GETTING READY FOR DMR IN MY VERY NEAR FUTURE

[nokones]

My radio club in the near future will be implementing a DMR repeater system in the near future with a repeater located on high elevated remote radio site.  The long-term goal is having linked repeaters throughout the State for Statewide radio coverage.  Since, I am essentially don't have any spare room in my 23 Wrangler Rubi 2 Dr. I elected to go overhead with the installation of a Motorola XPR5550e dashmount radio.  This makes the fourth radio I have installed in my jeep.

I was hoping the Club would have gone the P25 route, but they decided to go DMR.  

[WSHH887]

Good heaven's, where do you put your passenger?  Seriously, with a CJ-8 1/4 hardtop cab getting just one radio in is cramped.  

From its first trip.

[nokones]

I can only take one person.  I removed the rear seat so I can have my refrigerator and carry my recovery gear, and of course, install/bolt down the VHF and UHF XTL5000 remote radios on the floor.  The attached picture is without the recovery gear. The next time I load up my recovery gear, I'll snap a picture and post it.

 

 

[WRYZ926]

Dang it, I ran out of reactions for today..  Nice setup.

Our club is actually removing DMR from our 70cm repeaters since no one uses DMR anymore. 

[Socalgmrs]

  On 3/23/2025 at 9:32 PM, WSHH887 said:

Good heaven's, where do you put your passenger?  Seriously, with a CJ-8 1/4 hardtop cab getting just one radio in is cramped.  

From its first trip.

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That’s interesting.  I build cj5 cj7 and cj8 jeeps for a living.  I’ve always found they have waaaay more room in them for radios than modern junks.  

[Socalgmrs]

  On 3/23/2025 at 11:52 PM, WRYZ926 said:

Dang it, I ran out of reactions for today..  Nice setup.

Our club is actually removing DMR from our 70cm repeaters since no one uses DMR anymore. 

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Yup. Thats what I have found. Dmr is on its way out in my neck of the woods. 

[nokones]

Programming a DMR radio is not simple and I'm sure most people will not want to mess with it. P25 is so much simpler than DMR. However, my radio club will have a few codeplug templates available for the club's approved radios to help the members to get on the air.

[OffRoaderX]

  On 3/23/2025 at 9:14 PM, nokones said:

I elected to go overhead with the installation of a Motorola XPR5550e

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That's a bold move.. That's where the speaker for the XTL5000 in my JKU is mounted - but its much smaller than your XPR..

BTW, I support your desire for P25. That's what we use for all of our encrypted comms.

[Lscott]

  On 3/24/2025 at 2:52 AM, nokones said:

P25 is so much simpler than DMR.

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Not really, particularly on simplex. I have, and programmed, radios for dPMR, DMR, D-Star, NXDN and P25 Phase 1. I don’t currently have a radio for System Fusion yet so I can’t speak about that mode. You want simple stick with FM, trust me on that.

[WSHH887]

  On 3/24/2025 at 2:09 AM, Socalgmrs said:

That’s interesting.  I build cj5 cj7 and cj8 jeeps for a living.  I’ve always found they have waaaay more room in them for radios than modern junks.  

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Not unless you want to constantly be knocking your knees. The hump is occupied by a storage box and shifters. 
 

I suppose one could mount them on the floor under the seat. But the way I know water is getting too deep is when it starts coming up through the drain holes in the footwells. 
 

Now if you have a full length top and stick stuff in the be , okay. 

[WSHH887]

Can't resist.  I thought you guys said you had Jeeps.  You know round headlights and leaf springs.  Cubic inch displacement not metric.  Carburetor not fuel injection.  

[OffRoaderX]

  On 3/24/2025 at 5:13 AM, WSHH887 said:

I thought you guys said you had Jeeps

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I have a REAL Jeep- hand crank powered windows and a stick-shift..

/mic drop

 

[WSHH887]

  On 3/24/2025 at 5:24 AM, OffRoaderX said:

I have a REAL Jeep- hand crank powered windows and a stick-shift..

/mic drop

 

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Leaf springs and carb?

[Jaay]

  On 3/23/2025 at 9:59 PM, nokones said:

I can only take one person.  I removed the rear seat so I can have my refrigerator and carry my recovery gear, and of course, install/bolt down the VHF and UHF XTL5000 remote radios on the floor.  The attached picture is without the recovery gear. The next time I load up my recovery gear, I'll snap a picture and post it.

 

 

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VERY Nice Ride ! Good luck on Dmr ! I'm n9zas on 3100, sometimes 93, or 31770 on Brandmeister.

[Jaay]

  On 3/24/2025 at 5:24 AM, OffRoaderX said:

I have a REAL Jeep- hand crank powered windows and a stick-shift..

/mic drop

 

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Pre-war ? lol !

[WRYZ926]

I got rid of my project JEEP a couple of years ago. It was a 1962 Willys M170 front line ambulance. It was hard to find the M170 specific parts since there was only about 4000 of them made. And those specific parts were totally different from all other Jeeps.

