D-RATS Software

Re: D-RATS Repeater application

biloxicoast2010@... (steven f) — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 11:02:13 -0700

Great info here. https://sites.google.com/site/wcarasite/digital-comm/d-rats

D-RATS Repeater application

kk4oda@... (Facundo Fernandez-KK4ODA) — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 05:49:13 -0700

There is a D-RATS repeater application in the folder where D-RATS is installed. I have opened it and played with it, but I am not 100% sure how to configure or use it. Have googled quite a bit and looked around in YouTube, but no luck. Do you guys have any instructions or resources you could point me at that show how to use this feature?

Thank you

Facundo

Re: D-RATS with IC-5100

kk4oda@... (Facundo Fernandez-KK4ODA) — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 05:47:13 -0700

Thank you John @ WB4QDX and the rest of the group. I used the orange RT Systems cable and worked like a charm.

Re: D-Rats on windows

wb8tyw@... (John E. Malmberg) — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 16:15:15 -0700

On 3/19/2025 1:04 PM, Randy-W4LKS wrote:

I tried the MobaXterm install today. The script fails because BusyBox is not installed. If you manually install Busybox, then re-run the installer script, it will install. Maybe add BusyBox as one of the required packages? Randy

In all of our previous installs, The Busybox package had already been installed and was being used instead the actual packages.

The problem was that none of the busybox aliases for the real packages are passed to a running script, so the script had to be written to be busybox specific instead of being a generic script.

Looks like something changed MobaXterm since the rest of us installed it. Thanks for the report. I will open a ticket on that soon.

73,
-John

Re: D-Rats on windows

w4lks@... (Randy-W4LKS) — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 11:04:54 -0700

I tried the MobaXterm install today. The script fails because BusyBox is not installed. If you manually install Busybox, then re-run the installer script, it will install. Maybe add BusyBox as one of the required packages? Randy

Re: D-Rats on windows

kd4chw@... (Tommy Beene - KD4CHW) — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 09:30:58 -0700

Thank you John! This has been added to my to do list haha.

Tommy

KD4CHW

D-Rats on windows

wb8tyw@... (John E. Malmberg) — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 19:01:14 -0700

On 3/17/2025 5:28 PM, Tommy Beene - KD4CHW via groups.io wrote:

Hi John,
I'm a new user to D-Rats and this is a bit confusing to me. Do I
follow the link on the D-Star website for 0.3.9 or go to your
repository and get a 0.4.? version?

If you are asking me, the answer will be the 0.4.7 version of course.

https://github.com/ham-radio-software/D-Rats/wiki/010.020-Installation-of-D%E2%80%90Rats-on-Microsoft-Windows-with-MobaXterm

Or does it matter?

Versions older than 0.4.7 are not being maintained.

All versions older than 0.4.7 have a bug where they will discard received data under some conditions, which can result is lost data.
There have been other bug fixes.

The 0.3.9 version has not had any security updates in a very long time.

And if I need the 0.4.?, which link is it?

This is option 1, which has the least steps and at last check still works as far back as Windows 7. That is the one that is getting the most recent testing.

https://github.com/ham-radio-software/D-Rats/wiki/010.020-Installation-of-D%E2%80%90Rats-on-Microsoft-Windows-with-MobaXterm

Option 2, has more steps but also works, now needs Windows 10 or later, and will probably stop working on Windows 10 shortly after Microsoft drops official support of Windows 10.

https://github.com/ham-radio-software/D-Rats/wiki/010.010-Installation-of-D%E2%80%90Rats-on-Microsoft-Windows-within-MSYS2-MingW64

I have a Windows 10 and 11 computer and understand that I need Python
for both and can navigate that, just not sure if It matters what
version I install.

D-Rats requires Python 3 and GTK 3 and the prebuilt version of Python for Microsoft Windows is incomplete as compared to other platforms.

There is no pre-built version of GTK 3 for Microsoft Windows and the existing source will not build on Microsoft windows using the Visual Studio Express free compiler.

73,
-John

Re: D-Rats Issues

jdavis@... (John WB4QDX) — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 08:01:37 -0700

Tommy, the 0.3.x versions are the original code. It works well but has a few bugs. The 0.4 code is newly developed code.

John WB4QDX

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Re: D-Rats Issues

kd4chw@... (Tommy Beene - KD4CHW) — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 05:32:12 -0700

Hi John,

I'm a new user to D-Rats and this is a bit confusing to me. Do I follow the link on the D-Star website for 0.3.9 or go to your repository and get a 0.4.? version? Or does it matter? And if I need the 0.4.?, which link is it? I have a Windows 10 and 11 computer and understand that I need Python for both and can navigate that, just not sure if It matters what version I install.

Thanks for your time,

Tommy

KD4CHW

Re: D-RATS with IC-5100

kk4zft@... — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 13:02:17 -0700

I am in the process of getting back to this. Had my 5100 working well but nets were inconvenient with my schedule. Since the GA ARES meeting, trying to get back to it...

Re: D-RATS with IC-5100

jdavis@... (John WB4QDX) — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 12:15:51 -0700

Or you can use the RT Systems “orange�� USB-RTS05 cable. It can be used with most DFSTAR radios for programming and data connections. It’s a well built good quality adapter.

John WB4QDX

Re: D-RATS with IC-5100

from.zeon@... (Igor [KN6ZEO]) — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 11:55:15 -0700

I use the Wirenest OPC-2218LU FTDI USB cable

I followed the Getting started with D-RATS and configured the radio as recommended and it worked fine.

