Nate and any others that are interested Icom/Kenwood and others use NXDN (4 Level FSK/FDMA 6.25 kHz Technology) see www.nxdn-forum.org. It is a relatively open digital standard for commercial equipment for its Over the Air (OTA) communcation protocol.
I believe that an amaueur application would be welcomed that did a translation between NXDN and its unit ID and the DSTAR Callsign identification. There are a certain group of amayeur radio operators who like to use commercial equipment on the amateur bands (They have an M branded on the back of their heads). I agree that sometimes, in certain situations such as intermod and spurious emissions, that it would make sense to use commercial equipment. Myself and one other radio amateur are looking into that possibility. Several amateur groups are looking to replace their 25 year + Micors or MastrII repeaters that are getting long in the tooth. The new Icom series FR5000 (VHF) or FR6000 (UHF) commercial repeaters do both Analog and Digital on the same frequency "on-the-fly", are small (2 rach units high) and you could have a VHF and UHF repeater in the rame rack unit thereby freeing up to 2 racks worth of equipment. (Think of how many computers you could install?) The protocol is FDMA not TDMA and is similar in structure to P25 (but not compatible) Worth thinking about! Eric Meth - ve3ei > (Technically you also pick up the Kenwood/Icom partnership of their > TDMA-based systems when you cross over from Amateur to Commercial... I > haven't seen any significant up-take of the Kenwood/Icom system(s) in > the Amateur world. But they do have a digital product pointed squarely > at the commercial folks, marketing-wise. I leave it out of the > comparisons, because I'm an Amateur and I'm not interested in making > anything about my radio hobby Commercial.)
