I now have a LEGAL GMRS Radio.

[Darmie]

5 hours ago, WSAA635 said:

I have mine programed with GMRS, MURS and I scan local Airbands with it. I

is there much activity on MURS? I have two of the talkpods and really like them for the ease of use and that you can program the small side button to Push to Talk on the B band. Word of warning. Think before you push one of the buttons to know if you want to xmit on A or B.

 

[WRXB215]

5 minutes ago, Darmie said:

Think before you push one of the buttons to know if you want to xmit on A or B.

Yep, dual watch can be confusing if there are conversations on both at the same time.

[WSAA635]

1 hour ago, Darmie said:

is there much activity on MURS? 

 

No, that's why I like it. I know if I'm talking to someone while hunting /shooting I won't have to worry about others on the channel. 

[WSBB368]

I’m in the fence on this one while I do have uv9g gmrs radios I’ve been thinking of just going with either a Anytone atd878uvll plus it’s has dual band cause if and when the shtf I want to be able to communicate on both gmrs and ham frequencies I do plan to get a ham license but that all get thrown out the door in an emergency. I do play by the rules but it doesn’t make sense to carry around 2 radios when one can do it all


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[SteveShannon]

16 minutes ago, WSBB368 said:

I’m in the fence on this one while I do have uv9g gmrs radios I’ve been thinking of just going with either a Anytone atd878uvll plus it’s has dual band cause if and when the shtf I want to be able to communicate on both gmrs and ham frequencies I do plan to get a ham license but that all get thrown out the door in an emergency. I do play by the rules but it doesn’t make sense to carry around 2 radios when one can do it all


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Before you invest in the Anytone, have someone show you how to program it. I believe it’s nearly the same radio as my Alinco DJ-MD5xt. Programming it from the front panel is very difficult. Using the CPS is very detailed because it’s designed around the data structure necessary for DMR channels. You have to create Talk Groups, Zones, and Channels and link them together, even for the most basic analog channels. 
Other than that it performs well, but I would hate to have to program it from the front panel. 
Added, here’s a video showing how to change the frequency:

 

[Lscott]

9 hours ago, Sshannon said:

Using the CPS is very detailed

In my experience it's also somewhat buggy too. Maybe by now they have more of the crappy bugs fixed. Also the firmware in the radio had some annoying quirks too.

The feature I find most useful is the DMR monitoring mode in the radio. I wish my commercial radios had this, but that wasn't necessary since the market for them ends up with the radios pretty much programmed up once and that's the end of it.   

[WRXB215]

9 hours ago, WSBB368 said:

I do plan to get a ham license but that all get thrown out the door in an emergency.

Even though this scenario can actually happen, I encourage you to get your ham license and get on the air. You will increase your circle of trusted friends which can be a real asset during such an event.

Also, I think it was @Lscott that pointed out once that in a stressful situation you want a radio that is very simple to operate. It sounds like good advice to me.

[WSAA635]

From what little I've researched about DMR there's way more to programming them than with the standard analog radios. I'm going to stick with analog for now.

[SteveShannon]

14 minutes ago, WSAA635 said:

From what little I've researched about DMR there's way more to programming them than with the standard analog radios. I'm going to stick with analog for now.

There is.  I’m still helping my blind friend with his DMR radio (as well as my own) and I wish I could get the ear of the firmware programmers for these Anytone and Alinco DMR radios. There’s absolutely no reason it has to be as difficult as it is. With simple changes in firmware a person could easily just create two channels for each repeater (one per timeslot) and then just input or select the talk group. DMR radios would only be slightly more complicated than analog. 

[WSAA635]

56 minutes ago, Sshannon said:

 There’s absolutely no reason it has to be as difficult as it is. With simple changes in firmware a person could easily just create two channels for each repeater (one per timeslot) and then just input or select the talk group. DMR radios would only be slightly more complicated than analog. 

I guess it just takes diving in and doing it so that you'll learn it. It's like anything, it's going to be difficult until you do it a few times and get the hang of it.

[SteveShannon]

18 minutes ago, WSAA635 said:

I guess it just takes diving in and doing it so that you'll learn it. It's like anything, it's going to be difficult until you do it a few times and get the hang of it.

It's not really difficult, but it is needlessly complex, mostly because of leftover commercial radio characteristics:

First, you have to create a list of talkgroups.

