PandaStar


 * Update July 06 2011
 * After getting the GMSK board running well and talking with Jonathan(G4KLX) progress has been made. Jonathan posted a version of pcrepeatercontroller that does not require NATools. Fred who wrote NATools is very busy with MANY other D-Star projects and just didn't have the time to port NATools to ARM. Now raw LibUSB is being used. Pcrepeatercontroller now builds on the Pandaboad and runs. What needs to be done now is to build the cable to control the 2 Motorola MaxTrack radios. Once that is done it just comes down to some testing. I apologize for the unforeseen delays. For details see below for building the pcrepeatercontroller software.


 * Update June 18 2011
 * New firmware for the GMSK board will be installed this evening. I have been having issues with RX audio getting what is known as R2D2. I was also given a Motorola maxTrack radio that is less complicated than my Yaesu FT-897 so there are less settings that would result in operator error. I know this has not been updated in a while but the issues with other hardware slowed down the process.


 * Description:
 * This is a project to create a solid state full duplex repeater and gateway for D-Star use.


 * D-Star is a digital amateur radio protocol developed by the Japanese Amateur Radio League for improved quality on existing amateur bands. Currently Icom is the only commercial provider of D-Star hardware, however several amateurs have developed their own modems for use with D-Star leading to the design of homebrew D-Star repeaters. This project will take the stability of Linux and the solid state hardware of the pandoraboard to create a compact solid state D-Star repeater with commercial grade reliability.


 * The entire project will use open source hardware and open source software with the possible exception of the actual radios for reception and transmission which in most cases can be interchangeable with any with 9600 baud packet connections. Any software that need be written will also be open source and licensing of that will be dependent upon libraries used.


 * Ham radio is well knows for providing communications in disaster situations and with D-Star we are able to provide even low speed data and internet connections as well as small file transfers and text messages where radio voice messages may be unclear. D-Star also provides gps location information which may be very useful in rescue operations. Ham radio operators are also the front line of Skywarn spotters in severe weather where weather radar is unable to provide ground truth trained spotters can.


 * All builds and testing are now taking place on working hardware that is now LIVE!


 * UBUNTU 10.10 Dependancies for pcrepeatercontroller (currently in no particular order.)
 * wx2.8-headers
 * libwxgtk2.8-0
 * wx-common
 * libwxgtk2.8-dev
 * libwxbase2.8-0
 * libwxbase2.8-dev
 * portaudio19-dev
 * libportaudio2
 * build-essential
 * libusb-dev
 * g++


 * Building PCRepeaterController
 * Download the latest beta build of pcrepeatercontroller software from the files section of the yahho group. found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pcrepeatercontroller/. If you do not have an account you will need to set one up and you will need to join the group. When you join, in the comment please mention that you want to use the software for PandaStar. This way Jonathan knows that we have a number of people wanting continued Arm7 support. You need the latest beta version of the software, currently "Repeater - 20110704.zip" from July 4th.
 * Extract the software and in the main directory it creates edit the makefile and comment out the following lines.


 * export ARCH := x86-64
 * export INTELO := ../AMD64/Intel.o
 * export LIBNODE := -lnode-x86-64


 * Now add the following line.
 * export ARCH := armv7


 * You should now be able to run 'make' with no fatal errors.


 * Time frame:
 * Phase 1 - Acquire hardware and build the software on embedded hardware 0-3 months.
 * Phase 2 - Build the software into deb packages maintaining them from source projects. 0-2 months after Phase 1
 * Phase 3 - Build a custom ubuntu distribution ready to install on the pandaboard with all needed packages prebuilt and installed. TBD


 * Background & work by project submitter/s:
 * I have a bachelors degree in computer science with a minor in applied physics emphasis in electronics. I have previously designed and programed an embedded inventory system on motorola handheld computers with barcode readers for a warehouse company. I have been a ham radio operator for more than ten years and have a strong belief in community support and interaction.


 * Wiki/URL Links:
 * Until I setup a more permeant web site the project can be found on my personal website. http://www.kb9yen.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=63
 * pcrepeatercontroller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pcrepeatercontroller/
 * ircDDBGateway http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ircDDBGateway/


 * Contact information
 * bmmcwhirt[at]gmail[.]com
 * Callsign routing: KB9YEN
 * Usual repeater: W9EBN module B


 * Black Market Winner -- 3/28/11 - 4/1/11 event