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This just reminds me of the moving beam barcode scanner patents and
licensing from years ago. Symbol owned the patent and manufactured
barcode scanners. They offered licenses to others, but what
competitor in their right mind would tool up a manufacturing plant
that paid royalties to their competitor? So, everyone used Symbol's
scanners.<br>
<br>
Fast forward to Dstar. iCom developed it and owns the rights. I
imagine that to appease the powers-that-be, they had to offer
licenses so that they could call it "open". But, again, what major
equipment manufacturer is going to tool up and pay their direct
competitor license fees for Dstar? If anyone was foolish (aka
stupid) enough to do so, iCom could drive them out of the market by
dropping the price of their own equipment. Remember, they can play
numbers games such that they don't have to include license fees in
the cost of their own radios, but their new competition still has to
pay them. iCom gets a win-win by having an "open" protocol that
they are still marketing as a sole supplier.<br>
<br>
Until a FREE and "Open" digital voice protocol hits the amateur
bands, there won't be any real competition nor multi-vendor
solutions, IMHO.<br>
<br>
Lynn (D) - KJ4ERJ - Author of APRSISCE for Windows Mobile and Win32<br>
<br>
PS. But what does Dstar have to do with APRS? And is the new Yaesu
digital voice radio going to be APRS-capable as well?<br>
<br>
<br>
On 1/6/2012 8:57 AM, Eric Lorenz K9LGE wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAEhmdT96=VXEY8NGQg2JNwk6Z-ajvU61HFLnEOX_SFzaC5uTeg@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<p>Duffy,</p>
<p>It is all about perception though...yes, Dstar is an 'open'
protocol. Yes, anyone can license and manufacture equipment for
it. So who (of the major ones) has done it? Icom. So yes,
regardless of the reality...Dstar *appears* to be an Icom
protocol. All that has to happen for that to change is for
another manufacturer to get in the game. It would *appear*
though...that this is going to remain Icom's thing for now.</p>
<p>Eric K9LGE</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Dec 29, 2011 7:59 PM, <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:duffy@wb8nut.com">duffy@wb8nut.com</a>>
wrote:<br type="attribution">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Icom gave away repeaters to help continue D-Star's growth. So
what is the<br>
big deal with seeding equipment? Companies do it all the time.<br>
<br>
The Codec is proprietary yes. The Codec is available to anyone
on a chip<br>
for around $25 in quantity one. Buy more and I assume there is
a discount.<br>
Our radios use proprietary chips all the time with
proprietary DSP<br>
firmware. P25 manufacturers use proprietary technology in
their radios.<br>
>From what I have seen so far, D-Star radios are much less
expensive than<br>
P25 radios.<br>
<br>
What do we need cross-compatibility for with Public Service?
You think<br>
Police/Fire/Government are going to allow their systems to
link to amateur<br>
systems? Hardly. And just like the differing P25 systems, the<br>
manufacturers have allowed for interoperability, but I hardly
think<br>
government systems will tie into amateur systems.<br>
<br>
Icom trademarked it to protect it. Just like WB4APR
trademarked APRS. No<br>
one is charging anyone else to use those names.<br>
<br>
D-Star is not an Icom protocol. It was developed by the JARL
and it is an<br>
open technology available to anyone. Only the Codec is
proprietary as<br>
discussed before.<br>
<br>
Duffy<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.wb8nut.com"
target="_blank">www.wb8nut.com</a><br>
<br>
<br>
> If D-Star is such a raging success in the amateur market,
why was Icom<br>
> giving away repeaters? The codec is proprietary. It is
not used by any<br>
> other radio service so there is no availability of
equipment with cross<br>
> compatibility (for those amateurs who are authorized to
use public<br>
> safety frequencies, or have access to used PS equipment).
Icom<br>
> trademarked the D-Star name, so how much are they going
to charge other<br>
> manufacturers to use it? I suspect D-Star will remain an
Icom only<br>
> protocol.<br>
><br>
> Brian Clark, AG4BC<br>
><br>
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