----- Original Message Posted to dstarsoftware-yahoogroup Wed Jan 28, 2009 -----
I have just created a new Yahoo group named dstar_development, its aim is to provide a forum and resource center for all those interested in developing their own user or repeater D-Star systems. If your idea of fun is understanding bits and bytes and/or ICs and solder, then this new group is for you.
"This group is dedicated to discussing and sharing information about implementing D-Star systems using non Icom D-Star hardware, this includes end user and repeater systems, hardware and software. Membership to this group is moderated to ensure a high signal-to-noise ratio, however the messages themselves are not moderated."
Slow Data.pdf The Format of D-Star Slow Data Version 0.2 by Jonathan Naylor, G4KLX
Towards an Open D-Star Reflector System - A new D-Star Reflector system.
---- Message Posted to dstar_development-yahoogroup Thu Feb 5, 2009 -----
I'm developing software to provide a complete D-Star client using a PC and a
radio which has 9600Bd connections. At the pure bits and bytes level, most of
the hard work has been done bar the interfacing with a DV-Dongle that has yet to
be attempted. At this time I'm working on the GUI of which a screenshot appears
in the Files section. The only problem I can see is either the need to either
use two sound cards, or one sound card with a switching device, which could also
switch the radio PTT. Such a device, with a USB interface, would be most useful,
not only for D-Star but also for SoftRocks, for example.
It struck me while writing the C++ classes that make up the software, that by
re-arranging them, a D-Star repeater could be easily built. In fact there are
two approaches to this, the easiest would be to simply pass the AMBE data
through the system and hope that any corruption gained on both legs of the
signal would not be too much for the FEC to handle, however this would not
require a DV-Dongle or equivalent. The better solution would be to have a
DV-Dongle and decode the AMBE data and then encode it again, this would provide
much more resilience, but would cost more money.
At some stage I'll look into the FEC on the AMBE data, if it's a standard
convolution or Reed-Solomon code then the FEC could be done at the repeater
without a DV-Dongle, but without the possibility of local audio monitoring.
I am interested in doing an implementation of a simple local D-Star repeater,
and any interfacing to the Internet and hence linking would come later.
Ironically the D-Star repeater wouldn't need an audio switcher, merely a PTT
control output.
If anyone is interested in helping me, or suggesting anything, then please say
so.
Jonathan Naylor, G4KLX
---- Message Posted to dstar_development-yahoogroup Thu Mar 19, 2009 ----
Hi Folks
-I've just uploaded the seventh release of the software which represents a very
small change from the fifth earlier this month.
The primary difference is that the Linux support has been cleaned up, but no
testing has been done on that operating system. On Windows the silly build bug
has been removed, there have been no other changes compared to the fifth
release.
-Fifth release- At long last I've done an update of the Digital Voice
software which currently incorporates the D-Star Client and the DVTool Reader.
The only change since the previous release is that a minor bug in the GUI
callsign handling has been fixed, and more importantly the serial I/O under
Windows has been changed to overlapping, as well as other speed improvements in
that part of the software. Although functionality hasn't changed, it's hoped
that this latter change will help people with slower machines. Feedback please.
-I've uploaded the fourth release of the software to the Files section under
G4KLX. The biggest change is that this version has a new GMSK demodulator which
should increase its sensitivity compared to previous versions. This in itself is
a good reason to try this new version.
More minor changes are the addition of icons to the executables, and improved
validation on transmitted callsigns.
This version has not been built or tested on Linux so feedback on that side
would be appreciated. I'm spending more time working on the core of the program
currently.
-After the mess that was the second release, I'm happy to announce a much improved release.
I've done quite a bit of work on the Linux support although I'm not sure it's quite finished yet. However it's now feature complete in the sense that my TODO list is concerned with other parts of the project. It's now down to bug fixing what already exists.
Jonathan G4KLX
Digital Voice - 20090319
========================
Welcome to the Digital Voice package. Before you can use it, you'll have to build it, instructions to do so are to be found in the BUILD.txt file. This file
covers how to use the software, hopefully.
The package currently consists of two programs, DVToolReader and DStarClient.
DStarClient
-----------
The purpose of this program is to emulate a D-Star capable radio. To this end it
requires access to a 9600Bd capable radio, connected to a sound card, a second sound card for
headphones/microphone (I use a USB headset from Logitech), access to a DV-Dongle either locally or via the network, and optionally a serial port
for PTT control. With these items, you should be ready to go.
Firstly you will need to set your preferences. Go into Edit->Preferences and choose each tab in turn, many will need to be entered before you can begin.
Note that after changing a number of these entries, you will need to restart the
program for the changes to take effect. In case where you don't need to restart,
this will be flagged in the documentation.
You will need to set the Callsign, only the first field needs to be entered, this change takes effect immediately. The User Sound Card are the devices that
will be used for your microphone and speakers to actually speak to other people.
The Radio Sound Card is the sound card that will be connected to your radio to allow the GMSK signals to be passed in and out of the program.
This will go to your 9600Bd modem port on your radio, otherwise you'll need a soldering iron!
GMSK Inversion is for cases when the polarity of the GMSK is inverted by your radio. Leave these as unchecked initially, and only set them if you have
problems, check with a local D-Star user to see where the problem lies. These settings take effect immediately.
