--- In [email protected], "Steve" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > But really overall I am disappointed because there really > isn't much to it beyond pressing the PTT to enable hams to further the > innovation. It's a digital appliance.
In my admittedly limited circle of ham friends, I don't know of a soul who isn't using a store-bought 2m/70cm transceiver; I suppose that makes all of us appliance operators. This "limitation" doesn't concern me. What _does_ concern me: a) cost for users($900 for a dual-band, dual-receive D-Star 2820? c'mon!) b) cost for repeater equipment (The small clubs in this area would find the hardware to be impossibly expensive) c) coverage (I live in a rural area, as do all of my ham friends) d) Only one brand of radio to choose from (the marketing/technical reasons don't matter to me- bottom line is only one brand of radio to choose from) On it's face, D-Star is a great thing. I do know all of the advantages and think they are fantastic. Unfortunately, unless you live in a reasonably urban area with a good density of affluent users, good D-Star coverage will be a long time coming. Earlier this week I was gung-ho for getting a D-star radio. It just took me a few days to analyze the disadvantages and to realize that an analog APRS radio would be a much better choice for me.
