Icom IC-80AD D Star, need help?

[wolverine]

I'm new to amateur radio, and I'm trying to get my new Icom IC-80AD to work on a local D Star repeater, and I'm having some issues with the programming.

I programmed the system into the radio, following the user manual and info from the repeaters website, however I did notice that it would not allow me to enter the information for the RPT2 field, the radio would simply give an error tone for each key press.

The first time I went to key the radio up and talk on the system, the radio would display "OFF" and would not TX. The second time, later on that morning, I tried to talk on the system again, and the same thing happened. I then pressed one of the arrow buttons, located below the radios power button (these are currently set to change channels, while the knob on top of the radio is set to change the radios volume), the radio made a couple of beeps, I then pressed the PTT button, the radio displayed "CQCQCQ" and TX. Nothing was heard, however the radio did beep about one second after dekey. Made a second radio test, radio TX and again, nothing heard and the radio beep after dekey.

Later that night, I heard some traffic on the system, one user was taking to another user, who I beleaved, advised that he was currently in Florida. I made an attempt to conduct a radio check as soon as both operators were finished talking with each other, the radio TX, however nothing was heard and the radio did not beep this time.

I have received an email from another user on the system, advising that the log was checked, and I'm not getting into the system. I'm going to go over the settings again and read the manual some more, but could anyone on here tell me what I might be doing wrong?

I don't know what else could be causing the issues with my radio.

Thanks

 

[wolverine]

Update: last night at work, I went over the manual some more, Read about the Call S, I followed the manual's instructions, pressed the number 9 CS - T Scan key for one second to bring up the Call Sign Group and here's what the radio reads:

UR: CQCQCQ

R1: CQCQCQ

R2: No Data shows in the R2 Field

My: My call sign shows in this field

Note: When I go to enter the information in these fields, to match what the info calls for on the D Stars repeater web site, the radio does not except the information and just sounds an error tone.

Here's the information that should be in these fields, according to the web site:

145.350
- offset
-DUP
DV Mode

UR: CQCQCQ

RPT1: K8BIG C (2 Spaces in between the G and the C)

RPT2: K8BIG G (2 Spaces in between the G and the G)

MY: Your Callsign
_______________________________________________________

If I pull up the repeater listing in the radio's menu and select RPT-L, then EDIT-L, this what system info is programmed in the fields:

Call S: K8BIG

GW CAL: K8BIG G

Group: Group1

R1 Use: Yes

Freq: 145.350

DUP: DUP-

Offset: 0.600
_______________________________________________________

Currently with these settings, I can hear traffic on the system, but no one can hear me when I TX on the system and I cannot get the radio to except the RPT1 and RPT2 fields, even when trying to create a new list, per following the manual, I just get error tones. I called the store where I ordered the radio and their not familiar with D Star.

Any advice on how I can fix this or something I'm doing wrong?

 

[fineshot1]

Well I am not the most experienced dstar operator but,

usually if the radio displays "off" when trying to tx it means you are
trying to tx out of bad. In other words you tx offset could be wrong.
However I looked at your parameters and that looks ok.

I did notice that "Call S: K8BIG " in the repeater listing menu is
without the port notation at the end. You should have a port letter
such as "Call S: K8BIG A" for the 2 meters port for example.
What letter you put in that spot is determined what band you are
on. If you are on 2 meters its going to be "A". If you are on the 70cm
band it will be a "B". If you are going in on the 23cm band it will be
a "C".

I think that may be right. Someone correct me if I am wrong please.

 

[wolverine]

Thanks for the reply, I added an A to that. But I'm wondering why the radio won't allow me to enter the RPT1 and RPT2 fields, it just gives off error tones.

 

[fineshot1]

Thanks for the reply, I added an A to that. But I'm wondering why the radio won't allow me to enter the RPT1 and RPT2 fields, it just gives off error tones.

ok - it seems by the way you are posting here that you are not using the programming
software and doing this directly on the radio keypad? Is that correct?

I have never tried it that way since its pretty darned complicated.

It sounds like a procedure problem, perhaps you are missing a step.

Have you tried joining any of the dstar yahoo groups and asking there
as there is a world of experience in those groups?

 

[canav844]

usually if the radio displays "off" when trying to tx it means you are
trying to tx out of bad. In other words you tx offset could be wrong.
However I looked at your parameters and that looks ok.

This was my first thought, you can adjust it manually on the 92, I'd assume the same is possible for the 80; check it to make sure it's not bumped up to the 5mhz split on 440. Can you make it work on the 440 system the K8BIG group has?

You can pull up the DSTAR calculator to get a little bit of help in what to put where, but to start out I'd put the radio in DV mode, put it on frequency and attempt a key up, if you're using the auto save features this should fill in the basic fields to get you into the repeater, and that's step one before getting worried about the gateway. If that doesn't work then set callsign one to just the repeater's call letters and let the system make the adjustment.

Also make sure you are registered on the gateway and that your account has been approved; this way you can pull up the repeater on dstarusers.org and see if your callsign pops up.
D-StarUsers.org Your Source for D-Star Digital Amateur Radio Information!

