New Board: DMR Radio on Radio Preppers.

[gil]

Hello.

We have a new board! I need to say that for prepping purposes DMR might and probably should not be very high on your priority list. We assume that during SHTF there would be no grid power, let alone any Internet service. That said, it does allow encryption, which is however illegal in normal times...

DMR has taken the amateur bands by storm, and for good reasons. It is an open source mode. Everyone can implement it into their radios. Although it was designed for commercial radio use, it does work well for amateurs, well enough anyway. There is a learning curve, but honestly, once you learn the vocabulary, it is pretty simple. What's the advantage? It is worldwide... You can talk to anyone anywhere there is a repeater connected to the Internet. Is it real radio? Well, only between the repeater and your handheld, otherwise, no. It's still better than network radio, which isn't radio at all and should be called something else.

In any case, it is hard to ignore DMR today. My take on it is that if you buy an analog radio, you might as well get a DMR/analog radio, since they all do both. So I decided to start this new board. Ya'll have fun now and keep it civil  ;)

Gil.

[Quietguy]

Is it real radio? Well, only between the repeater and your handheld, otherwise, no.

But it also makes simplex connections, so it is just as much Real Radio as any 2m/70cm HT or mobile, it just has more capabilities.  It works radio to repeater to radio for local coverage just like analog radios, no Internet needed.

Also, if you have Internet capability at home you don't have to be near a repeater for distant contacts.  You can have your own imitation repeater in the comfort of your living room by setting up a personal hot spot.  There are several, some based on the Raspberry Pi and others more plug and play.  The SharkRF Open Spot is a plug and play hotspot that allows linking to the Brandmeister network for worldwide contacts.  So you can use your HT to talk across town to a friend simplex or you can use a hot spot with Internet to talk anywhere.
https://www.sharkrf.com/products/openspot/

Cheap.  Dual band (2m/70cm) DMR plus analog FM for $170 shipped (in the US), complete with built-in GPS so two units linked simplex know how far apart they are.  Not bad for search and rescue efforts.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/AnyTone-AT-D868UV-GPS-Version-2-Dual-Band-DMR-Analog-144-430-MHz-Radio-US-seller/292319089829

Wally

[DragoSapien]

I created a new DMR talk group over on the TGIF network server. This is not on the BrandMaster network. They are not prepper friendly.


http://wiki.tgif.network/index.php?title=Mag_COMM&fbclid=IwAR3N9bEGDxg2eC-LP1ZPELg6whcG-nNVtzFAtuG163HDjiTj3vouPLBAIzM


http://tgif.network/lastheard.html

[gil]

Great, thanks for sharing :-)

Gil.