D-StarCom v0.8

A simple command-line-based program
for the exchange of common data between D-Star radios

D-StarCom is a program for assisting in the mass loading of "frequency memories" ("channels") between the following Icom D-Star radios & software:

• IC-91A & IC-91AD radios and RS-91 software.
• IC-2820H radio and CS-2820 software.
• ID-800H radio and CS-D800 software (at least version 2.0 firmware & software).
• ID-1 radio and accompanying software.

Before you read any further, you need to know that D-StarCom is a command line program that runs in a command ("DOS"-type) window, under either Microsoft Windows or the x86 variants of Linux. Proper usage requires a knowledge of intermediate command line operation (eg, piping/redirection). In order to use D-StarCom effectively, you will have to understand & edit CSV (ASCII "Comma Separated Values") format files.

D-StarCom does not read & write to the radios directly; rather it extracts & updates the channels in files created by Icom's software.

The general model for use is:

1. You use Icom's software for the target radio and possibly one or more source radios, to save the settings from those radios to Icom-format file(s).
2. You use D-StarCom to extract the channels from those Icom-format files, to ASCII files in CSV ("Comma Separated Values") format.
3. You optionally edit and/or merge/combine the CSV files with an ASCII editor of your choice. You may wish to add data extracted from a spreadsheet or database. In the case of the IC-91A/D, you may wish to copy data from a different "band" in the same radio.
4. You run D-StarCom again to use your edited CSV file to update the target radio's Icom-format file.
5. You run Icom's software for the target radio again, loading the modified target radio's Icom-format file and verifying that your changes are correct.
6. Using Icom's software for the target radio, you upload the settings to that radio.

As you can see, D-StarCom runs in two modes:

1. It extracts channels from the source radio's Icom-format file. To run in this mode, enter at the command prompt:

   DStarCom  Icom-source-filename

   Programmed channels information will be displayed on the screen in CSV format. Typically, you will redirect this information to a file; eg:

   DStarCom  Icom-source-filename  > CSV-filename

2. It updates channels in the target radio's Icom-format file. To run in this mode, enter at the command prompt:

   DStarCom  Icom-old-target-filename  Icom-new-target-filename  < CSV-filename

   Programmed channels information from the CSV-filename will be merged with the Icom-old-target-filename, and written to a new file named Icom-new-target-filename. Channel information in the Icom-format file that is not replaced by data from the CSV-format file, is left unchanged.

The D-StarCom program automatically recognizes the type of radio from the Icom-format file.

Here are the fields that are present in the CSV-format file. Notes:

• Each field must be present, regardless of whether a particular model radio supports values for that field. When a CSV file is used to update a radio's Icom-format file, those fields that are not applicable to that model radio are ignored.
• For those fields that accept an asterisk ("*") in the field instead of the normal value (see below), that means use the value from the previous CSV line.

Field name	Comments
Band	A, B, or * (use the band from the previous line) for the IC-91A/D; ignored otherwise.
Index	Memory position number or * (use the index from the previous line + 1). Note that some radios (eg, the ID-800H) start indexing with one and others start with zero.
Rx frequency	in MHz. Only values supported by the radio can be used.
Tx offset	in MHz, with an optional sign.
Tuning step	in kHz. Only values supported by the radio can be used.
Power level	Lo, Med, or Hi
Receiver mode	FM, nFM, wFM, AM, DV, DD, etc.
D-Star squelch	DSQL (Icom's name for Callsign squelch), CSQL (Icom's name for Digital code squelch), or none.
D-Star code	CSQL (Digital squelch code) code (00-99).
FM squelch mode	Tone, TSQ, DCS, or none.
FM tone encode	Only values supported by the radio can be used.
FM tone decode	Only values supported by the radio can be used.
FM DCS polarity	NN (Tn-Rn), NR (Tn-Rr), RN (Tr-Rn), or RR (Tr-Rr).
FM DCS code	Only values supported by the radio can be used.
Unknown	Values that have an unknown function, that seem constant for each radio model. If you see these vary for a particular model radio, let me know. Ignored on input.
Bank letter	Only values supported by the radio can be used.
Bank index	The numeric index of this channel within the bank. This field is ignored for some model radios.
Skip	Skip, PSkip, or none. Used for marking channels to skip when scanning.
Display name	T (true) or F (false). Some radios allow you to specify whether the channel name is displayed.
Channel name	A value assigned by the user. Note that some radios have restrictions on what characters can be in the name. D-StarCom does not currently check for this.
Your call	See the Icom manual.
Rpt1 call	See the Icom manual.
Rpt2 call	See the Icom manual.

This program is currently BETA software, and you are advised to use Icom's software for the radio to verify that valid values are going to be uploaded to the radio. In particular, if you use banks, verify that the "bank index" is set correctly.

Linux note: When D-StarCom creates a new Icom-format file on Linux, it writes the file with the standard Linux "LF" line endings, as opposed to the "CR-LF" line endings in Windows. Apparently, the Icom programs will accept their Icom-format file with Linux line endings. In any case, you can always use the Linux unix2dos utility to convert the Icom-format file to Windows line endings.

Download: DStarCom.zip, which include the Windows & Linux versions of D-StarCom (named DStarCom.exe & DStarCom, respectively), along with this ReadMe file.

Support: You can ask questions in the D-StarCom forum.

Release history:

• v0.8 (2007-11-04): Populate the repeater table in IC-91A/D when loading. Handle using "Your Call" values from the repeater table in ID-800H.
• v0.7 (2007-08-07): Handle empty tuning step fields; clarify instructions.
• v0.6 (2007-05-29): Support non-standard frequencies on IC-91A/D & ID-800H (eg, multiples of .006250).
• v0.5 (2007-05-17): Recognize numeric fields after Excel has reformatted them. Fix CSQL/DSQL on IC-2820H.
• v0.4 (2007-04-30): Major rewrite, for future flexibility in data formats.
• v0.3 (2007-04-27): Support for IC-2820H.
• v0.2 (2007-04-11): Added band/index copying support.
• v0.1 (2007-04-10): Initial release.

D-StarCom copyright © 2007 by Dean Gibson/AE7Q. Please don't redistribute any portion of D-StarCom ; refer interested parties to the D-StarCom web site and the D-StarCom forum.