Why not do APCO-25?

I came upon this interesting article on the eHam net. D-STAR can integrate with public safety at the IP level. Ham radio still remains ham radio and we don’t really open up the public safety bands to some of the poorly disciplined hams that I sometimes hear on the air.

When a total disaster like Katrina does happen, only a ham, on HF, with a home brewed antenna, made from what ever is available, will be on the air. The portable repeaters, which have been pre-planned, by service-minded clubs, can be hauled into the outskirts of the disaster area, to re-establish VHF communications on the ham frequencies. If the new portable repeaters were D-STAR compliant, a short cable, plugged into a working IP, would make any brand of D-STAR HT capable of connecting to the public service agencies outside of the disaster area.

It is going to be up to the ingenuity of hams to figure out how to make this a reality. It will happen, although discord and self-interests from some hams might slow it down.

 

That sir, I am afraid isn't ideal.

Here is why.

Public safety in general isn't going to allow HAM operators to be on their systems. Further more, until it becomes widely used, they are definately not going to allow such radio's on the IP network. In addition, the application of IP based radio networks and IP interoperbility work in different ways.

In you own example, if the public safety system is not available due to damage (which has become less and less in recent years), "plugging in" wouldn't be an option if the PS network isn't up in the first place. Furthermore, operating in the DStar mode would cut off most other operators who may be coming into the area to assist. The best line that I have seen, and I believe is true is "Analog is already interoperable." Never mind you will have HF, VHF/UHF/900/1.2 etc, now you have analog and digital and it all has to come together. Can it work? Yup. Does it usually work in a real world event? Nope.

Either way in my years as a ham, I don't feel as though amatuer radio has as an important role in disaster communications as once was thought as nessesary (Cold War). With recent improvents in commerical radio technology and infractsture, HAM are/becoming a thing of the past. Perhaps in small underfunded/poor communities we may be able to help in a limited role, but not in the suburban/city enviroment in this day in age-which is where the majority of hams want to work in.

 

A <span style='color:red'>D-STAR Last Heard Report</span> may be viewed at http://www.d-starusers.org/dstar.php . Here you may view activity on the <span style='color:red'>D-STAR Network,</span> as it grows. As you can see, 2-meters, 70 cm and 1.2 GHz are seamlessly and automatically linked by simply programming into your radio, the callsign of the station to which you wish to connect.

Other frequencies will be added to the network, as skilled hams build their own D-STAR repeaters. As the repeaters start appearing within range of each other, these repeaters will be able to connect 100% by air link. Because D-STAR is an open protocol, all of the necessary information to play by those rules is publicly available.

 

"As skilled hams build their own D-STAR repeaters"

This I would like to see. Unlike conventional analog repeaters, digital repeaters require much more work, software and hardware wise in order to work properly. The major hurdle is how to resync and reclock the digital signal so that it is not degraded or improperly sent back on the repeater output.

Its simply not plug and play. This is one of the many reasons why the commerical digital repeaters are not too cheap. Homebrewing a digital repeater is very difficult and requires excellent abilities on several dicipline levels.

 

I never said that this job was for every ham. I said it was for <span style='color:green'>”SKILLED”</span> hams. There are some hams out there, who know what they are doing. Just give them time, and they will step up to the challenge. There is already a home brewed D-STAR repeater in Portland OR. As for myself, I am going to have to be content to use off the shelf equipment, because I don’t possess those skills.

I do have a son, with a degree in electrical engineering, who might some day find the time to give me a hand. The problem is time and distance.

 

Do any of you D-star people know if the dual band dstar mobiles will crossband dstar?

 

The only dual band D-STAR ham radio at present time is the <span style='color:red'>ID-800H</span>. It cannot be programmed to crossband. It would not surprise me if the next model out would have a dual display and have crossband capabilities.

Once the D-STAR digital repeaters are in place, and they are hooked into a gateway, the call sign of a received signal is captured and posted to the system registry for other D-STAR repeaters to use for the purpose of routing calls. You will be able to do call sign to call sign calling, regardless of which band your friend is on.

 

Well that blows chunks


If they had a dual band rig that would do cross band, I might actually consider replacing the ft8800. That is assuming it was an equivelant or better receiver.

