MB6AM, 2m D-Star Simplex Node:

21/11/2009

MB6AM, 2m D-Star Simplex Node: Tring, Herts.


After several weeks in testing, MB6AM went live this afternoon, sharing

the same mast as the 70cm GB3TU repeater. MB6AM is located in Tring, North

West of London and is well appointed to provide Digital Voice (DV) coverage

across many of the Home Counties and parts of Oxfordshire.


MB6AM is the reincarnation of the old GB7AM packet node, using the same

antenna and 2m frequency. Chris, G0WTZ, kindly donated his own Yaseu

FT-7800R for the project and David, G4ULF provided custom software to link

into the global D-Star network. G4ULF's software was developed with the full

cooperation of the Trust Server team and has been fully tested for G2

compatibility, with support for G2 direct routing and dplus linking across

to other D-Star repeaters, via the Internet.


MB6AM will be routinely connected to reflector REF013B which has been

dubbed TechNet, a meeting place for repeater keepers, software developers

and D-Star hardware hackers. User control of dplus linking and unlinking is

enabled, so mobile users on the busy M1 and M40 motorways, can re-task the

simplex node as required. When the dplus connection is left unlinked, a

script will automatically re-establish contact with TechNet.


To access MB6AM, users should configure their radios in simplex mode on

144.8625 MHz, with no RPT settings required. If RPT settings are used, then

the following settings must be programmed:


YOUR: CQCQCQ
RPT1: MB6AM^^C (^ = space)
RPT2: MB6AM^^G

Duplex Offset: +/- 0 MHz


D-Star users can make use of all the usual dplus and G2 routing commands,

so they can link to other nodes or call directly around the D-Star network.


Iain, G0RDI, the NoV holder for MB6AM, extends his personal gratitude to Rod Wilkinson (Ofcom), Chris (G0WTZ), David (G4ULF) and Darren (G7LWT) for their assistance with the implementation of this project. MB6AM is the first simplex G2 gateway in the UK.