> What I can't believe is that as long as digital protocol have been around, > only one of the major Amateur Radio manufacturers support it. But again, we > have what we have. And we currently have Yaesu, Kenwood, and Alinco who are > just not willing to move into this century!
At least not with Icom leading the way proprietarily. I'd like to see some sales numbers; I'd bet D-Star field radio sales represent a very small VHF/UHF market share compared to analog radios. The hype may be running out of steam. Once we have a real emergency and D-Star performs no better than analog, that bubble may burst as well. The D-Star market saturation may be close to stabilizing. I don't see how we will ever have serious digital VHF/UHF until the manufacturers agree on some common standard. Of course, better gateway and RF design and construction would not hurt either. 73 -- John
