Thread: D-star anyone?
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Old 01-30-2012, 07:59 AM   #3
W9WLS
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Location: Oakland City Ind.
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Well ,, here I go sticking my foot in again.
D-Star, DMR-MARC, and other "DIGITAL" protocol network's are nice and they do work (most of the time) but seem to have at least two big draw back's.
1. They are "PROPRIETARY" , D-Star is "ICOM" only, DMR-MARC is almost exclusively MOTOROLA, not cross platform or cross brand (I think Yaesu is working on something also) .
2. $$$$ Big buck's for the compatible equipment which means that those of us on fixed budgets have to do some figuring on what to do with-out to buy a radio to work which ever system.

They all have their good points and not so good points,,, BUT I feel that the main thing is the cross-brand / cross-protocol compatibility issue,,,, untill there is is an open source standard that is affordable to everyone (or reasonably so) your stuck being "ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE" .
Some years ago "AOR" came out with an add-on box but I haven't heard much of it lately and a add-on box for hand held users would be a "PITA" to say the least.
GO FIGURE !
I'm not saying the concept isn't good, just not something universally practical at the moment.
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