[aprssig] OT: Yaesu to release digital amateur radio gear

[Amateur Radio WB8NUT]

DMR might be more widely used outside of amateur radio, but within 
amateur radio, D-Star is clearly the defacto standard at this point.

As for lowered unit costs, the PS market is much larger than the amateur 
market and lowered per unit costs have not occurred there as of yet.

DMR was developed for the public service market, such as police, fire, etc.

D-Star was developed specifically meet the needs of amateur radio.

So we can use someone else's "standard", or we can use our own.

One thing is for sure, it is going to be interesting to say the least. 
Icom may choose to reduce the price of the radios to maintain their 
lead. Yaesu could do the same to try and grab market share and credibility.

Or, the price of radios will remain high since each will have their own 
"standard" and they can demand it because of lack of competition. In 
that case it is name your own poison.

Cannot wait until Dayton. Let the Great Digital War of 2012 begin!

Duffy
www.wb8nut.com

On 1/9/12 5:59 PM, Stephen H. Smith wrote:
>
> DMR  (Digital Mobile Radio -- the generic name for what Motorola 
> obfuscates and tries to make sound unique by calling it MotoTRBO) is a 
> far, far more widely used protocol than D-Star.
>
> Using  DMR as "THE" standard has far more potential for lowered unit 
> costs, since the low-production-volume amateur niche market usage 
> would be piggybacking on the FAR larger production volumes for 
> commercial land-mobile and public-safety users.
>
>
> -