Well, after a long, hard day – and without much cooperation from Mother Nature, “The Team” finished the installation of the Daytona Beach D-Star Repeater at about 18:30 Sunday night, 06-June-2010. We were successful in doing the following:

• Install a new computer rack on the penthouse of the Halifax Hospital in Daytona Beach
• Install the D-Star repeater electronics on the front of the rack
• Install the D-Star Duplexer on the bottom-front of the rack
• Move the DBARA Power Supplies to the bottom, back of the rack – both are Astron RM-50M units – so there is 100A of 12vdc power in the rack
• Move the DBARA 2-meter repeater to the back of the rack
• Install a Polyphaser Protection Panel to the concrete block wall, with a pre-installed AC Lightning/EMP protector, and Coax Lightning/EMP protector constructed by Phil (K5BBC)
• Modify an existing antenna mount on the corner of the penthouse roof
• Install a DB-224E antenna on the antenna mount
• Install FSJ4-50 hardline from the antenna to the Polyphaser Panel
• Sweep the Antenna/Feedline for baseline reading in both Return Loss and DTF modes

The result is that both the DBARA repeater (147.150) and the D-Star repeater (145.380) are now in the same rack, with plenty of room to spare. Pictures below. The project took much more time that we estimated due to Mother Nature – we were fighting driving rain, thunder and lightning the entire afternoon – Doug, Robbie, Charlie and Eddie got soaked (to the skivies).. but just kept plodding along with the antenna system until the conditions were getting too dangerous (see the dark clouds in the pictures) – imagine, man-handling a 26-foot antenna, on the top of the highest building in the area, in driving drain..

Initial coverage testing indicates that Palm Coast and Flagler Beach mobile stations can hit the repeater with Q5 signals (S5 on outside antennas, about S4 on mobile) – distance of about 32-miles with no trouble. No testing done to the south or to the west (yet). We will have more reports in the next few days.

Frequency is 145.380 (-0.600Khz)
Call Sign = KJ4RYG
RF Modules = 2-Meter only (Port C)
No Gateway (yet… perhaps next week)

Today’s team included: Doug (N4FPS), Steve (KB4DNQ), Robbie (KG4HUF), Rick (KC2HFL), Eddie (KJ4LRB), and Charlie (AA5QJ). These guys worked their butts off, then celebrated success with dinner at Cracker Barrel afterward (at 20:15). I am honored to have worked with these guys – they KNOW THEIR STUFF – each of them – and they did a fabulous job. These were Amateurs doing PROFESSIONAL quality work, both in attitude and in delivery. Please take time to drop them a line and say “thanks”. We welcome our Volusia D-Star users today and look forward to much more in the near future.

Our profound thanks to our hosts – the Daytona Beach Amateur Radio Assocation (DBARA), John “the Captain” and Steve Szabo for all their help, their encouragement and their support during this entire project. They are truly our partners in this project..!!

Pictures follow:

Steve, working on removing the Astron RM-50M units to place in the new rack (on right)

New old rack – Steve working on removing the power supplies

The pair of Astron RM-50M power supplies – both were in great condition

Steve, Robbie and Charlie – contemplating “next steps”

The rear of the new rack – 2 large power supplies provide 100A of 12vdc to the rack.
The D-Star system seen from the back of the rack.

The DBARA repeater (147.150) installed in the rear part of the rack above the power supplies.

Eddie and Doug … “now how are we going to install this antenna..?? ”

Doug and Rick doing final prep on the antenna before hoisting onto the mount-point.

Doug, Rick and Charlie – putting the antenna on the mount-point

Doug tightening the mount bolts – with Charlie and Robbie steadying the antenna.
Notice that the building grounding bus is attached directly to the antenna.
The antenna is almost 26 feet tall and blowing in the wind, making this very difficult.

Eddie (KJ4LRB) with the installed antenna.