 

It might be helpful to note:

The U.S. Army used a ham repeater for coordination in New Orleans

Most of the Katrina and Rita disaster relief traffic (offcial messages / logistics -- not Health and Welfare) was carried on ham frequencies

Primary links between the Louisiana state EOC, parish EOC, and parish law enforcement were carried on ham frequencies until at least 9 Sep 2005 following Katrina.

At least a dozen rescues in and around New Orleans were initiated and coordinated by ham radio.

Thousands of people would have gone unfed without ham radio. (I personally forced the hand of the Red Cross to get meals to Bogalusa after we ran out of food.)

And that, folks, is just a small portion.

 

<span style='color:blue'>Seth</span> (N3JFW)

People, who live in <span style='color:blue'>Glass</span> houses, shouldn’t throw stones. You’re just looking for something to complain about. How many cross band repeaters are there in your area? Can your radio cross band with a radio in another part of the world? I don’t think so. D-STAR can, and you won’t even need a dual band radio to do it. Even your ASTRO can’t do that.

Give this new technology a chance to prove itself, and you can play follow the leader once it is fully implemented. Or you can go to http://www.icomamerica.com/amateur/dstar/ and learn all about it. Some day, even YAESU will produce a D-STAR ham radio.

 

Not at all Jan. It was a simple question I did not know the answer too. I kinda hoped they would.

Aside from every ham with a dualbander? That depends on who puts thier dual band mobile in crossband.

VOIP technology has been around for a long time dude.

Plus, I can add echolink or irlp to ANY radio.

I hope it does work out. If it does, and having it becomes more than a phallic symbol, I'll be happy to spend the money.

Sure. If it becomes a proven technology. I hope it (or something) becomes a digital standard for ham gear for all manufacturers.

Dude, I am one of very few astro capable hams in my area. I'd like to see more people use it. However the bottom line is that unless the few of us that have astro get a repeater up on the air running mixed mode, it's not going to happen.


Jan, it's great that you are willing to expand into digital modes. How many people have you actually talked to in your province though?

 

Seth

I hope that you will find it in your heart to forgive me for my lack of wit. When I saw your name, temptation got the best of me. I can clearly see that your name is much easier to pronounce than mine.

I appreciate your honesty regarding your ASTRO experience. I can relate to that, because there are only 4 D-STAR radios in my immediate area, and 3 of them are mine. Currently I have only one other D-STAR user to talk to in this city. That will change sometime next year when the first 2-meter or 70 cm D-STAR repeater is installed. Than I will be able to cross band with any other D-STAR repeater that has a gateway hooked up to the controller. I noticed that some of the dual display units in Japan do have a “D” behind the model number. I suspect that these are digital units. I don’t think they are necessarily D-STAR units. I hope that the next new D-STAR unit will have dual displays and digital volume controls.

There is a new home brewed 70 cm repeater in Portland OR. It will do both APCO P-25 and D-STAR. You will see more of this happening in the years to come. They are not yet able to communicate between platforms. I suspect that is only a problem that will be resolved at the IP level. Somebody will write the software.

 

Go to: http://www.southgatearc.org/competitions/ic-v82.htm and enter to win an ICOM IC-V82. Your odds of winning are better than if you buy a lottery ticket and it won’t cost you one thin dime.

 

He're the deal JAn

There is a mod out there for maxtrac mobile to allow it to pass just about anything. Only thing is, it's carrier squelch.

So pl in pl out, imbe in imbe out, dstar in dstar out.

I am also told that ge master 3 repeaters set up for aegis will pass imbe if put in carrier squelch mode. I'd expect if it passes imbe, it will pass dstar as well.

btw-I entered the contest.

 

The problem is Dstar modules only work in ICOM radios. DStar technology works. Problem is has the Amatuer community agreed to DStar as the Ham Digital Standard? Is Dstar open source so the other Ham Radio companies can build Dstar radios to work with  the ICOM radios with Dstar modules installed.

ICOM has VHf and UHF radios that can do Dstar. Will they work on an old analog repeater system? Will the folks who listen with an analog radio what to listen to the digital noise?

It seems to me that the Ham Radio community should agree on a standard before a radio company sells a digital format.

Remember DAT recorders?