Originally Posted by
pinzgauer
DMR has about a 3db advantage over regular FM. Which is effectively like doubling your power or antenna gain.
In the real world you won't see a doubling of distance due to line of sight. But in flat terrain running simplex it's a noticeable difference.
As to rights, radio is an shared asset. If the existing regulations for ham radio didn't exist there would not be any ham radio, as every taxi and Mom and Pop business would have just bought Ham radios to use it. How do you know Joe's sewer is not doing business using ham radio? You're able to monitor it.
There is nothing that stops you from getting an appropriate license where you can run encrypted radios between you and your buddies. But it won't be ham radio it'll be something else.
This is kind of like an expectation that there should be no traffic laws requiring you to stay in Lanes, have brake lights etc. So you could argue about speeding or such but in general traffic works better because of it is regulated.
Or like being upset that national parks have restrictions on the activities you can do. Playing frisbee in a meadow is probably an unreasonable thing to restrict. But unregulated / uncontrolled logging or game harvest would destroy the asset.
As much as we may not like regulation, "spoiling of the commons" is a real dynamic. It's a shared asset. In the privacy of my home or on my own land, that something completely different.
I am an encryption advocate for much communication and know how to use it on my radios. If the time ever comes that rule of law falls and I need to use it I will. Until then, I really don't care if someone can understand what my buddy and I are talking about on a repeater. Which by the way was paid for by a club most likely, who is tasked by law with operating it within regs and ensuring no illegal activities occur.
By the way, Motorola will give you great consumer service to customers who are willing to pay their price for their intellectual property. They invented certain technology which has been widely copied/cloned. So as part of their business model they enforce their IP. Even if we think they're jerks about some aspects of it.
They also sell/sold billions of dollars of consumer stuff. They definitely have a consumer/pro differentiated market with substantially different capabilities, construction, etc. Comparing a pro Motorola handheld with a consumer handheld is even more of a difference than an h&k rifle versus a parts is parts generic one.
The pro grade radio has capabilities the consumer ones don't. Pay to play.
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