Made my first D-STAR Gateway contacts tonight!

[racin06]

I made my first D-STAR Gateway contacts tonight and it was very simple to do on my 91AD. Since it was about 12:30am locally, I thought I would try to reach someone on the west coast. So, I chose the Medford, Oregon D-STAR repeater, made the necessary inputs in my 91AD, identified myself (said my call sign), waited about 30 seconds and K7BBS answered. I also spoke to N7SR. The audio quality of the transmissions were excellent. I'm loving the D-STAR technology!

 

[DaveIN]

Cool, I'd like to try that. Not much more than a Nextel DC, but still cool.

 

[RocketNJ]

The only thing I wish is if a repeater could be D-Star and analog mixed mode. That way nobody would be left out.

Having a D-Star only repeater up is really limiting the people who can use the repeater. The linking capability is quite nice though since the audio stays digital.

 

[Grog]

The only thing I wish is if a repeater could be D-Star and analog mixed mode. That way nobody would be left out.

Having a D-Star only repeater up is really limiting the people who can use the repeater. The linking capability is quite nice though since the audio stays digital.

I attended a D-star seminar a few weeks ago, really showed me I'd never setup a repeater to the gateway. Not until there is some way of making it secure.


As far as mixed mode, that's coming soon as hams really play with it. A local guy just put up a 440 D-star repeater, but it will soon be switched to a mixed mode repeater using a Kenwood commerical repeater tied into a D-star radio. Depending on how they do it, it might pass P-25 as well

Yes, a mixed-mode repeater straight from Icom would be nice, would really help with sales. There's really nothing inside the repeater or controller, looks just like two radio and a few wires. Not excactly inspiring as far as the construction either.....

 

[trace1]

I'm looking forward to when our system (WB4GNA) is on the Gateway (shouldn't be long now), so far I've thoroughly enjoyed what D-STAR can do. I know there are/will be those that like it or hate it but there is a lot of things that can be done with DV and DD that can be a good asset in and under certain conditions and situations.

 

[rescuecomm]

Unless a group is taking the best coverage repeater in the area and switching it to DStar, I don't understand the mixed mode thing. In upper SC, there are plenty of analog repeaters that get little use on a daily basis. Making one or two into DStar radios probably wouldn't hurt. The only thing stopping me from using DStar is the high price of the modules!

Bob