Rick (KC2HFL) with the antenna – notice the DARK SKIES… all day work in the rain..!!

Charlie mounts the Polyphaser Lightning Protection Panel with 120VAC and Coax protection.

Charlie connecting the Heliax feedline to the Polyphaser panel.

Our flag, in front of the driving rain and dark clouds. What a day – feeling like wet rats..!!

“The Team”, minus Eddie (taking the picture). From Left to right:
Rick (KC2HFL), Mike, Charlie (AA5QJ), Robbie (KG4HUF), Doug (N4FPS) and Steve (KB4DNQ)
Photographer is Eddie (KJ4LRB)

The D-Star Gateway system on each repeater stack is the “Bridge” which allows each of the D-Star band modules to talk to other repeater systems thru the internet. Following are the major functions of each D-Star gateway:

• allows any or all band modules on the repeater to “LINK” with another repeater, or Reflector
• allows DV-Dongle users to link to a specific band-module on the repeater
• allows DV-Access Point (DVAP) users to link to a specific band-module on the repeater
• passes traffic information to to the dPlus server, allowing for real-time traffic monitoring on systems like the dPlus monitor (www.dstarusers.org) and NJ6N’s dplus usage monitor (www.nj6n.com/dplusmon/)

Gateways on each repeater may only link a band module to ONE other system at a time (or multiples, by linking to a single Reflector). However:

• all four band modules can be linked to different systems or Reflectors at the same time
• any of the band modules in a stack can be cross-banded to each other in pairs – this is handled by the RP-2C controller
• if you want to link all 3 voice band modules together, you would link all three modules to a Reflector
• an unlimited number of DV-Dongle users may link to a specific band-module
• an unlimited number of DV-Access-Point (DVAP) users may link to a specific band module

The Gateway computer is comprised of a desktop or server class computer with the following:

• a Dual-core CPU with 3gb of memory
• dual Network Interfaces – one to the Internet, the other to the D-Star Repeater Controller (RP2C)
• Internet connection, normally thru DSL or higher speed connection
• Linksys WRT-54GL router, with Port Forwarding enabled for ports 20001-20005 and 40001-40003
• Linux CentOS operating system
• Icom D-Star Gateway Version 2 Software
• dPlus Software from Robin Cutshaw (AA4RC)
• D-Star to APRS software bridge, which passes D-Star GPS position reports to the ARPS world-wide servers to integrate with APRS position reporting
• various utilities for remote management, including Ken’s (WB4FAY) “MONLINK” and DPLUSREPORT utilities

The configuration of the Gateway system at the repeater site is shown in the diagram below. In essence, the Gateway stands between the repeater controller (RP-2C) and the internet connection.

(Click to enlarge)

There are specific IP addresses that are required as well as certain TCP/UDP “ports” which need to be available, so creation of a D-Star Gateway is not a turn-key exercise. The ports are necessary for “conversations” with various systems, namely the system (or Reflector) that you’re connecting to, as well as the Trust Server. Here in the U.S., the Trust Server is located in Dallas, Texas and serves as the D-Star “Name Server” which keeps the address of all gateway systems located throughout the world, as well as keeping track of all recently heard users. The Trust Server is the system which helps us resolve the location of a call-sign when we perform call-sign routing. Remember I once said that you can just enter “WB6RTH” in the URCALL field and the D-Star system would find me wherever I am in the world..?  The Trust Server is the reason why that function is possible.

The diagram below show just some of the complexity of the network connections in a D-Star Gateway system. Parameters and addresses need to be configured EXACTLY, otherwise there are problems.

(Click to enlarge)

If you are a Linux and/or Networking guru, you are invited to assist in maintaining these systems, since it can be quite time consuming (at times). There is a periodic requirement to install patches and software upgrades to the D-Star Gateway software and associated utilities. All of this work can be done via SSH, so location is not an issue. Contact Mike at WB6RTH@ARRL.NET if you are interested in more information.