In the current state, the things I dislike are.
The software digital voice options for HF permit really insane operational violations. Some of the versions allow for 20k wide signals and people have and do fire those up on the air. The way people are, if you make software available that can wipe out a giant piece of spectrum, people will do it.
At the other extreme, many digital proponents believe that a 300Hz to 1800Hz audio pass band is all a ham 'needs' and are trying to force their narrow band agenda down the necks of those of us who want speech to sound natural. I simply have no interest at spending any time at all talking to people with audio that sounds like that.
The proprietary nature of the hardware solutions currently available. The extreme overpricing of the D-Star system is one example and the $400 box that AOR sells is another. There are only two reasons for this. The company selling the completely proprietary AMBE chips needed and the fact that Icom can exploit the market while there is no other competition in sight.
P25 is offering a better solution and popping up at a faster rate than D-Star in my area. However, P25 is outlining another flaw with digital. You need very heavy saturation in coverage or your signal disappears entirely. With analog and the compromise site access hams generally have for UHF/VHF repeaters, you get a lot more coverage range than you do with P25, which requires very solid coverage saturation to work properly.
I'm not against digital voice as a concept, but in the current state, it's a nuisance in many instances and a ripoff in others.
The software digital voice options for HF permit really insane operational violations. Some of the versions allow for 20k wide signals and people have and do fire those up on the air. The way people are, if you make software available that can wipe out a giant piece of spectrum, people will do it.
At the other extreme, many digital proponents believe that a 300Hz to 1800Hz audio pass band is all a ham 'needs' and are trying to force their narrow band agenda down the necks of those of us who want speech to sound natural. I simply have no interest at spending any time at all talking to people with audio that sounds like that.
The proprietary nature of the hardware solutions currently available. The extreme overpricing of the D-Star system is one example and the $400 box that AOR sells is another. There are only two reasons for this. The company selling the completely proprietary AMBE chips needed and the fact that Icom can exploit the market while there is no other competition in sight.
P25 is offering a better solution and popping up at a faster rate than D-Star in my area. However, P25 is outlining another flaw with digital. You need very heavy saturation in coverage or your signal disappears entirely. With analog and the compromise site access hams generally have for UHF/VHF repeaters, you get a lot more coverage range than you do with P25, which requires very solid coverage saturation to work properly.
I'm not against digital voice as a concept, but in the current state, it's a nuisance in many instances and a ripoff in others.
