How do I get my DMR recordings?

 

Kraken is coming and we all need to prepare for its arrival.  On Tuesday October 19th 2021, Steve K2GOG was invited to the North Star Digital Net to give a quick chat about what does it do and why its important for the future within the broader topic of "software defined radio".

A few people who could not attend the live discussion had asked Jim WA2UMP and Steve K2GOG to see if they could record the audio presentation.   This is a fun problem that needed to be solved first to start this article, so read onward!

How do you record DMR audio?

Steve K2GOG planned to use his Alinco DJ-MD5XTG to talk via his hotspot which reaches the Brandmeister 31630 (STEM) talk group.  A nice feature with this radio, as well as the popular Anytone AT-878 series of radio, is that it can record transmit and receive audio with timestamps and by who was speaking.

Its easy to scroll through recorded audio files one by one or play all your recordings on a loop to play them all in order. This could be helpful if you thought you may have missed some important scheduled discussion or activity on your favorite talk group.

One annoyance is that the recordings save to internal memory on the radio instead of a micro SD card, like on radios such as the D-Star focused Kenwood TH-D74 or the Fusion based Yaesu FT-5DR. 

Both of those radios and even the Icom IC-705, all require the user to remove the SD card from the radio to access recorded audio but that makes it really easy to access those files  on your computer and send them to someone to share interesting transmissions like during a satellite contact. 

In the case with the Alinco and Anytone, you need to connect up a cable to your computer to access the recordings but you can not pull those files off which is super annoying. The manufacturers software seems to lock this function out but would otherwise clearly support this as pictured below.

If you click any of the files listed in photo above, the recording simply plays through the radio speaker but we are no closer to sharing the recordings.

The Alinco DJ-MD5 series of radio uses a simple USB micro cable to program the radio but does not output audio.  The way to solve this problem is to use the headphone port on the Alinco which uses the standard 3.5mm plug found on most all consumer headphones.

Using a 3.5mm stereo to stereo cable, the other end plugs right into the microphone jack on your computer sound card.  If you have a modern laptop which uses a TRRS (Tip, Ring1, Ring2, Sleeve) style connector, you may instead need to use a USB sound card as mentioned in Steve's explanation video below.

Now that we have that problem solved, you can use a program like Audacity with the sound activated record function enabled to "re-record" the audio from the radio to your computer.  While this takes a little while to do, it lets you easily stitch together the audio segments you want with no gaps. 

If you are over a certain age where you may remember double cassette recorders, this activity may bring back memories of less technological days when you had to get creative to make a mix tape from "borrowed" cassettes or maybe songs off the local broadcast station.

Hopefully this modern solution may give you some ideas on getting more from your DMR radio.

Getting back to Kraken

After all that, now we can finally get to the recording you might have missed! 

Here is an MP3 recording mostly of the segment from Steve K2GOG.  

It sounds like he missed a few parts but is otherwise complete. It looks like a time intensive operation to click on all recordings in order, so bear that in mind if you wish to do something like this yourself.

The recorder function works on any "over the air" DMR signal, so using it also to record simplex activity like what took place during the NEARFEST on US national DMR simplex of  446.075 MHz on time slot 1, color code 1 and talk group 99 is another idea.   

But, if you plan to record audio from Brandmeister you can also just use the "Hoseline" function and route that audio from a talk group into Audacity just as easily using virtual audio cables. 

And with that, I hope you are looking forward as much as Steve is to getting the new Kraken once its starts shipping in March 2022.

Teardown: Alinco DJ-MD5XTG (2nd Generation DMR)

What can I cay, I have always liked Alinco products going back to my first ever HT, the credit card sized Alinco DJ-C1T.  

Much has happened in  the world of amateur radio since and Alinco continues to do interesting things via its latest DMR handheld offering, the DJ-MD5XTG. 

This article details from the inside out, what makes this model different than its predecessor. 

Alinco had different DJ-MD5 radios?

