Jim, I tend to agree more spectrum is not needed on 2 meters just to accommodate D-Star or any other mode, digital or analog. Many analog boys are also starving for space for their repeaters.
D-Star does look for the proper D-Star format to "unsquelch" as one might say. It does not simply turn on with signal like many analog rigs do. The repeaters and rigs do this. This is why, as you very well know, we use CTCSS...to unsquelch the rcvr when the proper tone rcv'd. The petition to the FCC was an attempt to gain more repeater pairs mainly for D-Star. I am sure the petitioners would have wanted the expansion to go for digital only. I am sure the FCC saw thru this. Another issue popped up about a year ago. An FCC rep made a comment at a forum stating or more like asking if D-Star was really a normal Ham repeater since it delays the digital data and is in a Packet type store and forward mode. The delay is ms. With this in mind there were repeater councils giving out freq pairs which were not in the FCC rules for repeater...145.5-145.800. There were some actually using them. This effort has for the most part gone away. 73, ron, n9ee/r >From: wd8chl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: 2008/05/08 Thu PM 02:39:00 CDT >To: Repeater-Builder@yahoogroups.com >Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] FCC Denies Petition to Utilize 2m Sub-Band for >Digital Repeater Operation > >Mark Thompson wrote: >> ---------------------------------------------------------- >> >> >> May 7 2008 Ken D. Chafin 3624 Foothill Road #1 La Crescenta, CA >> 91214 >> >> Leon J. Brown 1627 Fair Park Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90014 >> >> Re: Petition for Rule Making filed October 10, 2007 ><snip for brevity> >> >> The Petition argues that additional spectrum is needed for repeater >> stations because some amateur repeater stations have begun using >> certain digital communication protocols, and digital voice operation >> is incompatible with existing analog operations [because d]igital >> voice users are unable to determine if the desired frequency is in >> use by analog users and can inadvertently cause harmful interference >> to those users. > >Good. D-Star and other digital voice modes do NOT need more spectrum on 2M. > >If a digital voice mode does not have some sort of provision for >monitoring for non-digital activity, or preventing transmission if there >is any, it needs to be redesigned, as it can easily be considered >illegal. P25 has it. > >Jim >WD8CHL > > Ron Wright, N9EE 727-376-6575 MICRO COMPUTER CONCEPTS Owner 146.64 repeater Tampa Bay, FL No tone, all are welcome.
