On Jul 12, 2010, at 2:18 PM, The Latino Ham _Not Spam wrote:
My two Cents on the D-star Drama. The problem here is not the technology itself. The problem with Dstar is that radios are so expensive.
The radios aren't expensive, hams are cheap :) --- if you compare an IC2AT (really good single frequency, synthesized, DTMF but no CTCSS radio) of 30 years ago, with a dual-band D-STAR/FM radio with CTCSS a thousand channels and other goodies, dollar for dollar the new radio is HALF the price (taking inflation into account).
Cheap radios are great, I own a $120 2m/220 5W handheld but it doesn't do digital radio.
I also have several FM radios 2-1/2 band (VHF/UHF plus low power 220) or 3 band (50/146/440) from just a few years ago in the same price range as a new D-STAR handheld.
On one hand you have ham clubs that can dishout the money to put up a wonderful dstar repeater but in the other hand you have hams that can afford an analogue radio and they feel like they are being left out not to mention the complexity of operating a dstar radio.
Personal finances are what they are, but in general for a D-STAR capable radio over a similar class FM only radio the difference could be made up easily with a little saving here and there.
As far as radio frequency pairs are concerned, I believe that if a radio club wants to put a dstar repeater in their area, they should take down an analogue pair that they have in use and use for dstar. STOP HOGGING UP THE SPECTRUM, It is only fair. 2M and 73cm are already crowded as it is.
What is hogging the spectrum is clubs that have multiple repeaters covering the same geography on analog and most of them unused. Or people who have coordinated pairs that aren't being used (even if they have a repeater on them) and won't vacate for newer technology, or setting aside 400 kHz. of the repeater sub-band for simplex on 2 meters. You do realize we can put at least 2 D-STAR repeaters in 25 kHz. that would mean at least 16 new narrow repeater pairs on 2 meters just by moving FM simplex down to 145.5-145.8? The spectrum hogs are the ones using wide FM when newer better technology is available, including NFM.
I dont think hams are afraid of change, It is about the money that has to be dished out buy a radio to get out on the 2/73/220Mhz bands. We all know how expensive it is to maintain an analogue repeater now think about how much it is going to cost to maintain a digital repeater. I can assure you that membership fees are going to go up and then what?
A digital repeater costs no more maintain than an analog one. If you have Internet to an analog repeater (such as IRLP or EchoLink) that is the same as providing Internet for D-STAR gateway -- but Internet is not required to have a digital repeater. Converting an analog repeater to D-STAR can be relatively cheap -- see <http://k7ve.org/blog/2010/06/converting-the-kenwood-tkr-820-to-use-with-d-star/ >
Uncle Sam is not going to give grants without something in return so go figure.
Usually the grants are for ARES/RACES or other EMCOMM groups that choose to be available to help in an emergency -- the group would volunteer their services without the grants, the grants just help them be better equipped.
Echolink is software that complements a repeater system, echoirlp costs are not that bad compared to a DV dongle or the highspeed dstar gateway. I for one do not oppose change, I just choose to ignore the dstar hype.
The gateway is software that compliments a repeater system. The DVDongle doesn't even equate (at the repeater level). Network costs are network costs and most folks figure out a pretty cheap way to get connected to sufficient bandwidth.
KILO_INDIA-SIX_ELE_ENE_EQUIS! 73'S HASTA LA PROXIMA
John D. Hays Amateur Radio Station K7VE PO Box 1223 Edmonds, WA 98020-1223 VOIP/SIP: j...@hays.org
