[Elecraft] D-Star

[amsctalx at comcast.net]

Don - 

I am not suggesting that you include D-Star in your products, and I am not going to change your mind, but I tend to disagree with the concern about D-Star over the proprietary nature of ABME... 

Not to split hairs, but the "mode" of D-Star is Gaussian minimum shift keying, a form of frequency shift keying. The D-Star implementation of GMSK is an "open" standard, and has been implemented at the hobbyist level. 

Which brings us to ABME, a proprietary "code-book" protocol (codec). I struggle with the lack of a published, unfettered standard as many do, but...I wonder how large of a practical impact this on me. I think about the other things that I can't make myself but leverage in my station, such as DSP controllers containing proprietary intellectual property and "microprocessor-based" transceivers (e.g. K3) from which I can not, to the best of knowledge, obtain and reuse the code. 

I think that one of the things that distinguishes "open" from proprietary is that I could, if I was so inclined, attempt to implement AMBE in software if ABME was "open". I am not so inclined, no more than I am inclined to "hack" my K3 or replace the DSP in one of my "other" radios with a custom FPGA. If the test for ABME is the ability of an individual or organization to implement it at-will and without royalty, then I would have to admit it fails...but...with all of the proprietary IP and non-reproducible components in my "amateur" systems, and knowing of the existence of a number of "modes" (protocols) that are implemented by one seriously-flawed PC application (that I can't decode by ear), I guess I just have a hard time seeing the big difference. 

In the end, I think D-Star is fun and probably less of threat to the long-term health of amateur radio than gentrification and apathy, but that's just my opinion... 

73, 


Mike Alexander N8MSA 

amsctalx at comcast.net 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Wilhelm" <w3fpr at embarqmail.com> 
To: "Greg Troxel" <gdt at work.lexort.com> 
Cc: elecraft at mailman.qth.net 
Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2012 9:42:29 PM 
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] D-Star 

I agree fully, despite the article in the May issue of QST which glosses 
over the proprietary nature of D-Star. 

I am opposed to the use of proprietary protocols in ham radio. Ham 
radio to me is free radio. I have passed my license requirements, and 
should be able to use whatever modulation techniques are authorized by 
the FCC. The thought of paying for a license (even though that payment 
may be bundled with a transceiver purchase) is foreign to my views of 
ham radio. 

Certainly, I buy computers with Windows loaded, but I do not buy Icom 
transceivers with D-Star loaded. That is what is foreign to my view of 
ham radio. 

Until someone comes up with an open source and free to use substitute 
for the AMBE Codec that is owned by Digital Voice Systems, Inc., I will 
not be using D-Star. 

73, 
Don W3FPR 

On 4/28/2012 9:17 PM, Greg Troxel wrote: 
> I would hope that Elecraft would not add D-Star support; I think it's 
> against the spirit of amateur radio, and particularly contrary to the 
> kit culture, to have an on-air specification that an individual amateur 
> is precluded from implementing without obtaining a patent license. 
> 
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