Digital Amateur Radio Equipment

[JASII]

I am putting this in a separate thread because some people will see "ham" or "amateur radio" and disregard the post, since it isn't a true scanner post. As many already know, the 2016 Dayton Hamvention is behind us already. I have already posted about the new scanner options. It is also worth mentioning that there may be more choices soon for digital amateur radio. While I won't so into all of the new choices, since they have already been pretty well covered already, just know that there may be some more choices soon.

I, for one, am a bit frustrated by all of the digital VHF/UHF amateur radio modes. With Yaesu System Fusion, Icom D-Star, DMR/MOTO TRBO, APCO P25, and NXDN, you would have to have several different radios to get on all of the different digital flavors. Kenwood announced a tri-band portable, which will do D-Star. I seem to recall other might be a bit closer to having something that might do more than one digital variant in a single box. Depending on who offers what, there may be a monitoring tie in, too.

For example, if a NXDN portable is set up for amateur use, perhaps it could monitor any railroad NXDN communications now, or in the future.

An APCO P25 radio could be used for 146.700 and monitoring other users on P25.

Similarly, a DMR radio might be able to be used for amateur radio and non-amateur monitoring.

It should be noted, though, that Yaesu System Fusion and Icom D-Star seem to be exclusively for amateur radio. At least, I don't know of any non-amateur radio users using either of these modes.

It will likely be an interesting year for the radio enthusiast.

 

[wogggieee]

Have you seen the DV products? The home, mini, and mobile? They do the big three amateur digital modes allowing you to connect to various reflectors and such.

 

[JASII]

I am somewhat familiar with the DV4mobile. I have been reluctant to buy any new amateur gear that has only one digital mode. It would be one thing if we only had one digital mode, but with several different modes, I would hate to be the one guy with a Yaesu System Fusion radio in an Icom Death Star world.

The other thing about YSF and Icom D-Star is that they are exclusive to amateur radio. It least with a MOTO TRBO/DMR or an APCO P25 radio, there are some other services to monitor in those modes.

While I have no way of knowing how many hams, like myself, are dragging their feet intentionally, I know I have heard from several hams that have said they are waiting for everything to settle down before buying.

Before the whole Blu-ray vs. HD DVD battle ended, I chose to wait. I am glad that I did. Many years ago we had Beta vs. VHS. I don't recall if I waited until the end or if I knew the end was imminent, but I never bought any Beta gear.

 

[wogggieee]

I have a feeling this is a battle that will rage on for quite awhile. There at least appear to be multi mode radios on the horizon.