I have to agree with you about the current cost of D-Star radios. But there are some ways around this. People can have a lot of fun with the DV Dongle, connecting in via DPlus to a huge variety of D-Star repeaters and reflectors. The Dongle, as I recall is about US $200. Next, there are some projects underway to homebrew add-on boards to analog radios (one is already on the market, but it's expensive -- I suspect the ones under development will cost relatively less). Finally, I am hearing rumors that one of the amateur radio manufacturers (not considered a major manufacturer but a good one nonetheless) is planning to sell a D-Star radio in the future. I suspect if it's priced right, it will sell like hotcakes.
Regarding complexity, it's been my experience to ask new D-Star users to please NOT read the part in the manual that talks about callsign routing, zones, etc. Just make sure they get programming software and show them a few simple examples of DPlus linking and unlinking. They will have no problems getting up to speed and start having fun on D-Star. Then, later, if they are curious, they can learn about the wonderfulness of callsign routing and all the rest. With the cost of non-ICOM D-Star repeaters coming way, way down, I don't think clubs will have any significant incremental cost of a D-Star repeater over an analog FM repeater. Jim - K6JM ----- Original Message ----- From: The Latino Ham _Not Spam To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 2:18 PM Subject: Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Are you exprerencing anti d-star in your area? My two Cents on the D-star Drama. The problem here is not the technology itself. The problem with Dstar is that radios are so expensive. On one hand you have ham clubs that can dishout the money to put up a wonderful dstar repeater but in the other hand you have hams that can afford an analogue radio and they feel like they are being left out not to mention the complexity of operating a dstar radio. As far as radio frequency pairs are concerned, I believe that if a radio club wants to put a dstar repeater in their area, they should take down an analogue pair that they have in use and use for dstar. STOP HOGGING UP THE SPECTRUM, It is only fair. 2M and 73cm are already crowded as it is. I dont think hams are afraid of change, It is about the money that has to be dished out buy a radio to get out on the 2/73/220Mhz bands. We all know how expensive it is to maintain an analogue repeater now think about how much it is going to cost to maintain a digital repeater. I can assure you that membership fees are going to go up and then what? Uncle Sam is not going to give grants without something in return so go figure. Echolink is software that complements a repeater system, echoirlp costs are not that bad compared to a DV dongle or the highspeed dstar gateway. I for one do not oppose change, I just choose to ignore the dstar hype. KILO_INDIA-SIX_ELE_ENE_EQUIS! 73'S HASTA LA PROXIMA
