[Dstar] Response to D-Star complainees

Thu Sep 3 18:26:53 CST 2009

Hi All,

Firstly, thanks to the 14 people who have emailed me their support &
agreeance with my concerns & also to Mark's most recent comments.

Horst - You suggest I should step back & look at the facts. The fact is that
if I had no stepped back & ignored the crap generated from people like
yourself wobbling on about your dissatisfaction, I would have walked away
from this project months ago.

If you like your facts, as a user of VK2RDS, here are it's facts.....

- Ports A, B & C were all on the air at Maddens Plains from the 5/5/08,
which was about 2 months after we originally received the eqpmt from Icom. 

- In fact, Port C 2m was actually on the air (albeit not from Maddens
Plains) the very first night it arrived in Wollongong.

- It took a further 8 months to get broadband internet connectivity to the
repeater site through NO FAULT OF THE IARS who were originally told
broadband would not be issue as copper lines were already in place, but due
to many false promises & misleading information from the many telco's we
dealt with, we eventually had to find our own solution to expedite external
connectivity.

- An Avalan system was suggested, investigated & sourced with tremendous
help from Icom, Peter VK3TQ & Richard VK3JFK.

- This required further tower climbing, installation & working-out as this
system had not been used for this purpose previously in Australia. 

- Internet connectivity via Avalan arrived at Maddens on the 31/1/09 with
the Gateway server already installed, programmed & basically ready. The
first external contact occurred that same day after much rushed help by
Richard. 

- About two months later, external gateway radio-connect requests failed.
Externals could still connect in & Callsign routing all worked 100%.

- Many different Modems & Routers were tried to fix this one problem. A
Linksys router was later programmed & donated by Richard. A new Linksys
Modem was purchased as well, but still no joy.

- The past months have meant many nights working with Richard & Robin
(AA4RC) till the early hours of the morning to work out why the data for
radio link requests was being corrupted or lost. This problem had not
occurred on any D-Star system elsewhere in the world.

- As from last Monday, the radio request connectivity was restored, although
it's solution (much to my annoyance) is not 100% known.

- During the past months, even though the VK2RDS 2m, 70cm & 23cm DV were all
on the air & working well & Callsign routing was working plus external
connectivity was working, people like yourself were still not satisfied or
happy so continued your over-the-air complaining. The reality is that only
one single aspect of VK2RDS's complex D-Star system was not working, but
people like yourself didn't care.

- VK2RDS 23cm DD is still not on the air. The rptr itself is installed &
powered, but we have encountered a tower problem with locating it's already
purchased antenna. We currently run a total 6 analogue & digital repeaters
plus 2 links from this site - we are working on a solution for it's
placement.

Albeit somewhat detailed, the above is only the tip of the proverbial
iceberg of the actual work that was done to get VK2RDS on the air. This
amount of work is typical of any of the other Australian D-Star repeater
installations. If you are still not happy with the progress of our volunteer
work - tough.

You should be thankful that you actually have access to two D-Star sytems -
VK2RDS & VK2RWN. Many parts of Australia do not have any D-Star systems,
including our Nation's capital. Hobart also does not & you should be
thankful for that because the reason Sydney has two systems is that the
Hobart Clubs realized the enormity of the project (effort/time/financial) &
respectfully declined the offer from Icom & WIA.

And as far as whatever arrangement exists between Icom, the WIA & the Clubs
that have taken on the awesome responsibility of putting D-Star on the air,
may I politely suggest that it is none of your bloody business.

If you have issue with time lines, may I respectively suggest that you take
this concern up with the WIA, instead of whining to others that have no say
in it. 

And regarding your rather opinionated & rude second last paragraph "The
people who are more closely involved seem to live in their own world, they
resent anyone making comments and in some cases abuse people who want to
help." 

I can't speak on behalf of other Clubs, but the IARS has had three Club
nights dedicated to D-Star, plus every meeting since December 07, I have
given a report on it's progress. Sorry if you were not furnished with your
own personal report. 

And the only reason there is possible resentment from those "closely
involved" is that they have had a gutful of listening to people like
yourself who appear to just not care about the actual problems being
encountered. As far as many of you are concerned, you have bought your radio
& you demand to be satisfied.

If you are not happy with VK2RDS or any other D-Star system, sell your
bloody radio & find another aspect of Amateur radio that will bring you more
joy & less stress.

Rob McKnight - VK2MT

-----Original Message-----
From: dstar-bounces at lists.wia.org.au [mailto:dstar-bounces at lists.wia.org.au]
On Behalf Of Horst Leykam
Sent: Thursday, 3 September 2009 4:31 PM
To: dstar at lists.wia.org.au
Subject: [Dstar] RE: Dstar Digest

Well Rob, maybe you should step back and look at the facts.
Icom has donated DSTAR repeaters to the WIA who in turn have allocated these
repeaters to various clubs.
One of the conditions set by Icom as I understand it was that these were to
be installed and operational in a timely manner.
Icom provided the repeaters, the clubs who were chosen to host them, were to
provide the infrastructure, that included location, antenna, cavities etc,
and internet access. The WIA would pay for the ongoing cost of the internet
connection, the clubs would fund the rest.
There was no mention of the clubs "doing the best they can to scrounge bits
from here or there", or waiting until something came along that might work.
If a repeater needed cavities or antennas and they were not available from
donors, then they should have been bought. If the club did not have the
financial resources to do this then they should not have applied to host the
repeaters! End of story.
I appreciate the many hours that may have been provided by volunteers, but
maybe you should have sought  professional help even if it meant spending a
few dollars, because the results are not that good.
As it stands now, a year or more from when the repeaters were made
available, none a fully operational and there is no mention when it might
happen.
The people who are more closely involved seem to live in their own world,
they resent anyone making comments and in some cases abuse people who want
to help.
 So, it is only through posting the odd and maybe sarcastic comment that
more information seems to come through.

Regards
Horst, VK2HL

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