Northern Ohio Digital Interconnect Group Launches Reflector 38 for General Use

Lorain County Ohio – The Northern Ohio Digital Interconnect Group launches the first of several planned D-STAR reflectors throughout Ohio to support its rapidly growing infrastructure.

This first reflector, REF038, will be used for the purpose of statewide linking of D-STAR assets in several ways. Port A, Alpha, will serve as a statewide gathering point for nets such as the newly formed Ohio Wide Area D-STAR Net as well as other nets. This port has quickly earned the name “The Ohio Reflector”. Port B, Bravo, was requested by Ohio ARES, Amateur Radio Emergency Service, and will serve as a gathering place for ARES training as well as emergency communications as needed. The C, Charlie, port assignment will be announced in the near future. For the time being it may be used for general use.

D-STAR reflectors serve as a communications “hub”. They allow many users or repeaters to connect without loading any particular repeater. They also allow users well outside the footprint of a repeater access to it.

NODIG has gone to great lengths to insure Reflector 38 is a hardened system. It resides in a data center giving it access to many times the “up” and “down” speeds necessary to maintain several hundred users at any given time. This fiber fed site has the ability to throttle up assets as required and is generator and battery backed up.

In an effort to further harden the system, and build brotherhood in the D-STAR community, Reflector 38 also shares a mutual aid agreement with the Shiawassee County D-STAR Reflector 24 of Michigan. This allows for redundancy in the event of an outage or emergency. NODIG will continue to seek out this type of quality relationship with partners in Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania constructing a reliable, regional, network of D-STAR assets.

The Northern Ohio Digital Interconnect Group was formed by D-STAR users and enthusiasts from Lorain, Lake, and Cuyahoga counties to advance the technology by expanding D-STAR coverage in Northern Ohio.

D-STAR (Digital Smart Technology for Amateur Radio) is a digital 2-way radio network comprised of VHF and UHF repeater systems that can be interconnected via the Internet, on the fly. Advanced features include Automatic Unit ID, TXT/Instant Messaging and GPS unit location.