I'm not opposed to linking different protocols, but there is value in some of the objections to linking specific networks. If the objections or concerns can be mitigated, then fewer people would resist.

The most often heard objection to linking FM systems to D-Star seems to be that D-Star users don't want all the white noise from a weak FM station digitized and retransmitted on D-Star, and I agree with this objection. Find a way to limit the retransmission of FM signals onto the D-Star network to only good, mostly full-quieting signals and you will probably overcome these objections.

Echolink and IRLP were a match because they both use the same mode, FM.

Linking one type of digital system to another won't have this specific problem, so I don't see why we couldn't develop this option as long as protocols in each system are satisfied. For example, D-Star sends the callsign of the transmitting station through the network. Make this happen from the non-D-Star system and the D-Star network would probably be satisfied. Otherwise, there will continue to be objections.

Tim, AF1G

---- "Tony Langdon wrote:

=============
At 11:51 AM 5/23/2012, you wrote:

"this is something that should have been done ten years ago"

QFT

Unfortunately it wasn't, and that the biggest issue I have with the
development of D-Star. Having said that, Amateur Radio is already a
splintered hobby with many niches, so it's nothing new.

D-STAR was developed a long time ago, technology has moved on since, also.

What concerns me more is the (political) resistance to allowing
interoperability/gateways between systems. The transcoding, gateways
and transports themselves are all relatively minor feats in
comparison. All it takes is "someone" saying they won't allow gating
from IRLP to Echolink, Echolink to D-Star, or P25 to whatever, and a
segment becomes isolated. We're our own worst enemy and we'll pay
for it in real dollars.

Agree totally. To me, the ultimate aim is to have a

I don't want to have to take three HT with me when I leave the
house, or have a rack of three mobile rigs in the car. I also don't
want my investment in D-Star to become worthless.

I had the same issue back in 2002, when I was running IRLP and
Echolink on a single antenna, which meant that two of the 3 ports on
my triplexer were taken up with links! As I was the main user, there
had to be a better way. I wasn't the only one who thought this, and
a few people put their heads together and came up with EchoIRLP,
which allowed the same analog endpoint to be used for both
networks. With digital, there's no common medium until you get to
the end user radio itself, so you either need a multiprotocol radio,
or you need infrastructure which can route across networks (and
willing network administrators!). At least with digital, it should
be possible to transparently carry IDs from end to end, leaving only
the need to cross from network to network, and transcoding the audio
where necessary.

If the gateways can be built out of something like the UDR, then that
could push the protocol conversion as close to the edge of the
network as possible, which might scale better, as well as minimising
issues of "We don't want XXX on our network!".

73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL
http://vkradio.com