[amsat-bb] Re: Icom D-Star

[Gordon JC Pearce]

On Sat, 2011-04-23 at 20:00 +1000, Tony Langdon wrote:
> At 07:33 PM 4/23/2011, you wrote:
> 
> >The chips are "readily available" at a few hundred dollars apiece, and
> >if you attempt to implement your own AMBE codec then you're going to
> >have DVSI's lawyers jumping on you.
> 
> More like $20 apiece in small (possible 1 off) quantities.

I'd love to know where you're seeing them for that much in onesy-twoesy
quantities

> >Proprietary software has no place in Amateur Radio.
> 
> It's hardware with firmware.  So let's throw out all the other 
> proprietary bits (processors with embedded code, etc) and go back to 
> soldering valves?

Yes, throw out the proprietary bits.  Write your own, it's easy.

> The simple fact of the matter was back around 2000 when the D-STAR 
> spec was developed, there weren't a lot of choices for how to 
> compress speech into 2.4kbps and have FEC.  AND have it available in 
> a suitable form for implementation into mobile and handheld 
> radios.  While the proprietary codec is a minor inconvenience in some 
> situations, it's proved to be no impediment to home brew enhancements 
> to D-STAR.  The number of ham developed D-STAR projects is 
> significant, so that one chip hasn't proved to be an impediment to 
> ham experimentation in practice.

Yes, "back around 2000".  It's over ten years old.  We have better
codecs and better modulation schemes now.  Why are we crippling digital
comms with a single-source proprietary codec that sounds like an angry
duck in a tin outhouse?

The commercial world is no better - just look at DMR, which uses the
same awful AMBE codec!

Gordon MM0YEQ