D-Star Physical Description

The ICOM D-STAR radio body is about the same size as an Alinco 605 / 610 radio. The head and base of the radio are separated by a RJ-45 cable. The head of the radio is a little larger than the head of a Yaesu FT-100D, and is rather deep. The radio also comes with an external speaker, which of course, is not used during data communications. The Microphone attaches to the head of the radio, or if running "headless", it can be wired directly into the radio. The Microphone we were issued did not have any DTMF capability.

The radio features a USB connection to allow for Windows computers to program the radio. While most of the world revolves around Windows, we would certainly appreciate a Linux version of the software. As it is, the radio may also be programmed by the panel controls.

The radio also has an ethernet connection cable and the instructions show that it may plug directly into an ethernet card on a computer. Since we wanted to work with a network environment, we used an uplink port on an ethernet switch as a networking solution.

Antenna System

For an antenna, we used a Comet GP-21 1.2GHz antenna:

The cable that we used is LMR-400 at 30 feet.

GP-21 Specifications:

Gain: 14.9 dBi

Wave: 1/2 wave x 21

VSWR: 1.5:1 or less

Max Power: 100 watts

Length: 9 feet

Connector: N-Type

Construction: Single-piece fiberglass