no, the internet is not required to use DStar.  It is only required if you 
wish to connect through gateways to other DStar repeaters and users...much 
like IRLP in that one respect.
A DStar repeater can be used stand alone like any other repeater, except 
it's digital, and allows for both voice and data transfer.  Very useful if 
there is a large emergency and individual stations both mobile and handheld 
need to be tracked and mapped so that the right assets can be sent to the 
right places etc.  Also, your call sign and a user programmable ID message 
are sent each time you key the mike, so it's yet another way to keep track 
of stations during an emergency.
DStar can also be used on simplex just like regular analogue FM...with the 
addition of data via RF.  So, you can send semi-secure messages that way and 
get allot more words across in a much shorter amount of time compared with 
someone speaking them, potentially making speech errors and then having to 
repeat it all...
You also do not need to register with the DStar people to use your local 
DStar repeaters, but if you wish to use the reflectors and connect through 
gateways and so on, you have to be registered...which is a simple enough 
process and there is no yes or no sort of game, you submit registration and 
they register you as long as you hold a valid license.  Like Echo link in 
that respect.
I don't much like the audio quality of DStar myself, but it's certainly a 
viable method of communication no more prone to failure than anything else 
is.
A DStar radio is as likely to break down or not communicate as a non-DStar 
radio, and the same true for the repeaters themselves.
As for accessibility, that's not a difficult one to get around because you 
simply program separate memory locations with the various gateways and 
reflectors you want to use and the rest is automated.  It's no different 
than talking on an FM radio once the various protocols are set up in the 
radio.  Setting up those protocols is about the only inaccessible thing 
about DStar for us.
The monopoly on DStar by Icom is a sore point for me as well, and there is 
most definitely a little bit too much consumer marketting going on in the 
upper teers of amateur radio and within circles of hams who have influence.
However, you don't have to like DStar, but at least understand it, and judge 
it based on it's marrits and not just the fact that you don't like it, or 
Icom or whatever the case may be.  If it's a matter of not liking DStar 
because the radios that have DStar don't have voice chips, well, that's not 
really a valid reason either because now your not judging DStar but your 
judging the inaccessibility of the radio instead, which has nothing to do 
with DStar.
Sounds like crap, but so does GSM and pretty much any digital cellular 
telephone these days, and we all have one of those...and we all had one 
before they became accessible to, so I don't get the big hate on for DStar.

73
Colin, V A6BKX
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Butch Bussen" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2012 6:25 PM
Subject: Re: In a state of disbelief here


> Same here.  To me it is obvious they're trying to push it off on
> everyone.  They're giving away repeaters.  O our club here got one and
> all they had to do was get ten people to say they'd use it.  I'm not at
> all interested, isn't at all accessible and is way to complicated to run
> as far as I'm concerned.  The other point I think people forget is that
> it depends on the internet, and in a real emergency, will the internet
> be there?
> 73
> Butch
> WA0VJR
> Node 3148
> Wallace, ks.
>
>
> On Thu, 20 Dec 2012, Buddy Brannan wrote:
>
>> I have lots of objections to DStar myself, namely the high cost, that =
>> Icom is the only manufacturer that does dStar, and its proprietary =
>> nature. Especially the proprietary nature of the protocol strikes me as =
>> fundamentally at odds with everything else we do with amateur radio. =
>> But, what do I know?=20
>> --
>> Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
>> Phone: (814) 860-3194 or 888-75-BUDDY
>>
>>
>>
>> On Dec 20, 2012, at 7:02 AM, Tom Behler <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>>    Well, not here yet, and many people are resisting it, due in no =
>> small=20
>>> part to the overall high cost of a D Star radio.
>>> =20
>>> And, this says nothing about accessibility issues.
>>> =20
>>> 73 from Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
>>> =20
>>> ----- Original Message -----=20
>>> From: "Ray T. Mahorney" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 10:51 PM
>>> Subject: Re: In a state of disbelief here
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>>> that is interesting because a fair number of EOC's here in Ohio are=20=
>>
>>>> migrating to DSTAR.
>>>> =20
>>>> =20
>>>> Ray T. Mahorney
>>>> WA4WGA
>>>> =20
>>>> =20
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: For blind ham radio operators =
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]=20
>>>> On Behalf Of Tom Behler
>>>> Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2012 00:05
>>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>> Subject: Re: In a state of disbelief here
>>>> =20
>>>> Ray:
>>>> =20
>>>> No D Star here yet, and I don't know of any plans for it soon.
>>>> =20
>>>> This is why the choice of rigs on the part of the powers that be was =
>> so
>>>> strange.
>>>> =20
>>>> 73 from Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
>>>> =20
>>>> ----- Original Message -----=20
>>>> From: "Ray T. Mahorney" <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 12:43 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: In a state of disbelief here
>>>> =20
>>>> =20
>>>>> no they do not nor does Icomm sell speech boards for those radios =
>> they=20
>>>>> are
>>>>> both DSTAR radios and as
>>>>> such there is no accessibility on the digital side.  Has your county
>>>>> adopted DSTAR?
>>>>> =20
>>>>> =20
>>>>> Ray T. Mahorney
>>>>> WA4WGA
>>>>> =20
>>>>> =20
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: For blind ham radio operators=20
>>>>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>>>>> On Behalf Of Tom Behler
>>>>> Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2012 00:15
>>>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>>> Subject: In a state of disbelief here
>>>>> =20
>>>>> Hi, all
>>>>> =20
>>>>> Recently, in my region of west-central lower Michigan, the power =
>> that be
>>>>> obtained an equipment grant to purchase all new equipment for our =
>> county
>>>>> EOC's.  Sounds great, right???
>>>>> =20
>>>>> Well, for one thing, none of us as EC's were consulted on the rig =
>> and
>>>>> other
>>>>> equipment choices, so we ended up with rigs with which none of us =
>> were
>>>>> familiar.
>>>>> =20
>>>>> But, here's the real kicker:
>>>>> =20
>>>>> Two of the rigs are the Icom IC2820 VHF/UHF dual-band radio, and the =
>> Icom
>>>>> IC2200 2-meter radio.  Upon checking in the AES catalog, and calling =
>> AES
>>>>> for
>>>>> confirmation, it seems that these radios do not have a voice =
>> synthesizer
>>>>> chip option.  If this is true, of course, the rigs will be of =
>> limited use
>>>>> to
>>>>> me as EC in the Emergency Operations Center, unless I have sighted
>>>>> assistance with me at all times.
>>>>> =20
>>>>> Can someone verify for me that these rigs actually do not have a =
>> voice
>>>>> chip
>>>>> option??
>>>>> =20
>>>>> Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
>>>>> =20
>>>> =20
>>
>>