Tag: TGIF

Lessons Learned in DMR

There’s a multitude of reasons folks get into DMR. It may be helpful if you first answer to yourself the questions below. They may steer your choices in which DMR network to join, or equipment choices and such down the road.

I think I’ve finally fully recovered from my “DMR phase”. Soon after I got my ticket, and almost immediately after I started this blog, I went down the rabbit hole of Digital Mobile Radio (DMR). That partially explains why there hasn’t been a post in awhile… I say partially because, immediately after I emerged from the DMR maze I dove right in to FT8 (more later).

I’ve always been a computer geek of sorts, but in no way a programmer or developer. I once had a role where I worked that included being the “IT guy” for about 25 end-users back in the Windows 98 and XP days. I’ve put up a few Windows 2000 servers and a Linux box running an Intranet server. Our main MRP server ran Linux RedHat, 3.2 I believe. Remember those days? The merging of computers with Ham radio was a driving factor in getting my license. Plus giving me an excuse to build a few more Raspberry Pi projects… BONUS!

This blog is not about trying to explain stuff about stuff that’s already overflowing on the internet like “What is DMR?” or, how it works. Frankly, I’m not sure I know. This blog also isn’t about me trying to come off as some kind of expert and impress you with my new found knowledge. It’s just me sharing my experiences. Sometimes, just knowing where to start is helpful.

There’s a multitude of reasons folks get into DMR. It may be helpful if you first answer to yourself the questions below. They may steer your choices in which DMR network to join, or equipment choices and such down the road.

  • Why do I want to get on DMR?
    • Ragchew
    • Log Contacts (gets old quick)
    • Talk to direct (known) contacts worldwide
    • Talk to operators with common interests regionally or worldwide
  • Do I want to make contacts on Local Repeaters?
  • Am I going to need, or do I want a Hotspot?
    • Buy it or Build it?

After doing all the research to answer the questions intelligently, and assuming you still want to take a dive into DMR… The next thing is you’ll need to choose which DMR Network you want to join. The Brandmeister Network is popular and a good place to start. For more focused talkgroups you may want to look at the TGIF Network. There’s more, but I’ve only used these two. Both these networks have a web page that lets you see what’s happening real-time. TGIF talkgroups have descriptive names as to what they’re about… sometimes it’s fun watching the names of the talkgroups scroll by.

Another option is DMR-MARC, if you’re fortunate enough to have a DMR-MARC repeater in your area.

Like I said… I’m a geek. So the driving force for me was just getting it to work for any and all of the above. I didn’t say doing any of the above. For me, it’s the challenge and learning experience of getting it to work. Note: After making a bunch of contacts to prove everything worked, I haven’t even turned on my Hotspot in a week or so. I was working on FT8 🙂

So with that, I’m putting together a bullet list of what I believe is the easiest and most direct path of stuff you need “TO-DO” to get operational on DMR. BTW: This is not the path I took stumbling down the DMR rabbit hole… This is the “wish I had known” version.