The Amateur Radio Digital Wars

The Amateur Radio Digital Wars

Top 3 Ham digitals ::
- ICOM - DStar
- Yaesu - Fusion aka C4FM
- DMR (digital mobile radio aka Mototrbo) - many companies producing transceivers - DMR :fragments: BrandMeister, DMRplus, Mototrbo/MARC
** Excluded :  NXDN, pDmr, P25, ect.


IMPORTANT FACT:

Interconnection :  when talking about all of the digitals, none communicate with each other.  A basic understanding is none of the different digitals talk together.

Frequency :  All digitals use Amateur Radio frequencies same as Analog FM - VHF or UHF frequency band, in handheld/portable or mobile or base configuration

Cost saving :  only one of the three digital has many many companies producing Transceiver. The other two * only have (1) one producer of transceivers.  The cost of a DMR transceiver abt. $100 or a fifth to the other two digitals of about $500 per transceiver

Most popular :  the first to market digital was DStar and since is the largest in the market, however with  DMR manufacturers offering a large selection of affordable transceiver.   DMR has grown in the market of multiples of 10x year over year.   The third digital is Yaesu and has very slow growth.

Summary : they are all interesting , however DMR is the clear winner.

* Kenwood TH-D74 DStar transceiver

DMR Plus North America - DMR-MARC and DMR Plus partnership

DMR Plus is the original network that developed tools to interconnect Hytera and Motorola repeaters. It has been popular in Europe for years but now, with the cooperation of DMR-MARC, it has finally arrived in North America and the South Pacific. The DMR Plus architecture is similar to D-Star. Users have talkgroups to converse, to disconnect, and to monitor channel status. Users choose from a large pool of reflectors and move back to the converse talkgroup for all QSOs.

The DMR-MARC and DMR Plus partnership is ideal. The DMR-MARC network is robust and reliable. The DMR Plus network is more aligned with experimentation and interoperability of technologies. Think of DMR Plus as the best possible implementation of the former DMR-MARC Sandbox.

Canada DMR Net - Canada TALKGROUP 302 and BrandMeister TALKGROUP 302 Link

Canada DMR Net - Canada DMR-MARC TALKGROUP 302 and BrandMeister TALKGROUP 302 Link.

DRAFT.....

The comments within is a discussion about DMR-MARC Canada TALKGROUP 302 and BrandMeister TALKGROUP 302 Linking and connecting together.

The linking of the two talkgroups together should also consider malicious action and how to prevent, a proactive consideration in the event it occurs or as it is currently happening on one Toronto VA3XPR repeater.  Such as dropping a repeater link out of the connection ... may not be adopted

Also hoping to open the Access with DV4MINI / DVMEGA / SHARKRF to the DMR-MARC Canada Net discussion .

QRZ.COM Logging of Repeater Contact DMR | BrandMeister | Fusion repeater/wiresx

I was wondering why when logging a contact in QRZ.COM, there is not an entry for fusion/wiresx, but DSTAR there is an option?

QRZ.COM has "DIGITALVOICE" as a mode. Are digitals (Fusion, Dstar, Dmr). QRZ.COM has a unique option for DSTAR.

ADI files must conform with the latest revision of ADIF protocol; the acceptable mode enumerations are as listed here: ADIF protocol;

http://www.adif.org/304/ADIF_304.htm#Mode_Enumeration

Fusion/wiresx has yet to be adopted and also DMR and BrandMeister.

As I write this, it's the second non-pinned thread on QRZ forum: "ADI files must conform with the latest revision of ADIF protocol... Fusion/wiresx[/DMR] has yet to be adopted."

Best Practices for DMR - Carter, KH6FV

Best Practices for DMR - Carter, KH6FV
Best Practices for DMR - Carter KH6FV.pdf

This is just an excerpt of that presentation.  I received many thank you's from the audience indicating they have or had no idea of the impacts of utilizing wide-area TGs and I had some system owners and administrators who invited me to give a presentation at their club meetings.  I do not want to be a DMR system traffic cop, only seek user education and comprehension of how the DMR system works.  I point no finger at any one station, group, club or system, again just educating.  I attached in the files section of this group a "Best Practices" PDF file you can refer as I continue.

Slide Explanations of the file "Best Practices" found in the file section of this group.

I thought NORCAL DMR had a good definition of the term "Best Practices" and adopted it.  I paraphrase a couple of main thoughts.  DMR Best Practices... are responsibilities not codified in a set of rules; rather they are outlined in a set of principles and guides.  Operators... should utilize the systems so that the minimum amounts of resources are used on each transmission.  You can see NORCALs "Best Practices" document at the NORCAL Website.   Thank you NORCAL, you guys ROCK

What is meant by Best Operating Practices? CAL DMR’s Definition

• DMR does not belong to one group, rather it is a network that belongs to all that use it. With this privilege come certain responsibilities. These responsibilities are not codified in a set of rules; rather they are outlined in a set of principles and guides for best practice.

• Operators should respect the intended usage of Talk Groups and utilize the systems so that the minimum amounts of resources are used on each transmission.

• Training, Mentoring, Understanding (user comprehension) is what leads to “best practices”!

Wide Area VS Local VS UA

• Wide Area TGs include those TGs
• • That are on available on a network or repeater 24/7 and cover wide areas

• including World Wide, Continent Wide, Nation Wide, Regional Wide
• • Could even include State Wide in those states with a lot of repeaters

• Local TGs

Can be that repeater, or a group of repeaters on a town or city