Digital for all?
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| Aug 3rd 2015, 18:52 | |
K4DLTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
I have been looking at the various Digital modes for years. I am concerned when we have repeaters dedicated to single modes and not providing multi mode options. This can lead to some real issues during disasters and emergency communications. For voice, I question the need to go digital. I am not convinced the audio quality is as good on digital modes and we have no mandate to make such a change. Second, If we have 3 or 4 modes, how do we all talk to each other? We have to go back to analog FM for that. Networking over the internet is a good thing and has been around for 20 years or so. It can be done at the repeater side (actually it has to be done at that point regardless of mode) and does not require the purchase of a new radio or even software. All FM repeaters can pass digital modes already for data. So why not put together a system so that everyone is already able to utilize the network? Let's think "backward compatible" and have everything work with every existing analog repeater in the country. Let's rethink this thing and do away with competing digital modes. If we allow the manufacturers to make the decisions they will always look for what will sell more radios. That's just business. The Amateur Radio community needs to be involved and set a standard that all can use and is compatible with the existing infrastructure. Then we all win. So now someone tell me how stupid I am and how we need to help Icom and Yaesu or whomever make more money. |
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