Unfortunately the number one thing I hear over and over again is that "DStar is too expensive" or, "I don't want to spend my money on that". Anyone that has been folowing DStar for more than 90 days has heard it, and those of us that have been around for awhile are pretty much so tired of hearing those excuses that we unfortunately now just let them brush off.
Your statement said that somehow volume would make up for those that did not want to pay. Well, call me stupid, but I fail to see the logic in that whatsoever. First of all, if you have the money to buy a radio or a dv-dongle, shouldn't you consider associated expenses? When you bought your radio did you make sure that you had an antenna, or did you just expect someone to supply one for you? When you buy a automobile (at least in the US) do you expect that the gas and upkeep costs should be provided to you? How about the road system, we all pay and continue to pay for that privelege too. What if all of us out there that spent our hard earned money on a nice DStar radio and sat back and waited for someone else to put up a repeater and then did not want to help fund it. Well, heck for all that matters I will buy a TV and tell the Cable TV company that they should supply me with their service for free because I don't think I can sacrafice a few dollars every month to pay them. The bottom line is this, it is an ATTITUDE, it is a state of mind, it is about not being a greedy and/or small person who thinks everyone should give them something. I am very greatful that I live in a country where an Airplane can crash land in a freezing cold river and nobody died... Why, becuase amazingly enough nobody got greedy and put themselves in front of other people, and for once it worked! If you really want to understand this ask a different question and suddenly your old questions will be answered, or at least become totally irrelevant. How about asking yourself what can I do to promote DStar? Once you have mastered that question it might amaze you to find out that you will never need to ask the other questions again, it will suddenly make sense. Walmart and Costco are businesses that are for profit, amateur radio is not a business and not about profit. The business charge money, no matter how little, they charge money, not only for the products but for the MEMBERSHIP in many of the volume purchasing stores. Out of that they take operating expenses, and the rest is profit. We are not asking for profit, just enough to help cover the operating expenses. Dan Thompson [email protected] N8WKM >I understand and respect both your points of view. > > I just prefer an model where everyone can use the systems and those > that can pay do so. More people are included this way. Many business > succeed with a focus on volume (like Walmart and Costco). I would bet > that if registration was centralized and automatic the increased > number of dStar users would result in more revenue for the local clubs > that have invested in dStar hardware. > > When I look at the stats it look like peak concurrent usage is 100 or > less. I think dStar would benefit from more users and allowing anyone > to register would increase subscriptions and usage. > > Thanks for taking time to respond I appreciate the insight you have > given me. > > > KI6UIB > > >
