[drats_users] drats_users Digest, Vol 1, Issue 11

[Nate Duehr]

Eric M. Gildersleeve ~ KD7CAO wrote:

>     1. At one point you have your callsign set to KD7CAO/91AD. You can't do
>     this, because D-RATS uses your callsign in the packet address fields,
>     which can only store 8 characters (like a normal D-STAR field). When
>     you use something longer, it truncates it in some places and not others,
>     which breaks connectivity pretty badly as you might image.
> 
>     The root of this is my fault. I've known about this for some time, but
>     forgot to fix it. So, if this is something you often do, change it to
>     just your callsign and see if that helps.
> 
>     The callsign in my radio is programmed this way. I thought it would
>     need to be the same due to the fact that the D*STAR system uses the
>     /91AD as an identifier for that particular radio. If you have
>     multiple radios on the system, how would the network know where to
>     send the data packet if you don't use the /xxxx identifier?

Seems like there's some misinterpretation of how to route radio to radio 
in D-STAR in general here.

You're supposed to use the eighth character field and the appropriate 
LETTER you've assigned on your "Personal Info" page on the gateway.

/91AD means NOTHING to the Icom D-STAR Gateway.  Thus, I don't 
understand Eric's comment:

"the D*STAR system uses the /91AD as an identifier for that particular 
radio"

It doesn't.

Example:  If I wanted to callsign route between my ID-800H and my 
IC-91AD with "WY0X" as the base callsign, under Gateway 2.0 (it wasn't 
possible under Gateway 1.0) -- I would have to:

1. Go to my Personal Info page on the Gateway I'm registered on, and put 
a Letter from A through Z into the "Initial" field.  I would have to 
create TWO of these, each with separate letters.  Let's say for this 
example I used "A" and "B".

2. Go into each rig and change their "Your call" fields from "WY0X" to 
"WY0X+++A" in the ID-800H and "WY0X+++B" in the IC-91AD.

3. When calling from the ID-800H to the IC-91AD I would enter "WY0X+++B" 
into the UR field.  (And vice-versa.)

But "/91AD" means NOTHING to the Gateway software.  Unless I missed 
something somewhere.  It's just a "cute" way for people to share what 
type of rig they're using with others, as far as I can tell.

Did I miss something somewhere?  I think Dan's not "responsible" for 
this problem in his code?  The problem lies in how it's being used.

Perhaps I'm wrong... I'm definitely curious why you're using the "/91AD" 
in your callsigns though.  What do you think it's doing at the Gateway?

Nate WY0X