D-STAR illegal in France

D-STAR illegal in France

While Radio Amateurs in the rest of the world have embraced modern digital communications, it would appear D-STAR is illegal in France and there is now a European Parliament petition on the matter.

A report on the French digital ham radio website (DR@F) says that the regulator, the ARCEP, has said the D-STAR protocol specifications could allow ham-radio operators to connect their station to Internet and that is prohibited.
The ARCEP also cites alleged concerns regarding Cryptography & National Security as well as the use of a proprietary CODEC.

The DR@F are calling on all European Ham-radio societies to help them in their battle to allow all Digital Voice modes, Internet access and no restrictive experiment in France.

It seems incredible that in the 21st century a country would attempt to stop its Radio Amateurs from using modern means of communications.

You can sign the European Parliament Petition - Digital Voice & Internet Access in France at
http://draf.asso.fr/index.php?pages/Digital-Voice-Internet-Access-in-France-Petition



DR@F D-STAR Situation in France in English
http://draf.asso.fr/index.php?post/2010/06/28/D-STAR-situation-in-France

Digital Ham Radio France (DR@F) in Google English
http://tinyurl.com/FranceDRAF

REF National Society in Google English
http://tinyurl.com/FranceREF

ARCEP in Google English
http://tinyurl.com/FranceARCEP







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The French have got it right.

The only petition worth signing is one that bands DSTAR worldwide.

 

D-Star

D-Star Technology is ham radio on steriods. The applications are very interesting, and the methods for communication are quite different than adjusting plate and load in a TS-830s or an old Swan. Computers and the internet enable hams to run digital modes. D* will continue to grow and will eventually become the future of ham radio, like it or not.

 

well, if there was two different petitions, one for d* and another for digital to internet interconnect, I would sign just for internet interconnect. D*, for as long as it stands on the AMBE codec, may rest in peace.

Actually, it is ham radio on antipregnacy pills, not steroids. Nothing good can emerge in a world where your voice is patented.

 

Future of ham radio? Your basis? I remember when a convertible car/airplane was the "future of commuting". Or when DC was to be the universal method of commercial power distribution.

If it is the future, I'm glad I won't be around to see it.

de Brian/K3KO

 

Well, why not?

>
>It seems incredible that in the 21st century a country would attempt
>to stop its Radio Amateurs from using modern means of communications.

That is also the tenor of the quoted website, but if you read the letter fronm ARCEP they raise valid (to me ;-)) points.

It is normal that a radio amateur has to comply to the laws of his country. If France allows connection to the Internet or not is for France to say.

France has always had a strong control on use of cryptographic methods in electronic communications, and ARCEP says they view a codec using proprietary, not open (hello ICOM!) standards as suitable for disguising communication - i.e., cryptography - because communication cannot be listened to anymore unless you license a codec yourself (i.e.; pay. Through the nose.).

Interesting.

Whether you say hooray for open source at this point or woohoo about not being allowed to use ICOM devices for D-STAR is in the eye of the beholder.

Personally, I always found D-STAR "difficult" - granted it's a brilliant piece of work, but isn't amateur radio about openness and not about a closed shop technology?

Anyway, my guess would be that our friends in F just have to push the right buttons here.

 

Well, why not?

>
>It seems incredible that in the 21st century a country would attempt
>to stop its Radio Amateurs from using modern means of communications.

That is also the tenor of the quoted website, but if you read the letter fronm ARCEP they raise valid (to me ;-)) points.

It is normal that a radio amateur has to comply to the laws of his country. If France allows connection to the Internet or not is for France to say.

France has always had a strong control on use of cryptographic methods in electronic communications, and ARCEP says they view a codec using proprietary, not open (hello ICOM!) standards as suitable for disguising communication - i.e., cryptography - because communication cannot be listened to anymore unless you license a codec yourself (i.e.; pay. Through the nose.).

Interesting.

Whether you say hooray for open source at this point or woohoo about not being allowed to use ICOM devices for D-STAR is in the eye of the beholder.

Personally, I always found D-STAR "difficult" - granted it's a brilliant piece of work, but isn't amateur radio about openness and not about a closed shop technology?

Anyway, my guess would be that our friends in F just have to push the right buttons here.

 

Dead Star ?

A digital radio system that can't even send an instant message without an
external PC.

Call that progress ?

Overpriced junk.

Digital voice for the sake of it - and nothing more.

 

Tell the group doing to the petition to split it: Allowing the use of a proprietary vocoder, and allowing internet access via ham radio.

I'll sign the "Allow Internet access via ham radio", with some caveats.

 

Hooray for the French!

That's two wonderful presents I've received from France, this year alone!

1) the µChameleon

2)Their stance on crypto/ proprietary


Merci beaucoup !

Bill, N4QA

 

I'm surprised at the statement that France does not allow radio connections to the internet. If so, both Echolink and APRS gateways would be prohibited too. Yet check the list of connected Echolink nodes and there are several with F callsigns, and look at Paris on aprs.fi and you will see gateways shown there. Perhaps each licensee has to apply for special permission, in which case the situation is not very different from what it is here.

Given the slightly hysterical tone of the website (might as well ban ham radio, etc) and the fact that I can't read the original French document it's hard to be sure what the real issue is here.

 

An Englishman saying the French got it right. I never thought I'd live to see the day.

 

Why am I visualizing a scene from Real Genius (an early Val Kilmer movie) in which all the students attending a lecture have left their tape recorders running to record the lecture while they are elsewhere and the professor has left his tape player to deliver the lecture while he is elsewhere?

 

I am reminded of Mark Twain's phrase :" It's un-American. It's un-British. IT'S FRENCH!"

The French can do whatever they want. It must be difficult to live in a country where your bowel movements are monitored. Liberte , Equalite, baloney ...

 

As for the use of D-Star... I don't own one. Never will because of proprietary firmware. When I have to buy their hardware/firmware package to work a mode, it just is NOT worth it.

Also we are getting a great example of the "future of digital communications" with the changeover of television to digital. We used to be able to take a portable TV to the park with us if we wanted to watch a baseball game. Now, unless you are in a STRONG signal area, there is nothing. Digital TV is an all or nothing event. Look at error correcting modes like DIGTRX that require a passably strong signal to get a picture across.

NO! For weak signal modes, the old analog rigs will be around for a LONG time (and internally digitally enhanced receivers)! On the air digital modes (beyond cw and narrow bandwidth modes like psk31) are a novelty. When nothing else can get through, try CW.

As for the French ban on D-Star... good for them! I'll hoist a pint to them. Good show! It is no business of the rest of the world what they do internally with their radio regulations. Everyone seems to think we are all world citizens or something lately (or at least since the 2008 election).