[aprssig] APRS and dstar

[Perry Chamberlain]

 I may get some flames but here goes. 
I have been heavily  involved in packet and APRS since the early 90s, and loved it. Recently I have got involved in Dstar. Wow.
A lot of the things I loved in APRS and packet, are right there in dstar.
For those of you who like the messaging abilities, the gps tracking, the ability to pass data, at 128k, should also have a look at dstar. It has a steep learning curve, but once you get it running, I find it has most of what makes APRS and packet fun, and a ton more. I can still do keyboard to keyboard data, simplex, send video, and pics, large files, and at the same time carry on a conversation on the same frequency. Being able to surf the web, from your car,  or camp site , is very cool. Some might not like the repeater linking on the web part, but that's what is happening with igates. With all the non icom dstar board kits out there, you can be up and playing with very low cost.
I like both APRS and dstar, but I find dstar is more fun lately.

Off the soap box.


Ke6anm