D-STAR stands for 'Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio'

  It is an open-standard digital voice and data protocol developed by the Japan Amateur Radio League.  It is the first digital protocol that has been widely accepted around the world and is fully supported by a major amateur radio equipment manufacturer (ICOM).

  There is a wealth of information available on the Internet that you can read to get updated on this neat new technology.  Here are a few links that offer a better glimpse into how it works in the real world:

  Click [ HERE ] to read the wikipedia article about D-STAR

  Click [ HERE ] for the ICOM page describing their products

  Click [ HERE ] for ICOM Canada's informative pages

  Click [ HERE ] for the D-STARusers.org web site

  Click [ HERE ] for the N6SIX D-STAR web site

  Click [ HERE ] to listen to actual D-STAR audio as recorded during the weekly San Diego D-STAR technical nets.  If you click on the link for the 13 May 2008 net, at about 20 minutes into the podcast you can hear Pete (WA3UMY) checking in with an ICOM IC-92AD hand-held transceiver from inside his hotel room located about 18 miles from the Mt. Woodson repeater.  Information about the San Diego PAPA (Pocket Auto-Patch Association) group that operates the D-STAR repeaters in southern California, including the one on Mt. Woodson, can be viewed [ HERE ].

Click [ HERE ] for the Northern Virginia D-STAR Group supporting the Marine Corps Marathon and for links to all the Washington DC area clubs that have D-STAR repeaters

Click [ HERE ] for the Alabama Linked Repeater System D-STAR pages (contains a HUGE amount of information on D-STAR technology including outstanding Power-Point technical presentations on what it takes to get the D-STAR repeaters on-line)

Click [ HERE ] for the ICOM D-STAR forums

   Want to see more about this new technology?  Click on the video pictures (below)

   D-STAR Introduction video (filmed at the ICOM booth at Dayton in 2005, somewhat dated information):

   Cecil, WD6FZA, introduces D-STAR to the Palomar Amateur Radio Club membership on Nov. 7, 2007.  This is the system (on Mt. Woodson) run by the PAPA amateur radio organization that Pete (WA3UMY) used while on a trip to the San Diego area on 12-15 May 2008.

 Comparison video - watch a demonstration of communications through a normal 440 MHz analog voice repeater located on Mount Palomar in southern California, and then through a 440 MHz D-STAR digital voice repeater.  Both repeaters are in the exact same location and are sharing the same antenna at the repeater site:

  Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) using D-STAR:

  ICOM D-STAR system using NJ6N's D-CHAT:

  Click [ HERE ] to find out more about the D-CHAT software

 Are you a licensed Amateur Radio Operator and are you away from your DSTAR radio? Then watch this simple demo of the DVDONGLE. This device allows you to communicate on DSTAR gateways around the world with the use of a computer and broadband connection:

Now that you have had a chance to read up on the D-STAR technology, we want to hear from you and get your thoughts:

- What do you think?

- Would you buy a D-STAR radio?

- Would you support having a digital repeater to use in St. Mary's County?

- If the SMCARA were to endorse sponsoring such an effort, would you use it?

- Would you like to participate in helping get a digital repeater on the air?

If interested, please click [ HERE ] and send a quick e-mail with your comments to Pete (WA3UMY).  We will tally the results and see if we have enough interest to proceed with a possible club project.  Thank you for your interest!

    More to come... check back often!