There are 2 ways to access D-Star nodes. 1. Use rtpDir(or rtpDir_tm) plus dstar2analog package plus a dvdongle. dstar2analog will try to connect to a D-Star node of your choice. The remote D-Star node has to be running a program called dplus. dplus is not an ICOM product and it will take your dongle serial number and send it to yet another remote system for authentication. dplus tries to block PC users as much as it can. Most D-star nodes run dplus, port 20001 2. Use rtpDir(or rtpDir_tm) plus dextra_cli package plus a dvdongle. dextra_cli will try to connect to a D-Star node of your choice. The remote D-Star node has to be running a program called dextra_srv which either replaces dplus or runs independent of dplus. dextra_srv will NOT take your dongle serial numner and it will NOT try to block your dongle. Few D-Star nodes run dextra_srv. These nodes are on port 60001. dextra_srv can also be linked to a dextra_reflect D-Star reflector when the radio user enters URCALL=XRF001CL and can be unlinked when the radio user enters URCALL=XRF001CU XRF001 is our first D-Star reflector powered by dextra_reflect software. We wrote dextra_srv for those D-Star owners that want some independence from dplus and they do not want to have their users blocked by dplus. dextra_srv must run on the Linux box where the ICOM repeater controller has been installed. This is similar to a dplus installation. 3. You can also use rtpDir(or rtpDir_tm) plus dextra_cli plus a dongle to connect to our first D-Star reflector XRF001 located at k4kwq.dyndns.org, port 60001 This D-Star reflector is powered by the dextra_reflect software and noone will be blocked. The dextra_reflect D-Star reflector software accepts connections from either dextra_srv or dextra_cli. 73 KI4LKF