Icom IC-208 & D-STAR ???

[DD4DJ]

Hi,

does anybody know, whether it's possible to make the IC-208 D-Star - ready? It seems that this mobile is exactly the same as the ID-800 which is expandable for D-Star with an optional unit (UT-???).

Christoph

[K0BG]

No.

Alan, KØBG
www.k0bg.com

[DD4DJ]

It seems that you are familiar with this radio(s), can you shortly explain, what the problem is? It would be interesting!

Thanks
Christoph

[KG4RUL]

The IC-208 has no place to plug in the D-STAR module.  A radio has to be designed from the get-go for this.

[K0BG]

Chris, the manual lists all of the options available for the radio, and D-Star isn't one of them.

I can't speak for your neck of the woods, but on this side of the pond, D-Star repeaters are few and far between except in some of the major cities. Even then, they're scarce. Hopefully, that will change in the next couple of years. What will really spur things on, is to have Icom just include the option in their D-Star-ready transceivers. In the mean time, I wouldn't sweat about not having it.

Alan, KØBG
www.k0bg.com

[DD4DJ]

I know for sure that there's no chance to simply put an UT-??? unit in and everything is fine! But I was wondering whether the missing plug for the installation of the UT-unit is the ONLY thing that's different from the ID800.

It should not be the biggest problem (for me: yes, but for experienced hams: no) to make a selfmade connection between the board on the radio and the unit.

But when the boards in both radios are totally different, then it would be a much bigger problem.

[KG4RUL]

To reiterate, this is NOT possible.

[W9HQE]

A guy I know has a 208h with dstar how is that possible if what you say is true?