[d-star] Site

[w0kgw]

we have an ongoing discussion on what to do in the outback area of 
Minnesota.  presently using a 100ft tower with diamond 510 gain dualbander 
and 50 watts the range is about 50 miles on both vhf/uhf packet.  the twin 
cities wants to set up a lot of d-star repeaters.  so far the cost and will 
it work have been holding things back.  a 50watt packet install is total 
under $1000 with antenna , heliax feedlines, and 9612+ tnc's and yeasu 
ft-7800 radios.  not counting lightning and duplexer.

out here range is important with lots of trees between.  my experience has 
been the lower the freq the better thru trees and distance.  so the question 
is " what kind of range can I get with d-star voice, and the fast data 
distance on 1.2ghz .  the cost for antenna and feeds for the higher data 
rate is also a problem where 1/2 inch heliax is ok but does that now mean we 
have to go to 7/8  or the 1 1/2 inch heliax considering  a 100ft run.

then for mobile the normal vertical for 2m or 70cm distance using a 50watt 
rig.   then for a portable internet for em use would 900mhz and dish type 
antennas give less expensive range of about 10 to 15 miles.  the same money 
could be put into hf winlink and that is another discussion.

tom  w0kgw at citlink.net