Thinking about getting into DMR.

[SteveShannon]

1 minute ago, WRXB215 said:

I only needed one. Just had to be able to pan around to prove I wasn't cheating.

Are you done?  How did it go?

[WRXB215]

5 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

Are you done?  How did it go?

I took the test in January 2024. Just changed my call sign this April.

[SteveShannon]

10 minutes ago, WRXB215 said:

I took the test in January 2024. Just changed my call sign this April.

Oops, sorry. I failed to see that it was your post instead of @WSAA635  

[WSAA635]

Just finished my test, 34 out of 35. I'm a HAM, LOL. 

[WRXB215]

1 hour ago, WSAA635 said:

Just finished my test, 34 out of 35. I'm a HAM, LOL. 

Congratulations! I knew you could do it.

[WRYZ926]

2 hours ago, WSAA635 said:

Just finished my test, 34 out of 35. I'm a HAM, LOL. 

Congratulations!

Now the wait begins. You will get an email from the FCC telling you your license is approved and a link for you to pay your $35. It should only take a few days as long as the VE submits everything electronically. Double check your spam folders too. 

Now you will have so many other squirrels to chase with your amateur license. Tech gives you AM, single side band, CW (morse code) and digital mode privileges on 10m. You also get CW privileges on 15m, 40m, and 80m. There is plenty to do with the 2m, 1.25m, and 70cm bands. You might end up enjoying talking to the space station when it passes over. 

It took 3 weeks for my technician and three weeks for my general since my local VE is stuck in the Stone Age and mails everything through USPS.

[WRYZ926]

PS:

Getting your general opens up all of the HF bands if you are interested. The general test is not hard, especially if you start studying now.

[WSAA635]

I can do 10M with the Tech License but I don't have any radios that'll do that band. The test team said they'd summit things today any I should be processed tomorrow or next day. I'm going to reprogram a couple of my radios for HAM use. I just need to figure out which frequencies to use. 

[WRYZ926]

Here is a good band plan that shows what modes can be used on each band.

Icom band plan

And the ARRL band

https://www.arrl.org/images/view//Charts/Band_Chart_Image_for_ARRL_Web.jpg

The ARRL band plan does better at showing what portions you can use per each license.

[WSAA635]

1 minute ago, WRYZ926 said:

Here is a good band plan that shows what modes can be sued on each band.

Icom band plan

And the ARRL band

https://www.arrl.org/images/view//Charts/Band_Chart_Image_for_ARRL_Web.jpg

 

Thanks but I was thinking more about what "channels"(aka Frequencies) to add. I know there's National Calling Freqs. and some other standard channels and a lot of repeater channels. I just need to figure out what they are so I can make up a code plug for my radios. 

[WRYZ926]

I won't be much help on DMR since I have yet to use that mode.  

The national calling frequencies and local repeaters are a good start. Also look to see if there are any local DMR repeaters in your area. Asking on a local DMR repeater would be a good place to start.

[BoxCar]

27 minutes ago, WSAA635 said:

Thanks but I was thinking more about what "channels"(aka Frequencies) to add. I know there's National Calling Freqs. and some other standard channels and a lot of repeater channels. I just need to figure out what they are so I can make up a code plug for my radios. 

Just to clear some confusion, channels and frequencies are often interchanged but they are not the same in all cases. A channel always contains a frequency - GMRS is an example. Frequencies can be assigned to a channel but they are also free-standing. In the amateur world we talk frequencies, but use channels when any other service uses them. 

[WSAA635]

Yep, I kind of figured that since HAM Frequencies are not really SET to a Channel like GMRS. It's like in Fly Fishing, they call a "Bobber" a "Strike Indicator", same thing only different. LOL.

I put together a list of National Calling Freqs and some of the local Repeaters(I've never seen so many Repeaters, especially on 70cm) so I'll make up a code plug with them and write them to one of my radios to test them out once I get my call sign. 

[tcp2525]

Sadly, DMR and pretty much all digital modes are a passing fad. Way to many radio checks and people kerchunking. Plus, the audio quality isn't as natural and pleasing as anal-log. All this in an effort to save bandwidth. Thank goodness the FCC did something right and not allow digital on GMRS.

[WRYZ926]

We are in the process of removing the DMR capabilities on our 70cm repeaters since no one uses DMR. You will find that DMR and even the 1.25m band use will vary in different regions. 

2 hours ago, tcp2525 said:

Plus, the audio quality isn't as natural and pleasing as anal-log

This is true. It seems like you either get in with decent audio or you don't get in at all. Now that could be how the DMR was setup on our three repeaters. But it never impressed me.

