D-STAR Info

At the D-STAR forums in Huntsville, GigaParts announced the winners of their D-STAR Repeater Giveaway. Applicants for the repeater system had to create applications and justify the placement of the system, as well promise quick implementation.
The winner of the repeater was Georgia D-STAR who plans to place the system on a PBC tower in the Southeastern part of the state, covering Savannah and surrounding communities.

Over the years, the Huntsville Hamfest has become a hotbed of D-STAR Activity. At last year's Hamfest, a number of people went through Icom's Gateway Administrator Course. As most folks know, the course is no longer offered, nor necessary.
Two sessions were offered this year, the first by Rick Seeders,KG4PNL (Alabama Asst SM) that offered users an in-depth look at D-STAR and routing. Rick discussed how to program radios, making sure that the right information is in the RPT1, RPT2, and UR fields.
The second session, by John Davis WB4QDX and Ed Woodrick WA4YIH provided demonstrations on linking, low speed data, high speed data, and the DVDongle. This session utilized the KJ4BDF repeater which was brought over by Ed and located in the convention center. Ed demonstrated linking the repeater to the local KI4PPF repeater as well as to REF001A.