Let me first start out and dispel a rumor I created that the latest Alinco DJ-MD5XTG would support the 220 MHz band. It does not or at least officially, which makes the band coverage on par with the popular Anytone AT-D878UV, available from vendors such as Bridgecom.

At the time of this article, the second generation Alinco DMR DJ-MD5XTG is available in the United States by DX Engineering.

When purchasing an Alinco DJ-MD5 series radio, there are now three versions that have been created and the most basic DJ-MD5T is discontinued. The major difference between it and the Alinco DJ-MD5TGP is the inclusion of GPS functionality.

 If you are looking to sell your original DJ-MD5 series radio to offset the cost in buying the new radio or are looking for a deal, please think about some of the following based on the teardown of the new DJ-MD5XTG.

The major differences

I did the hard work so you do not have to by doing a basic tear down of the DJ-MD5XTG and comparing it to the DJ-MD5TGP, which I also tore down back in November 2018. The below non-RF major component  table will help guide us along. 

Both versions main PCB interestingly both show that they are both considered revision 2.0, but with different date of manufacture codes.

1st Point: You get a faster MCU with more memory

Really the only major difference is that the Alinco DJ-MD5XTG upgrades to a 1024k flash and 96k SRAM memory configuration which is identical to that of the Anytone AT-D878UV.  

The older Alinco DJ-MD5TGP and DJ-MD5T (Without GPS) has the 512K flash and 64K SRAM memory configuration. The GD32F3030 (VGT6) is what is found inside the latest Alinco DMR radio.

The extra memory, like in the competing Anytone radio, allows for Alinco to support a few new features in the software which we will talk about later such as roaming and analog transmission of AX.25 based APRS. There is also a GPS/Baidou toggle, weather alert and few other changes.

If you have really good eyesight, you may notice what appears to be sloppy soldering on the MCU, but this is intentional. 

Alinco has bridged the shown pins on purpose, just like as found in the earlier Alinco DJ-MD5 radio as well as the Anytone AT-D878UV and the earlier AT-868UV. 

I just want to point this out that there is no bad workmanship inside this radio, especially since many find it easy to question construction capabilities of radios made today to save costs because of frugal or entry level customers.

The Alinco DJ-MD5TGP is indeed a high quality product and assembled/manufactured in Japan and not China like most, not all Alinco communications equipment.

However, the absolutely useless instruction manual which is little more than an instruction guide on how to attach the belt clip, connect the battery, screw in the antenna and turn on the radio along with some basic operation instructions is indeed printed in China, so take that for whatever value you want to place on that.

For what the manual is, it is rather well made and laid out, but just lacks any major value.

2nd Point:  Newer versions of other major components

Beyond the MCU (Micro Controller Unit), the baseband vocoder which helps your radio become a DMR radio, has a new production code and but is identical to the 2018 version of the SCT3258TD. 

Everything else is the same too and the only other differences which have not yet been thoroughly  tested  on the the main PCB are some slight changes in the RF front end and filtering compared to the older radio.  The below photo shows the main PCB along with the two RF shields removed on the DJ-MD5XTG.

3rd Point: What does the FCC have to say?

The Alinco DJ-MD5XTG does carry the FCCID of  PH3DJ-MD5, which is the same as its predecessor, so we may see an update on the FCC website in the coming months, but it does not seem like it may mean much from an RF perspective. Here is the Alinco DJ-MD5XTG fully disassembled.

Hardware:  DJ-MD5XTG instead of the Anytone AT-D878UV?

What attracted me to the Alinco DJ-MD5TGP back in 2018 are the same reasons as the DJ-MD5XTG.

Starting with how to program the Alinco with the Computer Programming Software (CPS) is that you use a common USB micro cable used with smart phones instead of a dedicated cable like that of the Anytone and other radios like the TYT, Radioddity, Lanch HG-UV98, Baofeng and Ailunce radios that have been covered across past HVDN articles plus the much higher end Kenwood TH-D74.

