My thoughts exactly

[stinkybob]

Found this on the internet somewhere while trying to figure out what the F*** DMR was actually good for:





If you are a ham that is missing the traffic on your local repeaters, and is not interested in operating, or can’t operate, an HF station, then you might find DMR or VOIP operation ok.

If you only enjoy rag chewing on the ham bands (especially V/UHF repeaters) and are NOT so much interested in propagation of radio waves, transceivers, antennas, experimentation, and all the other aspects of real radio, then you might find DMR and VOIP operation ok.

In my opinion, DMR, D-Star, C4FM, etc, are simply modes of operation similar to using our cell phones to have conversations, that allow us to hold a radio or microphone in our hand that fills the need to play with a radio. There is no other aspect to VOIP (or ROIP if you prefer) operation that is like ham or CB radio operations.

I have been involved in these digital voice modes since 2015, and it has been a dead end for me and many others that love real radio. Yes, I use the technology, but for the past two years, I only use the technology in the form of a device called an openSPOT hotspot, and a Raspberry Pi computer, to run a VOIP server for me and a few friends, to have private communications via the internet. This is not ham radio, and does not fall under the guidelines of Part 97...at least not in my opinion.

Most of the people that I know of, who use DMR, or let’s just call it VOIP (voice over IP), just want to talk to someone else. There are many who get excited about talking to a person in another country via this mode of operation, and they will even ask others to “QSL” via QRZ, as if it was an accomplishment. I say I could randomly dial my cell phone and accomplish the same task...where is my QRZ certificate. I am personally working on my “Worked all IP Addresses” award, so I can feel like an accomplished ham radio operator too.

And yes, QRZ is issuing certificates for VOIP contacts. These are contacts in which you managed to get a transmitted signal about 3 to 10 feet, from your handheld radio to your hotspot. I think my garage door opener can transmit it’s signal as far, so I would like an award for that.

If you are the type of operator that thinks using ham terminology, such as “QSL on that”, or “HI HI” when you are speaking to someone else, or say “73” (or “73’s”), and refer to being “destinated” when you end a conversation, makes you part of the super secret ham radio club, then VOIP will probably appeal to you. I always tell people “73” just before I hang up with them on my cell phone...don’t you ? HI HI.

If you find the wonder and marvel in “crystal clear” communications via the internet, that magically allows you to work a station 4000 miles away from you, then VOIP may be your cup of tea. I know a number of hams who have totally dismantled their radio stations (HF and V/Uhf transceivers and antennas), and have decided to operate exclusively via the internet. In fact, there is a device out there called the DVMega Cast which eliminated that pesky RF all together, and allows you to talk to your friends with a device that looks kind of like a radio, and you hold a microphone in your hand, but has no transmitter or receiver in it. It bypasses the RF side of things, and just goes directly to the internet. And without all that annoying RF, you can still give your call sign, along with everyone else’s call sign in the group, at the beginning and end of each transmission, because it is too much to have to remember that you are only required to do so every 10 minutes and when you actually go QRT. Much easier to just say it all the time.

Even a group of ham radio operators who have been operating a net every day of the year since 1957 (IIRC), the Rooster Net, have created a talk group on DMR, in order to assist with poor propagation, because band conditions are terrible. As a ham operator, I actually have to struggle to make the contact, and in 2020, I should not have to struggle for anything.

And another important component to all this technology is the convenience. I don’t have to actually understand the environment I am operating in, because other hams, or “Elmers”, will give me a code plug to install in my radio, and I can then begin to talk to other hams. No reason to understand the complex aspects of talk groups, time slots, color codes, IP addresses, static IP, network router settings, hot spot configurations, etc. I can just operate my radio without having to have a clue how it works. I believe the ARRL is petitioning the FCC for a new license class that will grant privileges on a portion of 70cm, so people can answer a 5 question test and obtain a license to do what all of us can do on our cell phones.

Yeah, I am being overly dramatic in my reply, but I am also being accurate in what is occurring on these VOIP networks. There are many repeaters connected to these networks that are merely broadcast stations, playing the networked conversations over the air, for the local hams to listen to, but they don’t participate in the “QSOs”. Many repeaters have become “broadcast” stations, such as the W3QV repeater in Philadelphia, in which I can’t recall the last time I heard a local key up and join in on the endless stream of chatter from the Yaesu Wires X room “America Link”, that it is connected to. I kind of thought broadcasting was not permitted under Part 97, but these repeaters have been doing that for years now.

And I am guilty of listening, just as others are. I have hotspot devices and radios, and they are connected to the various networks that pretend to be “ham radio”, such as Brandmeister, TGIF, FCS (I don’t do D-Star anymore). I can listen in, and not participate. But that is because I have lost interest in ham radio, I was interested in propagation and weak signal work, and there is mostly none of that happening anymore in my region. I had worked the world on CB radio before I ever got licensed, so HF privileges were kind of “MEH” to me. I did enjoy V/UHF SSB ops though...until I found myself alone there, and dismantled my station.

So if I were buying equipment to jump on the gravy train of the horizon of new amateur radio, I would buy the Anytone AT-D878UV HT, and buy the openSPOT 3 hotspot from SharkRF.

You can buy a ZumSpot from HRO, which consists of a Raspberry Pi Zero, running a Pi-Star image. It works, but Pi Zeros are a bit underpowered. The openSPOT devices have really led the market with their development. Although the current openSPOT 3, along with the previous openSPOT 2 kind of suffer in range, over the original flavor, because they have a small internal antenna, so your range is limited. But they have made it nearly idiot-proof to connect your device to your router or cell phone. Kudos for allowing us to remain unchallenged and not have to learn a new skill set. I guess that won’t be on the next General class license test revision.

I personally have been running a Raspberry Pi 3b+ with an older DVMega board on it, and the Pi-Star image, but also ran a DV4 mini back when that was all there was. I also have an original openSPOT that is used solely for my private VOIP server (because that is the hardware you need to do what I am doing), and an openSPOT2 in my wife’s car, so she can access my VOIP server...and she is not licensed for ham operations, because we don’t use the ham frequencies with my VOIP server.

BTW, there are many hams who have tried out DMR and other digital voice modes, and they found it didn’t work for them. They are back of HF, working DX and working through the pile ups.

HI HI, 73s. Don’t forget to QSL me on QRZ for our QSO here on WWDX. I think this counts towards my “Worked All IP Addresses” award.

[Transwarp]

[Allan666]

Very Interesting. However I agree with most of what you have said and I have held a licence since 1981 first the G6 then the G0(zero)

[LondonCbRadio]

Anyone know how many hams in England ?

[Ant]

Yes.

[dc260]

The issue I have with this post is that it makes the false equivelence of DMR the mode and DMR networks.

A digital voice mode does not explicitlly imply that it is internet linked.

There can be a purely RF based contact using DMR either through simplex radio to radio, or using a non-internet linked repeater. No repeaters or hotspots involved at all.