Thank you 😊

As you've probably heard by now, thanks to a lot of hard work on the part of Brian Schmidt (NIØP), our Buffalo County EM Darrin Lewis (KDØHCX), and a bit of diagnostic help from myself, the Kearney D-STAR repeater and gateway (KDØPBW) are back online!

There are still a few bugs to work out and improvements to be made, but we are really excited to have this resource available in the Kearney area again. I know there has been a bit of confusion on how to use the repeater, so I thought I'd put together a bit of basic info. This isn't meant to be a D-STAR tutorial, but just a quick-start guide to getting onto the repeater and talking around.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a D-STAR expert, and have only been using it for a couple weeks here since getting it back online, but I have learned enough to hopefully be of help!

A note on programming your radio: if you're getting into D-STAR in the US, you're probably using an ICOM or maybe Kenwood radio. If you don't already have it, you should really look into getting the programming software for your radio from RT Systems. They have a customized programmer for nearly every remotely common radio that supports computer programming. You'll need their proprietary cables for most models, and the software and cable can be bought as a bundle for $50, or if you already own the cable for your model, the software alone is $25. You can also get it on a CD for a few bucks extra. It's a bit pricy because you have to rebuy it for every single model of radio, but it's a convenience fee for "it just works" convenience. The programmer software makes D-STAR programming, especially on older D-STAR radios INFINITELY easier than doing it by hand.

OK, so like I said, this isn't gonna be a D-STAR tutorial, but regardless, you need to know a few basics. D-STAR uses digital voice mode rather than regular FM for talking. You can talk on it with simplex just like regular FM, and you can talk on D-STAR repeaters with it just like an FM repeater, and you won't really need any additional knowledge to do that.

Where it gets complex, and where D-STAR really shines, is its capability to link repeaters together anywhere in the world, via the internet, so you can talk to people around the world from your 2m or 70cm radio. It accomplishes this with gateways which are what connects a basic D-STAR repeater to the internet. Using special D-STAR commands, you can link two gateways together to act as one repeater. You can also link a repeater into one of the large reflectors which we will get into later.

So, start by putting the Kearney D-STAR repeater into your radio, via your chosen programming method. Here's the repeater info, and I'll get into the details afterward.

Callsign: KDØPBW
Frequency: 147.030 MHz
Offset: +0.6 MHz
Your/Ur: CQCQCQ
Rpt1: KD0PBW C
Rpt2: KD0PBW G
You'll also need to program your own callsign into the radio so that it can identify you.

OK, so the first three items should be familiar, that's just like any other repeater. Note that there is no tone on D-STAR. 
Next, we come to Your/Ur, which can hold commands for the repeater. We will come to that more later. For now, putting "CQCQCQ" into it says you're just wanting to talk to anyone listening. 
After that, we have Rpt1, which contains the callsign for the Kearney repeater, followed by a space, and the letter "C". This tells the repeater you want to use the "C" module (on this repeater, we only have the "C" module for 2m, but other repeaters may have a "B" module for 70cm, or others. 
Finally, Rpt2 contains the repeater callsign again, followed by a space, and the letter "G", telling the repeater you want to use its gateway, so your transmissions will go out over any systems that might be linked to the repeater, if any.
NOTE: if your callsign is not registered in the D-STAR system, you won't be able to be heard outside the local repeater. We'll get into that later.

Using these settings, you should be able to hear the Kearney repeater (within range of course), and any other systems linked to it. If you talk on it, you should be heard by others listening to it. If the repeater is linked to any other systems and your callsign is registered, anyone listening on those systems will hear you as well.

As mentioned, if you want to be able to talk outside of the local repeater, your callsign has to be registered. You can find instructions on how to do this at https://regist.dstargateway.org/instructions/, and do the registration at https://107.89.16.169/Dstar.do/

The Kearney repeater is normally linked to REF002C, also known as "two charlie". This is the main Nebraska D-STAR reflector, so we normally stay linked into it. If the repeater is not linked, you can do it yourself with a few radio commands!

Keep all of your radio settings the same as previously, but change Your/Ur call to "REF002CL". Key your radio for about a second, then un-key. You should hear the repeater confirm "Remote System Linked" and your radio will print the link details. Remember to change Your/Ur back to "CQCQCQ" before talking on the repeater!

If the repeater is already linked, you will need to unlink it first. Be sure the repeater is not in use before unlinking it! Keeping radio settings the same, change Your/Ur to "       U". Make sure to keep the leading spaces in, they are important. Key the radio for a second to send the unlink command, and once confirmed, use the previous instructions to link to REF002C. 

Feel free to unlink the repeater and link it elsewhere, but when you are finished, please remember to link it back to REF002C! If you would like to see where the repeater is currently linked, you can use the command "       I" for info. There is also a "       E" command to do an echo test.

This should get you set up with the Kearney D-STAR repeater! Please remember to follow all the usual ham radio etiquette!

If you find any errors or mistakes in here, let me know! I will continue to keep this updated as things change!

Useful Links:
D-STAR Info - tons of general info about D-STAR - http://dstarinfo.com
D-STAR Users - view callsigns, repeaters, reflectors and other info and when they were last heard - https://www.dstarusers.org
Nebraska D-STAR club - https://www.nebraskadstar.org/
Status page for reflector "two charlie" - http://ref002.dstargateway.org/
Status page for the Kearney repeater gateway - https://kd0pbw.w0ky.org/

--
73
Michael Forsman (KE0TCF)

The Kearney repeater is normally linked to REF002C, also known as "two charlie". This is the main Nebraska D-STAR reflector, so we normally stay linked into it. If the repeater is not linked, you can do it yourself with a few radio commands!

Keep all of your radio settings the same as previously, but change Your/Ur call to "REF002CL". Key your radio for about a second, then un-key. You should hear the repeater confirm "Remote System Linked" and your radio will print the link details. Remember to change Your/Ur back to "CQCQCQ" before talking on the repeater!

If the repeater is already linked, you will need to unlink it first. Be sure the repeater is not in use before unlinking it! Keeping radio settings the same, change Your/Ur to "       U". Make sure to keep the leading spaces in, they are important. Key the radio for a second to send the unlink command, and once confirmed, use the previous instructions to link to REF002C. 

Feel free to unlink the repeater and link it elsewhere, but when you are finished, please remember to link it back to REF002C! If you would like to see where the repeater is currently linked, you can use the command "       I" for info. There is also a "       E" command to do an echo test.

This should get you set up with the Kearney D-STAR repeater! Please remember to follow all the usual ham radio etiquette!

If you find any errors or mistakes in here, let me know! I will continue to keep this updated as things change!

Useful Links:
D-STAR Info - tons of general info about D-STAR - http://dstarinfo.com
D-STAR Users - view callsigns, repeaters, reflectors and other info and when they were last heard - https://www.dstarusers.org
Nebraska D-STAR club - https://www.nebraskadstar.org/
Status page for reflector "two charlie" - http://ref002.dstargateway.org/
Status page for the Kearney repeater gateway - https://kd0pbw.w0ky.org/

--
73
Michael Forsman (KE0TCF)