forum.pistar.uk

Hi.

I have a id 31 , which I have setup via programming software (icom) to REF001c as my hotspot, myy question is: if I want to swop to a different channel. say Ref030c do I need to have this Ref 030c setup on my radio and just rotate the knob to change.
Or do i have to manually alter the default channel in my pi-star dashboard by un-linking from say Ref 001c and setting Ref030c in the dashboard, obviously this is a nuisance, I am sure there is a way to do this directly from my radio, but just need a little guidance if possible.
I would like to have all the available channels available for quick access on the radio as I operate this from outside the shack but connect to the Pi-star hotspot.

I can't really help with Icom stuff, but in general

With the radio in "repeater mode", one has to set the TO callsign to AAANNNAL (A => alphabetic, N => numeric, L => exactly that, an L) and press PTT in order to link. Once linked, one sets the TO callsign to CQCQCQ to do actual communications. Unlink changes the L to a U (most systems don't need the reflector part, as long as the U is the 8th space in the call). If your ICOM doesn't allow for editing the TO callsign, you may have to create "channels" (identical except for call sign) to provide a Link command for each reflector you have an interest in using, After PTT on that, you would revert to the CQCQCQ channel. {This is more a DMR style operation, where one has channels for each talk group}

My Kenwood D74 has a menu, accessed by holding the cursor key (forget if ^ or v -- one is used to select repeaters) that brings up a reflector menu with options for link, unlink, info -- link brings up a list of recently used reflectors, or one can edit in the AAANNNA part; on backing out of the menu it has set the TO field... PTT... Cursor key, select "Use Reflector" to put CQCQCQ into TO field, back out...