[Dstar] Questions before I jump in to D-star.

[Tony Langdon]

At 08:41 AM 11/8/2007, you wrote:

>My work day starts in the CBD of Melbourne then I move all over the 
>Metro area.
>Because I am in and out of all different types of machinery ( I am a 
>train driver ) throughout the day the only type of radio I can have 
>with me is a handheld, at present it is the trusty VX-5 and 
>sometimes it is the Kenwood TH-D7 coupled to a Magellan GPS for APRS 
>( you may have seen my little red engine on your maps ).

Heh :)

>Two metres being two metres, it is constantly bombarded with pagers 
>in the city and sometimes also out in the suburbs ( mind you, 70 Cms 
>also cops it at times, just not so frequently ) so APRS is not real 
>reliable until I get out in the Bayswater area where I can log onto 
>VK3MY and his 70 Cms link, but this is a bit "fiddly" whilst I am driving.
>
>Q1)   Is D-star voice any better in regards to pager noise or is 
>that because it is still on 2 Metres it still has the same pager 
>interference issues ? I know D-star is also on 70 Cms and 23 Cms but 
>many people seem to stick with 2 Mtrs.

You still have the intermod issues, but the  IC-91AD's attenuator 
helps a lot.  Unfortunately, it is a bit fiddly to turn on and 
off.  Pagers are a product of the band in use and the ability of the 
radio to reject them.  D-STAR does usually mean they're much less of 
an annoyance than they are on FM (but a CTCSS enabled repeater could 
achieve the same thing on FM).  Actually, in Melbourne, most mobiles 
settle on 70cm... :)

>
>
>Now for APRS and D-star data.
>
>I am not a numbers man, Lat and Lon numbers don't cut it with me, I 
>like pictures.
>The TH-D7 gives me information in a graphical way, with some numbers 
>too of course.
>
>Q2 )  Will / can  D-star data replace APRS and what should I expect 
>to see on the Icom IC-91 AD screen ?

If you want APRS, the Kenwood is still your radio.  I haven't worried 
about that side of things, as I could not justify the cost of the 
Kenwood APRS radios, and being highly portable, carrying a GPS, 
tracker and radio (or GPS and radio in the case of the Kenwood) 
doesn't appeal, especially if they have to be tied together 
(Bluetooth would be a big advantage for me).  Just looked at the 
manual, the Icom can act as the equivalent of a tracker, but it 
doesn't appear to display GPS data on screen (but any received data 
would be available on the data port for external apps).

I may eventually set myself up as a tracker on D-PRS, but I would 
need yet another GPS, since I don't have a suitable serial unit for 
connecting to the IC-91AD.

73 de VK3JED
http://vkradio.com