Chris N7ICE wrote: > The D-Star digital mode is becoming more popular with > nearly 10,000 registered D-Star gateway users worldwide. > These Icom radios allow you to deliver voice and data > communications simultaneously over the same frequency! > Imaging being able to surf the web from a laptop or iPod > Touch over wireless internet for free! > > Chris Matthieu, N7ICE, demonstrates how to surf the web > via an Icom ID-1 D-Star ham radio! Check out the > HamBrief.TV episode 32 video at http://www.73s.org!
Chris: I have to echo Evans's comments as well. To someone who is not familiar with D-STAR your posting above is both confusing and somewhat inaccurate. Although it is conceivable that you could connect an ID-1 to a WiFi access point thereby allowing your iPod Touch (I own one BTW) to access the D-STAR network ... I'm not sure that's a typical way that this would be utilised. More importantly - my interpretation of the FCC regulations for US implementations would prohibit the use of the D-STAR digital data network for general Internet connectivity. The D-STAR 23cm digital data implementation would be typical of two ISDN BRI's ... most generally available Internet resources today (especially web sites) are not being designed for low bandwidth connections ... a couple of users doing general surfing over the 23cm DD link would probably saturate it (bad performance). What *IS* cool about the 23cm DD capabilities is that its IP based -- which means that one can implement all kinds of applications (including web based solutions). People and groups who are building applications on top of the D-STAR digital data capabilities are doing so with a sensitivity to the characteristics of the network. (Low graphic content, low bandwidth utilisation, etc.) And having the ability to connect a D-STAR digital data network to the Internet is great in that it can allow applications and solutions to extend beyond a repeater's local network. But a D-STAR digital data network is not a replacement for an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Bob McCormick W1QA
