Connecting to FCS vs YSF

Help with YSF / Fusion issues
K5MRE
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Re: Connecting to FCS vs YSF

Post by K5MRE »

N3QW wrote: Wed May 23, 2018 1:00 pm Thanks N6WY. Works great. The step before your instructions is press the F key then hold the AMS key till wires mode is achieved. How did you arrive at 140 for America Link. Trial and error or is there a formula we could use for all rooms?

73 Doug N3QW
I found it by watching the logs and connecting from a the FTM-100 which supports search by name. When it connected, you could get the actual room # from the logs. On the FT-70D I haven't found a good way.

Example:

tail -f YSFGateway-2018-06-22.log
...
M: 2018-06-22 10:06:50.669 Connect to 00185 - "FCS00390 " has been requested by K5MRE/MIKE
M: 2018-06-22 10:06:50.748 Linked to FCS003-90

My fear though is that this # will change over time if it's just a simple index value as it loads the FCS rooms since they don't seem to have defined IDs in the file like YSF rooms do.
K5MRE
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Re: Connecting to FCS vs YSF

Post by K5MRE »

KC0QA wrote: Tue Jun 12, 2018 9:52 pm Does any one know of a way to connect to a Wires-X room (#28952 Kansas City Ks link ) that doesn't have a hotspot connected to it, other than buying more equipment? Like the Wires-X HRD-2 and a FTM-100 ...
If they aren't bridging to a YSF or FCS room, then you can't connect to it without an actual node to the Wires-X Network - which means either more hardware or a local repeater that supports it.
KC0QA wrote: Tue Jun 12, 2018 9:52 pm I have a ZumSpot on a Raspberry Pi-Zero, and have just found this post and I am new to Wires-X as well. still learning.
I have a FTM-70D and Learning this new thing called Wires, and YCF Vs FCS
What is the difference? I guess I missed that post.
Thanks KC0QA
Richard
There are basically three different networks. YSF, FCS, and the Wires-X Network. The Wires-X network is Yaesu's own network and you need their hardware to access it (or a local repeater that's connected to it). YSF and FCS are open.

They all serve essentially the same service - provide reflector services to various rooms. But they are still different services. So you won't find the same rooms on all of them unless someone has setup a bridge between them. For example, America Link is a Wires-X Network room, but it's also bridged to FCS003-90 (and I think FCS002-90 if I recall correctly). So you can indirectly access that Wires-X Network room by using the FCS reflector.

Wires-X can also be used to refer to the communication protocol between the radio and the gateway. This protocol is what allows you to do things like search which rooms are available, change rooms, etc. However, when you talk, you're back to using C4FM voice. When using the pi-star, connecting with the Wires-X protocol is optional as long as you want to use whatever the default room is that it connected to and do your room changes via the web interface.
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KI4LLA
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Re: Connecting to FCS vs YSF

Post by KI4LLA »

Is there a tutorial or a little more documentation on using a Yaesu FT-70D with a DVMega/Pi-Star hot spot? I'm in a region with absolutely no Fusion repeaters and thus a hot spot is my only option for getting any use of the digital side of this radio. From jamming a few buttons (apparently at random) after reading this thread, I did hear two operators talking - but could not repeat that if I actually tried! :lol:
Darrell

73 de KI4LLA
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K9JTV
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Re: Connecting to FCS vs YSF

Post by K9JTV »

YSF Reflector "room numbers" can be found here:

https://register.ysfreflector.de/

FCS Reflector "room numbers" via DTMF can be found here:

https://www.pistar.uk/fcs_reflectors.php

... or here:

http://fcs001.xreflector.net/
http://fcs002.xreflector.net/

By entering the Wires-X mode on the FT-70DR by hitting F then AMS, you can then rotate the dial counter clockwise unti you get to the screen that shows, "*-------". There you enter the five digit "room" number then hit the AMS button again to change rooms.

Hope that helps,

-Jeff, K9JTV
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KI4LLA
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Re: Connecting to FCS vs YSF

Post by KI4LLA »

Thanks, that does help. I was over-thinking it. Once I let it sink in a bit, I can pretty reliably get things connected now.

One question for the thread - does this work best if I just leave the Pi-Star hot spot in YSF mode alone, or can it be multi-tasked with DMR and YSF reasonably well (with a low activity static TG on DMR)? Just curious how others are using this mode. :?:
Darrell

73 de KI4LLA
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K9JTV
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Re: Connecting to FCS vs YSF

Post by K9JTV »

KI4LLA wrote: Tue Jul 10, 2018 2:37 am Thanks, that does help. I was over-thinking it. Once I let it sink in a bit, I can pretty reliably get things connected now.
Glad I could help a bit.
KI4LLA wrote: Tue Jul 10, 2018 2:37 amOne question for the thread - does this work best if I just leave the Pi-Star hot spot in YSF mode alone, or can it be multi-tasked with DMR and YSF reasonably well (with a low activity static TG on DMR)? Just curious how others are using this mode. :?:
Sorry, I can't help much with that question. I'm running three Jumbo Spots, two for YSF/FCS and one for DMR.

-Jeff
N9KO
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Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 3:08 pm

Re: Connecting to FCS vs YSF

Post by N9KO »

Just got my FT-70. Here are the current (10/20/18) references:

FCS00285 America Ragchew ==> 00138
FCS00390 America Link ==> 00189
FCS00323 MNWIS ==> 00166
FCS00269 Illinois Link ==> 00130

I arrived at these numbers by referring to http://www.xreflector.net/

Got any to add?
KD0YD
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Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2018 4:29 pm

Re: Connecting to FCS vs YSF

Post by KD0YD »

The FCS reflectors numbering begins at 10 except the Parrot which is 00001 and are sequential. The attached listing was made by going to https://www.pistar.uk/fcs_reflectors.php and doing select all and copy and paste to Notepad++. I then striped the blank lines and the headers. I added the first nine lines as blanks and printed to a pdf file. Took all of 5 minutes to complete. To validate I picked 5 different FCS reflectors and connected using my FT-70DR via a jumbo spot running pi-star in YSF mode.

Connected first in Wires-X by pressing F then AMS
After wires connect,
turn selector knob to En*_____ and enter the line number from the left side of the generated list and add leading zeros to make a total of 5 digits.

Example from list
215 FCS00422 (America-Ragchew) Wires-X A422

at En*_____ enter 00215 press AMS

Testing the following
00010 produced a connection to FCS00100
00032 to FCS00122
00069 to FCS00192
00130 to FCS00269
00252 to FCS00497

all of these match the generated list that is attached.

Jeffrey KD0YD
Attachments
FCS_List.zip
FCS Listing made 10-25-2018
(48.01 KiB) Downloaded 819 times
N9KO
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Re: Connecting to FCS vs YSF

Post by N9KO »

Thanks for the attachment. I figured out several FCS Reflectors. Its nice to see the entire listing. This will make it easier for us with the FT-70.

N9KO
Cal
W7DTH
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Re: Connecting to FCS vs YSF

Post by W7DTH »

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction on using DTMF inputs on my FT-70D. It is nice to be able to change rooms without having to use the dashboard...especially if I am using my Zumspot mobile in the car.

The only problem I see with this way is that if FCS reflectors start at 10 and count upwards there is eventually a conflict with the YSF DTMF#s . For example try #00043...it should be Franc (FCS00133) according to this method but instead you will get BAYAREA-YSF because on the YSF List it is already DTMF#00043. Luckily the FCS DTMF#s only go to 00255 as of right now but the conflict will happen again when it gets to DTMF#00325 which is TW YSF886 on the YSF List.

Anyways...great find for us FT-70D users.

Steve W7DTH
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