Hi Les, While any of us could use the trial product, there are many other competing interests to work with these days and it is difficult to spend much time with something that is unlikely to be a successful product in ham radio. Even if hams could use the modem in the text digital portions of the bands here in the U.S. and even if it was free and supported, it might still languish. But if it carries a cost, it will almost certainly not succeed. The world has changed so much, even in the past couple of years. I have seen superb programs discontinued or released into the public domain because no one would buy them anymore. From what I can tell, the RFSM product seems like a very good one, but may be more of a commercial product.
There are a few hams, but I suspect a decreasing number, who will pay money for certain kinds of programs, particularly logging programs that they have bought into years ago and want to continue using because they are familiar with them. But other software authors such as Dave Bernstein, have made that quite unnecessary with the DX Lab Suite. Same with Patrick"s mostly free Multipsk, and same for Simon's HRD/DM780 programs. Now we have VBDigi/Flarq, EasyPal, WinDRM, and so many others that do specific tasks. The important thing to keep in mind is not what I would pay for certain kinds of software, but what will the other hams pay. Even if I valued RFSM8000 as the best product in its niche, and right now that seems true, what really matters is will other hams in my area and region be willing to buy this product? I will wager than none will. None at all. And if a good sized number do not have this modem, then my modem will be of no value. It is difficult enough now to make contacts with many of the new modes because we are spread into such specialized niches. It has gotten to the point that some of us have to resort to the internet to coordinate contacts:( If I want to use this technology for emergency communications as well as for fun and enjoyment, it has to be open source or at least freely available so that enough users will at least consider it. Even then the choices are becoming quite intimidating to new entrants into digital radio. And then consider what most digital hams use for their digital modes? Mostly PSK31, SSTV, and RTTY and not much else as a percentage of digital activity. 73, Rick, KV9U Leskep wrote: > Hi Rick > You could get the Free RADIOAMATEUR Trial Test version [for 30 day trial] > and do some experiments with that in the higher bands - this will allow you > to > experiment up to 8000 bits per second in wide bandwidth or up to 6666 bits > per > second in normal SSB bandwidth on HF > > You should run a Sample rate test program like CheckSR etc at the sample > rate of 48k > and then enter these figures in the program under > Options/Preferences/Hardware - > good transfer speeds will still depend on BOTH ends having calibrated > correctly > > If you do try the TRIAL software you will find that there are MANY other > options > available to you to use like Waterfall - Email Client - Beacon - Unconnected > chat > between like stations - compression - File transfer RESUME if file > uncompleted > at last session and other things > > Now to sum things up > > Amateurs have the Freeware version .498 to use at no cost for file transfer > and local mail at a speed of up to 2666 bits per second > > If you want a permanent Mail-Client version of RFSM8000 it costs $60 US > > If you want to be a Mail Server Current price is $180 US > > [This is the only issue I have with the pricing - in order to encourage > the use I believe the Server software should be available at no cost > to a few SELECTED stations in various countries who would be > interested in supplying the Server facilities for others to use - remember > that this is an ongoing cost the them to supply these facilities to > other amateurs] > > There are many other amateur software writers wanting $50 US for their > software > so I guess inflation has caught up in the requirement for $60 for this > program - hihi > I also realise that there are many other Amateur writers that supply their > software > for FREE and I applaud this - what would all of us retired amateurs do to > keep > our minds active if we didnt have all these things to do and toys to play > with > > Yes there are groups here in VK testing RFSM8000 on VHF but I have no > reports > on hand regarding this at the moment > > Les VK2DSG > >
