This will be a long post and will be broken up into several parts and I make no apologies for that as there is a lot of information to cover and explain adequately to make it easy to understand.
Why am I writing this when there is already information out there?
Well, I spent hours searching and all of the information I could find seemed to be written for people already familiar with all of the terms, each part was on different websites or so jumbled up it made your head spin trying to take it all in. Both of the manuals that came with my radio just didn't help at all, not the normal user manual (96 pages) or the advanced manual (375 pages) covered the basic getting started, yes they help once you know what's going on but not if you know nothing at all. They also seemed to use different terms to what everyone else uses which made it all the more confusing.
What I plan to try to do is walk you through the steps on how to get up and running on D-Star as simply and easily as I can make it. Have all of that information in one place in easy to follow steps with an explanation and picture where possible of each step. I will also provide links to what I would call vital resources and also resources that will make your life a whole lot easier in the long run.
I am not by any means an expert on this, but this is an amalgamation of all of the info I found with the misinformation taken out and explanations added where I found the 30 or so websites I used were lacking.
Please feel free to contact me with any errata or where I need to add more information.
I will be basing this on my own icom IC-7100 with screenshots, but it should be the same or very similar for any icom radio.
FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT STEP
BACKUP you radio's SD card onto your computer before you do anything!
This may sound stupid or obvious, but if anything does go wrong you will always have a known good or default configuration to revert to if you mess things up beyond your ability to put it right. I suggest you keep several backups, one at each stage of any changes you have made to the radio side of the setup process.
REGISTRATION
Yes you have to register on the D-Star network (It is free to do so), but I bet they didn't tell you that when you bought your radio nor did they tell you how or where to do it or even why you need to register.
Why register?
Yes you can use D-Star without registering, but and it is a big but, you will only be able to talk simplex or via a repeater locally even if that repeater is linked to a reflector (more about reflectors later) you will only be heard locally in the same way that an analogue repeater works (non echolink). So if you want to be able to use the full features of D-Star then you must register on the D-Star network. This must only be done once and once only, and only ever needs to be done once (it will cause problems if you register more than once).
Ok so how do I register on the network?
Step 1.
This is a simple process but it can take a few days (1-3) to get your registration approved as it is done by volunteers. They get no notification that anyone new has made a new application so have to manually check the system to see new applications and approve them (if you have filled out the registration form correctly) so please be patient and check back once or twice a day to see if you have been approved. This is a 3 step process of which two parts are down to you and one is down to one of the volunteers to get you fully registered and able to take full benefit of all that D-Star has to offer.
Whilst it is advisable to register on your local repeater, not all repeaters offer this registration service and it is not essential to register on that repeater as you will see later.
Firstly go to http://dstarusers.org/repeaters.php and find your local repeater and look to see if they offer registration but note that very few actually do so don't be surprised if yours doesn't, just find one that does.
Here is a link to the first one I could find that does. https://gb7jh.wadarc.org.uk/Dstar.do
NOTE: The D in Dstar MUST be a capital D !
You WILL get a security warning which is normal for all of the ones I have seen, just add an exception and continue to the site.
This is what the security warning looks like in firefox.
You will then be presented with a screen like this.
First click the yes radio button. All this is doing it giving them permission to check your callsign against external sources like QRZ, Offcom etc.
Now enter your callsign IN CAPITALS
Your full name as it appears on your license.
A valid email address (this is important in case you forget your password etc and need to retrieve your information).
A password (WRITE IT DOWN or keep it safe by another means YOU WILL NEED IT AGAIN)
Repeat your password (WRITE IT DOWN or keep it safe by another means YOU WILL NEED IT AGAIN)
Just in case you didn't get how important it is to remember your password, I will say it again.
(WRITE IT DOWN or keep it safe by another means YOU WILL NEED IT AGAIN)
Once you have checked that your details are correct and have checked them again (It isn't easy to make changes if you do make a mistake) you can then click on OK.
You will now be asked if you are sure you want to submit these details.
Obviously if you are sure that your details are correct you press OK
If you are not sure then click Cancel and go back and make sure they are correct.
When you click OK you will be presented with a screen like this (I have obviously redacted my information) that will contain your callsign, name and e-mail address.
Step 1 is now complete, I hope it wasn't too painful and I explained it clearly.
Step 2.
This is the easiest or the hardest step depending on how you look at it.
Now you have to wait for the administrator to approve your registration which can take anywhere from a few hours to about three days (patience is key here).
There is nothing you can do except wait on the administrator and periodically check to see if your registration has gone through.
Here is what it will look like before your registration is approved. Remember that your callsign is in capitals and your password is case sensitive (You see why you must remember your password now).
You will not in 99.9% of cases get an email or any other notification that your registration has been approved other than going to the same website and trying to login.
Step 3.
So now you wait a bit longer until you see something like this when you login and your registration is almost complete. It is now only dependent on you how long this process takes, but once you have completed this last stage your registration is now complete and you can take full advantage of all of the features that D-Star has to offer.
This is the last but one page to completing your D-Star registration and although it may look simple or complicated depending on your point of view it does contain a couple of gotchas.
1st click the checkbox on the left next to the number 1 it will have your callsign to the right of it.
2nd in the initial box put a single SPACE it won't show but it is important that it only contains a single space. Other characters are used but they are usually for special purposes or testing in special instances none of which you are ever likely to need.
3rd DO NOT PUT A CHECK MARK IN RPT BOX unless you are running a public repeater and have a NOV to run one.
4th in the "pcname" field put your callsign only however THIS MUST BE IN LOWER CASE !
Some people will say to add a - after your callsign and your radio model and while you can it very often causes confusion when setting up your radio and you will wonder why you can only be hear locally and not by anyone not connected to the same repeater as you. So my strong advice is to only put your callsign in the pcname field and save yourself a lot of head-scratching further down the line. You can always add other aliases for say a dongle or a different radio further in the future, but in reality it is not needed at all.
5th If you are sure you have entered all the info as I have laid out in the previous 4 steps you can click on update and you will see a box like this if you have followed my directions.
6th Click on OK
7th LET ME BE THE FIRST PERSON TO WELCOME YOU TO D-STAR, YOU ARE NOW FULLY REGISTERED AND CAN NOW TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF ALL THE WONDERS THAT D-STAR HAS TO OFFER YOU !
I said this will be a long post and as you can see I meant it. This I think is enough for this post however watch this space for my next installment which will be on setting up an icom IC-7100 but I see no reason why the same won't work for just about any other icom D-Star radio as well.
Teaser:
Part 2 will include:
Programming files,
Reflector lists
Linking to reflectors
Unlinking from reflectors
Information (from the repeater)
Echo test ( Hear what YOU actually sound like as the repeater hears YOU)
Modules and what each one is commonly used for
The status page for your local repeater
Shortcuts to common tasks
and much more
So look out for part 2 of this D-Star series coming soon
With the amount of info to come it may even run into 3 parts
As always if you have any comments then please leave them in the comments section below or email me (my email can be found in the complete about me page although that isn't finished yet).
I really do hope that this has helped you get registered on D-Star and has stopped you from looking at 20 different sites trying to piece all of the information together.
Good Luck.
73's
M0CNL
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