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for the most part, i have learned to ignore my assigned DMR ID and rely on my unique ID i made up.. As long as it gets programed in all the radios in your group, good to go and harms no one.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is a whole lot more to DMR than H.A.M.S radios networks.

No.. Too much risk, not enough reward.

Hi everyone, New here and new to GMRS and radios all together. I recently purchased two TD-H3 radios to use at my son's training and events. Special Olympics Track and Field basically for us to talk between me and the other coaches. The radios came with firmware version 240817. I have downloaded the firmware but I don't see anywhere in the zip file about what the new versions offer. Like specific improvements, bug fixes, or new features which I am used to reading that before updating the firmware. So does anybody know what changes and is there a reason to update at this time? I am still reading learning the terms and etiquette for radio use. Many thanks for any information and for your time. Rick

Yes I know. That's one reason I got it because I can use it on the Ham band. The other is to see if I can get it to communicate with a couple of Icom dPMR radios. Doing the experimentation on 70cm is legal so long as i properly ID. There are a few differences between dPMR446 and the full featured dPMR. 1. dPMR446 uses the concept of a "common ID", whereas dPMR uses a "dialing" address, 24 bits, that functions as a Talkgroup and user ID depending on the range set for the ID. The remainder of the range is interpreted as the Talkgroup. You want a larger range for ID's, you have less range for Talkgroups. 2. The CC, channel code, for dPMR446 is a fixed value depending on the channel frequency. There are only 16 unique codes, listed in a table in the dPMR446 standard document, that would be used. For dPMR the CC is calculated based on an algorithm that uses the frequency, and there could be up to 64 unique codes. Using that algorithm for dPMR with the dPMR446 frequencies you don't get the values listed in the table for the dPMR446 standard. Otherwise the two are the same protocol. Number 1 I did some calculations and can generate the required bit pattern for the "common ID" using the dPMR Talkgroup/ID. However I can only generate a valid Talkgroup/ID for about 222 out of the 255 "common ID codes" Number 2 I think is going to screw things up where the communications will fail. I suspect this was done to prevent someone, like me, from attempting to use a commercial grade dPMR radio on dPMR446. I guess that's why there are two standards. Mathcad - dPMR446 Common ID Cod.pdf Channel Codes Edited ETSI TS 102 658 V2.6.1 (2019-01).pdf

DPMR 446 operates in the 70cm amateur band in the USA. An amateur radio license is required to operate there. Sent from my SM-S911U1 using Tapatalk

ISM radios are limited by power and antenna type. You'll have about 3/4 of a mile coverage. Sent from my SM-S911U1 using Tapatalk

Leave it as is. You'll be fine. Sent from my SM-S911U1 using Tapatalk

You require a DMR ID to access amateur radio networks. Sent from my SM-S911U1 using Tapatalk

Just an FYI, Baofeng has notified me that the mic extension cable is available. Soyou can mount the radio anywhere in your vehicleand just run the Mic cord to it. Link below. https://baofengtech.com/product/btech-5m-control-head-hand-mic-extension-cable-for-gmrs-50pro-male-to-female-shielded-16-4-ft/

well, my first guess, most vhf aircraft communictions, espeicaly commercial, is heavily monitored and recorded... My choice to have a somewhat private conversation with someone would be the lesser of the two..

That's OK. One other point to make. You don't really need a unique DMR ID to use DMR. FCC doesn't require it, and it's not a substitute for ID'ing using your call sign. So if you're not in the official database all anyone sees is garbage. Not to mention spoofing DMR ID's. Yeah people do that and since it's not illegal the FCC couldn't care less. For those than want to register and get a DMR ID this is the place. https://radioid.net/ I also have a NXDN ID too BTW through this site. I also believe people use their DMR ID as the digital ID for P25.

When all else fails, I generally "sniff" out the access tone, and go on the repeater and ask for permission.

You operate completely differently than I do but generally I don’t dismiss features that I don’t use that are important to others Put another way, I point out the limited Digital ID memory of the DM-32 for those whom the feature is important.

That's standard procedure for the military. We would always have at least one ground based forward air controller per brigade and usually had one per brigade combat team. And they used the low VHF band, 30 - 70 (88) MHz. IN the big Army units, the FAC's were always Air Force personnel. They always complained about living in the mud and muck with us ground pounders.

I have two D878UV's with it. Don't really use the feature. The problem is when scanning, which is what I usually do, when it stops it's so brief of a time that when I pick up the radio the info is gone. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/270-d878uv-model-1/ If I really want to read it I have to use the camera on the phone to catch it. Sort of misses the point.

You can’t miss a feature you don’t have. I use the screen’s showing of the caller’s Callsign all the time on my HT when I am not sitting at a desk with a pen and paper. One of the great benefits of digital!

I agree. When I bought my first DMR radio the fact that it could store 200,000 contacts seemed important. Since the I can count on three or four fingers how many times I have actually downloaded the list and loaded it into my radio. Of course within months 200,000 wasn’t enough, so the second time I chose to just load European and North America. Then just North America. Now, I don’t even bother.

Likely this. Aviation stuff is wildly expensive. I can definitely see them having 1 air-band radio, using that for unicom or tower frequencies, and then using GMRS or FRS for air-to-air comms. Slightly different use case, but Civil Air Patrol planes do something similar. Air-band for their aviation work, then air to air and air to ground (for SAR / other mission work) is VHF FM on their designated frequencies. (And can be configured as airborne repeaters, which is pretty rad).

My Kenwood commercial DMR radios can't download any digital ID data base, that's not their market goal, Amateur use. I don't miss it one bit. When one is running around with the radio in a pocket or on a belt, using a headset or speaker mic, I doubt anyone is going to yank it out to look at the display every time they hear something. That makes the builtin DMR database feature sort of pointless.

Not Boring at ALL ! Quite fun actually, especially for those of us who Don't have the real estate for Full size towers and hf antennas.

I can only speculate, but perhaps they reserve the air band radio for conversations with the tower and leave it tuned to that frequency. Chit chat on GMRS doesn’t affect that.

This begs the question, why bother using GMRS for aircraft to aircraft comms when you can just use the already installed VHF radios? When I've flown with my cousin in a group flights, that's how they did it. Other than the fact that other aircraft not having GMRS would then not be privy to your conversations?

A few months ago, and on ch. 16, I heard what appeared to be aircraft communicating here in the Phoenix Area talking about should they land at Sedona or Kingman for fuel.