Introducing DStarGateway
In december 2021 I started to work on a project “by accident”. This project is called DStarGateway
Building Xastir from sources
Most of Linux distributions have Xastir in their repositories , yet most of the time it is not the latest version or it is seriously outdated. Let’s see how we can build the latest version …
Simple audio streaming server using socat
I was suspecting a receive issue on our club’s mountain top APRS digipeater. To spare me the 1 hour drive to listen to the radio’s audio I came up with the idea to remotely stream …
Modding the Kenwood TM-271 for voice alert
I have been using the TM-271 for my mobile APRS operation for over 18 Months now. Here is a quick article on how you can enable the radio for APRS Voice Alert. It is all …
We do not give a f*ck about your repeater!
Here is a provocative/clickbait headline, and it is on purpose. Today I want to rant about APRS sysops abusing objetcs. Usually I try to keep the content here technical, but now is the time for …
Direwolf: add pre-emphasis to your AFSK signal
Direwolf is very capable software TNC, yet it is not yet possible to add twist between the high and low tone e.g if you want to feed 1200bps to the 9600bps flat audio input of …
Setting optimal receive level for the Tinytrak 4
Recently I got myself a Kenwood TM-271 and wanted to give it a go on APRS with the TT4. This turned out to be more complex than expected.
Start Direwolf at Boot, the SystemD way
The ways to start Direwolf at boot, as provided in the manual, are quite archaic and hacky. Let’s see how we can do this in a more modern way using systemd.
Doing APRS Voice Alert with CRT 2M / Anytone AT-588
After trying and failing at getting a working APRS set-up with voice alert here is my last try with a CRT 2M Radio, a rebranded Anytone AT588.
Putting a 3.3V HC-05 module in the Tinytrak 4
If you followed my previous adventures with the Tinytrak 4 and Bluetooth you may know that I used HC05 modules which where RS232 levels capable. I bought these years ago and, as of today, they …
Reclaim your Raspberry Pi 3 / Zero W serial port
The Raspberry Pi 3 and Zero W both come with onboard Wifi and Bluetooth. Unfortunately the introduction of Bluetooth messed things up for the GPIO serial port making it almost unusable. Why this design choice …
Jabra headset and amateur radio
The Evolve series of headset is being (at least that is my understanding) phased out and replaced by the Evolve2 series. As a matter of fact it is easy to get some good bargains on …
HC-06 and Tinytrak : Fail
A couple of month ago I Bluetooth enabled my second Tinytrak 4 using a HC-06 module. It turned out this failed after a few weeks and the HC-06 is not usable for APRS.
Retevis RT98 for APRS, review 8 weeks after
After almost 8 weeks of using this little radio for my mobile APRS operations I thought it’s a good time to provide some feedback. I must admit I have mixed feelings about this radio…
DynDNS using Crontab on Ubiquiti airMax/airOS
In latest version of their airOS firmware for airMax devices Ubiquiti networks dropped support for Dynamic DNS services. This left me out in the dark, unable to update the dynamic DNS corresponding to my devices. …
Analog vs. Digital APRS
I keep on reading about “Digital APRS” vs “Analog APRS”. Youtube and social media are full of these words. This is utterly wrong. Whenever I hear “Analog APRS” I’m going mental: “Analog APRS” simply does …
Bluetooth and TinyTrak 4, episode 2
I got myself a second TinyTrak 4 and wanted to Bluetooth enable it like I did for my first one. I went a different route using a different module and wiring it another way.
What is APRS Voice Alert ?
Ever got frustrated of not being able to contact a passing by station you just saw on APRS? APRS can also work as a nearby station radar and help you out with that.
