On Sep 2, 2010, at 6:36 AM, Dr. Joeseph Mesh wrote:
Some respond to the challenge of acquiring the “knowledge required”
to accomplish a remarkable feat of great distance and low power on
HF...
Others like it handed to them effortlessly with fidelity....
Which side one agrees with is a personal issue.
Some say “real men” use their heads and learn to achieve on their
own without the net - then they take great pride in the resulting
accomplishment. The endorphins released are addicting to those.
Others enjoy jumping on the “new tech” - sit back and relax -
approach....
For me the excitement in D-Star resides in the improvement in DX
mobile communications.
In even the very best situation D-Star will NEVER reflect the
magnitude of personal accomplishment seen on HF SSB in “real radio”
relying on RF and knowledge...
I got a QSL card today from Europe via D-Star... OK... But of
what value is the signal report and distance?
Just different .... Little more.
Don't forget, the "infrastructure" of D-STAR is useful, but there is
such a thing as simplex D-STAR with all the challenges and rewards as
any other RF based communications. On VHF/UHF we can see who is able
to get EME D-STAR, on HF we can see who sets new mode DX (IC-9100 does
10 meters, but in some parts of the world there are fewer mode
restrictions and even the US rules seem to allow for "Phone" in
bandwidth and modulation index of D-STAR on other HF bands - and some
hams have tried it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlIqpedYsYM )
John D. Hays
Amateur Radio Station K7VE
PO Box 1223
Edmonds, WA 98020-1223 VOIP/SIP: j...@hays.org
