An article that may be of interest to local D-Star and Fusion radio users.

In the article about the XLX197 multiprotocol reflector that I wrote and posted in the Sept 2022 Rambler, I mentioned that the VA3ODG 70 cm digital repeater at the YMCA site on Argyle St here in Ottawa was inoperative. Well, it is now back on-the-air thanks to the good work of Jeff VE3EFF. It is now operating again on its assigned UHF channel (444.850 downlink + 5 uplink) supporting D-Star and Yaesu C4FM but no longer DMR as it did before. The 2 m and 23 cm modules remain inoperative at the site. The D-Star operation allows connection to network stations and reflectors; Yaesu C4FM operation will not have network operation due to the potential conflict if both are network connected to the same multiprotocol reflector. Of course, the repeater can only support one mode at a time and only between like mode radios on the same repeater at the same time.

Using D-Star, VA3ODG will respond to the standard D-Star link and unlink commands to any available network reflectors, user should return connection of the repeater to the XLX197 reflector that ties together several of the local area D-Star and DMR repeaters including the Club’s DMR/D-Star repeater VE3RAM. For D-Star users going through VA3ODG, you should use your reflector link command XLX197BL to select XLX197B if it is not already on-line. This will tune you into the Tuesday evening (8:40 pm) Almonte ARC net. Other nets to try are the Northern Ontario D-Star net at 8 pm Mondays using reflector XLX103B and the CanNet on Fridays evenings which also works by linking to XLX103B as well. VE3RAM (443.700 +) here at my QTH in Orleans can also be used on D-Star for connection to the network but should not be used to access reflector XLX197 since VE3RAM also has a static DMR connection to the 197 reflector and transmits its traffic on TG6 using its Time Slot 2 (TS2) thus looping back any 197 connections attempted using D-Star.

Owners of IC 9700 and IC 705 D-Star capable radios can also access Reflector XLX197 by “Terminal Mode” using connection IP address: 44.184.136.20. There are good YouTube videos available to instruct setup for Terminal mode on both these delightful radios.

Refer to my article in the September 2022 Rambler that explains the Reflector XLX197 network of repeater user hotspot connections. See: https://ovmrc.ca/Rambler/Archive/Ram2022-09.pdf

Also, to refer to “dashboards” that show your connection status to the repeaters and reflectors mentioned in this article, to go:

VA3ODG: http://va3odg.dyndns.org/ VE3RAM: http://ve3ram.ddns.org XLX197: http://xlx197.dyndns.org/ XLX103: http://xlx103.xlxreflector.org/

If I created more questions than answers, feel free to contact me:

73 Norm VE3LC@rac.ca

Appears in Rambler Vol. 65 Issue 6, February 2023