Chris Fowler wrote:
We have US based D-Star reps. Talk to them and ask if ICOM Japan is
stupid.
Last year, I was in a meeting with the head of Icom's D-STAR development
from Japan. I tried to explain to him how DD could be more effectively
marketed in the US (a lower cost unit with an Ethernet port on one end
and an antenna connector on the other - I had a few EMCOMM people in the
room who agreed that this was needed on 23cm, plus some interest in a
70cm DD device), and his reaction demonstrated a total lack of interest
in what the US market thought, e.g. he was the expert and he would
define what we needed in the market place.
When the 9100 was announced, I looked at the specs and the US
regulations and it appears to me that D-STAR meets the requirements to
operate on more than the 10m HF bands. (Part 97.305 D-STAR has a
modulation index of 0.5 and a bandwidth comparable to phone
transmission (AM)) I suggested to US Icom product management that the
firmware should not limit D-STAR below 10m, the response was "it's too
late in the development."
I am a fan of Icom amateur radios, and own a few and will probably buy
more over time -- but even though Icom's US amateur radio management is
pretty tuned in to the US market, they still work for Icom Japan.
Their software, on the other hand, is not very good at all. If they
would publish full specifications a lot of software could be written
that would expand their sales considerably. Fortunately, we have some
good reverse engineering experts in our ranks and there his a lot of
activity going on to create alternatives to the Icom G2 system.
Unfortunately, those same folks are building G2 compatible software that
propagates the horrible architecture that currently exists.
--
John D. Hays
Amateur Radio Station K7VE <http://k7ve.org>
PO Box 1223
Edmonds, WA 98020-1223
VOIP/SIP: [email protected] <sip:[email protected]>
Email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
