Hi,

Lloyd,  Your right!  dStar is over 20 years old and equipment is only
available from ICOM.  I finally broke down and bought an ICOM ID30A HT and
as I expected, it is not a pleasure to operate.  The received voices sound
like they are talking through a paper on a comb because the audio sampling
rate is so low.  Network routing is not simple and there much better digital
voice systems out there, but ICOM has made great inroads in to the ham
community as they are giving substantial  discounts to clubs to buy ICOM
equipment that buy one of their dStar repeaters.

Yaesu has recently come out with two new C4Fm mobile and ht rigs and these
new rigs are not very accessible, however they sure do sound much better
than the old dStar stuff.

Bob, K8LR, [log in to unmask]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lloyd Rasmussen" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2013 7:19 PM
Subject: Fw: DSTAR
I may be a curmudgeon about it,, and haven't really heard it (I don't get on
2 meters or higher anymore).  The dStar mode uses a proprietary algorithm
that is
now some 20 years old.  These digital modes sometimes provide noise-free
operation at the cost of naturalness and intelligibility, especially when
there is background noise at the microphone.  The side channel which can
carry data while voice is transmitted has a rather low bitrate.  There are
newer audio codecs, some of which are non-proprietary, which would probably
work as well as the MELP algorithm that DStar uses.  Maybe I need to read
more about it and actually experience it to appreciate it.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Dr. Ronald E. Milliman
Sent: Saturday, August 24, 2013 6:26 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: DSTAR

Has anyone here worked with DSTAR? If so, what were your reactions to it? I
may be wrong, but I perceive DSTAR as being the mode of the future. Maybe
even analogous to when sideband emerged as the mode of the future over AM
back in the 1960's. What do you all think?

Ron, K8HSY