On Sep 3, 2007, at 10:49 AM, George Henry wrote: > I pointed out that Part 97 only gives a frequency coordinator the > power to >>> recommend<< technical parameters, not to "control" them, and >>> certainly not > to deny coordination based solely on the construction of the > repeater, as > noted above. (A popular Motorola commercial repeater is, in fact, > a pair of > GM-300 mobiles and a mobile duplexer in a desktop housing. The D- > Star 1.2 > GHz repeater also consists of a pair of ID-1 mobiles mounted in the > same > rack-mount chassis. Would TASMA deny them coordination?)
I'm not going to jump into TASMA's coordination policies... they have enough problems out that a'way as it is with overcrowding... and not just on the ham bands. But... I'll point out that even the Icom VHF/UHF D-Star systems are just "mobiles in a box"... which anyone who has worked on a properly engineered repeater knows... SUCKS -- on many levels. But it's selling, so I guess people don't care. The quality level of these systems will certainly come back to bite someone in the ass, sooner or later. I keep asking how Icom's planning on allowing for field repairs, and getting nothing from owners. I guess you send the whole thing back to them... "No user serviceable parts inside." Other things as negatives include : - No service monitor adding the D-Star protocol or Icom's particular "flavor" of it natively to their test suite. - Bad behavior when co-channeled with other D-Star or analog systems. - Proprietary/closed CODEC (AMBE) ... all kinda makes me ill to think that it'll probably become a de- factor Ham standard for digital communications. If D-Star is the best hams will ever get, it's kinda sad, really. And I'm certainly not going to gamble club money on all of that. (Trust me, I love digital technology, and want to see hams using it -- I just find the current products from Icom somewhat hard to take seriously. Some would say I'm a P25 fan, but not really that either... the callsign-based Internet routing of D-Star gives it an edge for the Ham market that P25 can't touch. But at least the P25 repeater offerings were designed to be repeaters, and the test gear manufacturers all have products that can actually test their performance in real-world conditions. For commercial operators, MotoTRBO is fascinating too, but again -- lacks "ham specific" features and test gear...) -- Nate Duehr, WY0X [EMAIL PROTECTED]
