Overview

DStarChatUSB is a Personal Computer (PC) based software application that works with the low speed data port found on current ICOM D-Star® radios. The theme of the DStarChatUSB application is to provide a very simple over the air chat experience along with taking advantage of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) port found exclusively on current day PC computers. The days of the “COM1” serial port are gone. However, ICOM’s implementation of RS232 on the low speed data port placed a big constraint on pure USB communications. Because of this constraint it is still necessary to convert from USB to RS-232. DStarChatUSB tries to hide this as best as possible by requiring the use of a serial converter that is based on the FTDI chipset. Refer to the hardware section of this document for further details.
The look and feel of DStarChatUSB is one of multi tasking and auto management of USB port resources. A major design concept was to be able to recover from most USB port errors without requiring the user to exit and restart the application. By basing the Input Output (IO) resources around the very common FTDI chipset, DStarChatUSB can auto detect and configure the USB port thus eliminating a major headache and wasted hours of trying to figure out “why this serial converter does not work”. All serial converters are not created equal. The recommended cable that works with DStarChatUSB is the COY880. More details can be found at http://www.wb9coy.com/DStarCables.html.
DStarChatUSB is fully compatible with d*Chat. Both applications can seamlessly talk to each other. DStarChatUSB is not compatible with D-RATS, although it will be possible to view the data stream from D-RATS with DStarChatUSB.
DStarChatUSB was written in C# using Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2010 and .NET. More on this can be found in the installation section.
Finally the legal note. DStarChatUSB is free to all without restriction. Use at your own risk, but have fun doing it. 73’s Gene.

Features

Reed-Solomon Forward Error Correction FEC

Automatic USB port management

Automatically detects and configures the USB port. First time and every time when used with the COY880 cable.

DPRS position reporting with Garmin 18X GPS

Full support for the Garmin 18X USB GPS sensor.
When connected, GPS Latitude, Longitude, number of satellites and GPS time in UTC is displayed.
Sends $GPGGA, $GPRMC and DPRS data so that your position can be displayed on http://aprs.fi/
Automatic GPS checksum generation

Automatic repeater kick back filter

DStarChatUSB has the ability to recognize and filter repeater kick backs. It has been observed that repeaters at times will kick back portions of the text sent on the low speed data port. DStarChatUSB utilizes a unique algorithm to filter this kick back out.

SMTP Mail Services

Exchange E-Mails using your favorite E-Mail client without the use of the internet
Tested with Microsoft Outlook and Live Mail
No need for an E-Mail server
Send E-Mail directly from one E-Mail client to another
Simple setup instructions documented in user manual
E-Mails are sent over the air in compressed GZIF format

Send CW from Rx Text. Great for code pratice.
Text To Speech of RX Text. Handi-Ham possibilities
Stations Heard List
Send periodic QST message
Store seven predefined messages
Time stamp messages
Optional Rx beep
Selectable font size and color
Compatible with d*Chat

Download .NET 4 from Microsoft

Required by Microsoft for the DStarChatUSB application
This dependency is handled by Microsoft but is placed here just in case