[Elecraft] D-Star

[Don Wilhelm]

Mike,

Please disassociate my posts from official Elecraft.  While I do 
contract repair work on the legacy products (K1, KX1, K2, etc,)  for 
Elecraft, I do not represent Elecraft in any statements that I make here 
on the reflector.  What I suggest is my own independent offering.

73,
Don W3FPR.

On 4/28/2012 11:40 PM, amsctalx at comcast.net wrote:
> 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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *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.
> >
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html