Fred C (W6BSD)
Voice communication methods such as SSB, AM, and FM are fundamental to the hobby. Digital modes present a captivating and often more efficient way to communicate, particularly when signals are weak or there is interference. These digital modes convert your text or voice into digital signals that...
Fred C (W6BSD)
Most people managing a repeater or using a Pi-Star open-spot at home want to automate the connection to a specific reflector to ensure they don't miss a net. To automate that task, they look online, and the internet tells them to insert a line in the file /etc/crontab to tell the Pi-Star to link...
Fred C (W6BSD)
Every Thursday, the Portland Amateur Radio Club (PARC) organizes a series of conferences called Beginning Ham Radio. These conferences aim to teach new hams all the aspects that ham radio has to offer. This week, the club invited me to talk about the latest and popular Digital Voice modes. The...
Fred C (W6BSD)
DUDE-Star is a software developed by Douglas McLain (AD8DP) that connects to D-STAR, Fusion, NXDN, P25, Allstar, and even to the new digital mode designed by and for ham radio operators: M17. DUDE-Star includes a software IMBE and AMBE vocoder for encoding and decoding, but it can also use any...
Fred C (W6BSD)
Many ham radio operators are interested in EMERCOM1. It can be useful to have a reliable source of weather information during an emergency. Some radios come with the NOAA2 frequencies already programmed in the memory. Hams have also programmed the following channels in their radios: NOAA weather...
Fred C (W6BSD)
In my last article, I wrote about working DMR+ using the DMRGateway module of your Pi-Star hotspot. In this article, I'm going to explain how to use the same DMRGateway module to talk to D-Star networks using your DMR radio. What is cross-mode? When you talk on digital radio, the radio encodes the...
Fred C (W6BSD)
When it comes to DMR, especially in North America, people think of BrandMeister. There is another network of interconnected repeaters and talk-groups called DMR+. Pi-Star hotspot DMR+ was the first network that developed tools to interconnect ETSI Tier 2 DMR repeaters. It started in Europe and has...
Fred C (W6BSD)
A couple of weeks ago I got a new D-Star mobile radio. The radio is an Icom ID-4100, VHF/UHV. According to Icom, this rig is a D-Star1 entry-level radio. The ID-4100 has the same features as the ID-5100, with a smaller screen and only one VFO. Clear display What I like Icom's menu system is...
Fred C (W6BSD)
Yaesu FT-70D The Pi-Star has the capability of working across digital modes. This means you can use a C4FM1 (YSF) radio to talk on DMR and vice-versa. You can find the complete list of cross mode capabilities on your Pi-Star configuration page. In this post, I am going to focus on YSF to DMR...
Fred C (W6BSD)
The FT-70D is a great little radio that I always recommend for new hams as well as for experienced hams who want to try digital voice. It is simple to use and well priced for the quality and performance you get. What is digital Yaesu FT-70D There are several forms of digital communications in the...
Fred C (W6BSD)
To work simplex with your DMR or C4FM radio please do not use the FM analog national call frequencies 2m (146.520 MHz) or 70cm (446.000 MHz). Do not use these frequencies for any digital work. Below are the recommended simplex frequencies to be used with DMR in the United States and Canada. In...