The REAST club virtual gathering for June 2020 focused on Digital Smart Technology over Amateur Radio or DSTAR thanks to Clayton VK7ZCR and Scott VK7HSE.

Clayton and Scott covered a short history and we learnt that DSTAR is an ICOM proprietary system using the AMBI chip set that predates DMR.

If DSTAR users wish to use gateways then a user is required to register using the ICOM registration system, this enables a user to talk through repeaters and gateways.

There are four DSTAR repeaters around VK7 – VK7RCR, VK7RAD, VK7RRR and VK7RJG and access to all repeaters and gateways are available via these repeaters.

Scott covered DPRS which is the DSTAR equivalent of APRS or Automatic Position Reporting Service – most DSTAR radios have GPS within them and can automatically report position at a user defined interval.

The DSTAR equipment available is mainly ICOM equipment including: ID1, IC2200H(with DSTAR option), ID51, IC9700, IC7100, IC5100, IC4100 and Kenwood D74. All these transceivers will work with VK7RCR out of the box and they can be updated to include all the other DSTAR repeaters.

Some of the traps were – the GPS beaconing regularly and wiping out the voice channel and changing to CQ mode and the repeater telling you the repeater information every time following a transmission.

There were some great questions from the audience and a huge thank you to Clayton and Scott for the presentation.

The sites included in the presentation are below:

• VK DSTAR site – http://www.dstar.org.au/
• Reflector 091C Dashboard – http://ref091.dstargateway.org/
• DSTAR Registration – https://regist.dstargateway.org/instructions/
• Reflector List – http://www.dstarinfo.com/reflectors.aspx
• Icom IC-9700 advanced user manual is the third listed item – https://www.icomamerica.com/en/downloads/default.aspx?Category=690

• Early 2000’s introduction video – https://youtu.be/ZMMt55Dtp5Q