Any HAMs doing DMR in Ireland?

GekkePrutser

I was just wondering if anyone is playing with DMR yet in Ireland. I've used it in the Netherlands where there's several repeaters for it already, and I'll probably use it with a hotspot in Ireland when the right firmware becomes available for my hotspot modem. I currently have the hotspot running on D-Star but activity seems to be waning in favour of DMR. It'd be nice to have a local QSO here too.

I've got a hytera radio and I made my first QSO the week before last (in the Netherlands), it was a bit cumbersome to set up because the technology is not made for amateur use but I got it working eventually

The big advantage of DMR is that you get 2 time slots so every repeater can have 2 QSOs ongoing at the same time - one is usually configured for local traffic and the other for linking.

deaglan169

some activity staring in northern ireland, facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/481183598723548/?fref=ts

GekkePrutser

deaglan169 wrote: »

some activity staring in northern ireland, facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/481183598723548/?fref=ts

Thanks! I'll sign up there.

I wish there was more activity here down south though, even the FM repeaters here are super quiet. At least they are here in the west.

thelordgod

The repeaters are dead all over the country. A few ops have been trying out digital on the Limerick repeater recently but there is not likely to be much activity with only 2/3 rigs.

deaglan169

from what i believe the dmr repeaters in gi have gone quiet too, however the omagh repeater has yet to go live on high site, its the same as dstar bit of interest at first then interest wanes i get no dmr simplex activity in my location so until i hear some simplex acitivty i probably wont invest into dmr

GekkePrutser

thelordgod wrote: »

The repeaters are dead all over the country. A few ops have been trying out digital on the Limerick repeater recently but there is not likely to be much activity with only 2/3 rigs.

Sorry i only saw this post now. What flavour of digital were they using on the Limerick repeater? If it's D-Star I'll gladly join them. I have a DMR handy too but I left it in Holland as there was no activity on it here anyway and it's booming over there. D-Star is a bit passé over there, most of the driving forces have moved on to DMR.

thelordgod

GekkePrutser wrote: »

Sorry i only saw this post now. What flavour of digital were they using on the Limerick repeater? If it's D-Star I'll gladly join them. I have a DMR handy too but I left it in Holland as there was no activity on it here anyway and it's booming over there. D-Star is a bit passé over there, most of the driving forces have moved on to DMR.

It's a Yaesu Fusion repeater so your dmr radio would be no use. Currently there are 4 ops with Yaesu rigs locally so it's not much of an incentive to splash out.

humaxf1

DSTAR and Fusion rigs cost stupid amounts of €€€

A cheap, cheerful but quite capable DMR handheld can be got for reasonable money such as a TYT MD-380 "OR" second hand Motorola TRBO gear.

Amateur DMR has rocketed from what I can see on youtube.

Commercial take up will be on the increase also with 12.5khz analog channels to become phased out in the future.

GekkePrutser

humaxf1 wrote: »

DSTAR and Fusion rigs cost stupid amounts of €€€

A cheap, cheerful but quite capable DMR handheld can be got for reasonable money such as a TYT MD-380 "OR" second hand Motorola TRBO gear.

Amateur DMR has rocketed from what I can see on youtube.

Commercial take up will be on the increase also with 12.5khz analog channels to become phased out in the future.

Yes indeed. I saw the Tytera MD-398 online for 149 euro. This is a radio with GPS. That's nothing compared to D-Star rigs. It will be great for making the mode popular. I'll probably get that one too

Another thing that's nice about the Tytera is that at least one model's firmware has been reverse engineered. That might open up some interesting developments such as multiple digital modes or on-set programming (one thing that I do find a bit lacking in current DMR sets, you can't add even a single repeater without the programming software). This is due to them being essentially commercial sets, laws in most countries prohibit the end user being able to mess with the radio settings. But if we as hams could modify them we could legally use them under our license conditions of course. source link

My current DMR rig, Hytera PD355, was also 150, but it's a pocket radio and not that great in performance. That's also why I'm considering a Tytera, the better Hyteras are as dear as a Yeasu or Icom.

I do also have D-Star but I got a fairly cheap radio (single band UHF model). Nobody does digital on VHF anyway. But it does mean I need to carry a separate 2m portable for FM.

telecinesk

Im starting to see DMR kick off here in Czech Rep and I bought two of those cheap(ish) and somewhat non userfriendly MD380s and upped the reverse engineered firmware as you do. Am looking foward when the local repeater is dmr soon. Was passing through a place and radio came to life with some French op on the repeater I had progged in. Early days ...

Mate in states also has one so this should be interesting. But the interface on them takes some getting used to. Was looking for a mobile rig for later, handhelds are more a toy. But on other side back to back theyre useful. Anyone else do much DMR?

deaglan169

i personnally dont see point of it, ive been listening to a repeater here in NI and its just like those echolink nodes, its streaming eu talkgroups and worldwide etc and in my opinion its pointless

telecinesk

deaglan169 wrote: »

i personnally dont see point of it, ive been listening to a repeater here in NI and its just like those echolink nodes, its streaming eu talkgroups and worldwide etc and in my opinion its pointless

You have a point also. It kind of depends where you live and how antenna friendly your place of residence is. I prefer hf but am limited to 21/28mhz due to antennaspace and the dmr thing is more a help for arranging scheds with friends.
each to their own ..

GekkePrutser

The point I see is that it combines activity from different places, in a time where Ham activity is already super low. At least on VHF/UHF, I never do HF for lack of space for a permanent antenna.

In the Netherlands they have all national repeaters linked together (similar to what Ireland has on analog in the Southeast). And it provides a lot of activity which is very nice to hear at a time where local repeaters are silent all day.

Another thing I like about DMR is that it allows two channels at the same time, so while linking nationwide another op can be using it for a one to one chat or linking to a worldwide net. Of course the repeaters are often linked through the internet but at least in the Netherlands there's a big push to bring that back into the radio realm by establishing direct radio links (It's called hamnet). The idea is to become completely independent from the internet.

But the most important reason for me is to experiment with new technologies. I like digital so these modes are super interesting to me. But it is a communication hobby. That's why I was asking, there's not much fun in doing DMR of you have nobody to talk to.