Thinking about getting into DMR.

[UncleYoda]

8 hours ago, Lscott said:

... the digital signals, using the right mode, can fit between the main FM repeater channels

Did you write that opinion paper?  If so, are those preferred modes something that users have to register for like DMR?  I'm against giving some unknown group that authority, which is one reason I would not use DMR on ham.

[Lscott]

9 hours ago, UncleYoda said:

Did you write that opinion paper? 

Yes I did. Yeah, it's not the best written paper I've ever done. Just tried to get my ideas down in some coherent fashion. I'm not an English major. It's easier to just attach it to a post rather than try to convey my ideas a few lines at a time over dozens of separate posts.

9 hours ago, UncleYoda said:

If so, are those preferred modes something that users have to register for like DMR? 

No. The only reason for any kind of registration on Ham is for the user ID's. That's to prevent duplication. However you can use whatever ID you want, but for those that depend on the radio's builtin database it will, of course, show the wrong info.

I had accidentally did that programming one of my DMR based NX-1300's. When I used it one of the Hams on the repeater noticed and asked about it. Didn't impede the QSO any however.  

[UncleYoda]

40 minutes ago, Lscott said:

 However you can use whatever ID you want

OK, I guess I could have tried it w/o registering an ID and see what trouble it caused.  But even then, I'm a staunch analog defender and I hate the way digital modes were allowed to take frequencies from 2m/440.  And I hear some of it on GMRS too even though not allowed.

I don't oppose what you're proposing for ch. 8-14 as they are worthless to me now.  But I wouldn't buy a $150 HT for that.  If they can include it on the $30 radios, then probably so, as long as the radio still supports analog on the other channels as you said it should.

[SteveShannon]

30 minutes ago, UncleYoda said:

OK, I guess I could have tried it w/o registering an ID and see what trouble it caused.  But even then, I'm a staunch analog defender and I hate the way digital modes were allowed to take frequencies from 2m/440.  And I hear some of it on GMRS too even though not allowed.

I don't oppose what you're proposing for ch. 8-14 as they are worthless to me now.  But I wouldn't buy a $150 HT for that.  If they can include it on the $30 radios, then probably so, as long as the radio still supports analog on the other channels as you said it should.

How were frequencies taken from 2m/70 cm by the digital modes? 

[Lscott]

21 minutes ago, UncleYoda said:

OK, I guess I could have tried it w/o registering an ID and see what trouble it caused.  But even then, I'm a staunch analog defender and I hate the way digital modes were allowed to take frequencies from 2m/440.  And I hear some of it on GMRS too even though not allowed.

I don't oppose what you're proposing for ch. 8-14 as they are worthless to me now.  But I wouldn't buy a $150 HT for that.  If they can include it on the $30 radios, then probably so, as long as the radio still supports analog on the other channels as you said it should.

Understandable.

The goal was finding a spot where those that want to use digital voice have a "home", and not impact those who are happy with analog FM. 

The proposed changes allows those who want to continue to use FM won't notice a difference.

The manufactures would have a choice which grade of radio they want to provide. For example right now in the EU one can buy cheap simple analog only PMR446 radios, or spend more money and buy one with digital functions too.

There isn't any reason to force manufacturers to sell only the more expensive combo analog/digital models. The market place will take care of that if the demand is there.

[WRYS709]

On 8/5/2025 at 6:11 AM, UncleYoda said:

But I wouldn't buy a $150 HT for that.  If they can include it on the $30 radios, then probably so, as long as the radio still supports analog on the other channels as you said it should.

We all want to pay $30 for $150 worth of radio!

If you don’t like digital, we are not holding our breath waiting for you to use it!

[tcp2525]

On 8/4/2025 at 3:11 PM, Jaay said:

NOT True, Digital modes such as Dmr, P25, M17, TGIF and C4FM are Alive and kicking Hard ! For example, there are nearly 290,000 Dmr users on the Brandmeister network alone ! 

Oh, I know that there are an extremely high amount of users on DMR as I routinely update the user databases on my 878s. The amount of users is irrelevant as most aren't active even though they are in the database. Only a few talk groups get high use The bulk of DMR conversations are radio checks and kerchunking.

As for C4FM, I think that is by far the clearest and best sounding digital mode. I noticed in our area that a few of the C4FM repeaters went back to analog only. The owners finally got tired of broadcasting in an empty room.

