I do have different mode radios and use those 3 Digital Voice (DV) modes, and they each have their strong points.? A key theme with all of them is that much of the fun of DV comes from their networks and connection points, whether those are called reflectors, talkgroups or rooms.?

D-STAR

Built for amateur radio, so the identifier is your callsign.? For that reason, your callsign always travels along with each transmission and you actually don’t have to id verbally (though you should to retain the habit).? There is a moderate learning curve, but simpler than DMR, particularly when programming a new radio.? Radios are really good, but quite a bit more expensive than DMR radios.? Most are made by ICOM , but Kenwood has made a really nice HT (though there are current supply problems due to chip shortage).?

D-STAR as designed by ICOM supports only connections using Callsign Routing.? It sounds neat – the network remembers where you were last heard (a repeater or a hotspot), and your friends can route their transmissions there using your callsign.? The problem is many, many D-STAR users world-wide have not really learned how to respond to callsign-routed calls, so it is much less useful than you’d think.? That is why REF reflectors were invented.? Your repeater or hotspot can be linked to a reflector and can hear and talk to all the others on linked-in repeaters or hotspots.? There are 4 different types of reflector protocols.? Hotspots can access all of them, and some repeaters can too, but many repeaters only access the most popular type, those named REFxxxxx.? Bottom line – D-STAR is first class and versatile.? ? The networks offer a huge variety of places to connect and talk.

DMR

DMR was developed for commercial land-mobile – police & fire, corporate mobile communications, etc.? The identifier is a 7-digit DMR id which any ham license-holder can request and put into their radios, so this is not a big deal, though in the US you do need to id every 10 minutes.? The two really important features of DMR are:? 1) DMR radios are made by many manufacturers which compete on price, so competition means you can get a good DMR radio for much, much less than a D-STAR or Fusion radio; 2) DMR networks connect to TalkGroups.? These end up being like reflectors, except the user of the radio decides which talk group to transmit on (as opposed to having the repeater or hotspot be linked to a reflector).? The difference leads to a lot of flexibility, but also some complexity.? I really like talkgroups, but I hate having to program a new DMR radio (which I just did yesterday).? The programming info for DMR radios is saved in a file on your computer and is called a codeplug (Motorola term).

DMR’s complexity goes back to it having been developed for a commercial/government market where the end-users were not asked to do anything technical – police officers should not have to become technical experts.? So Motorola designed the radios and programming software to be done by professionals who could configure the radios to the organizations’ needs, then install them.? These pros are trained and have become experienced in all things DMR.? It stands to reason programming a DMR radio is not all that simple.? That is not to say hams can’t master it.? My recommendation is to get ahold of a working code-plug and use that as your starting point.? Just realize it will take more time to get up and running than D-STAR or Fusion.?

Bottom line – DMR radios are less expensive than other DV mode radios.? And there are many varieties of talkgroups that you can choose to talk to.? It is an excellent DV mode, as long as the extra setup-time is acceptable to you.

Fusion

Yaesu generally wants to lead, not follow, so their DV mode is architecturally different from both D-STAR and DMR.? Yes, they have their own network (Wires-X) and each meeting place is called a room.? But rather than asking people to store info about the network and available rooms in each user’s radio, Fusion expects the network to store that info.? So you basically have almost no DV-settings to worry about.? Like analog FM, you just need to have a memory that gets you to your target repeater or hotspot, and from then on, you can search for rooms by having the radio ask the network to do the search.? That means setup and learning curve when getting a new radio are very quick and easy.? This is a big deal and a big advantage.?

In my experience, compared to both D-STAR and DMR, there are fewer possible places to make connections, but there are still a lot and many are interesting.?

Yaesu radios are relatively expensive, especially compared to DMR radios, but they are well-designed and well-built.? So the overall experience is good.

I am not a ham obsessed with hi-fi over RF – my standard is intelligibility.? I find all three DV modes you mentioned to be easy to understand.? Yaesu Fusion supports both narrow and wide band.? Of course wide is better audio quality, but even narrow is very slightly better (in my opinion, and others may disagree) than the other 2 modes.? But I personally would not choose a mode based on that, since the difference is slight and all are excellent at intelligibility.?

Wrapping Up

I like all three modes.? I personally use D-STAR the most, since I really like the concept of reflectors.? They are easy to use and provide an incredible variety of choices of places and people to talk to.?

No matter which mode you go with, I predict you will have fun.? Many people start out with the radio and access repeaters to get started.? Most repeaters make it easy for users to connect the repeater to other network places when the repeater is not otherwise busy, but at some point, people who really get into DV get themselves a hotspot so they have full control over linking/connecting without bothering others.? And hotspots these days support all the DV modes you mentioned and more.?

What often happens is people start with D-STAR using their nearby repeater.? Then the following year they get a hotspot and use it just for D-STAR.? Then they break down and buy a DMR radio and configure their hotspot for both DV modes.? And some then get a Fusion radio, etc.

I hope some of the above helps.

???? Jim – K6JM

PS I purposely did not muddy the waters with bridges and transcoding.? It is possible to use a radio for a given DV mode and connect it to a network bridge to another mode’s room, talkgroup or reflector.? Hotspots can now do a lot of that too.? That is all useful for those who want just one DV-mode radio.? So you should be aware of this capability, but I would pick your mode and radio-type first, and learn about bridges later on.

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Brad Dux
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2021 7:32 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Bay-Net Main] Picking a di\gital mode (and then a radio)

I have been all analog thus far, and would like to venture into the world of digital.? There seems to be D-STAR, DMR, and Fusion.

I'm sure I will get opinions for all three, but I would love some help in picking a good starting mode along with a radio (do any support all three? or two of them?).? What is the most active in the western US?

Thanks,
Brad
W6DUX