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Decided to "drink from the D-Star kool aid", and bought the Icom IC-92AD.

Not here to debate the D-Star vs P-25 issue - I think both have their place.

But, let me just say - this little radio is BUILT. It's the sturdiest amateur HT I've ever owned. It makes my Kenwood F6A feel like a toy. Very solid metal case, positive feel on the buttons, knobs are sturdy, belt clip is heavy duty WITH a heavy grip spring on it. The PTT buttons are rubberized, but feel like something form the Icom commercial line.
The audio out of the speaker is adequately loud and generally not distorted, and the user interface isn't too bad - considering all the stuff this radio does.
And, the speaker mic (I splurged for the GPS one), is very heavy duty - a solid coiled cord, a heavy speaker/mic head, and a great locking plug that goes right into the top of the radio.

If nothing else - excluding D-Star capability - this radio is very nice. D-star infrastructure needs to be expanded - but, it's happening,and some very dedicated users/clubs are making it all happen.

That's all I have - it's a nice radio.

Brad.

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Whatever.....

Brad,

Welcome to D-Star.

For those interested, the Federal Way Amateur Radio Club has a very active D-Star group.

http://www.fwarc.org

They hold a D-Star meeting each month.
You can register on the gateway through this group if you like.

They are hosting a "D-Star Workshop" on Nov 21.
http://www.fwarc.org/dstar/index.asp

Their repeaters are on 146.840 and 443.850

73,
Nick

Thanks for filling us in on the 92AD, its nice to know that its built halfway solid.
I run an ID-880H in the car. Haven't used the D-STAR yet but so far it seems to be an ok radio.
Maybe a 92AD will be on the shopping list if the D-STAR seems useful down here.

Nick - On my outside antenna, I can generally hear the FWARC repeaters pretty well....I don't know if I'm getting into them. The UHF one seems to be hooked up to a reflector pretty regularly - it's fun to listen to guys in the midwest on their evening commute, talking to VK's on their morning commute.

I can generally get into the NR7SS Pilchuck machine from here on a handheld, and the Tulalup tribe just put up a D-Star UHF repeater. Apparently, the tribe is getting a wi-fi link to that tower, so a gateway is forthcoming. That will make it REAL nice for my area. I think the Pilchuck internet/gateway may not happen until next year...they're running out of time.

Oh - the Gold Mtn. one seems to work pretty good here, too.

I saw the ad for the FWARC D-Star workshop, and will probably go. Still a lot to learn, and I want to have a better grasp of the systems capabilities. The manual basically sucks for any real information.

Just got my network registration from them, too. So, now I'm "registered" on the D-Star network.

The 880 might be the radio to get for the shack - wish I would have picked up an 800 when they were on closeout a few months back.

So far, it's fun. And, that's MOSTLY what this hobby is supposed to be.

Brad.

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Whatever.....

I run the 2820 for my mobile / base D-Star rig.

I was going to buy the 880, but a friend at ICOM talked me into the 2820.
Twice the price, but for my porposes well worth it.

Mainly, the reason I did it is the D-Star specific functions are greatly enhanced in the 2820.

Too much to go into while I am on the job.
If interested I can post a few specifics later.

(I guess I need to get that radio back on the air...)

This is my every day radio as well... I'm happy with it. I also have the earbud/mic so I can use it in crowds and hear, but I had to buy the adaptor for it. Agreed, solid radio, good battery life. I don't use too much dstar yet, but I did hit several dstar repeaters earlier this year in Charlotte and Dallas when visiting.

I just saw this on YouTube... Granted, this won't happen in every day life, but this is kind of disappointing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAm4yUo7pgM

I cant believe how much radio equipment out there cant handle RF! Vertex mobiles will key up and sit there with an open mike under high rf from such as trunk mounted antenna, from its own transmitter... :roll:

As long as you know what causes it... :shock:

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"A well regulated breakfast, being necessary to the healthy start of the day, the right of the people to keep and eat food shall not be infringed."

Disappointing???? LOL. Come on guys! You are holding an 5W radio an half of inch about another radio and the only thing that happens is the LCD (which has no shielding at all) goes blank??? My IC-800H has slow LCD segments in cold weather. Is that the radio's fault....No. Transmitting directly into a LCD and the display going blank a poor design...No. Even a commercial radio would have the same issue.

So I called Icom today and asked that if there was any firmware updates for the IC-92AD. They said that there was a update to fix an issue with the display going blank when RF gets too close to the LCD on some radios (ie: Transmitting a 5 watt radio an half of an inch from the display). So this will address the issue from earlier posts here.