So I recently decided to branch out into DMR.
Some context: my HF station is still in boxes under the stairs. I lost the radio bug for a while, and I’m pretty sure that happens to all of us from time to time. Lucky for me, I lost it just as the sunspots were coming back, so I missed this whole solar cycle. At least I’m consistent. I quit at the start of a solar minimum, and now I’m coming back at the start of a solar minimum. Impeccable timing.
In the interest of feeding the radio bug, I bought a DMR radio and a DMR hotspot. I’m not impressed.
The hotspot was the easy part. I built it on a first-generation Raspberry Pi Zero W, and the MMDVM board I ordered from Amazon was simple to make up. A few headers to solder and it was up and running.
The software, Pi-Star, was not intuitive. At. All. The problem turned out to be a few settings I had wrong, and the credential count didn’t help. There’s the network password, a login for the Pi-Star software itself, and the DMR ID credentials, and all of that has to match what’s on the Brandmeister webpage. That’s at least three sets of usernames and passwords, and I am apparently not good at remembering passwords. The setup instructions aren’t much help either. If you’re new to this, bring a notebook. Or a password manager. Or both.
After I finally figured out why it wouldn’t connect, I went back to working on the codeplug, which was a nightmare in itself. (For the uninitiated, the codeplug is the radio’s entire brain: every channel, contact and talkgroup, loaded as one file.) I’ll admit I didn’t understand how to build one, and I made it harder on myself because of it. I figured a local DMR repeater would carry all of the talkgroups. But of course, I programmed 20 repeaters with about 35 talkgroups each, covering every one I might ever want to talk on. Umm, no. It doesn’t work that way. Repeaters carry a few talk groups and I wasted a lot of time and effort figuring that out.
Then the software from Baofeng for my DM-32UV wouldn’t cooperate. (Save the hate for the Chinese radios. I like them.) This was NOT my fault. It started randomly changing things as I programmed, and I still can’t tell you why. I finally had to uninstall and purge the software to clear the error, then chop everything down to one repeater and my hotspot.
It wasn’t as simple as I’m making it sound. It was harder. But I eventually got a parrot working (that’s a test talkgroup that repeats your own transmission back to you) and I was confident enough to call out on a real talkgroup. The response was instantaneous! I was talking around the world again.
But then it hit me: some of the people on the talkgroups weren’t using radios at all. They were using Android apps on their phones.
I’m not a snob. I don’t look down on the CB crowd, and I don’t bash the hams who use “11 meters.” But dang it, I wanted RADIO, not Chris from Santa Barbara talking into his cell phone! I got a bad taste in my mouth and went QRT.
A few days later I looked at the radio sitting next to my chair, a shiny HT in its cradle that worked just fine. Then I thought of Chris and his Android app. He didn’t buy a radio. He didn’t build a hotspot. He didn’t fight with a codeplug or lose a week to Pi-Star. He downloaded an app and he was on the air.
I’ll admit I assumed he’d skipped the licensing part too. Nope. Turns out you need a license to use the app, so Chris studied, passed his exam, and has a call sign just like the rest of us. Credit where it’s due. I was wrong about that part.
I still think it’s cheating.
Okay, maybe I am a little snobby, but this wasn’t what I was looking for. I’m sure Chris is a nice guy, and he may even be an interesting one. He’s a legitimate ham. But a voice that travels over the internet from a phone to my hotspot is a phone call with extra steps. I’d happily talk to him for hours on Discord or go back and forth on Facebook, but that’s an “internet” friend. I wanted a radio friend.
DMR isn’t what I thought it was, or at least not all of what I thought. I’ll probably put everything on Facebook Marketplace soon. Who knows, maybe Chris will buy it and finally experience the ‘joy’ of creating a codeplug firsthand. If he does, I’ll send him the invite to my Discord server. He’ll need the support.