Tag: dmr

  • Your First DMR Codeplug on the AnyTone 878, 890, or BridgeCom Maverick: Where to Start

    Opened the AnyTone CPS and have no idea which menu comes first? Here is the exact order to build a DMR codeplug on the 878, 890, or BridgeCom Maverick, and why building out of order leaves you staring at empty dropdowns.

  • What I Look For In A Ham Radio HT

    The exact checklist I run every handheld radio through before it earns a spot in my lineup, plus a full comparison table covering ham, GMRS, and commercial HTs.

  • RadioID.net and DMR ID Registration: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough

    Part of our Getting On The Air guide. Before you can transmit on DMR, whether through a hotspot or a repeater, you need a DMR ID. This trips up a lot of new hams because unlike a callsign, it is not something the FCC assigns you automatically. It is a separate registration you have to…

  • Choosing a Power Supply for a DMR Hotspot

    Part of our Getting On The Air guide. A DMR hotspot is a small, low-power device, and it is tempting to assume any old USB charger will power it fine. In practice, a genuinely inadequate power supply is one of the most common causes of hotspot instability, random reboots, and connection dropouts. Why Current Rating…

  • Pi-Star vs. WPSD: Why I Switched My DMR Hotspots

    Part of our Getting On The Air: Modes, Operations, and Making Contacts guide. I ran Pi-Star for a long time before switching over, and now every hotspot I own runs WPSD. Both projects do the same underlying job, but a couple years of running both back to back has made the differences pretty clear to…

  • Brandmeister vs. TGIF: Comparing the Two Big DMR Networks

    Part of our Getting On The Air: Modes, Operations, and Making Contacts guide. If you’ve spent any time programming a DMR codeplug, you’ve run into these two names. Brandmeister and TGIF are the two networks that carry almost all of the DMR traffic hams actually talk on, and if you’re setting up a hotspot for…

  • Two Cheap Ways to Get Into DMR

    Part of our Getting On The Air: Modes, Operations, and Making Contacts guide. DMR is one of the cheapest digital modes to actually get on the air with, and you don’t need a nearby repeater to do it. There are two realistic paths in: buy a little hardware, or skip the hardware entirely and run…

  • Radio Field Cards: Quick-Reference Programming Guides

    Part of our Handheld Radios (HTs) guide. I keep pulling up the same four questions on every new radio that lands on the bench: how do I program a repeater, how do I get into VFO mode, how do I adjust power, and how do I scan. Every radio buries these in a different menu…

  • ~2010: DMR Crosses Over From Commercial Radio to Ham Radio

    Part of our The Evolution of Amateur Radio timeline series. Unlike D-STAR, DMR wasn’t built for amateur radio at all. It started life as a commercial land mobile radio standard, and hams basically invited themselves to the party once cheap DMR radios started flooding the market. There’s no single clean founding date the way there…

  • Ailunce HD2 Review: A Great EmComm Handout Radio, With a Warning

    I use the Ailunce HD2 as a preprogrammed EmComm handout radio, but there’s a documented spurious emissions problem you need to know about before you buy.

  • 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.

  • 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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