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We (SHARP, Sheriff's Amateur Radio Program) just finished up working a local airshow.? We use D-RATS because of the high ambient noise with audio as a backup.

We always have some kind of system failure, this time one of those were the data cables that go from the radio, Icom 2820 to the usb ports on the laptops.

Our existing homebrew cables have a 2.5mm stereo phone plug on one end (RS-232), a nine pin DB9 connector, going to a DB9 RS-232 to a USB connector.? The cable has
had a history of bad intermittent connections which drove us nuts.

We could buy new cables from RT Systems, believe they are about $25 each, but what other sources do you recommend?
What we need is one with a 2.5mm stereo phone plug on one end and a USB connector on the other end.

Last question, I know this has been asked before, what is a good ratflector to monitor over the internet, we know the default one no longer exists.? I have looked at the database and don't have time to go fishing.

One more thing, forgot to ask, getting too old -

What is the best way to print messages in D-RATS?? I've been copying and pasting into a plain text document, doing the editing if necessary, then sending to the printer.? Is there another way to print?? You would think there would be under FILE>PRINT.? I can also copy and paste from the log file of course.

Thanks for all that you do.

Jim k6nra? Sacramento County Sheriff's Amateur Radio Club

On 10/5/2022 1:43 PM, James Holtzman via groups.io wrote:

[Edited Message Follows]
Our existing homebrew cables have a 2.5mm stereo phone plug on one
end (RS-232), a nine pin DB9 connector, going to a DB9 RS-232 to a
USB connector. The cable has had a history of bad intermittent
connections which drove us nuts.

Most likely the intermittent connections are mechanical. Are the 9 pin ports secured with screws and nuts, or are you relying on just the friction of the connector?

It could be that you have a bad wire in the cable, or your cable is picking up RF from the transmitter.

This is probably not affecting your issue, but something to be aware of if you are rolling your own cable using serial port connectors.

A common wiring error (And is present on the serial cable that came with my hand-held) for serial ports, is that if the DTR/DSR and RTS/CTS connections are not supplied by the source they should be always connected. On a 9-pin connection, that is pin 4 and 6 connected and pins 7 and 8 connected.

The 4 and 6 connected allows the computer to detect if the serial port has gone offline, and the newer version of D-Rats will log when it detects this. Future versions of D-Rats will test for for a properly wired serial connection in the configure radio section to allow it
to report.

I or someone really need to do some more detail than this and put in into a WIKI.

I have found issues with some USB to serial adapters, but only when the D-Rats application is not running. Some adapters will randomly key the radio when D-Rats is not running. I have not seen that behavior on adapters based on the FTDI chip, and those are a bit more expensive than others.

We could buy new cables from RT Systems, believe they are about $25
each, but what other sources do you recommend?

If that handles the stereo phone jack to USB, it may be hard to build your own much cheaper unless you have a well stocked junk box.

Find out what USB chip set is used in these pre-made cables.

What we need is one with a 2.5mm stereo phone plug on one end and a
USB connector on the other end.

I have not measured the output of the 2.5mm stereo output to see if I can vampire out the generating a DTR signal when it is plugged into the radio based on the RS-232 signaling levels. The RS-232 standard is quite liberal in what a receiving line will accept, and some implementations take shortcuts that mostly work.

You also may need RF protection. Your cable may be a great antenna.

Ideally you would have a circuit that would use diodes or transistors and a capacitor that would allow simulating a DTR signal based on if the data out line had a proper RS232 voltage. (I need to look up details on this for a design). The CTS line should also track the DTR line.

Again, D-RATS does not take advantage of these signals now, but I plan to have it do so in the future as an option, and it will allow having a displayable status of the radio connection.

Your USB side is best (by reputation) with a genuine FTDI chip do the conversion. These are pricier than other brands.

The USB chips / modules take TTL level, not RS-232 levels. There are quick and dirty methods to convert TTL and RS-232. They may not work reliably as they are depending on the side expecting RS-232 not enforcing the specification 100%, and adding RF into the mix may hurt that even more.

Usually a chip set is used to do the conversion now. And the chips are very cheap.

For a home made design, in addition to the DTR simulation, there should be a circuit that shuts off sending any data to the Radio when there is no DSR signal from the USB to serial chip. That lack of a signal is supposed to mean that there is no program running on the computer to send or receive data.

The python 3 version of d-rats tries to makes sure that the DSR signal on the cable is properly set. Some of that depends on how compliant the serial driver on your computer is with the actual signaling "standards".

Last question, I know this has been asked before, what is a good
ratflector to monitor over the internet, we know the default one no
longer exists. I have looked at the database and don't have time to
go fishing.

I am showing k3pdr and kb8pmy as the two possible replacements for rat.

Ideally there would be a yaml or equivalent machine and human readable file in an online git repository that d-rats when connected to the internet could pull down lists for you to select from.
There is a ticket open on ham-radio-software/d-rats for that.

One more thing, forgot to ask, getting too old -
What is the best way to print messages in D-RATS? I've been copying
and pasting into a plain text document, doing the editing if
necessary, then sending to the printer. Is there another way to
print? >
You would think there would be under FILE>PRINT. I can also copy
and paste from the log file of course.

