Using the new Icom IC-9700 in DV terminal mode with the new beta version of Pi-Star 4.0 RC4 running on a Raspberry Pi for D-Star.
With version 4.0 of Pi-Star (as of Jan 25, 2019 in beta RC3) it is possible to use pi-star and an Icom IC-9700 in DV terminal mode as a D-Star node with Pi-Star as the controller/gateway. (This also will work with an Icom 4100 and an ID-51a Plus 2). You will need the following:
- Icom IC-9700 running 1.06
- Icom OPC-2350LU Smart Phone Data Cable kit
- Raspberry Pi (that supports pi-star 4.0 I used a Pi 3 Model A+)
- SD-Card for Raspberry Pi with Pi-Star 4.0 loaded
The Icom OPC-2350LU cable kit is used to hook the IC-9700 to the Raspberry Pi via its USB port using the DATA JACK on the back of the IC-9700 – NO USB ports on the IC-9700 are used. (My ID-51A Plus 2 came with the cable kit) Using Pi-Star ver 4.0 (currently in beta RC3 as of Jan 25, 2019) you can configure Pi-Star in D-Star repeater mode. It is important to select Controller Software Under the Control Software section as DStarRepeater after you have hooked the pi to 9700 via the OPC cable kit – then reboot, then under General Configuration select the Radio/Modem Type as Icom Radio in Terminal Mode (DStarRepeater Only) and finish configuring pi-star, my Pi-Star config looks like:
In order for pi-star to “see” the Icom IC-9700 in terminal mode via the OPC-2350LU adapter/cable you will need make sure that the USB Function under the DV DATA setting from the Connector main menu is set to DV Data. Then to put the IC-9700 in DV terminal mode; Get into the menu settings and under the DV GW tile make sure Gateway Select is in External Gateway (DATA) mode and then select <<Terminal Mode>> :
Here is a short video showing how to get into Terminal mode with an Icom IC-9700 and PiStar:
At this point, via a web browser, web into the pi-star dashboard (http://pi-star.local. providing you have set up pi-star on Raspberry Pi) you can link and unlink D-Star reflectors and repeaters – using the IC-9700 as your mic and speaker – in Terminal mode there is NO RF to/from the IC-9700.
Details on the required USB cable kit from Icom – this is the cable kit that plugs into the DATA Jack on the IC-9700 and a USB port on the Raspberry Pi (my cable kit came with my ID-51a2+):
Look in the IC-9700 Advanced Manual for more details on the DV Gateway Function including Terminal Mode and AP Mode. Here is a handy link to the the Icom Japan Site.
June 11, 2019 at 4:56 pm
David, great write-up and video, I couldn’t help but notice you failed to mention that if you haven’t already, you’ll need to create an entry for your Pi-star instance with the dstar network – in your example here, you are using “KG5EIU H” (no quotes)
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June 11, 2019 at 5:59 pm
Thanks Ken! Are you saying where ever I registered my call sign to the D-Star network I need to have KG5EIU H listed as a pcname ? ( I do in fact have that setup in my D-Star gateway system )
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June 11, 2019 at 6:04 pm
As I understand it, yes. – looking at registration check screen you have B, D, H, M, N, and K registered as terminal IDs for your callsign.
Remember, Pi-STAR acts like a repeater on D-STAR and needs to access network with a registered terminal-I’d.
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September 23, 2020 at 12:37 pm
Good article. Concise but gives all the needed info.
While you do need to register your callsign and set up a terminal, you do not need a terminal with the AccessPoint box checked. That is needed for users of the ICOM RS-MS3 software that does callsign routing. But your article uses the G4KLX DStarRepeater program that is in the Pi-Star image, and when that program connects to the gateway program, reflector linking is fully supported and an AccessPoint terminal is not needed.
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November 20, 2020 at 3:01 am
well I was not that lucky on this TM trial. For on the raspi I could not find the icom radio terminal mode. I did found some GMSK , other option for a Dstar controller. I downloaded the RPi 4.1.2 version from 2020
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