Jack wrote: > ... but was also looking to see if there was a software > solution to being able to listen / transmit on DS via a > PC as yet with out a dongle it is only a matter of time > till it is done....
Probably unlikely. The D-STAR architecture is open except for the fact that they utilised the AMBE chip (as was pointed out previously - and accurately). These chips are fairly inexpensive - I believe maybe as low as $20 each. Part of that cost is the license. Please see this Wiki article for the basics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Multi-Band_Excitation And if you want more detailed information please see: http://www.dvsinc.com/products/software.htm The DVS technologies have been around for a while and are used (as you can see in the URL above) in a lot of different communications systems. If someone were to reverse engineer the algorithms such that you could encode and decode an AMBE stream you'd be hard pressed to be able to legitimately distribute such software. Today the DV Dongle represents a real good solution: it simply connects to your host system (operating system inspecific) and software can (via the dongle's USB interface) essentially perform D/A and A/D conversions with the device. Bob W1QA
