Why should we go digital, example DMR?
Answer: As hams we should adopt to technology changes and new features. DMR provides connectivity to worldwide hams through a complex network of computers and internet. It is as if whole world the comes "compressed" in digital form into your handie talkie.
Facts :
DMR technology, that is, the algorithm used to digitize voice is not available to users as open source. Hence, there is a price to pay for the encoder and decoder chip, which does the job. Hence the equipment we use for this is expensive and there is very less homebrewing in this area.
Unlike DMR, DSTAR, C4FM and others, there is a freeware or opensource technology called FREEDV. There are no expensive royalties to be paid. We can use our computer with software we can write ourselves and convert any radio to operate in FreeDv, without buying expensive equipment with decoding-encoding chip in them. I have tried it and it works well. Note - there is no established network in freedv though.
As hams we should try and use the above technologies. Sometimes, digital voice has more range and clarity due its compressed nature and low bandwidth. For example, in HF, the voice clarity is improved. Unlike analog voice which sounds feeble and burried in noise, digital voice is clear - when it weakens, it stutters and dies suddenly... analog voice gradually goes down with weakening signal - that is the difference. Digital transmission has slightly higher range than analog. This improvement in technology comes with a caveat as I mentioned above. Dependency on a providers/Chip manufacturers/patents, expense and so on.
It is not a recommendation that we should drop our barebones analog equipment and technologies for the digital one. True ham is one who understands, builds and improves their analog receive/transmitting system and constantly improve its quality in all modes. Real fun of homebrewing is to build a radio from scratch and use it. THIS IS WHERE THE REAL FUN OF HAM RADIO IS - to be able to work the world without internet, service providers, companies, patents and all other dependencies - our radio - our antenna - the world, with nothing in between. We'll continue to do it while trying the new technology.
We have couple of analog repeaters in our city and it is time, we install and use our 2 brand new UHF and VHF repeaters in digital world. DMR is a well established network - Basic concept is that each radio is identified by its owner with a specific DMR ID (carrier drivers will be identified easily 😆), which can join talk groups with many types of permissions. We shall explain and introduce you all to many, many features (including SMS, texting and integration of your rig with online call sign database like qrz.com) in due course.
Stay tuned in this frequency. 73 for now.
