Posted: 10/9/2007 8:35:09 AM EDT
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Can somebody explain to me the basics of what D-Star is ? I have been out of ham radio for the last five years or so and recently started getting active again. I have been studying the AES catalog and keep seeing radios that are "D-Star ready" and don't know what it means. They even have a two page section in the catalog about D-Star but I still don't get what it is. |
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If you're an ARRL member, check out: Jun 2005 QST p67 D-STAR Digital Voice and Data--An Overview www.arrl.org/members-only/prodrev/pdf/pr0506.pdf |
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I am an ARRL Life Member but as I say, I have been inactive for about five years and have no password for that link. I guess I should call ARRL and get back into the game. EDIT: I called ARRL and got my QST subscription started again and registered to access their website. I had been gone for longer than I thought: I cut off my subscription to QST in 1999 !!!! Got right on the link provided: Thanks I will give it a read. Anyone else with information or comments about D-Star would be appreciated. |
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Short answer is it's Icom's proprietary digital technology. I've been told by some that should know that it's digital-only as opposed to being able to run mixed-mode (digital and analog). I kind of wonder if it'll turn out to be like Yaesu's WIRES VoIP solution. You can learn more from the horse's mouth. |
1st, it's not proprietary to icom, it's an open standard started from the JARL. Kenwood is selling a d-star radio, and there have been homebrew radios already built. I will post some more links later, but it's a rather cool format. Being able to push 1200 data across 144/440 and 128K across 1.2ghz is a great feature. There is a local 440 D-star repeater at 1300ft AGL that I want to try. space for edit..... |
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d-star is actually a bit better that P-25 however, I'd hold out on either there is a severe case of interop problems in the commercial/public area and P25 is not being adopted as fast as some would like. D-star has the potential to take off, but equipment compatibility between commercial and amateur rigs may have a parting of the ways. it's a gamble. oh, Icom/Kenwood/Vertex (Yeasu) are already working on 6.25 bandwidth, that's' another thing to take into consideration. this is a cool time for radio, so many great things are happening.. agencies/departments are hesitant to adopt anything because it'll be out dated pretty quick. short & skinny: Technology has surpassed bureaucracy at light speed. |
Oh, the ability to get a digital HT for $255 new is a good thing as well  Gigaparts still has the sale on the d-star board and another place has the U82 sports fr well under $100, so I think another ham and I will split the costs so we can try it out. Just wish they were as rugged/capable/sexy as my astro saber 
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Huh? It is digital modulation with the ability to also send data on the same stream. It works in simplex as well as a repeater system, nothing earth shattering there. You still have to choose what repeaters you are using. Not everyone hooks their repeaters up to the internet paths either, as there are still several security flaws there. My local machine is not hooked up, and they said they likely won't. It's just like P-25 in that most hams really only know enough to be dangerous
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Yes - forgot to mention the data part - even more like a cellphone, you can swap photos as well
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Well, that's counter to everything I've read/heard. I heard Kenwood was working on something for it but didn't know anything was on the market yet. Perhaps it would've been more correct to say only Icom has anything on the US market. Looks like the Kenwood is only in Japan. |
To be nice, you're heard/read wrong. As of this time, icom is the only company selling D-sat compatible radios in the US. Then again, for years motorolaa were the only ones selling trunking radios thata worked on their systems, now there is EFJ, so things always change. A lot of info & links is here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-STAR The radios themselves will work in digital and analog modes just fine, but I'm not en tirely sure if it can RX both at once. I am looking into that. One disadvantage is that a icom d-star repeater will work in digital (d-star) mode only. You can't setup one in mixed mode as you can P25 repeaters. You can, however, setup a repeater that will be able to pass both as more tests are being done. That is what our local machine will be setup as when everything is finished, but right now it's stock icom gear. |
Fine. Shoot me.
That's what I said.
Which is what I was saying. |
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You really didn't make it clear that you were referring to the repeaters being digital only, some could think that the radios themselves were not capable of analog operation. And we are only talking about the factory repeaters being digital only anyway, homebrew/aftermarket will be available to do mixed mode. If some batlabber can use two cheap maxtracs to pass P25, then D-star ain't too far behind In fact, the local machine will be eventually be a converted kenwood commercial repeater, so hopefully I'll be able to do P-25 and D-star on it  I am looking forward to giving the data capable parts of D-star a try, should be fun and hopefully useful as well. ...and for those in SC, there is still some serious talk of a large area 440 D-star network for emergency comms, should be statewide from the meeting I attended. P.S. One more thing, the antenna on the U82 actually looks like an old fashioned UHF antenna, not these whinpy little things you see now 
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| So it looks like Yaesu has no plans of ever putting out a D-Star radio. So that leaves Icom and Kenwood correct? Do get the higher data rates with Icom you have to go with the ID-1 radio which operates between 1240-1300MHz. I am unable to find an antenna at Radiall Larsen that is capable of this range. Anyone have any radio or antenna recommendations? The ID-1 looks nice but 1K for a single band radio is a lot! |
For what? If you mean 1.2ghz, I'm sure someone makes antennas for that band. One thing to remember, at that high a frequency you will need low loss coax and mounts made for that range. No RG-58 to a PL-259 to N adaptor with a regular NMO mount. One of the D-star pages had the plans for a homebrew 1.2ghz mobile antenna, I think it was actually a J-pole.
Ever price motorola gear? If you truely need fast mobile to mobile data, there's not many other choices. Then again, it would take a BIG investment to setup such a group of stations, I know I don't have $1k just for fancy-pants data and voice at 1.2ghz
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No gain 1.2 mobile antenna www.comtelcoantennas.com/PDF%20Datasheets/A1132414B.pdf 10 element yagi www.comtelcoantennas.com/PDF%20Datasheets/Y221210.pdf |