I've been into D-Star almost a week, so take this for what it's worth. From my house (949'ASL), W8BI (957' + ? tower ASL) is 7.7 miles on a heading of about 344ยบ true. On the line from my house toward W8BI, the terrain rises steadily to about 1,020' ASL within a mile, then drops back down.
With the IC-91AD and rubber ducky, I can get into W8BI with DV reliably from my front (north) yard. In the living room on the north side of the house, I am reliably copyable if sitting up to the window, but if I lean back away from the window, I'm reported to turn into mostly R2D2. Strange. From the living room, DARA's VHF-FM has been noisy for me on my IC- T7H, and I into the repeater, but copyable both ways. If anything that radio may perform a little better on analog than the 91AD, but so far, I think they're too close to call. It is my understanding W8BI-C got a pre-amp on it right before I got my HT because they were having problems with HTs. I hear it said it is now much better, but my personal experience is that I still hear a significant amount of R2D2 from that repeater. I guess that's the penalty of the higher terrain near my house. I can usually get the gist of what's being said on a noisy FM call, but not on one with any significant R2D2. Someone commented that when DV is sweet, it's really sweet, but it's more important to me how well communication occurs when it isn't sweet. I guess until I learn to pick through R2D2, analog seems to do better there for me. -- Moe On Mar 13, 2009, at 11:23 AM, k2aau wrote: > To all: > > I currently have a Pathway obstruction where a roadway is elevated > at 240 ft and my site is at 260 ft effecting users some 6 miles away. > > Mobile coverage is okay but HT coverage is okay if you find a sweet > spot. > > My question is, will a digital signal have better penetration to > defeat a pathway obstruction versus analog or will I still have the > same problem. > > Can someone tell me their experience on what I can expect. > > Thanks > > 73, > > Artie >
