--- In dstar_digital@yahoogroups.com, "Chip" <cleg...@...> wrote: > > With D-STAR, is it necessary to verbally identify transmissions with your > callsign? My question assumes that the MYCALL field is correctly set of > course. A local friend and I have frequent simplex conversations and have > been saying our callsigns to be safe, but since the radio is encoding our > calls, is it actually necessary? > -Chip Legett, WX9EMT > I posed this question to Riley Hollingsworth, then with the FCC, a few years ago when Dstar first came on the scene, speaking with him after his presentation at the Greater Baltimore Hamfest. He told me that the Commission was very aware of Dstar and how it functioned and that they would accept the built-in callsign features as the legal identification for Dstar transmitters, eliminating the need to verbally identify. Riley thought that Dstar voice was really no different than data only, which we identify using the callsigns. He believed the Commission needed to be flexible with these new amateur technologies since we were exploring new areas with benefits never envisioned by the Commission. It was an interesting conversation that lasted well over 10 minutes, and left me with the impression that Riley and Commission staff had closely examined Dstar and were comfortable with it as it was rolled out. Unfortunately, I've never seen anything from the Commission in writing, and now with Riley retired, and other changes in the Commission due the new administration, this verbal opinion may not have weight.
Of greater concern is the opinion by the Commission issued Monday that specifically defines a Dstar repeater as a repeater (like we all didn't know). Not only may this opinion force some coordinating councils to rethink bandplans to provide for narrowband technologies, and force Dstar repeater operators who are now operating on Digipeater only frequencies to move, it also would suggest that Dstar repeater owners now are obligated to control their repeaters akin to analog repeaters, with the ability to remotely control at least some operations. Many of us have been using the excuse that since we still didn't know if the Commission considered a Dstar machine as a repeater, we could circumvent this requirement while awaiting the Commission's opinion. Now we know. The current Dstar repeater configuration does not provide for repeater control. While it is true that manual control is only required during third party communications, and that we do not provide autopatches on Dstar machines (at least I'm not aware of any), we still don't know what the Commission expects of us to control our now defined repeaters; i.e., are we obligated to manually terminate a transmission that violates the rules, especially if an operator is using the gateway or a reflector to connect to a remote repeater with some form of third party communication? As I interpret it, since at this time Dstar repeaters can only operate in automatic mode, without control, any third party communications might be in violation, autopatch or not. Also, this opinion would seem to invoke the three minute time out rule for automatic repeater operations. I know some in the Dstar community were addressing these issues, but I hope Icom may now adopt a more aggressive role in implementing at least a rudementary form of control of the repeaters. Right now, short of going to the repeater site an pulling the plug, there is little a Dstar repeater operator can do. Jack Coupe - WA3BXH Philadelphia Digital Radio Association - President K3PDR Dstar repeater
