WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

How did the launch go?

meg wrote:How did the launch go?

Yeah was good - a bit of an intro from the WIA and ICOM, and a couple of presentations on what DSTAR is, how it works, and all that.

And there were some radios on demo and for sale at quite reasonable prices. A heck of a lot cheaper than I bought my IC91 for, dammit

Oh and sausage-in-a-bun, tea, coffee, cool drink, beer - can't forget the important stuff

Pictures of the event on the WIA website. http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2 ... /index.php

A new d-star mobile is in the wings.

http://www.rigpix.com/icom/id880d.htm

VK6ZMS wrote:A new d-star mobile is in the wings.

I suppose this doesn't mean the older models will get cheaper?

hhmmmm, mayby,
In my opinion why D-Star radios are soo expensive is becuase the digital codec used in D-STAR called AMBE 2020 i think, its patented by a company in the U.S. called Digital voice systems inc.

to use this codec, you need a licence, just like when you buy a copy of windows, it needs to be licenced and I'm presuming that when you buy the radio, your also paying for the $100+ licence which if used comercialy, DVS Inc charges quite alot, ranging from $100- $1000.

You can buy the d-star codec chip for about $60.
Which I believe covers all costs.

Speaking of that, any idea why they went with a proprietary codec instead of one of the many freely usable ones that you would expect to perform just as well?

From what I have read the AMBE codec was clearly the better codec.

OK, I'm still waiting on my gateway registration, but I *think* I've now setup my radio to use the WA Dstar repeater to at least talk locally.

If anyone's about later this afternoon, I'll be listening and crossing my fingers that I can get into a local QSO.