I shied away from D*Star because I did not like the idea that a private party (Japan Amateur Radio Society) owned the technology and licensed it to ICOM. Later DMR was based upon the public domain TDMA digital technology.
When DMR came to my attention, I discovered, to my delight, that Radioddity converted their GD-77 into a Baofeng UV-5R style case and hence all my Baofeng accessories would work (primarily my high capacity batteries) and for only $69!
With 3 DMR repeaters within range of my home shack, I have not yet dipped my toes into "hotspot" technology.
About a year ago, a Ham in Australia developed OpenFirmware technology for both the GD-77 and RD-5R and as soon as I find some experimental time, I will be installing it.
So with the RD-5R I have in the palm of my hand: Analog, DMR, 2 meters, 70 cms, GMRS, MURS and MORE! ?
And did I mention, all this for only $69!?!
