Remote access to Raspberry pi

Just wanted to share a service I'm using to manage my raspberry Pi(s) remotely. I don't have any financial interest in this service....It's called Weaved.com and is focused on the Internet of Things. If you have your Pi exposed to the internet, and you're allowing incoming connections to ssh, you probably don't need this. But if you don't want to do port forwarding on your router or you can't (don't have control of the router, don't have a public IP on your router) then take a look at Weaved. 

I've set my two dstar pi repeaters up so that I can use WebSSH, ssh, and VNC. It's pretty simple to setup, and is free for a limited number of devices/ports.

A new Temporary home for WX9WX

In our continued experimentation with DSTAR in Central Illinois, we've moved the WX9WX repeater to a new temporary home. It's attached to a business band antenna at Hill Radio in Normal. This site provides really good mobile coverage throughout the county, and good handheld coverage around Bloomington-Normal. Check out the coverage plot!

CDM 1550 duty cycle

My good friend Tom KJ9P did some testing of the use of Motorola CDM 1550 mobile radios as repeaters. You can use these as repeater receivers or transmitters, but you will need to add a cooling fan. I also recommend not running higher than 50% of the rated power output.

Here's Tom's results:

At idle, and both receivers on, the power consumed is .4 amps.

 

At Low Power Transmit (8 Watts out) the power consumed is 2.6 amps.

 

At High Power Transmit (22 Watts out) the power consumed is 4.0 amps.

 

Temperature rise after one minute of keydown on either low or high power is two degrees with fan cooling 100% of the time.

McLean County Illinois DSTAR Coverage

I've found that there are two site options when you're building a repeater...find a really tall structure (tall relative to terrain) or put up multiple sites. We've not had much luck finding a really tall structure in Bloomington, IL for our DSTAR system. So we've got two sites active right now...one at my farm in Heyworth and one in North Normal at KJ9P's QTH. By having two sites active, we've filled in most of the geography for the county. There are still some spots that are weak...you aren't going to be able to use a handheld from downtown Bloomington. But hey, we're amateurs and we're learning!

DSTAR Commands - A Quick Guide

Reading through all of the DSTAR documentation can get a little crazy. Here is a quick reference on linking commands. 

There are four callsign settings on your radio that you can adjust. They are:

MYCALL: Should always be your callsign, like KG9DW

RPT1: Should be the callsign of the repeater module you're connecting to, with the callsign in positions 1 through 6, a space in position 7, and then the module letter. The module letter is B for UHF or C for VHF; So for Heyworth, that would be KD9AKF B. For Normal, that would be WX9WX  B. Notice that because Normal is a 2x2 call, you have two spaces between the X and the B.

RPT2: If you want to use the gateway (not have your traffic only stay local) then this should be set to the same as RPT1 but the module letter (position 8) should be G. So for Heyworth KD9AKF G or for Normal WX9WX  G. Almost always, you'll want to use the Gateway.

URCALL: This is where you put the command you want the repeater to do.

The fun is with URCALL:

CQCQCQ means let your voice be heard everywhere.

E in the 8th position does an echotest - it repeats your audio back to you.

I in the 8th position tells you if the repeater is linked, and what it is linked to.

U in the 8th position unlinks the repeater if it is linked.

L in the 8th position, with a callsign+module or reflector name in positions 1-7 links the repeater. For example, REF001BL links the repeater to reflector 001B. KC9YFXBL links the repeater to the Decatur repeater. 

*** IMPORANT *** : After you use the E, I, U, or L commands, switch back to CQCQCQ to carry on a QSO! If you keep sending a link command, the repeater will keep linking or relinking and no one will hear your call!

A typical use of the repeater to link to reflector 001B would be:

1. Key up with I to see if the repeater is linked

2. To link, key up with REF001BL

3. Switch to CQCQCQ and begin your call or QSO

A typical use of the repeater to link to Decatur would be:

1. Key up with I to see if the repeater is linked

2. To link, key up with KC9YFXBL

3. Switch to CQCQCQ and begin your call or QSO

Feel free to leave the repeater linked...linking invites more QSOs and more traffic! If you are working on your radio or want to just play, unlink the repeater so that only local users hear your testing.

Whew, that's a lot to understand. Not to try to confuse you, but you can use DTMF codes with our non-ICOM repeaters as well. This allows you to link without having to program up your URCALL. This is useful when you want to link to an odd-ball reflector. For information on those commands, visit: http://www.dstar101.com/DTMF_klx.html

Above all, have fun, and let me know if you need help!

73, Michael

KG9DW