At 05:22 PM 5/17/2009, you wrote: >That'd be silly. If I want to KNOW for sure the call made it to the >other side, and get a RESPONSE from the network that says so, the ONLY >option for that is callsign routing.
This is true, DPlus does not give any concrete indications that you're getting anywhere. However, it is an extremely useful addition. >Try listening in on on a Reflector-based D-Plus Net sometime and see how >many stations double and can't figure out that's what happened. It's >REALLY obvious when you listen/watch for it. I found the DV Dongle useful for watching what's happening on a reflector. >Another common mistake on Reflectors: People don't listen for AT LEAST >THREE MINUTES before transmitting after linking in. D-Plus is slightly >busted in that it can't "pick up in the middle of a stream" when you >link your local repeater into a Reflector and there's already a >transmission taking place. You hear NOTHING. That's a biggie. Who's going to wait 3 minutes? It's a battle to get people to listen for 15-30 seconds on IRLP, before calling. Hopefully, it will one day be possible to resolve this issue, and have DPlus send traffic to newly connected stations within a few seconds of the connection being made >It's not fully-baked yet. Callsign routing is. True. There's a number of situations that I don't really like callsign routing for, but it is the better developed method for using gateways. >As I've said before, I use both. But your zealoutry (you've made this Me too. I probably use each method 50% of the time. If I know who I'm calling, or which system I want to call, I'll generally use callsign routing. I generally use DPlus linking mainly for nets on reflectors or DV Dongle use. >For one repeater to one repeater "linking" it's mainly attractive to >people because it requires less brainpower to operate, and considering >that callsign routing doesn't really require much brainpower, it's kinda >funny really. How hard is it to keep your regular contact's repeaters >in a memory channel as a "/repeater" route? Not hard at all. I don't use a lot of routes, so I just have the setup to access the local gateway in memory, and use the UR callsign memory to dial up a destination I've previously used, or manually add it, if there is a new one. For incoming calls, I'll try one touch reply first. If that doesn't work, I have to assume it's a DPluc link, unless the other end gives their origin gateway. >I think also from a human-training point of view, it adds confusion. >People start to think the ONLY way to call another system is via D-Plus >commands, and that's just not accurate. If they want to KNOW their call >went through, they really should be using callsign routes and >understanding them. I work a little differently, so I can swap between techiques as the situation fits. For everyone else, they just need to learn both methods, and when to use which. :) I know, that seems hard for a lot of people, but we're stuck with that, until there's suitable, sane interlocks that prevent people from doing the _really_ loopy things, and telling them when things don't work as they intended (e.g. busy, in link, etc). >Is it nice to have Dongle users and Reflectors, sure. Is D-Plus the >answer to all routing/calling for everything? Not yet. Not by a long >shot. Agree, but they are useful. :) Time will see big improvements, I'm sure. 73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL http://vkradio.com
