milkman wrote: "It seems to me that D-Star could just be a huge money pit at this time."
It depends on how you go about it. I bought a 91AD at Dayton, just to get my feet wet. It cost about the same as my favorite QRP radio (FT-817ND) or about half of my inexpensive HF QRO radio. Turns out my QTH suffers from multipath to the nearest D-Star repeater. I joined a Yahoo Group of local D-Star users, and one of them had a used 800H at a good price. Picked that up and it ended up in my car. Another Ham had a Mirage BD-35 amp that boosted my HT's output -- again, it was a good deal. By that time I realized the people on the area's D-Star repeaters were interesting, and the people on the linked reflectors were too. Recently I put up a D-Star Hotspot at my house. I had a spare analog FM VHF/UHF radio and a laptop that normally sits idle except when travelling, so the HotSpot cost less than $150. This allows my D-Star HT access into the D-Star network of repeaters and worldwide reflectors -- at low power it provides well over a mile coverage around my QTH. I can boost the power if I need to. This non-ICOM D-Star addition to my shack is working out very nicely. I enjoy HF, particularly digital modes. When I look at HF radios, linears and antennas, that is the biggest money pit part of my hobby. I have two working boatanchor stations that I've sunk some money into -- way more than my D-Star costs. I also enjoy QRP, and I get a lot of pleasure there for not much money spent. D-Star is the same -- not much money but a lot of fun. Jim - K6JM ----- Original Message ----- From: milkman To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 4:49 PM Subject: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] I Want To Know??? I'm new to this group and would like to start off first saying Hello to everyone here. Now what I don't understand is this. It seems to me that D-Star could just be a huge money pit at this time. As I look around my state we have 4 D-Star repeaters total. Out of over 230 repeaters. And none of the D-Star work. What I'd like to know is. If there are 660,000 Ham in the US. And less than 3000 on D-Star. How long is it before the other 663,000 catch on to D-Star. And is it worth the effort? And wait for this format get up and running? And if D-Star is so great. why hasn't Kenwood & Yaesu joined in? Because just reading post in this group. And looking at our D-Star repeaters in MD. Just makes me wonder if I could be throwing good money after bad? And anything that seems to divide the Hams can't be good. Can it?
