It is pretty fun, isn't it? Glad to have you on board, Mike.
There are four distinct levels of "signal strength" to my viewpoint, in D-STAR. 1. The "crystal clear" audio you heard. Signal strength is high enough that virtually no error correction is going on, and low-speed data applications are also rock-solid and have no data errors. 2. A level that sounds good, but if you listen closely there's some very minor "artifacts" around the audio. Most of us who've studied this agree that this is the "sound" you get when the mathematical error correction is attempting to fix a SLIGHTLY noisy signal. Still 100% copyable, but sibilance gets muddy. Since the low speed data portion of the D-STAR stream isn't error corrected, many new users of the low-speed data often start out at THIS signal strength into their local repeater, and are VERY confused as to why people can hear/talk to them, but they can't get tools like D-RATS and D-PRS to consistently work properly. If you look at the raw output of their low-speed data stream, it's completely mangled at this signal strength level, long before voice drops out. This level is DIFFICULT to hear, but it's there. On a mobile with a big speaker in a quiet environment, you can really tell the difference between 1 and 2. Technically, there's no "breakpoint" between them - as your signal degrades, you slide into #2. unless you weren't moving to begin with. 3. A "squeaks and noises" level you may not have heard yet. affectionately known as "R2-D2" like the little robot in the Star Wars movies. This level is so low that the repeater is having a hard time figuring out anything useful from your audio stream, but it is still transmitting a mangled audio stream. Usually if you've "fallen" into an area of coverage that causes this, you'll find that KEYING the repeater from silence, simply won't work. But KEEPING it keyed (and no one understanding you) is possible if you move INTO this lower level signal strength area, and you're mobile or you moved your HT to a "bad spot", just like on analog. just move a bit and you're back. (often at Level 2, above - not Level 1). 4. Can't key the system at all. Have fun, see you on the air! Nate WY0X From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of ipscone Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 7:48 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] First D-Star contact I just picked up my IC-92AD yesterday afternoon and last night finally got through enough of the manual to make my first D-Star contact. What a coincidence in many ways. My first D-Star contact was a member of this forum, helping me get it up and running. Thanks John (K7VE). He was also my first contact, who initiated a call to me, in the past 2 decades (I've been silent for many years). He knew I was having a few problems and initiated a call to me. Quite a surprise to be reading my 92AD manual, trying to see if I had it configured correctly, when I receive a call on it. ;-) And lastly, his callsign was nearly identical to mine. :-) His: K7VE, Mine: KC7VE. Quite a coincidence. My first impression was WOW. Crystal clear audio. No squeeks, pops, static, etc. They might have to inject some noise to make it sound like a radio. ;-) I look forward to more such contacts. I live South (Renton/Kent) and work in Everett (near Boeing). I see there is a repeater in Camano and one in Snohomish. Going to see if those are reachable while at work. Mike KC7VE (probably using WD7STR or WA7FW) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