DMR does see some use with other clubs in central Missouri but it isn't much. No one uses Fusion or D-Star around here. As I mentioned, we are removing DMR from our 70cm repeaters and will be installing Allstar nodes instead. Our plans are to keep all three 70cm repeaters linked at all times and also have the option to link all three to our 2m repeater when we want.

[nokones]

  On 3/24/2025 at 10:13 AM, Jaay said:

VERY Nice Ride ! Good luck on Dmr ! I'm n9zas on 3100, sometimes 93, or 31770 on Brandmeister.

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Ok, thanks, but the club will not be doing DMR on any Ham freqs. and the DMR system will be a closed system to club members only.

Also, I am not an Amateur Radio Service operator so I won't be on any Ham freqs anytime soon even if the future deregulation of the FCC Rules, particularly the Part 97 rules in regards to licensing requirements, takes place.

[Lscott]

  On 3/24/2025 at 1:17 PM, nokones said:

Ok, thanks, but the club will not be doing DMR on any Ham freqs. and the DMR system will be a closed system to club members only.

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I assume that will all be on licensed commercial frequencies the club members have permission to use? If so that's not a bad way to go. You would also be allowed to use encryption I believe for more private communications.

[nokones]

  On 3/24/2025 at 4:07 PM, Lscott said:

I assume that will all be on licensed commercial frequencies the club members have permission to use? If so that's not a bad way to go. You would also be allowed to use encryption I believe for more private communications.

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Yes, the club has a Part 90 License and not only encryption, but linking and networking repeater stations, and a coordinated frequency(ies). A lot less restrictions than GMRS.

[WSHH887]

  On 3/24/2025 at 12:26 PM, WRYZ926 said:

I got rid of my project JEEP a couple of years ago. It was a 1962 Willys M170 front line ambulance. It was hard to find the M170 specific parts since there was only about 4000 of them made. And those specific parts were totally different from all other Jeeps.

DMR does see some use with other clubs in central Missouri but it isn't much. No one uses Fusion or D-Star around here. As I mentioned, we are removing DMR from our 70cm repeaters and will be installing Allstar nodes instead. Our plans are to keep all three 70cm repeaters linked at all times and also have the option to link all three to our 2m repeater when we want.

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Those M170's were cool.  Everything in front of the fire wall looks typical Jeep.  Body is a bit longer, can some one say, like a CJ-6.  But you're right about the parts that "make it an ambulance" being hard/impossible to find.  I hope who ever you passed it on to finishes the restoration.

[WRYZ926]

  On 3/24/2025 at 6:53 PM, WSHH887 said:

Those M170's were cool.  Everything in front of the fire wall looks typical Jeep.  Body is a bit longer, can some one say, like a CJ-6.  But you're right about the parts that "make it an ambulance" being hard/impossible to find.  I hope who ever you passed it on to finishes the restoration.

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Yes the guy I sold it to is in the process of finding all of the M170 specific parts for a full restoration. The closest civilian model would be the CJ-6. The tubs are the same length. But that is the only thing that is the same. The M170 had a cutout on the passenger side for the spare tire. The other main difference was the fuel tank. The M170 has a 20 gallon tank that goes up under the tub versus the smaller tank under the driver's seat.

The hardest part to find is the passenger/medic seat. It is a two piece setup. The medic can sit facing forward or backward and both pieces can be hung on the windshield frame to make room for stretchers.

[WSHH887]

You know, some of the older crash trucks had seats like that. Except for the hanging part. Not sure about size. But if it's close I bet it could be modified to hang. Just a little fabrication and welding. 

[AdmiralCochrane]

  On 3/24/2025 at 8:14 PM, WRYZ926 said:

Yes the guy I sold it to is in the process of finding all of the M170 specific parts for a full restoration. The closest civilian model would be the CJ-6. The tubs are the same length. But that is the only thing that is the same. The M170 had a cutout on the passenger side for the spare tire. The other main difference was the fuel tank. The M170 has a 20 gallon tank that goes up under the tub versus the smaller tank under the driver's seat.

The hardest part to find is the passenger/medic seat. It is a two piece setup. The medic can sit facing forward or backward and both pieces can be hung on the windshield frame to make room for stretchers.

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I grew up riding in the back of a CJ-6.  It was the first vehicle my brother crashed (I beat him by a few years with a '49 Studebaker and a phone pole, he only backed the trailer hitch thru the wooden door my father was standing behind).  Neither incident resulted in any damage other than our pride.  My father told us the 6 was based on the same frame as the M170 ambulance.

[WRYZ926]

Yes the CJ-6 shared the same frame as the M170. The tubs are different along with different fuel tanks and different seats.

There are two easy ways to tell a CJ from a military Jeep. First is the headlights. On military Jeeps, the headlights are recessed into the grill while on CJ's they stick out from the grill. The other difference is the location of the glove box. On CJ's, the glove box is on the passenger side. On military Jeeps, the glove box is on the driver's side between the steering column and the door.

@nokones sorry for the derailment of the thread.

[WSHH887]

As long as I have been reading forums I have found some of the best information comes from thread drift.