Then you have to create channels. A channel consists of a channel name, Brandmeister ID (or other digital ID), timeslot, color code, frequency, bandwidth, whether transmit is inhibited, whether it's an analog or digital channel, and if it's digital you need a talkgroup assigned.  That's why you have to create the list of talkgroups first.  There are other fields as well including encryption etc., but you get the idea.

Then you have to create at least one zone and assign channels to the zone.

You may (not mandatory) also populate a database of digital IDs which links the call sign, Brandmeister ID, and contact name.  This can be downloaded.  The newest DMR radios have room for 500,000 contacts.  My radio handles 200,000 so I can only load most of North America.

On your radio you select a zone and then select a channel within that zone.

 

[Lscott]

5 hours ago, Sshannon said:

It's not really difficult, but it is needlessly complex, mostly because of leftover commercial radio characteristics:

First, you have to create a list of talkgroups.

Then you have to create channels. A channel consists of a channel name, Brandmeister ID (or other digital ID), timeslot, color code, frequency, bandwidth, whether transmit is inhibited, whether it's an analog or digital channel, and if it's digital you need a talkgroup assigned.  That's why you have to create the list of talkgroups first.  There are other fields as well including encryption etc., but you get the idea.

Then you have to create at least one zone and assign channels to the zone.

You may (not mandatory) also populate a database of digital IDs which links the call sign, Brandmeister ID, and contact name.  This can be downloaded.  The newest DMR radios have room for 500,000 contacts.  My radio handles 200,000 so I can only load most of North America.

On your radio you select a zone and then select a channel within that zone.

 

Yeah, programming a DMR radio is a PIA. Then again NXDN and P25 isn’t much different. I’ve done all three of the above.

[WRXB215]

My wife and I wrote a script for a training video on how to program and use DMR radios. Yep, our marriage was strained for a while. 

[Lscott]

1 hour ago, WRXB215 said:

My wife and I wrote a script for a training video on how to program and use DMR radios. Yep, our marriage was strained for a while. 

I've done some technical writing for the company I work at, Power Point slide shows for training/sales, test procedures and manuals, but it's not my primary job. People think it's easy. Nope! It's boring mind numbing work and requires a lot of attention to details. People who do it full time professionally really earn their money. Doing design calculations, simulations and circuit design is much more fun, and it keeps the mind sharp too. 

[Knilc]

On 3/21/2024 at 7:17 PM, Sshannon said:

It's not really difficult, but it is needlessly complex, mostly because of leftover commercial radio characteristics:

First, you have to create a list of talkgroups.

Then you have to create channels. A channel consists of a channel name, Brandmeister ID (or other digital ID), timeslot, color code, frequency, bandwidth, whether transmit is inhibited, whether it's an analog or digital channel, and if it's digital you need a talkgroup assigned.  That's why you have to create the list of talkgroups first.  There are other fields as well including encryption etc., but you get the idea.

Then you have to create at least one zone and assign channels to the zone.

You may (not mandatory) also populate a database of digital IDs which links the call sign, Brandmeister ID, and contact name.  This can be downloaded.  The newest DMR radios have room for 500,000 contacts.  My radio handles 200,000 so I can only load most of North America.

On your radio you select a zone and then select a channel within that zone.

 

And here I was thinking programming a GMRS radio for a repeater was a PITA. I clearly underestimated how complex radios could get.

[WSBB368]

So I received my radio on Saturday and yes it’s a lot took me the whole day to figure it out but I have it set up now and have a somewhat good understanding of how to program it. You definitely need a hotspot to connect to the internet to use talk groups. I am just barely close enough to a repeater but the socal and California talk groups are pretty much dead. Someone will chime in every now and then but that’s about it. Gonna play with it some more today and see if maybe I’m doing something wrong


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[Lscott]

20 minutes ago, WSBB368 said:

So I received my radio on Saturday and yes it’s a lot took me the whole day to figure it out but I have it set up now and have a somewhat good understanding of how to program it. You definitely need a hotspot to connect to the internet to use talk groups. I am just barely close enough to a repeater but the socal and California talk groups are pretty much dead. Someone will chime in every now and then but that’s about it. Gonna play with it some more today and see if maybe I’m doing something wrong


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My biggest problem with DMR is the ever changing repeater settings. Identifying new talkgroups, deleting old talkgroups, changes in which network the repeater belongs to etc. I think I have a radio setup then a few weeks/months later it's all in the crapper and I have to update the zone for that repeater. PIA. DMR is nice, but the frequent changes aren't, and trying to find the current info is a crap-shoot.

