[aprssig] Re: D-STAR video on YouTube

[Mark Fellhauer]

At 10:57 PM 9/23/2007, Noel Shrum wrote:

>Mark Fellhauer wrote:
>>So go ahead and bad-mouth D-Star all you want.  It just makes you look 
>>silly.   We even have people here rooting for its demise.  AND, IMHO, 
>>that's the same thing as rooting for the demise of Ham Radio.
>
>What is silly is your last statement there.
>You have way too much emotion invested into your argument.

I have nothing invested in D-Star but about 500 dollars.  My emotion is 
based on my investment in APRS.   People say that D-Star "violates" the 
spirit of ham radio.  Doesn't rooting for the demise of D-Star violate the 
spirit of Ham Radio?   Think of the time, effort, physical labor, and cash, 
put into the already incredible growth of D-Star by other ham radio 
operators.  My point is and was that people here get very upset by APRS 
detractors in the Ham Radio community.   Can't we here on this SIG, be 
better than that?  Apparently not.

You seem to be totally unaware of the incredible growth D-Star has seen in 
the last year.  I spent 3 years in the 1990's to get a dozen people using 
APRS in Phoenix.




>Ham Radio hasn't died just because CW is no longer a test requirement, and 
>if D-STAR lives or dies, Ham Radio will live on.  Ham Radio isn't a single 
>mode.  Ham Radio is about Communication.
>
>Now my complaint about D-STAR, from what I have read you can't use it with 
>standard repeaters.  Do Icom D-STAR radios transmit FM also?
>I have also read that D-STAR takes up more bandwidth than analog FM.
>Is that right? That does not seem like a good thing to be using on 2M.

You've been the victim of D-Star FUD.

D-Star radios can transmit on standard FM, just like any radio.

Standard repeaters will not work with D-Star mode.  But since we've seen 
that D-Star works very well on AO-27, standard repeaters can be modified to 
deal with D-Star.

The San Diego D-Star repeater on Mt. Woodson which was KE6KRU until last 
Saturday and now KI6KQU under the auspices of PAPA, is a voice repeater 
modified to pass D-Star traffic.  It is by far my favorite D-Star repeater 
as regular users go.

D-Star takes less bandwidth than analog FM.   In marginal conditions D-Star 
works better than FM in many cases.

And if you think Ham Radio will live on - I think you need to look at the 
numbers of people coming into ham radio again and their 
demographics.    People who want to stay the course and stick to a 1998 
model of ham radio are dooming us.


Mark
KC7BXS