Usage notes for various D-STAR Tranceivers and Devices
First thing your should do with a new D-STAR radio: Enter your callsign into your transceiver or device. In D-STAR, your callsign must always be known at the time your voice is digitized. Your transmission will not even be recognized by our repeater unless a callsign is encoded along with your voice data. Once your callsign is stored in the radio, you can tune to the repeater frequency of 443.125 with a positive offset of 5 mhz, switch the Mode to DV, and you should be able to talk to others on the local Spokane repeater.
If your callsign is not registered on at least one D-STAR gateway, then your transmissions will ONLY be heard on our local repeater. Be sure to register your callsign on one, and only one, D-STAR gateway so your transmissions can be forwarded over the gateway to other Internet connected gateways and repeaters. See the Registration page on this site for information on how to register your callsign on the WA7DRE gateway.
Next thing: ICOM and Kenwood D-STAR radios have a DR mode which makes finding and using D-STAR repeaters very easy. To use the DR mode, you will need to have the WA7DRE repeater/gateway in your digital repeater frequencies memory. Since the WA7DRE repeater was placed on-line in December of 2014, new radios may not have the WA7DRE repeater/gateway already in digital repeater memory. The repeater formerly used the KB7ARA callsign. You can modify the memory in your transceiver, and change the callsign to WA7DRE and change the city from Veradale, WA to Spokane, WA.
WA7DRE Repeater programming settings for all D-STAR Transceivers and Devices
You may need to edit your digital repeaters list before you can use it fully. Use the software that came with the radio to edit the list of digital repeater memories. The Spokane repeater should be in the USA West group. If you have a Veradale, WA or KB7ARA repeater, modify it to match the settings below. If you do not have a Veradale, WA or KB7ARA repeater already, then add a new one.
Name: Spokane
SubName: Washington
Repeater Callsign: WA7DRE B
Gateway Callsign: WA7DRE G
Operating Freq: 443.125
DUP: +DUP
Offset Freq: 5.00
Use From: Yes
Position: Exact
Latitude: 47°41.652'N
Longitude: 117°20.100'W
UTC Offset: -8:00
If you update all of the D-STAR repeaters from the dstarinfo.com web site, you will automatically get this updated information. Updating of your repeater list is recommended.
