Let's get some details correct. Icom is NOT the only manufacturer of D-STAR radios. Before the JARL would ratify the protocol, there had to be two manufacturers. Kenwood is the other manufacturer (okay, in reality they resale the Icom radio, but legally there are two manufacturers)
Kenwood's and Icom's commercial digital product is based upon D-STAR. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of J. Moen Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 3:31 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: Alternative D-STAR Equipment A couple of years ago, I talked to a Kenwood manager who discussed Kenwood's approach to DStar. Short term, there are some tactical issues. Right now, some agencies (e.g. Emergency Centers that want some Ham gear in there) with government grants are required to follow federal procurement rules, including not buying single-source or single-manufacturer products. So if Kenwood entered the DStar market, it would make it easier for ICOM to sell to certain customers where right now Kenwood has the edge. Longer term, Kenwood's business model is to focus on products with a reasonable margin, and they are not interested in entering a new market and seeing a price war that would reduce traditional margins. So in the meantime, Kenwood is willing to let ICOM do the heavy lifting to get DStar into the mainstream. There's no way of telling if, in future years, Kenwood, Yaesu and others will decide to jump in. I believe Kenwood's commercial land/mobile business includes P25 radios, and I suspect they were hoping DStar would fall on its face and allow Kenwood to jump in with an alternative digital voice system for amateur radio. It doesn't look to me like that's going to happen, and that ICOM is largely being successful in making DStar an important amateur radio technology. Jim - K6JM ----- Original Message ----- From: kn4aq<mailto:[email protected]> To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 11:45 AM Subject: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: Alternative D-STAR Equipment --- In [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>, "Ted Wrobel" <twro...@...<mailto:twro...@...>> wrote: > Hi Folks, > > The codec used is the one defined by the D-STAR spec. It is the DVSI AMBE > codec and is, I am told, the same as that used in P25 systems. For the record, P25 uses DVSI's "IMBE" vocoder. It's similar to the AMBE used in D-STAR, but not identical. The AMBE vocoder is available in single units for $20. John KE5C has stated twice now that D-STAR isn't open for any and all manufacturers: "It's still not an open mode like the others - AM, CW, SSB, FM, PSK, etc." Well, true enough. It's not "open" like AM and CW. It's open like D-STAR. Use the AMBE chip and anyone can build it. Anyone can build a repeater. Anyone can build a controller. Anyone can build a Gateway. Anyone can build a radio. All of that has been done. The other major manufacturers aren't convinced yet that it's a market they want to enter, but they can, anytime. They certainly can build better repeaters than ICOM has! We're just clawing our way out of couple years of a really terrible economy. Who WOULD be risking money in this environment? Kudos to ICOM for having faith in the D-STAR community and extending their product line while we wait for the others to recognize this market. 73, Gary KN4AQ
