Icom ID-31a DPRS help

[kc0zps]

I bit the bullet and decided to purchase this radio. I'm never on 70cm nor have I ever used D-Star, so this should be an experience.

Anyway, have any of you guys manager to get DPRS (APRS) working? I'm a little confused on the setup.

I set GPS TX Mode to GPS-A(DV-A) with all the appropriate parameters.
I set GPS Auto TX to 10sec (a little fast, but I want to see it work first)

Now what? I assume I have to be in DV mode? What frequency? Is it simplex or do I go through a DStar Repeater?

On a side note, I am really enjoying this radio. I made my first DStar contact last night and it sounds really good! I wish I could update the firmware, but $50 for a cable is crazy!

 

[Moleculo]

Now what? I assume I have to be in DV mode? What frequency? Is it simplex or do I go through a DStar Repeater?

Generally...

You need to find a repeater with DPRS enabled and connected to the internet. A lot of the DStar repeaters have this functionality enabled. When you access the repeater, your DPRS will be automatically transmitted and routed to the APRS network.

 

[kc0zps]

Generally...

You need to find a repeater with DPRS enabled and connected to the internet. A lot of the DStar repeaters have this functionality enabled. When you access the repeater, your DPRS will be automatically transmitted and routed to the APRS network.

I'm trying to figure out what I am doing wrong then. I transmit to W0CDS (70 Centimeters (Usually "B" Node): 446.96250MHz -5.000). It appears to acknowledge my transmit and you can even see it on d-starusers.org:

D-StarUsers.org Your Source for D-Star Digital Amateur Radio Information!

However, aprs.fi doesn't show me (kc0zps-7).

Also, do I want GPS Auto TX enabled when doing this? When doing APRS on my VX-8R, I have it set to xmit ever 2 minutes. However, the ID-31A manual states :

* GPS Auto transmission for only Simplex
NOTE:
• Use GPS automatic transmission in only the simplex mode.
• GPS automatic transmission through a repeater may interfere with other communications. When a GPS message is programmed, the transceiver transmits it along with the position data. See page 5-17 for the GPS message programming.

 

[Moleculo]

No, don't enable that for the repeater. That is basically similar to the APRS beacon that your VX-8 will send out. The difference with D-STAR is that the repeater isn't a stand-alone digipeater handling only APRS data. It also handles APRS data in addition to its regular function of handling voice traffic. If you set it to auto transmit your GPS info to the repeater, you will likely interfere with regular voice traffic and annoy the other repeater users.

It's possible that your repeater does not gate the DPRS data to the APRS network. Check with the sysop or other users of that repeater to find out for sure.

 

[kc0zps]

Thanks Moleculo. I figured it out. I guess I needed the gateway setting :

UR: CQCQCQ
RPT 1: W0CDS++B
RPT 2: Not Use*

TO :

UR: CQCQCQ
RPT 1: W0CDS++B
RPT 2: W0CDS++G

Not sure why, but it worked for me, lol.

 

[Moleculo]

Right. Without the gateway in there, neither voice or data will be sent out from the repeater to other networks.