Re: D-RATS with IC-5100

almassaro1@... (Al Massaro KF5SMH) — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 20:27:03 -0700

I am using an RT systems RTS05 cable into the data port, make certain the radio is in low speed mode it will work just fine with other stations in high speed if they are using high speed also, if they are using low speed they won't copy your station.

AL M
KF5SMH

Re: D-RATS with IC-5100

kc5sam.vo@... (KC5SAM Virginia) — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 11:24:26 -0700

I haven't learned much on my brother's 5100. W4GLE, K4DJL, K9ptf should be able to help you.

D-RATS with IC-5100

kk4oda@... (Facundo Fernandez-KK4ODA) — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 11:17:38 -0700

Has anybody done D-Rats successfully with an IC-5100? Would you mind sharing your setup? What cables did you use and what radio ports? Thank you!

Re: Announcing drats2 project

morhilll@... (Luis Morales) — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 09:41:41 -0800

Looking forward to trying it out again...73 Luis KK4ZFT

Re: Announcing drats2 project

wb8tyw@... (John E. Malmberg) — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 06:33:35 -0800

On 2/26/2025 3:04 AM, Michael Mandell via groups.io wrote:

First, thanks for taking this on. I think it's a great project and
DStar is not going away now with yet another new radio from Kenwood
supporting it.

Actually the only thing in D-Rats that is D-Star specific is the code that translates GPS symbols from D-Star to and from APRS.

D-Rats will work over any radio that can transmit serial data.

I plan to be testing the new port with LoRa radios.

https://kc4rc.com/meshtastic/

These low cost radios are also available in the 433 Mhz band.

LoRa has an unlicensed mode at low power and an Amateur licensed mode.

As part of my planned attachments, I am planning on having a way for ratflectors to be able to filter the unlicensed users to prevent accidental relays over Amateur Radio links.

I am looking at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLS_digital_signature which can only use a few bytes from each packet to prevent forgeries, and allows authentication of senders over a public radio link with out anyone able to spoof them.

This could get larger usage of D-Rats than what we have now.

I know nothing about programming but am wondering
whether one of the AI coding devices might help. I see Gemini for
coding is going to be free. Have you looked at this?

No, one of the problems with AI can end up provided code that may be under copyright by others and illegal to put in an Open source project.

For my professional programming, my employers have strict policies on the use of AI for work to avoid leaking company data, or creating a copyright violation.

The AI answers that search engines are now providing are most of the time returning the same web pages that the search engines normally provide, except in two significant cases, the AI engine generated examples with significant syntax errors.

There are many web sites that provide free python self paced training.

Currently Drats2 is still at in the setup of the boilerplate stage, this boilerplate is just setting up the framework needed for organizing the project.

It is at a state where a beginning python programmer can clone the repository and learn the structure.

There is a developer_notes.txt that I cam keeping notes of what I plan and what did not work. The intent is that content from it can be put in the drats2 wiki. This is something that volunteers can assist with.

73,
-John
wb8tyw

Re: Announcing drats2 project

mikemandell@... (Michael Mandell) — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 01:04:52 -0800

First, thanks for taking this on. I think it's a great project and DStar is not going away now with yet another new radio from Kenwood supporting it. I know nothing about programming but am wondering whether one of the AI coding devices might help. I see Gemini for coding is going to be free. Have you looked at this?

Re: Help with error in D-Rats �� Error 11001, getaddrinfo failed

barbakoff@... (Ralph Barbakoff) — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:59:22 -0800

RAT no longer available, try alabama.ratflector.com

Ralph Barbakoff (WA9LKZ)

On Wednesday, February 12, 2025 at 09:29:20 AM CST, OZ1G / Karsten via groups.io <karsten.andersen.dk@...> wrote:

Hello D-Rats community,

I am completely new to D-Rats and very interested in learning more about the program and its features. However, I am encountering an error that I hope someone can help me understand and resolve.

The error I am getting is:
"unable to connect 11001, getaddrinfo failed".

I’ve tried connecting to a few different Ratflectors, but unfortunately without success. I am unsure what is causing the issue or how to get the connection working properly.

Is there anyone who can help me understand what’s going wrong? Has anyone encountered a similar issue, and how did you resolve it?

I am running Windows 11 and would appreciate any tips specific to this OS version.

I would also like to ask if there is a Nordic Ratflector available that I can try connecting to. It would be great to be able to communicate with local operators.

Thank you in advance for your help and time! I am looking forward to learning more about D-Rats and getting it working properly.

Best regards,
Karsten Schulz

OZ1G

Help with error in D-Rats �� Error 11001, getaddrinfo failed

karsten.andersen.dk@... (OZ1G / Karsten) — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 07:29:17 -0800

Hello D-Rats community,

I am completely new to D-Rats and very interested in learning more about the program and its features. However, I am encountering an error that I hope someone can help me understand and resolve.

The error I am getting is:
"unable to connect 11001, getaddrinfo failed".

I’ve tried connecting to a few different Ratflectors, but unfortunately without success. I am unsure what is causing the issue or how to get the connection working properly.

Is there anyone who can help me understand what’s going wrong? Has anyone encountered a similar issue, and how did you resolve it?

I am running Windows 11 and would appreciate any tips specific to this OS version.

I would also like to ask if there is a Nordic Ratflector available that I can try connecting to. It would be great to be able to communicate with local operators.

Thank you in advance for your help and time! I am looking forward to learning more about D-Rats and getting it working properly.

Best regards,
Karsten Schulz

OZ1G