I am still learning this stuff, but as I understand it, you can QSO with a ham on a different D-Star repeater with out linking the repeaters. It is a matter of setting a route in your and possibly in the other ham's radio.
D-rats should be able to be used in the same fashion.
Of course there is the issue of pre-configuring the routes on every radio it is needed on, if the routes are needed on both radios.
It looks like if you use a GMSK modem and a custom d-rats program, it can use the same method to route through a different repeater, but dynamically.
It is something that I want to look into more once I get employed again.
-John
wb8tyw@...
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