Linking and Un-linking from D-Star repeaters can be very confusing.
First there are the legacy ICOM D-Star repeaters. These repeaters are the original D-Star repeaters. If these repeaters are running a gateway server, they are typically what is known as a G2 | G3 gateway. Some of the sysops of the G2 | G3 gateways have added the ircDDB add-on which enables call sign routing.
Second there are repeaters out there known as ‘home brew’ repeaters (aka ircDDB Repeaters). These repeaters are non ICOM repeaters that run different versions of software and along with a digital voice modem, enabling them to be D-Star repeaters. The home brew repeaters are typically running software written by Jonathan G4KLX and most recently known as Pi-Star.
These commands apply to ircDDB ‘hotspots’ as well.
Reflectors:
As of 2016, there are (4) types of reflectors on the network.
D-Plus (REF)
DExtra (XRF)
DCS (DCS)
XLX (emulates REF, XRF and DCS)
D-Plus reflectors start with REF, DExtra reflectors start with XRF. DCS reflectors start with DCS. The newest reflector is the XLX and this reflector can emulate any of the above reflectors as well as its own XLX reflector.
In order to connect a gateway to one of these reflectors, one would need to know if the gateway is enabled to do so and if the reflector is available for connections. Lots can happen to prohibit this from working so don’t get discouraged if one or two don’t work for you on a gateway.
For a list of the DCS reflectors, click here.
For a list of the REF reflectors, click here.
For a list of the XRF reflectors, click here.
For a list of the XLX reflectors, click here.
ircDDB Home Brew Repeater | Gateway (all CNHARC systems use ircDDB):
| DTMF | UR | What it Does |
| 0 | _______I | Check Link (Gateway will respond with a verbal message) |
| # | _______U | Un-Link (Gateway will respond with a verbal message) |
| *0103 | REF001CL | This will connect you to REF001C. The * is the D-Plus command + 01 +03 for C |
| B0502 | XRF005BL | This will connect you to XRF005B. The B is the DExtra command + 05 +02 for B |
| D02602 | DCS026BL | This will connect you to DCS026B. The D is the DCS command + 026 + 02 for B |
| ** | _______L | This will return the gateway to the default reflector if one is configured. |
On the above ircDDB gateway, say you connect to the gateway and want to link to another reflector and you don’t check the status first. You can issue a ‘#’ to unlink then link to which ever reflector you want. When you complete your QSO, you can issue a ‘#’ to unlink from the reflector then issue a ‘**’ to put the gateway back to where it was originally. This is a nice feature in case you didn’t know where it was in the first place!
ICOM G2 | G3 based repeater | gateway that is G2_Link enabled connecting to an XRF or DCS (DExtra / DCS) reflector:
| DTMF | UR | What it does |
| 99 | _______W | Check Link (Gateway will respond with a verbal message) |
| 73 | _______T | Un-Link (Gateway will respond with a verbal message) |
| #00502 | XRF005BO | This will connect you to XRF005B. The # is the DExtra command + 005 +02 for B |
| D02602 | DCS026BO | This will connect you to DCS026B. The D is the DCS command + 026 + 02 for B |
ICOM G2 | G3 based repeater | gateway that is G2_Link enabled connecting to an REF (DPlus) reflector:
| DTMF | UR | What it does |
| N/A | _______I | Check Link (Gateway will respond with a verbal message) |
| N/A | _______U | Un-Link (Gateway will respond with a verbal message) |
| try *00103 |
REF001CL | This will connect you to REF001C. The * is the D-Plus command + 001 +03 for C |
G2 | G3 Gateways w G2_Link Add-On
DPlus (REF) or XLX emulating REF
To check the status of the gateway, the UR call would be: _______I (I in the eight place)
To unlink the gateway, the UR call would be: _______U (U in the eight place)
To return the gateway to the default, the UR call would be: _______L (L in the eight place)
To link to a REF reflector (example is REF001C), the UR call would be: REF001CL
DExtra (XRF) and DCS (DCS) or XLX emulating XRF or DCS
To check the status of the gateway, the UR call would be: _______W (W in the eight place)
To link to a XRF reflector (example is XRF005B), the UR call would be: XRF005BO
To link to a DCS reflector (example is DCS024B), the UR call would be: DCS026BO
To unlink the gateway, the UR call would be: _______T (T in the eight place)
You can also query the release of the gateway by setting the UR call to: _______V
While on the subject or modifying the UR call, you can also use the UR call to call sign route to a specific user or gateway!
To call sign route to a user (W1JY), the UR call would be: W1JY____ To call sign route to a gateway (W1CNH), the UR call would be: /W1CNH_B To route to anyone on the gateway, the UR call would be: CQCQCQ__
In the above descriptions the ‘_’ symbol is used for a space. Keep in mind there are 8 ‘spaces’ in D-Star.
To learn more about call sign routing using the new CCS functions, please follow the CCS link from the main page of this site.