Closest is "View->Log" and that will attempt to bring up a text viewer based on your platform and you should be able to print from that.

That area needs a lot of work. It uses a hard coded text viewer instead of either asking the OS to select one, or use a config preference.

I have at least one ticket open on ham-radio-software/d-rats for text viewer selection. I do not think there is one for a print enhancement.

Thanks for all that you do.
Jim k6nra? Sacramento County Sheriff's Amateur Radio Club

Regards,
-John

I started out using the orange cable from RT Systems, but that cable went bad on me.? I ended up ordering data cables directly from Icom which has worked well.? I am not familiar with the older ID-2820 radio, but there seems to be several different types listed on a Google Search.? The ones I use are the Icom OPC-2350LU data cable for the ID-4100 and the OPC-2218LU data cable for the ID-5100.? Both are USB to the D-Star radio's plug-in data port.? Some of the older radios used serial connectors to connect to the radio, but if the 2820 can be programmed with the Orange RT systems cable, that should theoretically work for D-Rats.

The use of D-Rats in a high-noise atmosphere is an ideal use for this mode.? As far as ratflectors, the original RAT had been set up by Dan Smith who originally wrote the D-Rats software.? He moved on and stopped supporting the software and eventually shut down his ratflector.?? One station asked to be considered as a replacement for RAT and that is KB8PMY.net set up as a network connection on port 9000.? Looking today, he is offline.? At a guess, his computer either caught a software update or there was an issue with his IP address changing from his Internet provider.?

Right now, there probably is not one ratflector that could be considered as super reliable.? I operate StTammany.ratflector.com using a Raspberry Pi 3.? I sometimes run into problems myself with Internet or local router issues.? I recently had to move in with my sister.? I retired on disability and she is a widow now with the two of us both on Social Security.? I'm 67 and she just turned 65.? We live in the rural community of Pearl River, Louisiana, and have periodic power outages and weather issues beyond just the occasional hurricanes.? St. Tammany Parish is across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans.? During an emergency, a ratflector is only useful so long as you have Internet access.? It can be used for practice with other guys who are just linking to the ratflector instead of going RF, or during an emergency, it can act as a bridge between stations in the field and Internet-connected stations if a radio is connected to the ratflector computer.

There are a number of ratflectors that are trying to maintain relevance for their local areas and one or two that had regional objectives when they were started.? SEWX.ratflector.com was set up for use with the Southeast D-Star Weather Net.? The net ceased operations a while back because they felt that not enough people were stepping up to volunteer to be net controls.? Because many feel that the Internet cannot be relied upon during severe storms, since power, phone and Internet services very often go down during those events, they would not even activate a net during incoming hurricanes.

Since D-Star/D-rats can operate either through the Internet, an available repeater or reflector, or simplex station-to-station with no other infrastructure, it can be used in many situations.? It just depends on what resources you still have available as to how far your reach can extend.? Any D-rats operator who has Internet available to him can bring up a ratflector since the "reflector" software is included in the package.? To allow others to connect to it, the operator would have to publish his IP address and make sure that the router or mode he is using has been configured to allow traffic through ports 9000 and 9500.? Our area is rather flat and we have been successful in running simplex connections from station-to-station over a distance of about 10 miles.? You might get more or less depending on the type of stations and the antenna heights involved.? Remember though that you can relay messages through a station you can reach if he can also contact the guy you are targeting but cannot reach.? Any station, including a ratflector that is also running the client software on the same computer, can act as a relay.

When you ask D-Rats to print a message, it will open your default browser to display it.? From there you have the browser software send it to the printer.? If no printers are immediately available, you could direct it to print the message to a PDF file for later retrieval.? A printer might be available at an EOC or a mobile command post, but would probably not be available to some field stations.

Right now, nationally, there just does not seem to be too many ratflectors worth monitoring on a full-time basis as lately there is not much activity.? Since I try to keep an eye on mine, I have seen stations from Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the U.S. periodically linking.? WX4QZ, Daryl, a ham from Little Rock, AR who calls several nets uses it on his net nights as an alternate way for some stations to check into the nets.? Other than that, you don't see much chatter unless one of them is hosting a net.? SEWX is located in Georgia near Atlanta where there is a pretty large group of D-Star users.? I am down in Louisiana.? They have one up in PA and one or two in Texas, Florida and Alabama.? I don't know how accurate the lists are but there are D-Rats ratflectors listed on dstarinfo.com and in the Database section of the 开云体育 drats group here.? As far as I can see, there is no one running a ratflector in California at present.? You might consider setting up your own ratflector for the state or local area.? The easiest would be to find a Raspberry Pi that no one is using and set that up.? You would need a location with either wifi or an ethernet connection to get the Pi on the Internet.? Instructions on installing one can be found in the files section here or I have several instruction sets in my ratflector's Shared Files folder that can be downloaded.? Hint, it's much faster to pick them up from the Group.?

Cordially,

Glen Strecker - KG5CEN
ARES Asst. Emergency Coordinator for St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana