>" My experience with D-Star repeaters is they give me a bit more range
than analog FM "
>>Not the norm ..... ANALOG has more range
Analog has more range? Maybe your location but not here.... D-Star has
proved it has more range, same site/antenna/hardline as analog. When it
replaced the analog repeater on the site, there was a definitely range
improvement. Same antenna, same cable, and the digital D-star) repeater was
35 watts less in power. So maybe in your situation you were not doing an
exact replacement.
The 800mhz Motorola system in town was replaced by P25 digital recently
and
field test proved that digital had extended range over analog. Both analog
and digital were operational at the same time from each of the 7 sites, and
we had both radios analog and digital, and each time the test on analog was
"broken up", the digital came through. There were several times where
neither were operational from the test locations. There was never a test
location that analog exceeded digital range.
Before we went through the testing scenarios, I had the opinion that
digital was going to be a problem, less range etc. But when the test were
concluded a week later, I became a firm believer. It was simply amazing.
Just my 2 cents! [GRIN]
...DOUG, KD4MOJ
30MDG#1076, FH#1125
KD4MOJ-63 APRS Messenger 2.48
