Nate Duehr wrote: > 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. > > They are $1500 mobiles in a box. Not $6000 M3 or the like. Maybe not a good value. Certainly not top of the line. Lots of hams see a repeater as a used base or mobile that can be converted to repeater operation. Lots of M2 mobiles out there, and Micor hand me down stations. No argument that the Icom DSTAR could easily be 5 times as expensive. No argument that they are a couple of not so hot mobile radios in a box. No argument that they are cheaper than a new Master 3 or Motorola product. I don't think Icom would sell many stations at $6000 to $10,000 a pop.
> 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." > I don't know about you, but when a system module fails on a M3, (over $2000 board) or a systhesizer goes out of lock - I box and ship the module. Let a depot do the repairs. I am too damned old to see much of the SOT stuff and could easily do more damage than good with a soldering iron. > 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) > I can't listen to ProVoice either. I can look at the demodulated transmit waveform, and I can inject a signal into the receiver and look at discriminator output, but I can't take my COM120B and shoot a ProVoice signal into a radio and listen to it thru the speaker. > And I'm certainly not going to gamble club money on all of that. > Better than a club - I took my own money and bought the stuff. No government grants, no committee taking years to decide how to do things. Benevolent Dictator. > (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...) > > Is MotoTRBO the right tool when you only need one voice path? or does it have to run with 2 time slots ? Hmmmm....(kind of like AlkaSeltzer - plop plop fizzz fizzz,do you really need 2 tablets or is it a marketing ploy)? > -- > Nate Duehr, WY0X > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > You have good and valid points Nate. I am just looking at things a little differently. Not a right or wrong thing. Actually this BP medicine makes me get up in the middle of the night and I had the computer running, and stopped to shut it off when I saw your posts. Back to bed, Best 73, Steve, NU5D