This repeater example is one of the more messy and busy systems I've seen.

N8NOE.pdf

[SteveShannon]

33 minutes ago, WSBB368 said:

So I received my radio on Saturday and yes it’s a lot took me the whole day to figure it out but I have it set up now and have a somewhat good understanding of how to program it. You definitely need a hotspot to connect to the internet to use talk groups. I am just barely close enough to a repeater but the socal and California talk groups are pretty much dead. Someone will chime in every now and then but that’s about it. Gonna play with it some more today and see if maybe I’m doing something wrong


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Anywhere there’s a DMR repeater, you should be able to save a channel to join talk groups in that network such as TG 93, USA-Wide on the Brandmeister network. You take everybody on the repeater with you though. 

[WSBB368]

Anywhere there’s a DMR repeater, you should be able to save a channel to join talk groups in that network such as TG 93, USA-Wide on the Brandmeister network. You take everybody on the repeater with you though. 

I think my problem is I’m too far from the closest dmr repeater to me. I’m going to drive closer and see if that helps


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[WRYS709]

4 hours ago, WSBB368 said:

So I received my radio on Saturday and yes it’s a lot took me the whole day to figure it out but I have it set up now and have a somewhat good understanding of how to program it. You definitely need a hotspot to connect to the internet to use talk groups. I am just barely close enough to a repeater but the socal and California talk groups are pretty much dead. Someone will chime in every now and then but that’s about it. Gonna play with it some more today and see if maybe I’m doing something wrong

 

2 hours ago, WSBB368 said:

I think my problem is I’m too far from the closest dmr repeater to me. I’m going to drive closer and see if that helps

Craig:

The PAPA System has interconnected DMR repeaters all over SoCAL, including your area; Check their listings here.

You can register as a Guest User for a free 45 day trial and then join if you like.

Watch and listen to worldwide DMR activity on the Brandmeister Hoseline in real time.

Then you can add interesting TalkGroups to your Anytone and go live.

NOTE: How did such a discussion of ham radio dmr get into the GMRS subtopic?

[Lscott]

25 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

NOTE: How did such a discussion of ham radio dmr get into the GMRS subtopic?

[SteveShannon]

2 hours ago, WSBB368 said:

I think my problem is I’m too far from the closest dmr repeater to me. I’m going to drive closer and see if that helps


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If you look at the Brandmeister dashboard you can see if your signal is being received and what strength. 
Once you know, then you can configure a channel to the Parrot talkgroup and you’ll be able to hear what you sound like. 

[WSBB368]

1 hour ago, WRYS709 said:

 

Craig:

The PAPA System has interconnected DMR repeaters all over SoCAL, including your area; Check their listings here.

You can register as a Guest User for a free 45 day trial and then join if you like.

Watch and listen to worldwide DMR activity on the Brandmeister Hoseline in real time.

Then you can add interesting TalkGroups to your Anytone and go live.

NOTE: How did such a discussion of ham radio dmr get into the GMRS subtopic?

AHHH AI6BX is the repeater im trying to use. Repeater book shows it as open so I didnt realize i needed to pay for use. That would explain why im not hearing anything. 

[WSBB368]

2 hours ago, Sshannon said:

If you look at the Brandmeister dashboard you can see if your signal is being received and what strength. 
Once you know, then you can configure a channel to the Parrot talkgroup and you’ll be able to hear what you sound like. 

Yep defiantly hitting it, didnt know it was a paid repeater so will need to see if its worth the yearly price. 

[SteveShannon]

17 minutes ago, WSBB368 said:

Yep defiantly hitting it, didnt know it was a paid repeater so will need to see if its worth the yearly price. 

Paid repeater?

All ham radio clubs encourage membership and gleefully accept donations. We might have a difficult time paying for all that goes into the expenses associated with repeaters otherwise.

Im not a Papa member and I certainly can’t speak for them but I suspect that if you donate what you can they’ll not mind you using the repeaters.