The Medway Towns has never had a D-Star repeater, it just never seemed to gather enough support from the local amateurs to warrant it I guess. That's not to say D-Star isn't used here at all. We have two D-Star Gateways (MB6NK on 2m and MB6IIK on 70cm), which have tried to carry the torch of D-Star operation in the darkness of quiet analogue repeaters.
Somewhat strangely, we are almost surrounded by D-Star repeaters, GB7SS and GB7ZP to the North, GB7IC to the East, GB7DX to the South and GB7OK to the West, it's just none of them offer coverage of the Medway Towns. Almost, but not quite. It's very frustrating.
So, those of us interested in D-Star rely on the Gateways, and DV Access Points, or 'D-Star Hot Spots', as they are known. I've finally managed to pick one up. This one is a 2m DVAP, and it will compliment my D-Star activity nicely.
Initially it will be hooked up to my Windows PC for home use, but the end goal is to hook it up to a Raspberry Pi as a stand alone unit. Either for static portable use or possibly for mobile use, attached to a 4G WiFi router.
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