On May 8, 2010, at 7:07 PM, bruce mallon wrote: > Ed ..... > > All our repeaters are digital ready. > > ICOM digital radios are being bought for our shop NOT because they work > better but we are going to paging and messaging. which the F-4 and F-43 > radios will not do. >
Bruce, This is off-topic for this list, but ... Be careful. Last I heard, Icom P25 implementation is flawed. It sounds weird and many agencies have pointed it out to them... they're not too interested in feedback from outsiders. (Seems like a common theme between D-STAR and P25 at Icom, doesn't it?) You can literally HEAR it if you have someone pick up two or three manufacturer's radios and talk into one, then the next, then the Icom. They sound awful. I've heard this first-hand. We recorded it, and the person I was testing with MET IN PERSON with Icom engineers here in the U.S., and they gave the typical "must study" Japanese manufacturer's response and ran away. I haven't asked him in about a year, but last I heard... no firmware updates or changes for the rigs. If all you guys tested with in digital mode was the Icom rigs -- I can see why you'd think digital was worse than analog. Test with multiple manufacturer's rigs before committing taxpayer monies. Seriously. Good luck with it. If you want to contact me off-list, I can ask and see if Icom ever got back to the person who was testing for some very large agencies... -- Nate Duehr, WY0X n...@natetech.com