This may be a benefit to some people if you have a habit of misplacing things and need an instant replacement. It is also worth noting that while the Kenwood D74 can be programmed wirelessly via Bluetooth, it can also use a standard USB micro cable as well.

Another reason I like the Alinco over the Anytone is that it is a perfect radio for taking hiking. The speaker/microphone connection uses a 3.5mm jack for the speaker/headphone function and the smaller 2.5mm jack for the microphone. 

While this is now considered opposite of what used to the standard, this lets me use a regular pair of wired 3.5mm stereo headphones or earbuds with the Alinco should I wish to listen to communications or music privately.  While its common to have Bluetooth earbuds these days, sometimes a wired version is helpful to have since they do not require rechargeable batteries!

One thing I did learn with the original Alinco MD-5TGP is that using a speaker microphone seems like a burden, even with the nicely made Alinco EMS-76.  

Alinco and its resellers caution every user to only use this microphone with this new DMR radio, but if you have an older microphone wired the same as the EMS-76, it will work just fine. 

Just avoid trying any of the speaker microphones meant for other radios as they will damage your radio due to incompatible wiring.

I say a speaker mic might be a waste since the microphone is nearly the same size as the radio itself. Instead, while hiking as an example, I just clip the radio upside down on my pack strap such as pictured below while visiting Red Hill Tower last September as part of the Catskill Fire Tower Five Challenge.

The Anytone AT-D878UV still offers Bluetooth capability for remote PTT and for pairing to external audio devices.  It would be nice to see bluetooth added in the future to the Alinco DJ-MD5 series, but battery life may then become an issue.

My personal opinion is that I do not see this as any shortcoming. Please also be aware that the SMA-J style antenna connector is used on the DJ-MD5XTG like its predecessors, so this is NOT the same as what is used on the Kenwood D74 for comparison.

Software:  This needs another article or three, maybe four?

There are some new features found in the Alinco DJ-MD5XTG which will really make it appeal to those that enjoy an active converged lifestyle and some future articles will cover:

• What is roaming and do you really need it?

• Analog APRS:  This is the original, not the new APRS or D-APRS

• GPS: How do you set it up and actually use it

• Proof is in the programming:  Basic US Alinco DJ-MD5XTG code plug

• Talking about the band options in the Alinco DJ-MD5XTG

Keep an eye on the HVDN Notebook for future articles all December long about the Alinco DJ-MD5XTG or bookmark this handy link. https://hvdnnotebook.blogspot.com/search/label/Alinco%20DJ-MD5XTG 

Frequency Expansion: Alinco DJ-MD5TGP

The Alinco DJ-MD5TGP can now easily be expanded to receive up to 520 MHz which is helpful to those that live in areas that use frequencies above 480 MHz such as New York City.

After upgrading the Alinco from FW 1.00 to the not 100% publicly available FW 1.04, I decided to try some key commands that did not work before while trying to reach the same frequency expansion results in the past.

Given that the Anytone AT-D868UV, AT-D878UV and BTECH 6X2 all share certain design elements as the Alinco this not all all too surprising with the latest firmware update rolled out to the Alinco DMR dual band radio.

How To Expand

Step 1: Hold down the 1 key, PTT and the side button directly underneath PTT while turning the radio on will show "DJ-MD5 TEST MODE" quickly followed by the Alinco splash screen.

Step 2: Rotate the multi-selector knob on the top of your radio to the desired operational mode and then turn off the radio.

Step 3: Your radio now will function as the mode you selected.

Using with CPS

If you read the data from your radio using the "Model" function, it should show which of the 14 options available through the test mode with the latest CPS v1.03.

Its now safe to start writing a new code plug or importing channel data again back into your radio.

Please note that you will need to inhibit or enable the transmit function on a per channel basis per your legal requirements.

