I have no issue with digital radio at all and in fact use it quite a bit. But I do find that there has become an over reliance on VOIP in place of actual RF communication.

In my opinion there is no difference in using an app like QSO1 in place of any VOIP application. I just feel as if there are far more interesting things to do within the hobby.

If you are interested in VOIP try out some of the more interesting programs like Mumble, Matrix, or even something radio related like Reticulum.

I see the use case of things like echolink or dmr but I find that most people simply replace their radio with a phone as it is easier. It’s far more fun to use RF

I still just have issues with how some parts of meshcore are closed source.

Meshtastic has plenty of flaws but I tend to steer towards it just because I find it to be a more open alternative. To each their own I suppose

Amateur Radio can also be a digital mode of communication. AX.25 as an example, is probably the most common protocol for packet radio communication.

Where normally you would speak into the radio and talk with someone you can instead use a TNC that would produce digital tones (much like dial-up internet) that can then be used to send digital information.

This is a gross simplification of the process and I am sure I have messed up part of the description. But as an example of what you can do with that is running a forum/bbs only with radios, sending emails over radio, and sending images over radio, etc…

Radio is neat