[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Re-read the post: > D-STAR RELIABILITY!
I see a "!" ... did you mean to type a "?" > So don't get your nose all out of joint Nate. I'm rarely bothered by mailing list mail, it was just that your message didn't sound all that sincere as a question. There are a lot of people on lists that just want to "bother" other people -- you don't sound like one of them. Don't worry about it. You're just trying to figure out if D-STAR is for you. > Simple question about the reliability of D-Star as I am still one of > those that are not convinced that Digital is the way to go, > eg...Cell phones are digital and now we have radio that is digital. > Soon there will be television that will not be analog anymore. So, what's the question? If the question is "is it reliable?", there are a lot of factors that go into "reliable". - Radios, probably as reliable as any other. - Repeaters, not built all that great internally -- but with the proper care and feeding by a knowledgeable repeater installer/tech crew, they'll do fine. Folks who've never put up an analog repeater before, they're not good repeaters to cut your teeth on, because you can't learn the basics and see results of changes on simple test equipment. I don't recommend starting with a first repeater as a D-STAR repeater, without an experienced analog repeater Elmer. - Gateway computer - Lots of people worry about these machines, but Icom has picked on of the better Operating Systems for reliability, and tools. The hardware is up to the local purchaser, everything from a junk used machine that barely runs and has all the fans failing, to a nice solid rack-mount commercial server, could have been used. - Bandwidth - No one can ever guarantee the Internet. D-STAR uses the Internet for routing between systems, so ... no guarantees. Things can be done to make the Net connection "hardened" or very likely to be online in the event of a widespread emergency, and some areas will do this type of thing, and others will not. - Auxiliary gear - Repeater antennas, feedline, duplexers, lightning protection... all have "best practices" that people should follow. Some will, some won't. To answer to your question is almost impossible. The ultimate D-STAR "reliability" is that you can certainly make sure your rig is working, and talk on simplex... just like any other radio made for repeater work. That's pretty darn reliable, and if it doesn't work -- you can't complain that the repeater guys did something wrong. (GRIN!) > Sure digital takes up less band space but still there is nothing like an > analog signal because with analog you get no R2D2. It's better to have R2D2, to be honest. It's a sign that someone in the conversation either isn't hitting the repeater, or you're not hearing the repeater very well. We're all just not used to that being what it means, yet. We know when someone starts to get white noise in analog to tell them, "You sound like you're about to fall out of the repeater." on the next over -- but we aren't used to them ALREADY having fallen out of the repeater after they drive out of coverage with no warning. Done right, the digital machines should AT LEAST cover where an analog machine with all other things being equal would cover... same repeater site, same antenna, everything... and perhaps after some tweaking by a good repeater person -- quite a bit more coverage. But... The users have no control over this, and get their impressions of D-STAR from whatever job (good or bad) their local repeater guys did, and often don't know enough about how it SHOULD work -- to make a judgment about the performance of the system. After a while, it's easy for most users to tell if an analog system isn't performing well, and most users will complain. They often don't know what to compare digital to, since there's often only one repeater in an area right now -- so they just don't know. (Even the first technical crew in an area to put up a D-STAR really doesn't *know* what it will do, but they have an easier time comparing analog to digital, because they probably know the exact setup of the analog systems in the area.) > And yes I do want to pick on D-Star a bit because it is an issue with > which mode do I choose to save a life. Whichever mode you have available, of course. It doesn't matter what mode and band you find help on. > I have a D-Star radio, as a matter of fact I have 2, I also had a Dongle. > When my Icom is connected to an 8db gain antenna I still hear R2D2. Just > as much as when I had the 91AD. Sort of get tired of saying, "What?" > At the very least with the analog signal you can catch some of the > conversation. They could have designed the CODEC to simply stop trying at all below a certain bit error rate. There wouldn't be any R2D2 then, but you wouldn't have any indication that someone was leaving the coverage area of the system, either. They would just go silent. Troubleshooting which is which, can be a little tricky without a third party listening who is in perfect coverage. But if you have someone who is, asking them what they heard is a common way to determine "which end" had the problem. > Ah the infamous Dongle, was more trouble then it was worth. Got a fast > connection, but it kept timing out. > Tried it on 2 or 3 puters and poop....Not a means of reliability > although when I was in Hawaii it worked quite well. It didn't work on your network at home, but the hotel's network was better? That's describing a local networking problem at your QTH, not a problem with the Dongle itself. Especially if moving it between computers at the same location was still bad, but as soon as you took it elsewhere, it worked. Better check your network there. > But the local D-Star repeater on G1 couldn't make it through the gateway > to the G2 that was at my home area. > Rendered the 91AD useless for D-Star to talk home. G1 and G2 weren't compatible. Now there is no G1, so... no problem anymore, I suppose? The local admins could have fixed that at any time after G2 was released. > So the question is reliablity. Like I said, I am on the fence but have > found it necessary to have a D-Star radio because it is another mode > that could be used. D-STAR rigs also work fine as analog rigs. The same is not true the other way around, so your D-STAR rig does more than the other. I'd say if you've already bought them, it would not make sense to get rid of them now. > But what do I know, probably nothing at all as I am new to ham radio. We all know different things. > 73 de N1TAI 73... Nate WY0X
