D-STAR Digital Voice / Digital Data Comes to Richmond

The Richmond Amateur Radio Club is happy to announce the arrival of their new D-STAR 2-meter digital repeater for the Richmond area. The bursts of white noise you hear on 147.255 MHz is digital voice or digital data being transmitted by various Richmond hams who are using D-STAR radios. The user base in the community continues to grow. Why don't you join the fun!

The W4FJ analog repeater (147.255) was taken off the air January 28, 2008. The same day an Icom 2-meter digital repeater was installed. The new W4FJ digital repeater transmits on 147.255 MHz and receives on 147.855 MHz. The repeater "cleans up" received signals and retransmits them. Digital signals tend to travel a longer distance than standard analog FM signals using the same power level. Because of the current location and antenna height, this repeater is not a wide area machine, but it should perform quite nicely in the metro area. There is no CTCSS tone access to digital repeaters. We will be posting programming information for D-STAR compatible radios soon on this website.

Many cities have full-blown D-STAR repeater systems which include 2-meter, 70-cm, and 1.2 GHz digital repeaters which may be operated cross-band or be linked to the Internet and may have microwave links between area digital repeaters. RARC's machine is a 2-meter repeater only. No gateway to the Internet or links to other repeaters at this time.

The least expensive way to get into D-STAR digital communications is to purchase an ICOM IC-2200H for about $160. ICOM has offered a $20 rebate on this radio. A digital board is required for D-STAR operation. Once installed in the 2200, it makes it a dual purpose (analog and digital) 2-meter, 65 watt transceiver. Digital boards are currently a little less than $200.

We look forward to working you on the new digital repeater soon!