D-Star

When i first got my ID-880H I looked every where for some information on how to program it and what was what.
I was unable to find all of the information in the same place, so i decided to take what i have learned and put it all in one place
Here is the information i have learned and gathered from various places. i entend to add more content as i learn it.

Hope this information helps you.

Digital Voice with D-star

The D-STAR system is similar to a conventional repeater with IRLP/Echolink capabilities. The difference is that D-STAR digitizes your audio in the radio, as opposed to in the computer as with IRLP/Echolink. D-STAR repeaters rebroadcast locally, in-band or cross-band, or to far and away, depending on how you have configured your radio. D-STAR also supports 1200 bps data on the digital voice channel, so you can send data from your D-STAR radio as well

Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio

D-STAR (Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio) is a digital voice and data protocol specification developed as the result of research by the Japan Amateur Radio League to investigate digital technologies for amateur radio. While there are other digital on-air technologies being used by amateurs that have come from other services, D-Star is one of the first on-air standards to be widely deployed and sold by a major radio manufacturer that is designed specifically for amateur service use.

D-Star compatible radios are available on VHF and UHF and microwave amateur radio bands. In addition to the over-the-air protocol, D-Star also provides specifications for network connectivity, enabling D-Star radios to be connected to the Internet or other networks and provisions for routing data streams of voice or packet data via amateur radio callsigns.

The first manufacturer to offer D-Star compatible radios is Icom. As of December 30, 2008, no other amateur radio equipment manufacturer has chosen to include D-Star technology in their radios. Kenwood re-brands an Icom radio and distributes it in Japan only.

I highly recommend using the D-Star Calculator in the top left-hand corner of this page. This tool is very useful you tell it what you want to do and it tells you the parameters to program.

CALL SIGNS:

There are 4 call signs that must be entered for a D-Star radio to function properly. MY CALL, UR CALL, RPT1, and RPT2. You can get away with only 2 of these call signs if you are only working local traffic on a single port, UR CALL (set as CQCQCQ) and RPT1. It you wish to use the gateway to route your traffic then you must have ALL 4 call signs in place.

MY CALL:

MY Call is where you insert your callsign. Example, i would enter KE5LGG into the MY Call section in my radio. You can have multiple callsigns in a radio if you have multiple users.There are 3 variations to your callsign: KE5LGG, KE5LGG P(portable), and KE5LGG M (mobile). I highly sugest you refrain from using the portable and mobile variations of the call because user routing will not function properly if you do.

UR Call:

UR Call is where you place the callsign of the station you are calling. If you are placing a call to a specific user then this is where you would place their callsign. If you are placing a call to a specific repeater or port on your local repeater then this is where you would place the call sign. This field is also used for functions such as linking and unlinking, performing echo tests and getting information about a system. More is explained on all this later.

Repeater Calling:

Repeater routing is where you route your traffic to a specific repeater and port in addition you’re your local port. When Repeater routing you place a / as the first character of the UR callsign with the 8th character still being the port indicator “/KC5OLOB “, this is in addition to you placing the local gateway callsign in the RPT2 field. These would be the settings if I was in Abilene on the KC5OLO repeater port B making a call to the NT5RN port C repeater in Mesquite, TX.

*as always ^ indicates a space*

MY Call:                KE5LGG
RPT1:                     KC5OLO^B
PRT2:                     KC5OLO^G
UR call:                 /NT5RN^C

Be sure when you place the call you announce who you are and what repeater you are calling from to make it easier for replying stations to route their traffic back to you.
Here is an example of a call: This is KE5LGG calling CQ from KC5OLO port B.
Always make sure after placing a repeater routed call to change the UR call back to CQCQCQ when you are finished with your QSO or your traffic will still be unnecessarily routed to the repeater you last called in addition to your local traffic.

Repeater/ Reflector Linking:

Repeater/Reflector Linking allows you to link two repeaters together or connect your local repeater to a reflector. A reflector is a “host” that allows multiple repeaters to connect to it. The advantage of linking repeaters instead of routing to them is everyone on both repeaters can participate in the QSO without having to make any changes to their radio; it is like everyone is on a local repeater. (As long as your RPT2 is set to your local gateway). The steps in when you link to a reflector or repeater are very important. The command to link to a repeater or reflector is by placing a L in the 8th character and the port indicator in the 7th character of the callsign in the UR field, example NT5RN^CL (^ indicates a space). This will be the only time the port indicator is not in the 8th position. First change the UR call as indicated above then key your transceiver for at least 2 seconds, if the link was successful you will be greeted with a messages similar to “remote system linked”. When you hear this message IMMEDIATELY change the UR call back to CQCQCQ. IF you leave the UR call as NT5RN^CL it will try to relink the repeater again, this is bad. So after you have linked the systems just change UR call back to CQCQCQ. To unlink the system place a blank call with a U in the 8th position in UR call, Example ^^^^^^^U (^ indicates a space), key the transceiver for at least 2 seconds and release. You should be greeted with a message similar to “remote system unlinked” when you hear this message change UR call back to CQCQCQ. Below is an example of how to link KC5OLO port B to NT5RN port C if calling from KC5OLO Port B

*as always ^ indicates a space*

MY Call:                KE5LGG
RPT1:                     KC5OLO^B
PRT2:                     KC5OLO^G
UR call:                 NT5RN^CL

Key the transceiver for at least 2 seconds when you hear the linked message change UR call back to CQCQCQ as indicated below.

MY Call:                KE5LGG
RPT1:                     KC5OLO^B
PRT2:                     KC5OLO^G
UR call:                 CQCQCQ

After your QSO is complete change UR call to the unlink callsign ^^^^^^^U as indicated below

MY Call:                KE5LGG
RPT1:                     KC5OLO^B
PRT2:                     KC5OLO^G
UR call:                 ^^^^^^^U

When you hear the unlink message change UR call back to CQCQCQ as indicated below

MY Call:                KE5LGG
RPT1:                     KC5OLO^B
PRT2:                     KC5OLO^G
UR call:                 CQCQCQ

Always make sure after using the link or unlink commands to change the UR call back to CQCQCQ. If you do not do this it will attempt to either relink or unlink every time you key up