What frequency range will the RF cover? What is the transmitted bandwidth at 56K?
For some time now we have wanted to leverage the use of the 430 - 440 MHz portion of the US band for D-STAR data. There is a lot of wide open frequencies in many parts of the country that go unused in this section. With some careful planning we should be able to coordinate frequencies in this part of the band taking into consideration protection for the satellite sub-band and weak signal work. Our friends in Europe seem to be doing a better job at band planning for spectrum efficiency than our coordinators in the states. With every new mode comes the thought of what frequency should I use. By thinking of these things now, maybe we can avoid some of the issues we have seen in the 440 - 450 MHz section.
The 420 - 430 MHz part of the band is also available in many parts of the US. My hopes would be that the designers could build the RF such that it could cover the entire 420 - 450 MHz range. This would give the end user more flexibility in building a network with these new radios. I know this is a tall order with government approvals required for intentional radiators.