PTT is used to setup the serial port that is used to key your transmitter. For various reasons this is currently an optional setting, and a value of <none> is
legitimate, although not very useful unless you have VOX on your 9600Bd port!
The DV-Dongle may either be connected to a local USB port, or accessible via the
network. To use a local DV-Dongle, simply set the Device to the COM port on which the Dongle is
connected, if set to "<none>" then the values of the Host name and Port are taken, and the machine names must be running a fully
configured and running copy of ascpseriald.
The Message is up to twenty characters that will be placed into the Slow Data field and will be displayed on the radio of the other station. This setting
takes effect immediately. Code Squelch is used with the Squelch setting on the main screen, it can take a value between zero and ninety-nine, although this is
irrelevant if Code Squelch is not in use. This takes effect immediately.
On the File menu are the options to Open and for Recording. The Open option is used for playing previously recorded files of GMSK data which are used instead
of the sound card for the duration of the file. These files must be mono WAV files with a sample rate of 48kHz. The recording option ensures that all
received D-Star transmissions are recorded to .dvtool files for playing back later with DVToolReader (see below). Recording does not stop the decoding of
D-Star signals in real-time also.
On the main screen can be seen some boxes that may have data entered into them. UR is the remote stations callsign, or more commonly just "CQCQCQ" which is the
default setting. RPT1 and RPT2 are used to access your local D-Star repeater and
the values will need to be found seperately, for simplex work these should be set
to <unused>, the default setting.
Below these settings are the Transmit button which as the name suggests, puts the
program onto transmit, and sets the PTT if it is set. At the same time, an indicator appears on the screen to
show that you are on transmit. The Squelch setting is used for Code Squelch and Callsign Squelch which are a selective
calling function, the Code Squelch makes use of the value set in the Preferences,
whereas the Callsign Squelch uses the first part of your Callsign. A setting of None indicates no squelch functionality.
When a valid signal is being received, a Busy signal will be displayed, which could be very useful if some form of Squelch is being used.
Below these settings is the heard section. This is where information about the
current and previously heard D-Star stations is show. The top section contains more information, for example
the Info section which contains information about flags, and BER which is an indication of the quality of the received audio data,
the information show is minimum/average/maximum error percentage.
Finally there is a list box showing a history of all the stations heard since the program was started. It shows a cut-down version of the information above
it, but should still be useful for all that.
When running, the program logs some information into the DStarClient.log file in
the same directory as the program itself.
DVToolReader
------------
This program takes .dvtool files as created by either DStarClient or DVTOOL and plays them. It is a relatively simple tool, which essentially allows for the
replay or previously logged transmissions. Before it can be used, the program needs to be configured, to do this go into Edit->Preferences and fill in values
the Sound Card, which is where the decoded audio will be played, and for the location of the DV-Dongle.
The DV-Dongle may either be connected to a local USB port, or accessible via the
network. To use a local DV-Dongle, simply set the Device to the COM port on which the Dongle is
connected, if set to "<none>" then the values of the Host name and Port are taken, and the machine names must be running a fully
configured and running copy of ascpseriald.
When making changes to the Sound Card or DV Dongle, you must restart the program
before your changes take effect.
Much of the information on the screen is the same as that show by DStarClient
(see above) and for more information, see the entry for that program.
When running, the program logs some information into the DVToolReader.log file in the same directory as the program itself.
I've started work on the GUI and I'm including an early screenshot of it, with simulated data on it.
Some CentOS packages you might need:
yum install wxGTK-devel.i386
yum install wxGTK.i386
yum install portaudio
I recommend enabling the RPMforge repositories.
In June 2009, Jonathan G4KLX created a whole new yahoo group. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pcrepeatercontroller/ And in September 2009, he made announcement of a successful test of the D-Star controller:
Repeater - 20091016.zip - Analogue and D-Star Repeater controller software
"This group is intended for people using or intending to use a PC to control their repeater. Initially the controller will be for an analogue repeater, but later versions will include a D-Star repeater, and eventually a mixed mode controller. The source code and support will be available via this group."
GB3IN D-Star tests (18 September 2009)
G4TSN reports the first tests using the G4KLX d-star repeater software have been carried out on GB3IN being the first live successful on air tests.Once the GMSK deviation on the FX5000 was set, 4 stations G4TSN,G7NPW,G0LCG and M3SNY had a 4 way qso through the repeater for over an hour without problems.
This is a complete open source software solution discriminator audio is fed to the pc sound card line in and the line out provides the GMSK encode and decode signal with no CML modems or "Satoshi" interfaces required. I wanted to get away from using the serial port for I/O which is why I chose the Velleman K8055 USB interface board for things like squelch input, PTT output and watchdog.
I am looking at supporting the USB URI which is a US based product, but it hasn't arrived here yet. One thing that has been proven, is that using the cheapest USB audio dongle that you can find is the best approach, as they have very little filtering which suits our application perfectly.
Jonathan G4KLXCurrently there is a analogue controller which is virtually complete and the latest release a now a "proven" basic working d-star repeater in software.
G4KLX's plan is to also have a combined analogue digital to produce a proper integrated dual mode solution as well as analogue only or digital controllers and hopefully integrate the d-star networking capability in due course. Further information at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pcrepeatercontroller/