The W1AAD repeater rejoined DSTAR service tonight at about 6:30 PM when it was linked into REF069C for the first time since early January.  Immediately, traffic was heard from all the other repeaters in CT/RI that are linked into 69, so things are working.

This is only the first step in the upgrade, getting the latest Icom G3 software running on the new computer gear at the site.  Over the next few days ircDDBGateway services will be added and the dashboard will be set up.  So don’t be surprised to hear the repeater up/down for the next couple of days.

We are the 63rd G3 level repeater running in the world!

Thanks to Pete W1LAB, Ted W1GRI, and Bob WB4SON who have been spending a bunch of time working on this upgrade over the past four months.  Pete, Ted, Bob and Paul K1YBE have donated equipment or funds to get this done at no expense to the club.

W1AAD repeater — the business end

W1AAD Dashboard

The PC controlling the DSTAR machine has become increasingly unreliable in the past few months, after working solidly for years.  Tools installed to allow a remote restart are no longer restoring the PC to operation, requiring more frequent site visits to get things going again.  In addition, the PC is so old that it is not capable of supporting the latest version of the operating system and Gateway software.

For the foreseeable future, it is more likely than not that W1AAD will fail to connect to the internet gateway system.  We suggest using W1HDN in West Warwick (147.045 MHz, + 600 KHz), or using a local internet device like a DVAP, DV3K or DVmega.  Both the DVAP and DVmega work with your DSTAR HT to provide a local RF access point (think of it as a personal low power repeater).  The DV3K is a computer device, using your microphone and speaker to connect to to repeaters or reflectors.

Our thanks to Paul, K1YBE, and Pete, W1LAB, who ventured to the repeater site to reset the computer to restore gateway functions.

There was a bad wind-storm about two weeks ago, that took out internet services in the neighborhood where the repeater is located.  While the internet service was restored a few days later, the PC that we use did not recover from the the loss of internet connectivity.  A manual restart was required to fix things.

We are exploring ways to do this remotely in the future, as we can’t always gain access to the repeater which was in a building that was locked down during the holidays.