To a great extent, operating using the D-STAR system is like operating using FM repeaters. Most of the same basic courtesies and procedures exist. But there are a few exceptions...
Calling Stations: When calling stations, especially a CQ / General Call, you need to specify where you are calling from. Are you on the local repeater are on a remote repeater? Any station that wants to respond to your call needs to know how to program their radio.
Example: Is there anyone listening on the KI4SBA repeater, this is WA4YIH on the WD4STR repeater module A.
You can't hear remote activity - When you have your radio set to talk to someone other than your local module, you can't hear any of the remote stations. So when you start talking, please realize that there might be a QSO already occurring on the remote repeater. You can check www.dstarusers.org to see if it has registered any recent conversations.
Station Identification - While the D-STAR protocol handles legal identification requirements for the US-FCC, some countries require voice identification. Just to make sure that everyone stays happy, operators continue to identify just as if they were using any other voice mode.
Linking Repeaters - With the initial version of the Icom Gateway Software, no facilities for linking repeaters is available. Future releases are expected to add the capability.