At 12:04 AM 6/8/2010, you wrote: >Icom offer a low cost adapter to facilitate full PC control of their >DSTAR Radios. Imagine changing the UR or Repeater settings in an >ID800 on the run. Or actually being able to SEE the display on a >2820 in the car in daylight. Having a shopping list stored in your >PC that would use alpha tags for the different fields and let you >mix and match UR, RPT1, RPT2 quick and easy. Also since there are >more and more repeaters this would facilitate using the same box of >UR's and callsigns with different repeater frequencies (and could >even automatically add the band character, A, B, C or G).
It's a pity that Icom didn't see fit to include Bluetooth capabilities, because the current generation of smartphones (iPhone, Android, etc) would have made an ideal portable control panel and even data terminal for chat, and Bluetooth would have been the ideal way to interface to the radio. >If the price is right, Icom would have an instant market for 12,800 >copies and provided the protocol to communicate with their radios >were public, a scad of software developers could offer Icom Dstar >Compatible user interface software. That would be an interesting option, all the same, though for me, usually not portable enough. For me, the lack of Bluetooth is a serious omission from the Icom radios. 73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL http://vkradio.com
