That's an easy one, it's called a conversation! It doesn't really matter how the analog waves get back and forth, just as long as they occur. Whether it is analog or digital doesn't really matter. Whether it is RF or over an IP network, it really doesn't matter. It's all a conversation, a transfer of information from one person/location to another.
Some people make a big distinction between a land-line and a radio. Well, up until recently, and still in some cases, a lot of land-line traffic was sent over microwaves between locations. You didn't know and really didn't care. And for the last 10+ years, most of the phone conversations are converted to digital somewhere along the line. It really doesn't matter to the end users. It's a conversation. And there are hams that have to make a big deal about how the signal is going. Does it really matter? D-STAR and the DVDongle allow us capabilities that we can use and offer to others. Does an Emergency Manager care how the information is being transmitted? Nope, they just want to trust trained communication professionals to make sure that it does get transmitted. The world is dramatically different now than 30 years, or 100 years or more ago when the terms that you use were created. What used to be a strict definition is about as grey as it can be now. Take these scenarios out for a spin and ask yourself is it a digital or analog transmission. Or even which classification that it fits into in the FCCs definitions 1. Person A talks to person B over a FM radio 2. Person A talks to person B over D-STAR radios 3. Person A sends a Radio Teletype (RTTY) signal to another station who copies it as RTTY 4. Person A sends a RTTY message to another station who listens to it with Text to Speech software (as many blind hams do) 5. Person A talks into a computer, that performs speech to text and that gets sent RTTY to another station who copies it as RTTY 6. Person A talks into a computer, that performs speech to text and that gets sent RTTY to another station who listens to it with Text to Speech software 7. Person A talks using a D-STAR radio and Person B listens using a FM radio (they can't hear each other, but what mode is it? 8. Person A talks into a D-STAR radio that goes through the Internet to another repeater where another user listens to it with a D-STAR radio. Advancements in technology have played havoc with definitions that have been made in the past. Things that might seem intuitively obvious aren't necessarily so. Some people call D-STAR transmissions RTTY, others call them voice. The FCC rules aren't clear. And in reality, we all know that the FCC terms of RTTY just ain't right either. So back to my initial response, it's a conversation. Why worry with trying to classify it? From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of john_ke5c Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2009 4:00 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: DV Dongle If one dongle user communicates with another dongle via a reflector to which no gateway is linked (no RF), is that a QSO, a VOIP telephone call, or some type of chat room? (General question, not addressed to Ed per se) 73 -- John
