At Mon, 05 Aug 2013 23:21:58 -0400, Fred McKenzie rearranged some
electrons to write:

I think I'm in over my head, trying to get D-Star to work with a new
IC-9100. My basic question is, how can I tell if the UT-121 D-Star
module is working?

Mine has the UT-121 installed. I can access menu M3, and everything
appears to work as far as programming is concerned. HOWEVER anytime I
transmit, the transmitter locks up. The only way I found to stop it
from transmitting is to turn off the radio. Listening to the output on
another FM radio, there is no modulation.

When tuned to a local D-Star repeater, a digital transmission causes
the radio's DV symbol to flash. Then the FM symbol starts flashing and
the DV symbol stops. There is never any indication of having received
data and the digital squelch never opens.

Questions:

1. If my UT-121 is working, what is the minimum that must be programmed
to get D-Star to work? Although I have entered data for the local
repeater, I think it should work with only MY and a UR of CQCQCQ in
order to transmit on a simplex frequency.

2. What happens when the DV mode is selected on an IC-9100 that does
NOT have the UT-121 installed? Does it ever show menu M3 when the MENU
button is pressed several times?

3. If Menu M3 does appear, can the various parameters (MY, UR, etc.) be
programmed?

4. If the microphone push-to-talk is pressed, does the transmitter lock
up, or does it stop transmitting when push-to-talk is released?

I have searched the web and found lots of helpful info on D-Star, but
nothing specific to my problem with an IC-9100. The radio is working
well in other modes.

Fred K4DII

Although I can't help you, I do know a local ham that owns a 9100 and
uses it on D-Star. His call sign is NM3G (Rick), you can look him up on
QRZ.

David AJ4TF

In article , David wrote:

At Mon, 05 Aug 2013 23:21:58 -0400, Fred McKenzie rearranged some
electrons to write:

I think I'm in over my head, trying to get D-Star to work with a new
IC-9100. My basic question is, how can I tell if the UT-121 D-Star
module is working?

Mine has the UT-121 installed. I can access menu M3, and everything
appears to work as far as programming is concerned. HOWEVER anytime I
transmit, the transmitter locks up. The only way I found to stop it
from transmitting is to turn off the radio. Listening to the output on
another FM radio, there is no modulation.

When tuned to a local D-Star repeater, a digital transmission causes
the radio's DV symbol to flash. Then the FM symbol starts flashing and
the DV symbol stops. There is never any indication of having received
data and the digital squelch never opens.

Questions:

1. If my UT-121 is working, what is the minimum that must be programmed
to get D-Star to work? Although I have entered data for the local
repeater, I think it should work with only MY and a UR of CQCQCQ in
order to transmit on a simplex frequency.

2. What happens when the DV mode is selected on an IC-9100 that does
NOT have the UT-121 installed? Does it ever show menu M3 when the MENU
button is pressed several times?

3. If Menu M3 does appear, can the various parameters (MY, UR, etc.) be
programmed?

4. If the microphone push-to-talk is pressed, does the transmitter lock
up, or does it stop transmitting when push-to-talk is released?

I have searched the web and found lots of helpful info on D-Star, but
nothing specific to my problem with an IC-9100. The radio is working
well in other modes.

Fred K4DII

Although I can't help you, I do know a local ham that owns a 9100 and
uses it on D-Star. His call sign is NM3G (Rick), you can look him up on
QRZ.

David-

Thanks for the response.

I also posted the question over on rec.radio.amateur.equipment, and
received an answer there. It seems that the UT-121 to IC-9100 interface
is very poor. It uses a micro-miniature connector, and uses sticky-foam
to hold the little PCB in place. The cure for the problem is to
repeatedly re-install the module until the transmitter will un-key when
you let up on the microphone button.

After getting it to work, several people have told me, "Everybody knows
that. It is a common problem!"

73,
Fred
K4DII

Fred McKenzie wrote:
I also posted the question over on rec.radio.amateur.equipment, and
received an answer there. It seems that the UT-121 to IC-9100 interface
is very poor. It uses a micro-miniature connector, and uses sticky-foam
to hold the little PCB in place. The cure for the problem is to
repeatedly re-install the module until the transmitter will un-key when
you let up on the microphone button.

After getting it to work, several people have told me, "Everybody knows
that. It is a common problem!"

At the price that 9100 is sold, should we expect any quality?

That is the problem with buying that ICOM JUNK!


D Star is a waste.

It was nothing more then a gimmick to sell more radios.
Some moron who confused public service radio - digital, with amateur radio - analog, and thought that they could improve upon the chicken egg.

The fact be told, public service never wanted to go digital.
They had to go digital to increase their overall bandwidth.

When they ran out of frequencies to use, they just narrow banded it, piggy backed the digital data next to the audio and thought that they somehow improved it.

When you remove deviation - you loose sound quality.
The thought was that if it was digital, it wouldn't matter, because digital is all 1's and 0's.

Tell that to the state trooper at the bottom of the hill that can't talk back to the barracks 5 miles away with a 150 watt radio.

The high band VHF - analog, worked just fine.
The digital UHF radio - no signal, no service.

Since noise is inverse the square of the frequency - using D Star doesn't make any sense on 2 meters!