Monthly Archives: September 2016

Registering for the Callsign Communication System

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Assuming you are already a registered DSTAR user and using your gear on the W1AAD repeater or elsewhere, and you want to take advantage of the Callsign Communication System, you will need a CCS7 ID, which is a 7-digit code that uniquely identifies you.

Don’t remember if you have registered before?  Go to: http://dmr-marc.net/cgi-bin/trbo-database/ and click on the “User Database” button:dmr-user1

Enter the desired call sign in the Callsign field and click on “Search”:dmr-user2

So if you discover that you DON’T have an existing CCS7 DMR ID (the search comes up empty), then you need to register your call.  Go to https://register.ham-digital.org/  Begin with Step 1 (selecting “Register services for an individual callsign”), and supply the additional information after you press the “OK” button.

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After completing the registration request above, you will receive an email with your CCS7 ID number, usually within 24 hours.

 

W1AAD DSTAR Repeater Back & Better than Ever

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Thanks to Ted, W1GRI, Pete, W1LAB, John, K1JSM, and Bob, WB4SON, who have spent every Thursday in September working on the DSTAR repeater hardware, and to those same fellas that funded some software and hardware upgrades, NCRC members now have access to all the latest and greatest DSTAR extended linking features, callsign routing, and more convenient touch-tone control of the repeater.

The team hired an expert out of Australia, Adrian, VK4TUX, who has impressed repeater owners on this side of the world with his ability to do the near impossible — making the Icom Gateway software co-exist with the ircDDBGateway software, enabling the new features.  Adrian worked his magic via the internet over the period of a couple of days, and by today at noon, everything was up and running.  Adrian was a saint and worked his schedule around ours.  For example he was working on the system today from 9:30 AM to noon our time, which was 11:30 PM to 2:30 AM his time.

While the original DPLUS Gateway page still exists at w1aad.dstargateway.org, a more complete ircDDBGateway + DPLUS status page can be found on port 40001 (w1aad.dstargateway.org:40001).  Use any browser to see the new status page:

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If you scroll down you will find the original DPLUS Dashboard (or you can click on the “DPLUS Dashboard” link that shows on the banner at the top of the page.

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Hardware changes involved a new UPS (the repeater LOVES to eat up UPS units due to heat), a replacement monitor and display designed for rack use, and a new disk drive.

In addition to all the new software features, the group worked on making sure we had a valid backup HDD, an image of the disk, and have setup a process to automatically backup the critical User Registration Database.  Finally a comprehensive Supervisors Manual was written.

For a high-level review of DSTAR, we recommend starting with the DSTAR101 website.

 

Fox Hunt Finishes at Beavertail

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The NCRC Open Fox Hunt has finished at Beavertail.  A total of FIVE hidden transmitters were placed throughout the park.  Multiple teams of hunters braved brambles and cool sea breezes to find the Foxes.  From setup to takedown, the event took about 4 hours.

Congratulations to Paul, N1PSX, and Steve, KC1AQQ, who finished with the best score.

Many thanks to Jim, KA1ZOU, for organizing the event and to all those who participated.

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Evil Jim, KA1ZOU, rides off to place the hidden foxes (music from Wizard of Oz playing)

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Fox Control — Coordinating the activities

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Two Pauls: Paul N1PSX on the left, and Paul K1YBE During setup

Fredette Brothers Paul and Dave using a HandiFinder to hunt

The Fredettes, Paul and Dave, using a HandiFinder to hunt

 

DSTAR Repeater Back up BUT…

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Thanks to the efforts of Ted, W1GRI, and Pete, W1LAB, who made yet another trip to the DSTAR repeater, it is now back on the air, linked to Reflector 69 Charlie, and it is working fine.  However we are moving forward with software upgrades that will allow us to link to additional resources, called DCS and XRF Reflectors, plus CCS callsign routing that can be accomplished with touch-tones (rather than UR, RPT1, RPT2 changes).

Don’t be surprised if the repeater is up or down randomly over the next week or so as those upgrades are being installed.

More DSTAR Upgrades

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Ted, W1GRI, and Bob, WB4SON, went back to the repeater again.  Their goal was to install the newly cloned HDD into the PC to verify that it works, leaving a valid spare HDD. In addition, Ted had purchased a rack mounted VGA monitor/keyboard/trackpad.  That allowed us to remove the old monochrome CRT which was out of alignment and too small to read.  It also eliminates the problem of having no place to put the keypad and mouse.

While the repeater is back up on the air, the internet connection is not.  That is being investigated and will be fixed by Sept 22 or earlier.

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