[tcp2525]

On 8/4/2025 at 3:25 PM, WRYS709 said:

Two advantages of DMR you overlook:

1) point-to-point QSOs 24/7/365

2) the 11 year solar cycle is now heading downward, leaving DMR as a consistent means for international QSOs

If you mean "international QSOs" I am assuming you are talking about VOIP using a hotspot? Another boring aspect of digital amateur radio

[WRYS709]

1 minute ago, tcp2525 said:

Another boring aspect of digital amateur radio

To you, perhaps. 

[tcp2525]

5 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

To you, perhaps. 

Agree, to me. The point being is if you are talking to someone on the other side of the world over VOIP there's absolutely no reason to get yourself excited as you really accomplished nothing radio related. Do it over the air and see how challenging it can be. Then you will have real excitement. 

[AdmiralCochrane]

I agree.  VOIP is VOIP.   QRP to the other side of the earth and impress me.

[TNFrank]

2 hours ago, AdmiralCochrane said:

I agree.  VOIP is VOIP.   QRP to the other side of the earth and impress me.

It only takes money to QRP. With a Tech License you can TX 200 watts on 10M. With a good antenna  you should be able to DX pretty well.

[WRXB215]

9 hours ago, WSAA635 said:

It only takes money to QRP. With a Tech License you can TX 200 watts on 10M

200 watts isn't QRP.

[WRUE951]

On 8/4/2025 at 1:52 PM, WSAA635 said:

Now that I have my HAM Tech Lic. I'm thinking of 6M and maybe 10M to start with. I'll DMR later if I feel the need but thanks for all in info and posts here guys. 

you thought 70CM was expensive..    

[tcp2525]

3 hours ago, WRXB215 said:

200 watts isn't QRP.

Baloney! My amp idles at 1,300 watts.

[tcp2525]

15 hours ago, AdmiralCochrane said:

I agree.  VOIP is VOIP.   QRP to the other side of the earth and impress me.

Nice ducting this morning on GMRS. Had a Long Island repeater getting into the Baltimore/Annapolis area. I had a momentary "WOW" factor that I would never get with VOIP. 

[WRYS709]

On 8/8/2025 at 2:13 PM, tcp2525 said:

Agree, to me. The point being is if you are talking to someone on the other side of the world over VOIP there's absolutely no reason to get yourself excited as you really accomplished nothing radio related. Do it over the air and see how challenging it can be. Then you will have real excitement. 

That's why Heinz' makes 57 varieties!

I have a friend who is a ham radio enthusiast and an international diplomat.

Once time when he went to Europe to consult for a foreign president, he brought his DMR HT with him and we were able to consistently have 100% clear communications during his time there.

Could I do that with HF; of course not!

It all depends upon whose ox is being gored...

[WRYS709]

Back to the original topic: according to comments on the Facetime Baofeng Owners Group, the DM-32 is limited to 50,000 Digital IDs, hence making it impossible to download the complete Digital ID library into memory. 

That plus it’s inability to use OpenGD77 firmware (or separately emulate its benefits) severely hampers the usefulness of the DM-32. 

I suspect that Baofeng does not want this model at its lower price point, to cannibalize sales of their more expensive models. 

To the OP: enjoy VHF/UHF and when you can get into HF, 10 meter band openings while we can enjoy the current sunspot cycle, but keep an open mind on the 24/7/365 availability of QSOs with DMR, of which low cost models with OpenGD77 continue to exist. 

[Jaay]

On 8/8/2025 at 4:05 PM, tcp2525 said:

If you mean "international QSOs" I am assuming you are talking about VOIP using a hotspot? Another boring aspect of digital amateur radio

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.

[Lscott]

On 8/11/2025 at 1:37 PM, WRYS709 said:

the DM-32 is limited to 50,000 Digital IDs, hence making it impossible to download the complete Digital ID library into memory. 

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. 

[SteveShannon]

13 minutes ago, Lscott said:

My Kenwood commercial DMR radios can't download any digital ID data base, that's not their market goal, Armature 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. 

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.  

[WRYS709]

34 minutes ago, Lscott said:

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. 

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!

[Lscott]

27 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

You can’t miss a feature you don’t have. 

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. 

 

[WRYS709]

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.

[Lscott]

5 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

You operate completely differently than I do but generally I don’t dismiss features that I don’t use that are important to others

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.