I must agree with Doug's disappointment at well. The article has important fundamental errors. I own and operate several NXDN Kenwood amateur band repeater systems as well as an interoperable ICOM iDAS repeater, all of which mostly operate on analog FM but switch automatically to digital when needed. The Kenwood and Icom radios which I own which have iDAS or NXDN also operate analog very well. I own numerous D-STAR radios as well. The ham market DMR (D-STAR with the CS-7000) radios from CSI, very popular, all operate analog wide and narrow as well. P25 is not my favorite mode, but I have never seen a P25 portable that does NOT operate analog either. Another important error is the comment that DMR packs twice the spectral efficiency. While compared to Fusion C4FM, DMR (as well as P25 Phase 2) is arguably better at spectrum use, D-STAR, like NXDN in narrow mode and iDAS, is always 6.25 KHz wide, DMR (and Fusion) is always 12.5 KHz wide. Though it is true that DMR will support two talk paths at once, it is not more spectrally efficient and usually less so when only one QSO is in progress, as it is much of the time. What troubles me is that the writer clearly has good credentials, but has opined on something he clearly is not familiar with or our editing staff may have accidently introduced errors. This is basic stuff. Do we have a peer review process for technical articles? Maybe not. Bob Famiglio, K3RF Vice Director, ARRL Atlantic Division 610-359-7300 From: arrl-odv [ <mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org> mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Doug Rehman Sent: Friday, March 20, 2015 1:01 PM To: ''arrl-odv'' Subject: [arrl-odv:24099] Inaccurate/Misleading Article in April QST I am disappointed in the article titled "Untangling Digital Voice Above 50 MHz" as it has multiple inaccuracies. The table on page 31 shows that Yaesu Fusion and D-Star are "Analog FM Compatible" while DMR, NXDN, and P25 are not. Further, the third paragraph on page 32 begins, "In contrast, P25, NXDN, and DMR transceivers are digital only." While I don't have any experience with NXDN, I own several DMR portables and about a dozen P25 radios. The DMR and P25 transceivers are absolutely capable of analog FM operation and I regularly use them on analog FM repeaters. Thirty seconds of Googling confirmed that the NXDN radios are likewise analog FM capable. Further, excluding D-Star, the repeaters for all of the digital modes are capable of digital or analog operation. The P25 repeaters for example can be set to retransmit analog as analog and digital as digital. We have a network of VHF P25 repeaters in my county that are set up to individually repeat analog FM signals and repeat P25 signals across the entire network. Another row in the table on page 31 indicates if the radios are "Front Panel Programmable". Again it shows Yaesu Fusion and D-Star as yes and DMR, NXDN, and P25 as no. This is again incorrect. Several of my P25 radios are front panel programmable. While my DMR radios are not FPP, there is readily available firmware for at least one brand to make them FPP. Yet another row incorrectly indicates that there are not P25 dual band models. Motorola and Harris both produce multiband radios. These are just the most glaring inaccuracies that jumped out at me. Was this article an April Fools joke? Doug K4AC