Using the Retevis RT98 for APRS with voice alert
My TYT THD9000 started to exhibit some strange behavior, after transmitting it sometimes needs half a second to switch back to receive. So I was in the market for a new APRS radio and came …
Buggy Icom ID-51 and ID-5100 Firmware – UPDATED
On November 6th 2019 and December 5th 2019 Icom released new firmware. According to Icom’s claim on their latest release it fixes issues with “other manufacturers” hardware and that there were no issues with Icom …
Pi-Star: Scheduling DStar Reflector Linking and Unlinking
Do you want your repeater or hotspot to automatically connect to a specified reflector at a certain time? It is quite easy to do that, almost no command line stuff is involved.
Howto: Setting up and using D-PRS on Icom ID-5100
Setting up D-PRS on the Icom ID-5100 can be confusing for beginners as the radio has lots of options for D-PRS. Here are some step by step pictures an explanation I originally made for a …
XLX reflector direct connection
As i mentionned in this earlier post, with the XLX reflectors came some confusion for the users. A few months (almost 18 months ago actually) I modded ircDDBGateway so that it’ll be able to connect …
Howto: AX25 as a Systemd Service
In this article we’ll see how to run AX25 as a Systemd service, bringing the AX25 interface up on every boot and also putting the TNC into kiss mode. Having an AX25 interface allows you …
Putting Bluetooth into the Tinytrak 4
Byonics provides a Bluetooth add-on for the Tinytrak 4. While I love the TT4 I am not a huge fan of their TT4BT Bluetooth solution. It consists of a board with 2 DB9, no case …
ircddb and quadnet, what is this all about ?
Following my previous article about the REF/XRF/DCS/XLX differences I will try to explain what are ircddb and QuadNet and what they are good for. There is some misunderstanding about what those things are.
DStar Life Hack: Is the station local on the repeater?
While listening to a QSO on a DStar repeater have you ever wondered how to know if the station you are listening to is local on the repeater or coming from a distant source (reflector, …
APRS.fi is not APRS-IS
There is a widespread belief that aprs.fi is the internet backbone of the APRS network. It is not uncommon to read posts on social networks saying “I am connecting to aprs.fi with aprsdroid” or “I …
Compile and install the latest DStarRepeater in Pi-Star
After publishing my article about updating ircDDBGateway in Pi-Star I received messages about how to update DStarRepeater as Pi-Star also ships with a quite outdated DStarRepeater. Updating it will get you the ability to use …
REF, XRF, DCS, XLX: what’s the difference ?
This is a question often raised by beginners to DStar : what is the difference between all those reflector types? I’ll try to give you an insight on this throughout this article.
Compile and install the latest ircddbGateway in Pi-Star
Pi-Star allows everyone to setup and run a digital voice Hotspot easily, its ease of use largely contributed to the late Hotspot invasion. However, the DStar software shipping with it is quite outdated. It is …
Oops! I did it again!
No, I am not writing a blog exclusively about the TYT TH9000D. However I actually managed to run into the dreaded gibberish characters issue for a second time and to recover the radio!
APRS with Tinytrak 4 and TYT TH-9000D
After a couple of frustrations (here and here) I have finally managed to get my TYT TH-9000D running quite well with my Tinytrak 4. After a few weeks using it I must say I am …
Solved TYT TH-9000D Gibberish Characters / Locked CPU Issue
Next episode of my TYT TH-9000D for APRS adventures (first episode here). Somehow I managed to run into the gibberish characters issue, after swearing a few minutes I went to my friend Google only to …
And so I wanted to use a TYT TH-9000D for APRS …
I was in the market for another radio for my mobile APRS operations. After reading various articles (here and here) about the ability to add a D-SUB9 connector with all relevant signals for that matter. …
Upload compiled sketch to Arduino Due using command line
So I had my Arduino Due based MMDVM up and running on the hill top and wanted to upload new firmware to it without driving 30km up to the repeater site. The Raspberry Pi3 it …
Motorola R100 Repeater goes digital
Introduction I came across a Motorola R100 repeater, those were very capable low to mid duty analogue repeaters in the mid 80s up to the 21st century, yet some of them are still in commercial …
