embedded From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of AB8XA Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 10:06 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] I'm a bad ham, eh?
On Jul 8, 2009, at 1:55 PM, k7ve wrote: I guess in your eyes, those of us who can't or choose not to afford Icom's grossly inflated D-Star products will be the death of the hobby and hence aren't good hams, eh? No sir, it's the snobbery of big buck equipment owners such as that you expressed which will kill the hobby. Let me be perfectly clear that I am NOT addressing all those here who have chosen to spend the bucks for D-Star--only those who denigrate those who don't. I don't remember anything that says that Amateur Radios have to be affordable to everyone and that everyone should have every mode available. D-STAR is a relatively cheap part of Amateur Radio. I believe that most every SSB radio is more expensive than most D-STAR radios. (yes the ID-1 and ID-2820 are more expensive than some low end HF radios). Compare D-STAR with EME or Satellite systems and it is chump change. D-STAR is actually a LOT cheaper than FM radios were when FM was first introduced. Someone mentioned that they have a $400 40 year old radio that is crystal controlled. Add 20 channels of crystals an a Tone Encoder/Decoder and that's another 300+ dollars. And that's for only 20 channels. Back when Tone Encoders/Decoders came out, they were about the same cost as a D-STAR module for the current radios. When DTMF keyboards came into vogue, they were also the same price. It's only been in the last few years that radios have dropped into the sub $200 range, which probably equates to about $20 in 1980 dollars. The facts contradict you. I'm an all-Icom owner, IC-718, IC-208H, IC- T7H, and now IC-91AD, but have to admit, Yaesu is the better bang for the buck, even compared to Icom's analog products. If Icom really cares for D-Star, THEY will quit holding it back by grossly overpricing it compared to their own analog products, much less others. You have bashed Yaesu and Kenwood but they're still selling new analog radios (as is Icom), and their affordability is doing far more to get new hams on the air than the overpriced whiz-bang technology of D-Star. No sir, as long as Icom has apologists such as yourself rationalizing their high prices, they'll never come down to earth and become mainstream. Icom is a manufacturer. They are in business to make money. If they don't make money, people don't get paid. As is done in essentially ANY market, new technology gets introduced in the top of the line equipment. That's just what Icom is doing. And you know, it' not a bad idea from a business point of view, because, while you may not be able to afford one, there are a LOT of people that are. A LOT of people. I'd dare to say that there are more new D-STAR repeaters put on the air just this year, than all other repeaters in the last few years. There are now thousands of D-STAR repeater modules on the air, most less than 2 years old. > I imagine that at some point, not soon, the ratio of digital VHF/UHF > operations to analog FM will be similar to the ratio of SSB to AM > transmissions on HF. Imagine/dream all you want, but the ratios are currently the opposite of your imagination--and will be so for a very long time, since sales of new radios, which is the only thing that will change the ratios, are still strongly on the analog side. -- 73 de Moe If you look at a chart of FM transmissions over the last 20 year VS D-STAR over the last two, I believe that you might be surprised. FM is on a slow decline while D-STAR is on a pretty dramatic increase. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
