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.

Why this write-up exists

In September 2026 we spent a morning on XLX102 while operators reported they could hear everyone except one D-Star station. The reflector was healthy. The missing audio was a mix of doubling on a busy module B and headers that were not a clean group call. openSPOT users hit the same rules as Pi-Star users once the packets reach XLX102. Get the connector and URCALL right, then operate as if you are on a single repeater — one person talks, everyone else listens.

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.

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 (US 70 cm hotspot segment is typically 431.0–431.9875 MHz; pick a clear simplex channel and match the radio exactly).
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.

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. Our current xlxd (v2.6.0) will hold a second station’s key-up for only about two seconds while someone else has the module. If you double a 15-second over, the reflector stashes your header, then expires it. Last-heard on the dashboard can still move. Listeners hear the station who already had the floor. That is not a broken radio.

• 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.