Merry Christmas everyone, just wanted to share with you my Christmas DSTAR project. Santa left a few items for me under the tree to make this project happen.
- DVMEGA Duel band board (http://www.hamradio.com/)
- Raspberry Pi Version 3 (https://www.buyapi.ca/)
- 32GB mini SD card (London Drugs)
- Image for Raspberry Pi and DVMEGA Board(http://www.westerndstar.co.uk/html/downloads.html)
- SMA Duel band antenna
- Raspberry Pi power supply
I purchased the items separately from a couple places attempting to save some money. I am not sure if that will be the case when all is said and done. You can buy a DVMEGA kit from https://www.gigaparts.com/ but you will may in US dollars.
Once I received the board and Raspberry Pi I put the two items together. The next step was to burn the image onto the SD card and place the card in the Raspberry Pi.
You can boot the Pi using a TV and HDMI, this was a bit of an issue because the resolution was a problem. I moved everything to the family room and took over the TV and had better success viewing the display. I also hooked up a USB mouse and keyboard. Once the Pi booted I was able to add it to my wireless network.
I used a how to document to complete the setup, all that was very easy. After the setup was complete followed by a restart the system came to life and the DSTAR hotspot was on-line. I can link to all the reflectors and can direct link to another repeater.
So if you are looking for me on the DSTAR network link to repeater VE7WGJ B and just make sure you announce what repeater you are on so I can connect with you for a DSTAR QSO.
I have also tested the hotspot with my iPhone as the wifi network and a portable battery, this allows me to be mobile as long as I have cell access to a 3G or LT network.
Hope you found this interesting.