Subj : Re: VARA Modem
To   : echicken
From : Vk3jed
Date : Wed Feb 23 2022 16:26:00

-=> On 02-23-22 03:06, echicken wrote to Vk3jed <=-

 Vk> DMR and to a lesser extent, Fusion (the FT-70 is reasonably priced too).

 ec> Yeah, $240 CAD for the FT-70 is not bad, but more than I'm willing to
 ec> spend right now to check out yet another DV mode. Tempting though,
 ec> since a local friend is a fan of it and says there's decent activity
 ec> here. Perhaps I'll see a used one in a flea market soon.

It's not a bad little radio, and if you combine it with a Pi-Star and make use
of the YSF2DMR and YSF2P25 gateways, you can get a lot of bang for the buck.

 Vk> become available. M17 is a 100% open source DV mode. It uses the Codec2

 ec> I like the idea of M17, but I haven't kept up with it. Do you have any
 ec> direct experience with it?

Yeah I do.  Even done a couple of demos of M17.  I use a MMDVM running
M17Client with a FT-818 in 9600 packet mode.  I like M17 because it's fun
playing with a new mode, bug hunting and the community that's sprung up.

 ec> I'll happily get on board with M17 when I can buy a built rig (or one
 ec> requiring minimal assembly) and have some other people to talk to on
 ec> it.

You're in a better position than me, as there's a weekly net at 1500 UTC (I'm
asleep then).  There's also a number of cross links to other modes, I run 3
such systems, 2 of which are very active. :)

 Vk> Direwold is more tolerant of maladjusted radios. It actually uses multiple
 Vk> modems in parallel on receive to process signals with different levels of
 Vk> twist between the two tomes and takes the best decoded output. Direwold

 ec> Well, that's pretty cool. Thanks for the overview.

No dramas. :)

 ec> Sounds like (and presumably is) FX.25. A nice idea, but unfortunately

That would be the one.

 ec> it comes with all the baggage that is AX.25. I understand why, but I
 ec> just can't get excited about it. Not that I'm well qualified to have an
 ec> opinion on the subject, but I just find AX.25 and its various bolted on
 ec> improvements (and documentation) to be a bit of a mess.

AX.25 is ancient (like 40 years old), but it's still everywhere.


.... Don't hit me, Mr. Moderator... I'll go back on topic... I swear!
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