Thread: D-star anyone?
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Old 08-16-2014, 06:19 PM   #10
N3LYT
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Maine
Posts: 709
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Ham View Post
I would put D-Star in the same category as WIRES - YAESU.
D-Star was a idea devised by ICOM to sell more radios by incorporating a type of digital mode.
The only problem with D-Star is that amateurs do not have a lack of frequencies and we don't need to reduce the bandwidth of our signals.

The other problem with D-Star is that you loose range due to the fact that it is digital and digital is all or nothing. Either you have crystal clear audio or you have drops outs. At least with analog - as long as you can hear the other person you can work them..

The New Yaesu's has their share of problems also - but we put up a couple of new Yaesu repeaters, but there is no word on when they will find a solution to the fact that they won't talk to D-Star radios while in digital mode.
In analog mode, the repeater seems to be fairly sensitive and in digital you have better capture effect.
The new Yaesu radios are very expensive - I guess they will come down in price once the market is saturated.
The digital side is secure for now since it is not P-25, you cannot listen to it with a digital scanner.

Because it is both analog and digital, you can use either radio with the Yaesu repeaters.....
My guess is that once the Yaesu system catches on, the ICOM stuff will go away or get better. D-Star will die a slow death...
I agree with that the Dstar is a vocoder system so every thing you buy D star you are buying the licence for the system. The Yeasu is C4FM a standard digital voice mode. The Icom Dstar radios are pretty pricey too. The Icom repeaters are twice as much as the Yeasu's. Our ARC was given a Yeasu repeater system by Yeasu a hand held and a mobile radio I set up the repeater and so far my only complaint is the lack of controller functions with the internal controller being hams we are too cheap to buy an external controller Yaesu has told me that "they are working on that" so maybe a new flash will come a long soon. The digital voice is out standing and the analog voice is top notch also. The repeater deals with all 4 modes seamlessly so no one is left out.
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