Category: Digital Modes
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Getting Started with DMR: Brandmeister, TGIF, and Building Your Own Hotspot
Two networks, a Raspberry Pi, and a DMR ID are all it takes to get on digital voice from your desk. Here’s how the pieces fit together.
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Building a DMR Hotspot with a Raspberry Pi: Pi-Star vs WPSD, DMR IDs, and Getting Your Radio Talking
A complete, practical guide to standing up your own DMR hotspot on a Raspberry Pi. Pi-Star versus WPSD, how to get a DMR ID without pulling your hair out, simplex versus duplex hats, and how to connect your radio.
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VarAC: The Modern Chat Mode Built on VARA
VarAC is one of the newer additions to the digital mode toolbox, and it’s easy to describe by comparison: it does for VARA roughly what JS8Call did for FT8, turning a weak-signal modem into a genuine keyboard-to-keyboard chat platform with modern conveniences built in. Built on top of VARA, not a replacement for it VarAC…
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Setting Up the Yaesu FT-891 for Digital Modes: Digirig DR-891, WSJT-X, and Your First FT8 Contact
The FT-891 has no built-in sound card and a quirky single-USB CAT connection. Here’s how the Digirig DR-891 solves that, and how to get from unboxed to your first FT8 QSO.
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Configuring APRS on the AnyTone AT-D878UV II Plus
The 878 will do APRS, both analog and DMR-APRS through the GPS revert channel, but it is not a one-button affair like the Kenwood. Almost everything worth setting has to happen in the CPS software first, then you fine tune on the radio itself. Here is the setup I actually use. Enable APRS and GPS…
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Building Your First DMR Codeplug
A codeplug is the configuration file that tells your DMR radio which talkgroups, zones, and contacts exist. Building your first one from scratch looks intimidating and is actually a very learnable process.
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Getting on FT8 with the Icom IC-7300 Mark II
One USB-C cable, no external interface needed. Here’s how to get the IC-7300 Mark II talking to WSJT-X and make your first FT8 contact.
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DMR vs. D-STAR vs. YSF (and the Rest): Comparing Digital Voice Modes
Four digital voice ecosystems, four different tradeoffs, and none of them talk to each other. Here’s how DMR, D-STAR, System Fusion, and the smaller players actually compare.
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JTDX vs WSJT-X: Is the Fork Worth Switching To
WSJT-X is the software running FT8 on my IC-7300 Mark II, and it’s the default recommendation for anyone getting started with weak-signal digital modes. JTDX is a fork of that same codebase, and it’s been around long enough that people regularly ask whether it’s actually worth switching to. Where JTDX came from JTDX started as…
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Getting Started with Yaesu System Fusion and Wires-X
System Fusion is Yaesu’s digital voice ecosystem, and Wires-X is the network that links its repeaters and rooms together over the internet. Here is how to actually get on it.