateway.org/, it says my callsign/password is not valid. Ken - N6KEN -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

MDARC repeaters in RepeaterBook Repeaterbook.com is a very popular website people use to find out about repeaters. Our analog FM W6CX repeater is there of course (https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/details.php?state_id=06&ID=151 ) as well as several of our other repeaters. The site also lists the W6CX Digital Voice repeater. The site has recently updated the info about W6CX-DV to include the fact that we now support D-STAR, DMR and Fusion radios. Take a look at https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/details.php?state_id=06&ID=10983 This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com