With whats out there, I don't see how you need to go with Icom anymore. The only thing that the ICOM systems give you (which might be a big thing for some) is the paging, where you put the specific call you want to talk to so that it looks for that person anywhere in the world, but if that's not a nessesity to you then you can have a 440 D-Star repeater for under $500!
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Carl W8KRF Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2010 3:21 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Re: Are you experiencing anti d-star in your area? Our experience here in Northern Ohio, where we have a new repeater sponsored by a newly formed group (N.O.D.I.G.), was that Icom is no longer giving modules away. We tried to get one and were denied. So, we went with a Satoshi board. We had even offered to guarantee the purchase of a certain number of D-STAR radios but that did not change their minds. W8KRF On 7/24/2010 12:59 PM, Chris Fowler wrote: I believe you may see this happening where the market makes sense. In large metropolitan areas with a lot of hams. If I was ICOM I would donate repeaters to clubs that had real deployment plans in hopes of selling more radios. As others start producing D-Star hardware this type of investment will make less sense. It is easy for me to give you a repeater when I also am the only one selling D-Star solutions. What you should try is to call up ICOM if your club is working on a plan and ask for a substantial discount. You can also make a case of how many members are in your club and how many may purchase radios. If the numbers make sense you'll may get a discount or even a donation. I've always said that to sell D-Star all you need to do is "sell" ARES. Once you do that you'll get greater adoption from ARES members who want the same thing as their group wants. You can then work on the hams that are not ARES members or work on individual clubs. At least with the repeater ICOM has got the ball moving (very fast). I just wished the 10Ghz hardware was 10% of what it retails for. That would help silence those that say "but the Internet is not reliable". Bert: I've never been a hater :) There were just certain things I did not like, and still don't, about D-Star. You take the good with the bad and just enjoy it. I used to complain about the expense but I've gotten over that mess. I don't really think D-Star is that much more expensive than anything else in this or other hobbies. We have people that want to buy Mototrbo digital radios and experiment with those. A used HT is about the same price as a new 91AD. Look in any old QST (with the back catalog) and run those numbers through the online inflation calculator and you'll realize we don't really pay a lot for our gear. We get a lot of value for our dollars. Chris k4fh
