DStar KS1R Dash
DStar Reflector 39C

Duplexer Repair

If you didn’t read the last post about repairing the Duplexers for the DStar repeater and would like to you can find it here:
Duplexer Repair

Well it seems the repair was a pretty big success, at least so far. Here is a recent heard list from the repeater. It shows stations that have worked the repeater locally using RF.
HerdList

Initial Testing

The initial testing was a very quick road test down toward Popham Beach state park. All went well but this was a long way from a thorough test. In the following days as I did whatever it is I do when I do what I do, I kept testing. A trip to my son’s house went well. I could hear the repeater and can get into it. That is an improvement. Then came a trip to Portland for work. Another success. I’m not saying you can work the repeater easily all the way to my office in Portland but in most places its usable. For me the hardest part seemed to be hearing the repeater. If I could hear it, I was into it.

Soon Louise KB1IEF and myself did a walk on Popham Beach. I brought along my handheld but forgot to charge it. The battery was showing low. Past experience tells me I need to run high power so that is what I do. While walking I get a call from Cory KU1U. After the first transmission my battery is showing critical so I drop the power down to 1 Watt. Cory reports no change in signal. This is another really good sign.

KU1U The Promoter

Cory KU1U was excited about the apparent success and started contacting people he knew had DStar to do some testing. Soon there are several others on the repeater trying from all over the place with better then expected success.

A few more

I had an old IC-91AD and dropped it off with Bruce W1ZE. He was on the air in no time. Next was N1MA Mike. Seems he has the IC-705 but hadn’t used it on DStar yet. In no time at all he had it programmed and on the air.

Reflector 39 Charlie

Reflector 39 Charlie has been set as the Maine Statewide D-Star reflector. I tend to keep our repeater connected to it. The reflector serves as a way to do Internet linking of repeaters. Another way in, is using a DStar access point or hotspot. With an AP or hotspot you can either connect directly to our repeater or more common is to connect to the reflector. We have had many others including Terry KA8SCP, Andrew N1MRE, W1DLO, and some from the Caribou DStar repeater joining in.

KU1U from Old Orchard Beach

Probably the best report we have had so far is when Cory KU1U was working the repeater from a handheld radio while walking on Old Orchard Beach. In the world of digital communications you are either in or not. In this case Cory was in.

Audio clip of KU1U from OOB.


Summary

All this recent activity has me using our KS1R DStar repeater more then any others. Soon there will be another DStar radio on Streaked Mountain that is expected to have a very large RF footprint. DStar in general is an easy mode as there isn’t much radio programming that needs to be done beyond your call and the repeater you want to work. I hope to see even more traffic on our D-Star system in the coming days.

More information about all the Clubs repeaters can be found here: KS1R Repeaters