Dirk Wilhite, KC5SFE has asked us to think about setting up a D-Star node.  I’ve thought about it and we may still do it but at this point, I am not sure the benefit will equal the costs.  It is certainly something to think about but I have been reluctant to consider this because it is proprietary to Icom and so only people that have D-Star compatible radios could use it.  I’ve wanted to buy one but every time I do, I just think of the added expense for the benefit that I could get from it.

I am curious just how many people have the equipment and would be willing to try it out.  I look at the Repeaterbook.com site and see that we have several local repeaters that claim to have D-Star repeaters on them but I never hear any activity.  I understand that I don’t have any D-Star equipment to listen with but even so, you would think you could at least hear a carrier on these repeaters.  I never even hear them key up.  Maybe I am missing something.

I would like to hear from someone that has actually used D-Star to see if these other repeaters are just down or if there is never any activity on them?  We’ve had IRLP now for 13 years and have found that if we just connect the nodes, many people listen even if they don’t talk. I hear this all the time.  On D-Star, I never hear the repeaters even key up so I am left thinking that either the repeaters are not working or there is no activity on there.

Has anyone else noticed this?  What are your thoughts?