P-25

[Zappa]

If anyone's looking for a P-25 radio, this is a very good deal for a NEW 45 watt UHF mobile.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170448612814&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:VRI

 

[matt]

What is p25? Is that a new version of dstar?

 

[Zappa]

What is p25? Is that a new version of dstar?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_25

It's a digital narrowband protocol that has been adopted by state, local and Federal agencies.
Dstar is Icoms proprietary digital mode intended for Amateur useage, it is similar to P-25, but not compatible.
Many police agencies have already made the switchover to P-25 radio systems with Homeland Security Grant Money.
New Hampshire has already switched all their police agencies to it, that's why your old conventional scanners don't work for monitoring police in NH anymore. There are a few Ham repeaters that have gone to P-25 such as Westboro, and the N1/OMJ machine in Woburn will become P-25 compliant within the next few months.

 

[Garys]

D Star isn't proprietary, it's an open standard developed by amateurs in Japan to test the applicability of digital transmission to ham radio. Icom has decided to commercialize it, but with mixed results so far. Since most hams still have analog gear, I don't expect to see a lot of either P25 or D Star in the future. You won't see much, if any, ham gear sold with P25 due to the cost of licensing the IMBE VoCoder. All of which means that you will have to buy commercial gear to convert for use on the ham bands if you want P25.

Unlike FM, SSB, or AM, not all digital modes are compatible. APCO P-25 is open standard, available to anyone who wants to pay the licensing fee to the developer. D Star is open source, which means that anyone can have the source code, which you most decidedly CAN NOT do for P25.

 

[Zappa]

Maybe I was wrong about D-Star being proprietary, but it may as well be, because nobody else has shown any interest in it and Icom is still the only one making radios that run it.

 

[the_doctor]

My Club is running D-Star repeaters. There is a D-Star repeater going up somewhere else in SE-MA. I would not rave about it. I rather go 220. I have some 220 gear, but no one talks. My main 220 machine is down(belongs to club).

For you newbies 220 is almost scanner proof, since most radios can not multiple their basic setup to 220. Voila lack of 220 coverage in most scanners. Coincidentally a lot of VHF AM military radio is up there too.