DV NODE
The DV NODE software package (which is also known as WinDV, which is the
Windows version of it) is a simple GUI-based D-STAR hotspot application that attempts to be a
light-weight version of DVAR Hotspot.
It supports the Node
Adapter series of boards, the DV Access Point (the DVAP, the "Red
Dongle") and the DV Dongle ("Blue Dongle".) At the network side, it supports both DPlus (regular gateways
and reflectors) as well as the DExtra protocol used by the
xReflector system.
Also supported are D-STAR Callsign Routing (through
ircDDB) and the reporting of GPS positions to the APRS
network.
The current release of the software is based on the (Windows-only) VB6
environment for the application itself, with all protocols and drivers
implemented in C as DLL libraries. These libraries (and their test
utilities) are available as regular shared libraries under Linux and
other operating systems.
Work is in progress to slowly move the main application to the Qt
development system, which will allow full multi-platform support.
The most important parts of the application have been converted to Qt
already; next steps are to implement all of the GUI parts.
Current version is: 1.5.5
UPDATED 2012/11/01
DCS protocol update version 1.0.9 UPDATED 2013/04/30
Using DV Node with the DV Dongle ("Blue Dongle")
If
you have a DV Dongle (the little blue box that lets
you "do" D-STAR with just your PC, using its soundcard interface as
your microphone and speaker), good news has arrived!
Starting with V1.4 of the software, use with the DV Dongle is
also supported. It lets you use your DV Dongle as if it were a regular
D-STAR transceiver, "connected" to a standard D-STAR network
repeater.
Click on the picture above for a larger version.
The "DV Dongle Mode" works just like a regular transceiver, so it
can be used with DPlus gateways, DExtra gateways as well as with "original"
callsign routing and StarNet Digital systems!
Using DV Node with the DVAP and DV Dongle
If you have been happily using your DVAP Dongle together with the
DV Node program, and just recently started to be "kicked off" the
DPlus reflector you were listening to, chances are that you have
been blocked from the reflector.
Why?
Well, the simple answer is: Robin Cutshaw AA4RC has decided that
owners of DV Dongle and DVAP Dongle devices can ONLY connect to
the (his) DPlus reflectors if the software they use supply the hardware serial
number of that device. The claim here is, that this is required
for maintaining security on the network. No additional information
has been provided to back up this claim.
The author of the DV Node program lives in Europe, and, under
European Law, providing information that could possibly result in a
database with personal information (read: hardware serial number, IP
address, callsign and so on) is governed by the European
Privacy Act regulations. Therefore, until now, this serial number
information was never provided to the network.
Until this is fixed, the DV Node program has been updated to be
configured to provide the hardware serial number to the network.
By explicitly configuring this option, the user agrees to this
information being sent out.
Please
download the latest version of the program (V1.4.0 at the time of
this writing), and go to the Tools>Options menu. A new option (which
can be seen at the picture on the left) is the "Serial#" setting
within the DVAP and DV Dongle device configurations.
By default, this option is set to STANDARD, which means it will
NOT send out the hardware serial number of the DVAP device. You can
set this to HARDWARE, which will tell the program that it is OK for
it to send that information to the network.
This setting is only useful if the (DPlus) connection has been
configured to "report in" as being for a DVAP (or DV Dongle) device.
For "Hotspot" devices, this is not relevant.
Configuration
of this setting is handled for each individual gateway (QuickTune
button), in the "Select Gateway" screen shown here on the right.
If you are using a DVAP Dongle device, the "Connect as DVAP"
option can be enabled or disabled- by default, it will be disabled.
If set to enabled (checked), the settings for the serial number as
described above will be in effect. If clear, the station will be
connected as being a standard Hotspot node.
That's all on the issue, for now at least!
You can find this software in our
Software Downloads page.