• To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:

    Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.

    If you are having trouble legally obtaining software please state so. We do not want any hurt feelings when your vague post is mistaken for a free request. It is YOUR responsibility to properly word your request.

    To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

    The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online (i.e., Kenwood). Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. Often the Kenwood software is less than $100 so don't be a cheapskate; just purchase it.

    For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).

    This is a large and very visible forum. We cannot jeopardize the ability to provide the RadioReference services by allowing this activity to occur. Please respect this.

Consider a Vocoder Beyond AMBE+2

Status
Not open for further replies.

freddaniel

Member
Joined
May 6, 2011
Messages
113
Location
Newport Beach, CA
It seems Digital Voice Systems has a lock on the preferred vocoder for use in LMR equipment. DVS got IMBE into P25 years ago, and it is now won acceptance of the newer AMBE+2 vocoder. The excellent voice quality of the AMBE+2 has also captured the favored position in almost every standard, such as DMR, dPMR, NXDN and others. Sticking with a DVS solution also allows for backward compatibility to IMBE, if desired. However, the Amateur Radio D-Star project which also started with IMBE found the cost to use a DVS brand vocoder was costly. Even today, to use a dedicated AMBE-3000 processor or license their software, still adds at least $30 cost to every radio. This single cost alone could raise the retail price by $200.

This may not seem significant for a radio that sells for $750 to $2,500 each, but everyday breakthroughs are occurring in vocoder technology. There is even renewed open spec & open source efforts building, much like Linux and Apache have replaced Microsoft in the web server market. Examples of some of these vocoders are:

TWELP – Otherwise known as Tri-Wave Excited Linear Prediction™ coding offered by DSP Innovations in Russia, with reportedly significantly higher acceptance values than AMBE+2, at a reasonable price.

SILK – Developed by Skype for their use, is now freely available. Not a good fit, but may be adaptable in the future.

Codec 2 – An open source low bit rate speech codec designed for communications quality speech being developed by rowetel.com, as time and funds permit. Now in alpha testing.

Speex – As open source codec being developed. See speex.org

This is just a sampling of what is in the pipeline. Another consideration is the availability from CML of the new CMX8341 Baseband processor that includes the TWELP codec. This can be added to a 12.5 KHz analog radio to provide dPMR or NXDN compatibility for under $15.

Finally, in Q1 of 2012, Freescale (previously Motorola Semiconductor) will release production quantities of the MC13260 system-on-chip. This is an entire radio on a chip, except preselector, and power amplifier for 60 to 960 MHz, under $15.

What say you?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top