D-STAR
D-Star Introduction:
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 (JARL) 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 and packet-based standards to be widely deployed and sold by a major radio manufacturer that is designed specifically for amateur service use.
The D-STAR system today is capable of linking repeaters together locally and through the Internet utilizing callsigns for routing of traffic. Servers are linked via TCP/IP utilizing "Gateway 2/3" (G2 and G3) software, available from Icom, as well as an Open Source gateway software using the internet relay chat Distributed Data Base-Network (ircDDB-Network). This allows amateur radio operators to talk to any other amateur participating in a particular gateway "trust" environment. The current master gateway in the United States is operated by the K5TIT group in Texas, who were the first to install a D-STAR repeater system in the U.S. The ircDDB-Network utilizes a Worldwide Trust System.
D-STAR and ircDDB-Network transfers both voice and data via digital encoding over the 2 m (VHF), 70 cm (UHF), and 23 cm (1.2 GHz) amateur radio bands. Other bands are possible with standard radio and homebrew adapter combinations.
Within the D-STAR Digital Voice protocol standards for Digital Voice (DV), voice audio is encoded as a 3600 bits/sec data stream using Advanced Multi-Band Encoding (AMBE), with 1200 bits/sec of the 3600 bits/sec as Forward Error Correction (FEC). This leaves 1200 bits/sec for an additional data "path" between radios utilizing DV mode. On-air bit rate totals for DV mode is 4800 bits/sec for the 2 m, 70 cm and 23 cm bands.
In addition to DV mode, the high speed Digital Data (DD) mode can send 128 thousand bits/sec, or 128 kbit/sec, but only on the 23 cm band.
Radios providing DV data service within the low-speed voice protocol typically use an RS-232 or USB connection for low speed data (1200 bit/s), while the Icom ID-1 23 cm band radio offers a standard Ethernet connection for high speed 128 kbit/sec connections, to allow easy interfacing with computer equipment. Effective throughput available to user applications after subtracting overhead is about 90 kbit/sec
In summary, here is what D-Star can do :
Transmit and receive fully digital voice and 1200 baud data simultaneously on 3 different bands -- 2m, 70 cm and 23 cm (1.2 GHz)
Provide internet connectivity with 128 kbit/sec (~90 kbit/sec useable) data transmission on 23 cm with Icom ID-1 radio
Provide D-Star „automatic position reporting (DPRS) while simultaneously transmitting digital voice (DV). [Note: Only use DPRS with PTT option]
Repeater linking with gateway and internet connection at repeater - Worldwide fully digital communication
Reflector linking with gateway and internet connection at repeater - User selection of worldwide conferencing via fully digital communication
Connect to other D-Star stations at the last location of a transmission - Find and communicate with specific users anywhere
Users can connect to D-STAR repeater systems through internet using a PC with DV Dongle - Fully digital communications to repeaters from remote locations
Many other functions, go to the links below to find out more
145.670 seems to be the "unofficial" D-STAR standard calling frequency.
Links to D-Star websites:
http://dstarusers.org/ - See who is on D-Star right now
http://www.dstarinfo.com/ - Tons of D-Star info
http://www.dstarinfo.com/icom-import-files.aspx - Directly import repeater files into programming software
http://www.d-rats.com/ - D-Rats, a communication tool for D-Star
http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home - CHIRP is a free, open-source tool for programming your amateur radio
http://utahvhfs.org/dstar_channel_spacing.html - Details of D-Star RF characteristics and D-Star signaling
http://ref001.dstargateway.org/ - Reflector 001 Dashboard, see who is connected to reflector 001.
http://ref030.dstargateway.org/ - Reflector 030 Dashboard, see who is connected to reflector 030.
http://ref014.dstargateway.org/ - Reflector 014 Dashboard, see who is connected to reflector 014.
http://www.ircddb.net/ - ircDDB home. Use menu across top to view details of ircDDB
http://db0fhn.efi.fh-nuernberg.de/doku.php?id=projects:dstar:ircddb - ircDDB Wiki Information site
http://www.jarl.com/d-star/shogen.pdf D-STAR protocol (JARL)
http://db0fhn.efi.fh-nuernberg.de/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=projects:dstar:ircddb:dstar_dv_frame3_en.pdf D-STAR radio frame structure in DV-Mode (Denis DL3OCK)
http://web.archive.org/web/20130422035315/http://www.qsl.net/kb9mwr/projects/voip/dstar/Slow%20Data.pdf D-STAR Slow Data format (Jonathan G4KLX)
http://web.archive.org/web/20131001052801/http://qsl.net/kb9mwr/projects/voip/dstar/DV_packet_structure.pdf D-Star radio packet structure for the Digital Voice (DV) mode (Dick KM4ML)
http://web.archive.org/web/20131001052756/http://qsl.net/kb9mwr/projects/voip/dstar/DD_packet_structure.pdf D-Star radio packet structure for the Digital Data (DD) mode (Dick KM4ML)
http://web.archive.org/web/20131001052812/http://qsl.net/kb9mwr/projects/voip/dstar/gmsk_tut.pdf Practical GMSK Data Transmission (MX COM, INC.)
http://www.dvsinc.com/products/docs.shtml AMBE vocoder documentation by Digital Voice Systems, Inc.
http://www.aprs-is.net/downloads/dstar/DSTARUncovered.pdf Review D-STAR Uncovered (Peter AE5PL)
http://www.aprs-is.net/downloads/DStar/D-PRS.pdf APRS and D-STAR = D-PRS (Peter AE5PL)
D-Star Radios
ICOM IC-2200H 2m mobile with optional UT-118 D-Star digital module
ICOM IC-V82 (2m) and IC-U82 (70cm) handhelds with optional UT-115 D-Star digital module
ICOM ID-800 Dual Band (2m & 70cm) analog and D-Star digital mobile
ICOM IC-91AD Dual Band (2 m & 70 cm) analog and D-Star digital portable
ICOM IC-92AD Dual Band (2 m & 70 cm) analog and D-Star digital portable, has dual receiver
ICOM ID-1 (23cm) analog and D-Star digital mobile
ICOM IC-2820 (2 m & 70 cm) Dual Band mobile with UT-123 D-Star digital module, has dual receiver and GPS
ICOM IC-80AD Dual Band (2 m & 70 cm) analog and D-Star digital portable
ICOM IC-880 Dual Band (2 m & 70 cm) analog and D-Star mobile
ICOM ID-31A (70 cm) analog and D-Star digital portable with built-in GPS, micro SD card slot for storing GPS log, voice memory and memory contents.
ICOM ID-51A (2m & 70cm) analog and D-Star digital portable with built-in GPS, micro SD card slot for storing GPS log, voice memory, has dual receiver.
ICOM IC-5100 (2m & 70cm) VHF/UHF analog and D-Star digital mobile. Has multi-function "touch screen"' DOT-Matrix LCD display.
ICOM IC-7100 (HF, 2m & 70cm) HF SSB, RTTY, AM, & CW modes with VHF/UHF analog and D-Star digital mobile. Has multi-function "touch screen"' DOT-Matrix LCD display.
ICOM IC-9100 (HF, 2m & 70cm, opt 23cm) HF SSB, RTTY, AM, & CW modes with VHF/UHF analog and D-Star digital desktop base station.
Kenwood TH-D74A (2m, 220 &70cm) analog, APRS, and D-Star digital portable with built-in GPS, micro SD card slot, color display, keyboard, has dual receiver. DR Mode
ICOM ID-4100A Dual Band (2 m & 70 cm) analog and D-Star compact mobile with built-in GPS, DR Mode