Hey Gary,
Thanks for your reply. I've referred people to your videos - thanks! What you've sent me here will be very helpful in my presentation. 73's de Donald ~ N2VU -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Gary Pearce KN4AQ Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2010 3:56 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: RE: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Please help me support D-Star ... Off the top of my head (and a little from the middle...) I'm sure there's more. Similar functions: - Repeater to repeater linking, and multiple-repeater reflectors, via the Internet. - Digital Code Squelch. Like CTCSS or analog's DCS, D-STAR radios can be code squelched with numbers from 00-99 for group coded squelch. Unlike analog, this always goes through repeaters and the network. (see also: call sign squelch, below). - Network access via computer (with Echolink on analog, and DVDongle on D-STAR. Not permitted on IRLP). - Network access via radio to a simplex base station (supported by IRLP and Echolink on analog, and Hot Spot and DVAP on D-STAR. The DVAP is the size of a Dongle and creates a zone of operation for handheld use in a building like an EOC, without dragging in a radio and power supply/antenna). - System control and linking via radio functions. Touch Tone for analog IRLP/Echolink; embedded call sign fields for D-STAR. Unique to D-STAR: - Noise-free digital modulation (until the very weakest signal - then some garble before it disappears completely). When a D-STAR signal disappears, a well-modulated analog signal may be very noisy, but copyable, for a few more dB. - Built-in call sign identification. The operator's call sign is programmed into the radio and appears on every transmission, along with a short pre-programmed message (name, location, equipment, tactical function - anything you can put in 20 characters). These scroll across the display of the receiving radio on every transmission. - "call sign squelch" - keep your radio quiet until someone directs a call to you using your call sign. This works simplex, through any D-STAR repeater, and via any D-STAR linking scheme. - call sign routing. Enter someone's call sign in the YOUR field of the radio, key up through your local repeater, and your transmission will be routed through the Internet to the last D-SATAR repeater that person keyed up (and it will open their radio if they had call sign squelch enabled). There can be a delay of up to 30 minutes before their last key-up is propagated to all the other repeaters on the network, but new software is in the works to speed that up. - BREAK-IN and EMERGENCY MODE. Break-in will open up any code-squelch radio (call sign squelch or digital code squelch). EMERGENCY mode will do that AND it will TURH UP THE VOLUME on all receiving radios if they've been turned down so your transmission will be heard. - On-line record of every transmission by call sign. Your radio keeps a record of the last 10 or so call signs it received. Sites like www.dstarusers. <http://www.dstarusers.org/> org display all the users in the past hour, and individual repeater site pages show use longer than that. The DVDongle also keeps a history list. - DV Data mode on VHF/UHF. The 1200 bit/s data mode that rides along on all transmissions for short messages and small files. Can be accessed via computer connected to radio with programs like D-RATS, and used while talking or not. - DD Data mode on 1200 MHz. 128 kbit/s data appears on the back of the ID-1 radio as an Ethernet connection. With a web connection on the other end, you have long-distance, wireless Internet access (with some limitations). Unique to analog (so far): - Autopatch - RF linking between repeaters No reason these functions can't be added to D-STAR - just hasn't happened yet. KN4AQ's comment: Internet linking is an important tool for Amateur Radio, analog or digital. But it can vanish in an instant, so it shouldn't be the only link to an emergency scene. We need our RF! The program "Digital Voice for Amateur Radio" is a good, general introduction to D-STAR (and other digital voice modes), available from my web site below. Makes a good club meeting program (really 2, one for HF, one for VHF/UHF). 73, Gary KN4AQ ARVN: Amateur Radio//Video News Gary Pearce KN4AQ 508 Spencer Crest Ct. Cary, NC 27513 kn...@arvideonews. <mailto:[email protected]> com 919-380-9944 www.ARVideoNews. <http://www.arvideonews.com/> com
