A general question ?

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merlin

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So what protocol(s) are getting the most popular these days ?
Is AEGIS still being used at all ?
73s
 

vagrant

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P25, Yaesu System Fusion (C4FM), DMR, and D-Star. As to their popularity, that seems to vary from region to region. Take a look at the repeater coordinating body for your area. These repeaters may or may not be active. Southern Nevada Repeater Council | Welcome to the Southern Nevada Repeater Council!

As to AEGIS, I am not aware of any amateurs using that particular mode. Others may have different information.
 

merlin

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I happened across an old article in QST that mentioned AEGIS, I didn't think it would go far not being able in most of the ham gear. Only one digital repeater in my area and too weak to do anything with. APRS shows it is D-STAR so curious.
I can't update my location-southeast Idaho. Scout mountain is just too weak for me.
I know a little about C4FM, a cut back version of some aerospace coms I worked with.
Thinking about one of those digital Baofeng's but don't know what protocols they can handle.
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jwt873

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Might be a bit off on a point ot two, but if so someone will correct me..

I'm pretty sure that the cheap Chinese radios (Baofeng, TYT, Anytone etc are all DMR). D-Star is primarily an Icom thing, (Except for the Kenwood TH-D74 handheld which also has D-Star). Yeasu seems to be the only provider of System Fusion radios. There are no P25 radios made specificaly for the amateur market.
 

merlin

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You are pretty much on the head. I have an Icom radio I can get a D-STAR module for but they are so damned expensive.
Now I have an Ericsson P7300 and it can do GFSK, I could build my own DSP firmware for C4FM. A converter and run with that.
Hey ! I see my profile update worked.
 

hill

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DMR in my area is the clear winner.

We have some Fusion and my local club has a 2M and 70CM repeaters, but no real use in the digital mode.

I have both Fusion and DMR, but like DMR much better and have many radios for this mode. Going foward DMR is a robust radio system and Fusion is a weak ham radio system.
 

jonwienke

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DMR is the only standard supported by a variety of vendors. System Fusion is exclusively Yaesu, and D-Star is exclusively Icom, except for the Kenwood model mentioned previously. DMR is supported by Baofeng, TYT, Anytone, Hytera, Motorola, Kenwood, and other vendors.

IMO, DMR is an industry standard, while D-Star and Fusion are more corporate vanity projects on the part of Icom and Yaesu respectively.
 

vagrant

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P25 is the standard supported by a variety of vendors. P25 is supported by Baofeng, TYT, Anytone, Hytera, Motorola, Kenwood, and other manufacturers that provide improved quality products.

I forgot about NXDN. We do not have any NXDN amateur repeaters around here, that I know of, but it may be popular in other areas.
 

jonwienke

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P25 is obviously the dominant standard on the government and public safety sectors. In business, DMR is the most commonly used digital radio standard, followed by NXDN. D-Star and Fusion are pretty much non-existent except in amateur radio.
 

vagrant

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This is the Digital Voice for Amateur Use forum. D-Star and Yaesu fusion are definitely options to consider along with DMR and P25.

Still, if all DMR radios had quality TX audio like the Kenwood 5300 series...I believe many would shift over, even if they dislike codeplug programming. Well, not counting the analog or nothing operators.
 

AI7PM

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.......

Still, if all DMR radios had quality TX audio like the Kenwood 5300 series...I believe many would shift over, even if they dislike codeplug programming. ....

Kenwood definately has the audio edge. I'm on Motos, but a friend has the Kenwoods so I've heard them. That being said, I've found most of the DMR audio issues being operator induced. Not setting the levels correctly, and the use of in the mouth, loud, HF microphone technique. Any digital format is somewhat unforgiving of that. But seems so many don't want to make the adjustment to their ways.
 

K6EEN

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So what protocol(s) are getting the most popular these days ?
There's no clear winner, it is a 3-way tie: 1,764 DMR repeaters, 1,013 D-STAR repeaters, and 1,751 System Fusion repeaters. A cross-protocol personal hotspot like an OpenSpot3 will allow you to work all three modes through internet reflectors, regardless of the kind of radio you buy. The OpenSpot3 will even let you operate cross-mode from your existing P25 radio to the three popular ham modes DMR, D-STAR, and System Fusion.

I would think hacking custom firmware for a P7300 P25 radio to do System Fusion would be more painful than just buying either i) an OpenSpot3 and using your P7300 as is, or ii) a cheap DMR HT like an AnyTone combined with a cheap single-protocol-at-a-time Pi-Star based hotspot.

From RepeaterBook.com digital mode stats

ModeUSACanada
DMR1764108
D-Star1013104
System Fusion1751182
P-2540140
NXDN00
 
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alcahuete

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There's no clear winner, it is a 3-way tie: 1,764 DMR repeaters, 1,013 D-STAR repeaters, and 1,751 System Fusion repeaters. A cross-protocol personal hotspot like an OpenSpot3 will allow you to work all three modes through internet reflectors, regardless of the kind of radio you buy. The OpenSpot3 will even let you operate cross-mode from your existing P25 radio to the three popular ham modes DMR, D-STAR, and System Fusion.

I would think hacking custom firmware for a P7300 P25 radio to do System Fusion would be more painful than just buying either i) an OpenSpot3 and using your P7300 as is, or ii) a cheap DMR HT like an AnyTone combined with a cheap single-protocol-at-a-time Pi-Star based hotspot.

From RepeaterBook.com digital mode stats

ModeUSACanada
DMR1764108
D-Star1013104
System Fusion1751182
P-2540140
NXDN00

It's not all about repeaters. In fact, with all these digital modes, repeaters are going away, with people using hotspots. You need to look at the number of users. You will see that it is no longer a 3-way tie. In fact, it's no longer close at all. DMR absolutely destroys the other modes.
 

jonwienke

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I wonder how many of them are listed as Fusion repeaters, but are operating in analog-only mode.
Every single one in my area, pretty much all I hear is analog traffic. In contrast to the DMR repeaters, which pretty much exclusively run DMR traffic.
 
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