I think that you to are missing my point. None of the D-Star repeaters in my area are up and running. So no hw can you use what is not there? I DID NOT SAY THAT I CAN'T REACH THEM. I work mobile and base. It's that the repeater's not online! Please read what was said. And Ed himself said that D-Star is worthless to some locations. And I live in one of those locations. And like I said I can hit repleaters 100 miles away. Mobile and Base. So to me 40 miles is nothing. Everyone in America does not live in a D-Star hotspot. So that makes it worthless. I give up!
--- In [email protected], "J. Moen" <j...@...> wrote: > > My experience with D-Star repeaters is they give me a bit more range than > analog FM, as long as there's no multipath. I can work a D-Star repeater on > top of Mt. Diablo in northern California from Dixon with my 91AD running less > than 5 watts with an HT -- this is over 40 miles. In the greater San > Francisco Bay Area, we have six D-Star repeaters I'm aware of, not counting > ones north of the Bay, or over in Sacramento. They all work. > > I put up a D-Star Hotspot using a spare analog FM radio and a spare laptop > for $140. Though it has a lousy antenna, this gives me HT access ot the > D-Star network out about a mile, and when I crank the Hotspot power up from 5 > to 10 watts, I get mobile access out about 15 miles with the lousy antenna. > > D-Star flat out works. If you live somewhere where it doesn't, that only > shows that those repeater operators are not achieving what almost all other > D-Star repeaters are doing. You should refrain from drawing a line through > your one data point. > > I have a friend living in a small town in Iowa. They don't have the funding > to put up an ICOM D-Star repeater. He and a few others bought ICOM D-Star > radios and have been operating simplex. But he now has a D-Star Hotspot on > the air, so he can get into the D-Star DPlus network of repeaters and > reflectors from his home area and while mobile. He may convert it to a > D-Star compatible repeater. I gave him the Hotspot hardware, another friend > gave him the computer, and he had a spare analog radio. So he has D-Star > network connectivity for no out of pocket costs. Life is too short to > complain -- get creative and enjoy! > > Jim - K6JM > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: milkman > To: [email protected] > Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 11:37 PM > Subject: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: I Want To Know??? > > > > > Ed,You say that 37 mile is pretty far? I can hit repeaters over 100 miles > away everyday on 2m. I work more than one repeater 4 in Harrisburg, Pa- 2 in > Hagerstown, Md - 1 in Salisbury, Md- 1 in Crisfield, Md. I work Delaware, > Virginia, & DC. All more than 40 miles. So how is D-Star better than that if > 37 miles is far? And I live in a hole. And yes NONE of our D-Star repeaters > are working! And I realize that not all 600,000+ Hams are on VHF & UHF. But I > do know that I can talk 50+ miles on 2meter simplex mobile. And I would like > to know what happens to D-Star when the power fails. Can I still talk > everywhere? I also think that D-Star equipment is not cheap. I paid over $500 > for a dual band. That I can't use where I live. How is that cheap? (I paid > $650 for my FT-857D and it covers everything). And I'm not the worlds > cheapest Ham. Yes I do own a few 2m & dual banders. Plus an Icom 706MK2G, > Yaesu FT.857D, Alinco DX-77T,& Ten-Tec Omni VI+. But when I look at the > Baltimore, MD/Washington, DC Metro area and only find 7 D-Star repeaters for > 2meters. And I know that Maryland's D-Star do not work at all. Also New York > City ONLY have 3 D-Star repeaters. Which are 2 major Metro Areas in the US. > So I'm really confused. Where are the users? Sure not here. Check the New > York and Maryland, DC, DE, VA, & WVA area repeater Council list. I guess it's > that I feel robbed & lied too since there's nothing here. Now I see it as a > waste of money for my area. I think it needs to be made public that D-Star is > not up and running in all areas of the USA. And I think that with over half > of the 500 repeaters worldwide in the US. Still comes out to 250. With 50 > States that works out to an average of 5 per State? And you say 37 miles is > kinda far for a repeater? So that means most of the Hams in the U.S. couldn't > use D-Star if they wanted to. But Ed I do thank very much for you openning my > eyes to just how worthless D-Star is for most of us living here in America. > Thanks everyone for helping find out that D-Star is not for everyone. Just a > few select Hams. Which I think is very unfair. And after getting the facts. > For me and most other Hams it is throwing good money after bad. Thanks again > for letting me know! I'm sure glad that I came here. This group is on the > ball. > > These are up to date listings. With in the last month. Pages are dated. > > http://www.tmarc.org/index_files/Page403.html > > http://www.nationsdial.com/nk2u/ > > Israel W1ASA >
