How does DDRD |= _BV(PD2) differ from digitalWrite(2,HIGH)?
Each port on the ATmega328P (or the ATmega8 for that matter) is
controlled by two registers¹:

DDRx, where x is B, C or D, is the “data direction register”. It is
used to set the pin to either input or output. Writing to this
register is roughly equivalent to calling pinMode().
PORTx is the port's “data register”. It is mostly used in output
mode to set the pin to HIGH or LOW. Writing to this register is
equivalent to calling digitalWrite().

All this is covered by the Arduino tutorial on direct port access.
And, of course, by the datasheet; more specifically by
section 18.2: “Ports as General Digital I/O”.
As you may now notice, the original code does not use anything like
digitalWrite() to write to the bus, relying instead of the equivalent
of pinMode(). This is related to the electrical characteristics of the
bus:

You write a “physical 1” by actively driving AVC+ high and AVC− low
You write a “physical 0” by releasing the bus, in which case the
potentials of those lines are set by the termination resistors.

That's why you see InitMCU() setting PORTD for driving AVC+ high and
AVC− low, but leaving DDRD in its initial state (“leave pins
tri-stated” says the comment). At this point the bus is in the
“released” state. Then pulses are sent by setting the pins to output
mode (“Drive output to signal high” in the comment) and, after an
appropriate delay, setting them back to input mode (“Release output”).

¹ I am leaving away the details that are irrelevant to the code in
question, like the internal pullup or pin toggling via PINx.