GETTING STARTED WITH A PI-STAR
The easiest and quickest way to get started is to use the ZUM Radio Mini 1.3 OLED ZUMspot Kit Mini UHF Hotspot With 1.3 OLED ZUMspot Fully Assembled Kit in my opinion. You can purchase this at Ham Radio Outlet. https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-017832 if you prefer a bigger screen https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-017504 Both are ready to go with the image written on the sd card that is included.
The next step would be to setup the pi-star on the digital format you choose, DMR, D-STAR, WIRESX(ysf), P25, NXDN or M17. The pi-star is capable of cross modes too being if you have an Yeasu(ysf) FT3 or 5 you can bridge to DMR, thus you are talking into a ysf reflector and it is coming out D-Star. Icom, Anytone and others can do this also. Before you start you need to determine which mode you want by the radio you have or are going to purchase, Yeasu, Icom, Anytone or others that are capable of digital. In our area you will need to program a frequecy between 433.100 and 433.900 for the radio to talk to the pi-star. The pi-star must have the same frequency which you can program in. Here is a link to give you an idea on how to setup a pi-star. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZQGSwKl8fY If you need help on deciding or have a Handheld radio, get in touch with JD, KD9QDL, kd9qdl@gmail.com or Jeff, KB9QG, jdeluce@frontier.com .