Introducing DStarGateway

DStar

In december 2021 I started to work on a project “by accident”. This project is called DStarGateway

What is it?

DStarGateway is based on Jonathan Naylor G4KLX ircddbGateway. It adds some features while dropping some dead ones i.e. ones that were actually no longer used by anyone.

For example, improvement :

  • NAT Traversal using ircddb as a Rendez-Vous network. This allows DPlus, Dextra and G2 inbound connections to work even when in a Carrier Grade NAT (e.g. most mobile carriers).
  • RSMS1A messages are forwarded from and to APRS-IS. BTW, the RSMS1A message protocol is pure junk! Additionnaly, messages are displayed on the radio screen with some limitations though.
  • Connection status is sent to APRS-IS using a status frame
  • Improved DPRS handling, especially for DV-G NMEA based DPRS.
  • Correct handling of simultaneous incoming G2 on multiband systems.
  • Can run as a daemon or systemd service (yet install script only support systemd for now)

On the dev side

  • Adding continuous integration and behavior driven testing using Google Test.
  • VS Code files are provided
  • Got rid of WxWidget
  • Starting to add provision for IPV6 support, this is a tedious process.

Why and how did it start?

DStarGateway started after a discussion with Cyrille F1MHV / DF1CHB. He told me it’d be nice to have the connection status of the gateway reported over APRS-IS as a status frame. First I fiddled around with some bash scripting and eventually decided to try to integrate directly it to ircddBGateway. I also eventually got annoyed by wxWidget lib and decided to drop it.

Now the software is running flawlessly on all of our club repeaters and is very stable since months. Other users had success running it on Icom Stack

How to get it?

The code can be cloned from my GitHub. It should build on any Debian variants. Some users were able to build it on Void Linux too. Build information is included in the readme.

This cannot be installed on Pi-Star! You need to setup your system from scratch and build the other required software (MMDVMHost etc…) in order to have a complete working repeater/hotspot system.

Testers/Contributors wanted

If you have a repeater system and if you are able to compile and setup software onto a Linux system then you are more than welcome to test the software and provide feedback.

One last thing, when submitting PRs please write tests for your code.

9 Comments

  1. I am currently running the F4FXLGateway on a Raspberry Pi into an ICOM G3 repeater then connected to a XLXserver. Now, I don’t have to mess with CentOS or ElmoOS. Your efforts on this system is of the magnitude of when Pi-
    Star first came out. THANK YOU!!

    Peter
    Reply

  4. Nice job, we will dig in to it further.

    Will it comply with the USTRUST configuration setup as shown at http://dsync.dstar.info/registerG3/

    Will it let users register? If not, a current G2/G3 system would have to decommission all of its existing users so not to “orphan” them unless the registration component can stay active.

    Terry Stader KASCP
    Reply

    1. Hi Terry,

      Thanks for your comment. Unfortunately it is not meant as a replacement for the G2/G3 stack. It follows the footsteps of ircddbGateway. IMHO the provided functionalities are fare more advanced.

      F4FXL
      Reply

      1. I concur that the ircDDBGateway is a solid product even if it emulates a hotspot in the DPLUS world. We did come up with a way to “trick” the package and be able to run the G2/G3 registration side and use the ircDDBGateway connectivity. The dplus dashboard has familiarity with a lot of users. The dashboard of the ircDDBGateway is sometimes foreign to users familiar with G2/G3/dplus.

        Terry Stader KASCP
        Reply

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