openSPOT D-Star Setup for XLX102 and the ARRG.US Array

This is the SharkRF companion to the Pi-Star D-Star series. Same hangout (XLX102 B), different box. openSPOT does not need ircDDBGateway, and SharkRF’s official line is that you do not have to fuss with RPT1/RPT2 the way a Pi-Star does. What does matter on our array is the connector, the remote module, URCALL, and not talking over someone on a busy net.

First steps: power, Wi-Fi, web interface

Official SharkRF manuals: openSPOT4 first steps and DCS/XLX connector (openSPOT3 pages are the same flow). Short version:

1. Charge from USB. A brand-new unit will not power up until it has USB power once.
2. Hold the power button about one second. Factory default: Status LED flashes white, then the unit broadcasts Wi-Fi openSPOT4 AP (or openSPOT3 AP).
3. Join that AP from your phone or laptop. The setup page should open; if not, browse to http://192.168.99.1/ while you are on the AP.
4. Pick country, then connect the openSPOT to your home Wi-Fi. Hidden SSIDs are not supported.
5. When the LED is green (or green/orange), the AP is gone. Put your phone back on the same home Wi-Fi.
6. Open sharkrf.link, enter the device UID from the sticker on the bottom, and connect. Fill Owner information (callsign) and Save.

If the LED stays flashing blue, Wi-Fi failed; after about a minute it returns to AP mode so you can try the password again. Keep the hotspot on solid home Wi-Fi when you can. Cellular and flaky hotel Wi-Fi show up on our side as DCS keepalive timeouts — the client connects, goes silent, and XLX102 drops it after 60 seconds.

Quick Setup: D-Star radio to XLX102 B

Quick Setup is the supported path. It picks the connector and the server list for you.

Set a simplex frequency and match Quick Setup on the radio exactly. There is no national US hotspot channel. US operators usually sit around 433–435 or 438.x — check your coordinator; stay off 432–433 (weak-signal / EME) and 435–438 (amateur satellite). SharkRF ships at 433.900. Pick a clear channel, listen first, keep power low.

1. Transceiver type: your D-Star radio (Icom ID-51 / ID-52 / ID-52A, ID-50, ID-31, and similar).
2. Set the simplex frequency the radio will use. Match Quick Setup; US operators usually sit around 433–435 or 438.x — check your coordinator; stay off 432–433 and 435–438.
3. Network: DCS/XLX — not REF/XRF, not Homebrew/MMDVM, not BrandMeister.
4. Server: XLX102. If the dropdown is empty, enable Advanced mode and enter host xlx102.xlxreflector.org, UDP port 30051.
5. Remote module: B (main hangout / call channel, also called DCS102B).
6. Callsign: yours, UPPER CASE.
7. Local module: D (Advanced mode on the Connectors tab if you do not see the field). Save, then Switch to selected / Connect.

Status LED should go solid green when the DCS link is up. On xlx102.xlxreflector.org you should appear as a DCS node YOURCALL D with linked module B. If you are on C, E, or P, you are not in the hangout — change remote module to B and save.

XLX103 hangout is module C; XLX104 hangout is module C. Same DCS/XLX connector, different server and remote module.

Program the radio

SharkRF: for a reflector, set URCALL to CQCQCQ and local module to D on the openSPOT. You do not have to fill RPT1/RPT2 for openSPOT the way you do for Pi-Star. Icom DR / DV Simplex memories work. On an ID-52, add the hotspot as type DV Simplex (not DV Repeater) so the radio does not demand a duplex offset — and so the hotspot actually appears in FROM.

ID-52 Repeater List (the FROM menu)

If you live in Icom DR mode, the hotspot has to be in Repeater List, not only in a VFO memory. That is where ID-52 owners get stuck: they add the openSPOT, set USE (FROM) to YES, and it still never appears under FROM.

Icom is treating it as a duplex repeater. A Repeater List entry of type DV Repeater with DUP OFF is hidden from FROM — the radio does not believe a repeater can be simplex. Setting DUP− with offset 00000.00 will make it show up (that is the workaround that turns up on the SharkRF forum), but it is the wrong type. Icom’s own TYPE list is DV Repeater, DV Simplex, FM Repeater, and FM Simplex. Pick DV Simplex and DUP / OFFSET FREQ are not even asked.

