[d-star] n0svx / k0uw d-star update

[Erik Jacobson]

Hello.

VHF is on the air at 145.250 for now.

The duplexer was tuned today.  We estimate a fair amount of loss if we were 
to change even one repeater step; so I'll plan on getting help re-tuning it
slightly if I'm asked to move to a different pair.

As you may know from previous discussions, 145.250 is the same frequency as a
cable channel.  This raises the noise floor in many areas.

The affect this seems to have on d-star is the mobile radio will sometimes
detect the "noise" as a signal and "barf out" garbled strange sounds.

This seems more likely to happen at the tail end of a transmission but also
seems to happen randomly at times.

It appears like my coverage with VHF is actually better than my UHF coverage
for "out in the open" use.  That's a good sign that the cable channel isn't
totally killing me off everywhere :).  Also, the antenna is only a CX-333 
(not lots of gain at 2m) - so I expect a better antenna would improve things a 
bit.

I'll note that I believe my UHF duplexer may need some tuning help and we
didn't have time to tackle that today.

D-star doesn't link bands by default.  Some people are experimenting with 
simulcast functionality but I don't know much about that yet.  I see some
talk about putting a "/" in front of the RPT1 call for an "all call" on one
web site; but I don't know how that works yet.

For the moment, I suggest on my web page that folks configure RPT2 for the
"other band" so their voice goes out both places.  This is more important
at this moment mostly because the d-star user count is too scarce to
support two non-connected bands at one site in my opinion.

See my ultra-non-fancy web page here:
http://www.tdkt.org/~erikj/repeater.html

However, if people don't see that and just jump on the channel, they'll
automatically get set up for single band just fine assuming their radio
has the default "learn the repeater callsign" mode (and that they're in DV
mode :)

PS: My 220 stuff is off the air; I stole some cables for VHF d-star.
Replacements are en-route but I'm about to the point of wondering if
I should abandon 220 and sell that stuff; I don't use it much any more.

PPS: Still looking for ideas for sites in my side of the metro.

Erik / N0SVX