Listen to DSTAR via the internet

Previously I didn't see what all the fuss was about where D-Star is concerned.
Now I really don't see what all the fuss is about.

 

Of course, sometimes it's not necessarily a bad thing if they walk away. If someone is not interested in ham radio, then they should walk away when approached about ham radio. We should simply let them go and not immediately change the subject to the internet or high speed wireless in order to keep them interested....unless of course we ourselves are no longer interested in radio and would rather just be messing around with the internet or a cell phone.

 

If the DV dongle is attached at the repeater site, (like in this case where the audio is being streamed one-way onto the internet).... then hams could use the DV dongle as a community one, saving everyone $200... all you need is a simple authentication system once you way it two way.

This would allow ham interested in talking on the D-Star network to use an open codec (GSM, ADPCM, ULAW, ALAW, etc) that is streamed to the repeater site where it then gets passed though an on-site DV dongle and converted to AMBE.

The problem here is that Robin, AA4RC found out that rather than helping open up D-Star (with his promised open D-Star Icom gateway replacement), he merely wrote another closed add-on called D-Plus.

You see, without D-Plus the DV-Dongle he manufactures/sells would have no way to connect to the D-Star network.

If $500 for a dual band analog and D-Star capable HT is a rip off then $200 for a D-Star DV-Dongle toy is a royal screw! If I want to talk over the internet from my PC, I will do so for free.

The DV-Dongle does have a place for experimenters, and D-Star repeater owners...... but once again the software side of the thing is a closed little circle.

That is my $.02...

 

Just another Tool

D Star is just another ( albeit very expensive considering today's economy ) tool for Hams to use.

Whatever works ( Especially in Emergencies ) Use it !

KH6/G3SEA

 

Agreed....

Couldn't have said it better, you'd think an Attorney said it or something...HiHi (Inside joke for James & those who looked up his QRZ profile)

D-Star, IMHO, is a relatively complex communications mode, that requires specialized (expensive) equipment to implement and use. Thereafter, it's limited by power outages, other users with D-Star, needing to know "nodes", Etc, etc, etc...

As stated above, not knocking it, per se, just find the mode & equipment cumbersome (expensive for limitations imposed) & I'm fairly technologically astute...

So as others would say, use what you like & are comfy with .. don't knock it unless you've tired it, my 2cents, mileage may vary, things ARE closer than the mirror shows & for Gosh sake ...Don't pee on the electric fence....

73, Gud Dx, etc
Above all use the "PTT button" regularly... It's a fun hobby .. something for everyone...
Gary
KB3RPE

 

True enough. But he did manage to open up Dstar itself to a group of users who don't want to spend the money on proprietary radio equipment, that is if Dstar trips your trigger. Forget what platform you're using to access it. it's all internet based anyway.

Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks...

 

Not only is D-Star not ham radio, neither is anything that uses a repeater. If it ain't point-to-point, it ain't ham.
-Dick-

 

when I got $500 to buy something I'm going to buy........?

I dont know lets see if I get $500 Frist.

The Club here was able to get the D-star setup 2m, 70cm, 23cm Voice, 23cm Data, and controller all for $4000 I think, and all they want to install is the 70cm, and not anything else. and they dont want to sell any other part of the setup.


And all I can hear is buy a Dstar radio.

 

Some people seem to have an incorrect idea of what D-STAR is and isn't.
In and of itself, it is not "internet based", nor does it require a repeater to use.

Probably won't help, but let's say that again:
[u[D-STAR does not require the internet or repeaters to work.[/u]
These can add functionality and utility to D-STAR, but are not required.

Since one can use D-STAR simplex, then it is a point-to-point system and thus must be "ham" by N3XRU's standard.
By this definition, satellites and packet cluster aren't "ham" either, so presumably XRU doesn't use either of these.

Also, if one is using D-STAR simplex, using say two Icom 92AD handhelds, then where is the internet part of this "platform"?

D-STAR, in and of itself, is just a digital mode like other digital modes such as RTTY, PSK, SSTV, Olivia, JT65, or FDMDV; it just uses the AMBE codec.
Would an open source codec be a better choice? In my opinion, yeah it would. I don't have the ability to develop one though; how about you?

In my opinion, repeaters add a useful capability to 2m and 70cm (and any other band) radios by extending the useful range of low power handhelds and travelers through an area.
Have they "passed their heyday"? Possibly so, but many repeaters are still very active.
The linking via the internet is, again, in my opinion, an interesting idea, and not necessarily radio in the strictest sense since it is possible to us a DV-Dongle at both ends, thus no RF; and even with a radio at both ends, it still has the wire link in the middle, basically just like two people talking on cordless phones in their homes. A sort of wireless party line, I guess.

I don't care one way or the other about D-STAR, though I do own an IC-2820.
It has other features that I wanted from a mobile radio that I couldn't find in other models; D-STAR was a tertiary concern, and of little use to me since there is very little activity here.

If you don't like a particular mode, great, no big deal, but at least understand what it really is before you bash it and/or those that use it.
Maybe that's just asking too much of people.

 

If yous ain't using a spark gap transmtter,
it ain't ham radio.

S'cuse me.
I have to go crank start my Model-T...

 

Time to send Aunt Mary a QSL card to acknowledge her email message to me on my birthday. Perhaps one day, when we're more accepting of progress, my card can count toward her DXCC.

 

Wow. Bash it before understanding what it is. FAIL.

Steve
KV6O

 

With my tinnitus, I get that sound without the loud volume and headphones!

I guess DStar is out for me!

TOM - N5KGN

 

The LAST thing you want to do on QRZ is explain the technology. Too many people will get CONFUSED!!- Logic doesnt work here!

 

I understand that the term D-Star has been trademarked by Icom. So you will never see D-Star radios from any other brand. That's enough for me to want nothing more to do with it.

If someone comes up with an open, free system that does what D-Star does I'm willing to give it a fair try. Until then, Echolink does a lot of it in terms of linking stations via the internet.

Echolink is used by a pretty small minority of hams as a whole. Which suggests to me that this is not the future of ham radio because linking stations, digitally or not, is not what most hams want to do. The people who push these technologies have a lot of online presence because they are internet savvy but there is a silent majority who use SSB and CW who don't participate in these debates and never will.

D-Star will be another non event like Yaesu WIRES or whatever it was/is.