1. Put the radio in DR mode.
2. Menu → Memory (page 2) → Repeater List → pick a group → Quick → Add.
3. First field is TYPE. Choose DV Simplex, not DV Repeater.
4. NAME something you will recognize (openSPOT, home, and so on). Sub name can stay empty.
5. USE (FROM): YES — otherwise it never appears in FROM even with the right type.
6. FREQUENCY: match Quick Setup. US operators usually sit around 433–435 or 438.x — check your coordinator; stay off 432–433 and 435–438. See frequency.
7. Save. On the DR screen, FROM is the openSPOT and TO is Use Reflector / CQCQCQ.

ID-51 menus say Menu → DV Memory; the TYPE values are the same. Several openSPOTs can live in the same list, each on its own simplex frequency. You can still skip DR and use a DV Simplex VFO memory if you prefer — Repeater List is only required for the FROM / TO screen.

ID-51 / ID-52 DR screen: Use Reflector

On the DR screen you never see the word URCALL. TO should read Use Reflector with CQCQCQ under it — that is URCALL. FROM is the Repeater List name of the openSPOT. Path: highlight TO → Reflector → Use Reflector.

Local CQ also displays CQCQCQ and is the trap. openSPOT rewrites RPT1/RPT2 so Local CQ can still get through, but Use Reflector is the setting that matches this article and still works if you later use a Pi-Star. Icom’s Link to Reflector menu is a D-Plus command, not a QSO; after any link, go back to Use Reflector before you talk. That built-in list is REF, not XLX — linking to XLX102 B stays on the openSPOT (or URCALL XLX102 B / DTMF).

Enable Auto set URCALL to network in Advanced mode if you have it. That forces outgoing destination to CQCQCQ even if the radio still has an old private call or a leftover XLX102 B in URCALL. A private URCALL is the classic “dashboard shows me, nobody hears me” failure.

Kenwood TH-D74: turn Direct Reply off. SharkRF documents that it becomes automatic callsign routing and your over never lands on the reflector.

Local echo before you join the hangout

Set URCALL to seven spaces and E (the eighth character). Key up. You should hear yourself back from the openSPOT. That proves RF to the openSPOT. Then put URCALL back to CQCQCQ.

Switch module or reflector from the radio

With the DCS/XLX connector already active, a short call with URCALL set to the reflector and module switches rooms. Module letter is the eighth character:

• XLX102 B — XLX102 module B (hangout)
• XLX102 C — XLX102 module C
• DCS102 B — same module; DCS and XLX names both work on this connector

DTMF (openSPOT4 / Pro), XLX102 B examples from SharkRF: C102B, C0102B, C10202, or C010202. Module numbers are two digits (01 = A, 02 = B). After the switch, go back to CQCQCQ for the QSO. Leaving URCALL on XLX102 B is a command, not a conversation.

Be heard on a busy net

XLX102 B is often occupied.

• Wait for a real drop — not a breath, not a kerchunk.
• Key up, identify, and talk. Short kerchunks are the easiest overs for the reflector to throw away.
• Do not mash PTT the instant you hear the other station unkey if NCS is about to go again.
• One openSPOT, one callsign. Two devices (home plus mobile, or openSPOT plus Pi-Star) fighting for the same callsign module will connect/disconnect in a loop.

If people can hear everyone else and not you: check URCALL is CQCQCQ, confirm the dashboard has you on module B, try the local echo, then try a 10–15 second over on a quiet module. If the quiet over is heard, you were doubling, not deaf.

Same-mode, Peanut, and openSPOT4 Pro

On XLX102, a D-Star openSPOT is in the same conversation as Icom handhelds on Pi-Star and as Peanut users in room XLX102B. You will not hear a DMR MMDVM client on module B, and they will not hear you. That is policy on the reflector, not an openSPOT bug.

openSPOT4 Pro can put a DMR, C4FM, or NXDN radio onto the DCS/XLX connector and transcode locally (SharkRF: send those radios to TG9). Use that if your only radio is DMR and you want the D-Star hangout. Do not also link a BrandMeister talkgroup to the same module and expect XLX to mix the two.

If it still fails

D-Star gateway registration at regist.dstargateway.org is not required for DCS/XLX, but it is still worth having. Register local module D if you use the openSPOT default, or a space if you only use gateway mode.