By now you know that D-STAR is different from the repeaters we are used to. We need to program some information into our radios for
them to work properly. Since this can be somewhat confusing and intimidating to do by hand, it is recommended that you use programming software available for your radio, either from ICOM or after market sources such as RT Systems.
For a good discussion and examples of manual programming for the ID-800, see AE7Q's ID-800 Usage page.
MyCALL, UrCALL, RPT1 Call and RPT2 Call are the parameters we are going
to set up. It is a good idea to program a memory channel for each person, system and combination of
cross band or gateway options you plan to use. This let's you get on the air quickly by having the
necessary info already programmed in your radio... just turn to a memory channel and go.
For details on programming your radio to use the various gateway features, see our Features page.
MYCALL
This identifies your radio. We have more than one ham in our house, so I have programmed each of our calls into a different memory. That way, if my daughter gets her homework done, she can borrow my radio to talk to her friends.
URCALL
This is the "Magic Parameter" which is used to select various gateway features. Most of the time we set this to CQCQCQ, since most of the time we will be simply having a QSO. You will change URCALL to link to a reflector, or another gateway, to simulcast, to callsign route, to run a script... you get the idea. URCALL is URfriend. Again, set up a memory channel for each of your frequent gateway features.
RPT1 Call
"Repeater 1 Call" is the callsign of the local repeater you use to access the D-STAR network. The 8th character in the callsign is the "switch", and corresponds to the band you are transmitting on. Insert spaces as necessary so that the switch is in the 8th position. The "_" represents a space. D-STAR "switch" convention designates A as 1.2 GHz, B as 70cm, and C as 2 meters. Below is the WA6IRC DV repeater configuration:
23cm DV 1282.650-
70cm DV 447.040-
2M DV 147.560 -2.555
WA6IRC_A
WA6IRC_B
WA6IRC_C
RPT2 Call
RPT1 Call is the local repeater we use to access the D-STAR system, and "Repeater 2 Call (RPT2 Call) designates where we want our traffic to go to. We can choose one of the other modules, or the gateway, WA6IRC_G. For your traffic to be heard by linked gateways or DVAP and DV Dongle users, please set RPT2 Call to the callsign of the gateway you are using. Remember to add spaces as necessary to put the "switch" in the 8th position so the system knows where to send your traffic. We recommend setting your RPT2 Call to WA6IRC_G so linked gateways and DVAP and DV Dongle users can hear you.
PROGRAMMING EXAMPLE
Below is a table summarizing our recommended configuration for single module use. This setup allows DVAP and DV Dongle users as well as linked reflectors & gateways to hear your traffic. Note that RPT2 Call is set to WA6IRC_G. Set RPT1 Call to the band you will be transmitting on.