 

[K2KOH]

I think I'll stick to P25 :lol:

 

[Daniel_Boone]

My guess is to call the customer support team and tell them that you have multiple problems and need help.

The bottom line is D-Star really doesn't work for most area's anyways and it is a total waste of time in my opinion - but opinions are like bung holes - everybody has one and usually they smell a little.

I would suggest that you buy the proper program to program the radio and put in the information into your computer and enter it all in via computer.
A good computer program will read all the settings in the radio and will allow you to change them without having to press button A and enter code B all the time.

I went through several programs for programming my Yaesu FT 8900R radio before I found the one that I liked and could use.

I would look on G4HFQ and see if he offers a program for your radio.

 

[JStemann]

i believe the software is free for the IC-80. You will still need the programming cable, though.

I'll get my ic-92 out and see if anything catches my eye as far as programming goes. It's been a while since I set it up, so I'll have to look it over to jog my memory.

Jeff S.

 

[canav844]

Here's a good tutorial http://napasars.net/2010/dstar-tutorial/

If you want more help PM me but I'm not going to participate in the thread anymore with all the off topic anti DSTAR trolling starting up.

 

[newsphotog]

If the radio is saying "off" when you transmit, it's not necessarily a problem with the URCALL, MYCALL, RPT1 or RPT2 settings. If it's saying "off", it's an out-of-band problem. I've encountered that before on my other D-STAR rigs, on analog frequencies, when I had the shift improperly configured.

I did notice that "Call S: K8BIG " in the repeater listing menu is
without the port notation at the end. You should have a port letter
such as "Call S: K8BIG A" for the 2 meters port for example.
What letter you put in that spot is determined what band you are
on. If you are on 2 meters its going to be "A". If you are on the 70cm
band it will be a "B". If you are going in on the 23cm band it will be
a "C".

I think that may be right. Someone correct me if I am wrong please.

I believe that when OP wrote "Call S: K8BIG" this was the name of the memory channel, and not a part of repeater configuration.

The only two settings that need to be configured with the call sign are RPT 1 and RPT 2. In this case, if he is trying to get into the K8BIG system on the UHF module, it would need to read "K8BIG••B" in RPT1 "K8BIG••G" for gateway use, without the quotes and the dot represents spaces (keep in mind you need two spaces in this case in between the repeater's call sign and module designator).

If this was a problem with repeater call sign configuration, the display would not show "OFF", but he would be able to transmit a signal and the repeater would come back with a message on the display saying "RPT?" if RPT1 was configured improperly. If RPT2 was configured improperly or left blank, communication would occur locally only (not over the gateway).

As others have suggested, I would use software to program the radio. You can use either Icom's software, or use the free, downloadable software CHIRP by KK7DS (CHIRP - Software for programming amateur radios | CHIRP), which I think is still pretty buggy and there's not a lot of support and documentation, but should work fine if you're just programming the 80AD.

 

[wolverine]

Thanks for the replies. The radio no longer displays "OFF", I can now TX and when I dekey, the radio will beep, one second later. I can also hear traffic on the repeater fine, the problem I'm having is, when I TX, no one can hear me and my call sign is not showing up in the repeater log.

The RPT1 and RPT2 fields are not set properly and the radio will not let me enter the information, it just gives off error tones. Tried calling Icom two times, but they were of no help. I'm going to buy the RT Systems software with USB cable and see if that will fix the problem.

 

[JStemann]

i just checked earlier today. The programming software is still a free download thru Icom. Still have to come up with a cable, though.


Also, just checked my ic92 settings. Here's how mine looks:
UR:CQCQCQ
R1:K8BIG C
R2:K8BIG G
MY:AB9UW/IC92

Also, not sure but, you may have to get registered on the gateway before your call will show up on the web. I know you'll have to get registered before you'll be able to talk to anyone that is connected thru the gateway. You can register on the k8big site, registration goes thru pretty quick and you only have to register once, it's good everywhere then.

Jeff.

 

[wolverine]

i just checked earlier today. The programming software is still a free download thru Icom. Still have to come up with a cable, though.


Also, just checked my ic92 settings. Here's how mine looks:
UR:CQCQCQ
R1:K8BIG C
R2:K8BIG G
MY:AB9UW/IC92

Also, not sure but, you may have to get registered on the gateway before your call will show up on the web. I know you'll have to get registered before you'll be able to talk to anyone that is connected thru the gateway. You can register on the k8big site, registration goes thru pretty quick and you only have to register once, it's good everywhere then.

Jeff.

You difinitely have to be registered, I'm going to double check to see if my registration went through. This morning, I was able to talk to a station on the Big 535's UHF D Star repeater. Wouldn't I have to be Gateway registered before using the UHF system?

 

[JStemann]

I don't think so, as long as the other person was on the local repeater as well. As in he was not connected to the repeater thru the gateway.

Once again, though I'm pretty green with this Dstar stuff, myself.

Jeff.

 

[newsphotog]

If you're not registered as a gateway user, your traffic will still be transmitted locally on that repeater (even if you set RPT2 to the gateway), it just won't be gated to the internet.