We are in the process of adding Allstar nodes to all three 70cm repeaters and our 2m repeater instead. The 70cm repeaters will be linked full time and we can link them to the 2m repeater as needed once everything is done.

[WRXB215]

2 hours ago, tcp2525 said:

anal-log

[BoxCar]

1 hour ago, WRYZ926 said:

We are in the process of removing the DMR capabilities on our 70cm repeaters since no one uses DMR. You will find that DMR and even the 1.25m band use will vary in different regions. 

This is true. It seems like you either get in with decent audio or you don't get in at all. Now that could be how the DMR was setup on our three repeaters. But it never impressed me.

We are in the process of adding Allstar nodes to all three 70cm repeaters and our 2m repeater instead. The 70cm repeaters will be linked full time and we can link them to the 2m repeater as needed once everything is done.

DMR is digitized voice and reception depends on if the D to A decoder can receive the digital string with enough good bits or not. So, it's an either/or situation. You either decode the voice or you don't. The advantage is there is no fading as the transmitter moves away from the receiver.

[Lscott]

5 hours ago, tcp2525 said:

Thank goodness the FCC did something right and not allow digital on GMRS.

Not yet anyway. That could change at some point. People are doing it now regardless of the rules. If the practice continues, expands and no FCC enforcement action then we could see the FCC just throw in the towel again, like they did in 2017 rule changes with FRS/GMRS combo radio, and make it legal. Then the question will be what mode(s), power and where.

Some have pushed the idea to add more channels to GMRS. Very likely won't happen. As it is the service has 7 nearly useless interstitial channels, 8 to 14, limited to narrow band, 0.5 watts and handheld units only with fixed antennas. Finding a better use for those, at higher power and use on mobile radios, would be equivalent to adding 7 additional channels, no extra spectrum required.

I posted an opinion paper, based on a suggestion made in an old thread on this forum, these nearly useless channels could be the location for a dedicated home for a digital voice mode. Some won't like the idea of digital voice on GMRS, but hey for example, the FCC finally got around to adding FM to 11M CB radio. Took them long enough.

[tcp2525]

3 hours ago, BoxCar said:

DMR is digitized voice and reception depends on if the D to A decoder can receive the digital string with enough good bits or not. So, it's an either/or situation. You either decode the voice or you don't. The advantage is there is no fading as the transmitter moves away from the receiver.

With analog fading is fine as you can still hear the transmission, albeit with a little more noise but it's readable. 

[tcp2525]

2 hours ago, Lscott said:

Not yet anyway. That could change at some point. People are doing it now regardless of the rules. If the practice continues, expands and no FCC enforcement action then we could see the FCC just throw in the towel again, like they did in 2017 rule changes with FRS/GMRS combo radio, and make it legal. Then the question will be what mode(s), power and where.

Some have pushed the idea to add more channels to GMRS. Very likely won't happen. As it is the service has 7 nearly useless interstitial channels, 8 to 14, limited to narrow band, 0.5 watts and handheld units only with fixed antennas. Finding a better use for those, at higher power and use on mobile radios, would be equivalent to adding 7 additional channels, no extra spectrum required.

I posted an opinion paper, based on a suggestion made in an old thread on this forum, these nearly useless channels could be the location for a dedicated home for a digital voice mode. Some won't like the idea of digital voice on GMRS, but hey for example, the FCC finally got around to adding FM to 11M CB radio. Took them long enough.

I just don't see GMRS a good match for digital. You are most likely right, it will eventually be here. As for FM on 11m, do people still use it? I gave up on it almost 40 years ago.

[Lscott]

1 minute ago, tcp2525 said:

I just don't see GMRS a good match for digital. You are most likely right, it will eventually be here. As for FM on 11m, do people still use it? I gave up on it almost 40 years ago.

The FCC just recently made it officially legal on 11M. I guess it's popularity all depends on equipment availability and any real world advantage it might have over AM/SSB. 

Some people have no interest in digital on GMRS. That's OK. However there are apparently enough who do that a few threads have commented about the proliferation of digital voice signals in some areas, and it's not even legal! Oh well.

The point of digital voice is the ability to have reasonably clear communications out to nearly the limit of the traditional FM UHF signal range. FM can get really ratty and noise polluted at extended ranges.  

One other reason to use it the digital signals, using the right mode, can fit between the main FM repeater channels with the likely hood of not interfering at higher power levels, unlike the narrow band FM currently allowed at 0.5 watts. In areas with substantial GMRS usage this opens up the service for much better coverage without begging the FCC for more spectrum we're very unlikely to get.

 

GMRS Digital Voice - 20250723.pdf