At 01:19 AM 1/10/2010, Don Bowen wrote:
I am contemplating buying the Icom 880H radio. It will be used mostly
for Moble in my pickups. What are some of the uses of D-Star while
mobile? It will not have a computer attached, at least in the near term.
--
Don Bowen KI6DIU
Hi, Don,
Good question with a long answer, but I'll try to keep it short.
First, see if there are any D-STAR repeaters in your area, or the areas you
travel to. D-STAR doesn't work through analog repeaters - you need to have
D-STAR repeaters to talk through.
Then, at the simple level, D-STAR is much like using FM. You dial in your
local repeater frequency, listen to the activity, and talk using D-STAR
digital voice mode. The difference you'll notice is that there is no noise,
and the voice quality is a little different. In place of noise, you'll
occasionally hear some digital garble (we call it R2D2, because it sounds
like the whistles and pops made by the little robot in the Star Wars
movies). One other difference is that your call sign, and a little
information you entered into your radio (name, QTH, radio model), appears
on the display of receiving stations.
At the next level, many (but not all) D-STAR repeaters are connected to the
Internet. This allows you to monitor and talk with hams all over the world.
If you've used IRLP or Echolink, it's a similar principal. You can link two
repeaters together, or link your repeater to a reflector with potentially
dozens of other repeaters connected. And that's where the real fun begins.
You can add a GPS and every time you transmit, your coordinates appear as
some data the receiving stations can see. Some of the radios can display
that with a compass rose that points to you and shows your distance from
them (the 880 does not display that).
There are lots of resources for learning more about D-STAR. I'll point you
to some of mine:
I wrote an article for QST titled "Operating D-STAR" that covers the
basics, and reviews of several D-STAR radios (including the 880). You can
download PDF's of them on my web site: www.arvideonews.com in the
"OtherStuff" section.
I've produced several videos about D-STAR. You can see previews of them on
my web site. The best introduction is the DVD "Digital Voice for Amateur
Radio." That DVD also covers the HF digital voice modes, and a little about
D-STAR's "competition" on VHF-UHF, the P-25 digital voice mode. This DVD
makes a good club meeting program if the hams in your area aren't familiar
with D-STAR yet.
When you get into it deeper and want to see some background, I have DVDs of
the D-STAR Forums at Dayton for 2008 and 2009, and a user seminar presented
by the guys who put up the Charlotte D-STAR repeater.
I expect you'll get several more takes on your question here. Enjoy!
73,
Gary KN4AQ
ARVN: Amateur Radio//Video News
Gary Pearce KN4AQ
508 Spencer Crest Ct.
Cary, NC 27513
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
919-380-9944
www.ARVideoNews.com