Enjoy your new "receive" capability if you were looking to access frequencies above 480 MHz with a much smaller DMR capable radio compared to the Anytone or BTECH models.

Looking for interesting discussion about getting the most from digital voice communications?  

Check out www.northstardigitalnet.us for details

Review: Alinco DJ-MD5T Series DMR Radio

This is the third official article on HVDN about the new Alinco DJ-MD5T series dual band DMR/analog handheld radio, but is the first actual review of this interesting communications tool.

The Alinco DJ-MD5TGP  was released
for sale in the United States in November 2018

Responsibility: Users & Vendors

DMR started life as an open standard digital voice mode for commercial use in 2005 and started to see early amateur radio adoption in 2009 through surplus commercial equipment.

Since 2012, use of DMR in amateur radio has been increasing quickly and starting in 2016 really took off compared to other standards in use by the amateur radio community.

Adoption of DMR has been largely attributed to low priced Chinese origin radios since DMR is an open standard and expensive intellectual property licenses were not needed, like the offerings from other vendors.

Amateur radio communities around the world generally like to expand the capability of existing equipment and radios such as the TYT MD-380 proved an interesting platform for experimentation.

While DMR equipment to date has offered features more appropriate to commercial users such as wide frequency coverage, amateur radio operators have generally been responsible to only use this equipment within amateur radio spectrum.

IMPACT: Recently in the United States, federal trade restrictions have impacted the ability for certain vendors to sell product legally due to source of geographic origin and frequency capability.

While no one country or vendor is to blame, global demand has created a great opportunity for a responsible vendor looking to sell DMR equipment to the amateur radio community.

Overview:  Alinco DJ-MD5T Series

The DJ-MD5T series radios now offered by Alinco is actually its second DMR offering marketed to the amateur radio community.  Model DJ-MD40 was released as a UHF only option in 2015 but saw little adoption because it was priced much higher than the popular TYT MD-380 or Connect System CS-750.

Alinco is now the first well known Japanese amateur radio vendor to offer a dual band DMR radio with the DJ-MD5 series.

Key Detail: There are two versions of the DJ-MD5.  DJ-MD5TGP includes a built in GPS and the DJ-MD5T does not include GPS capability.

For a price difference of less than $30, the GPS version may be the better option for most users to purchase for future resale value and application expansion. Do yourself a favor and do not cheap out.

Alinco MD-5 Series: Key Specifications 

• Configurable VHF/UHF Band Coverage
• Analog FM & Digital DMR Tier I and II
• Four RF Output Levels (5/2.5/1/0.2 W)
• 4,000 Channels (Configurable between 250 Zones of up to 250 channels each)
• 10,000 Talk Groups
• 160,000 Digital Contacts
• 2.32 (L) x 4.65 (H) x 1.57" (W/T)

Alinco MD-5 Series:  Key Features

• 1.7" OLED Color Display
•  VFO/Memory Mode
• FM Broadcast Reception (87-108)
• Repeater Offset Storage
• Path/Distance to Contact Location
• Text Messaging
• Auto Power Off
• Volume Min/Max Settings

Alinco MD-5TGP Review

With the Alinco DJ-MD5TGP now available for official purchase in early November, lets start off with talking about its configurable band coverage as illustrated below.  The model setting is configured through software and is not keypad programmable. This is a first for DMR radios.  Prior to this, only programmed channels can be "transmit disabled". Alinco allows entire areas of spectrum to be disabled for transmit capability.

There are 13 band configurations and option 11 should be what most amateur radio operators should focus on to remain compliant with amateur licensing and to prevent accidental "out of band" transmission.

Alinco DJ-MD5TGP programming software allows
one of thirteen profiles to be used depending on country or
operator specific legal preferences

RF Power Output

Users of the various hot spot devices such as those built on MMDVM and Pi-Star combinations or the latest OpenSpot2 may appreciate the 1/4 watt RF output setting as one of the four possible power options.

Major Benefit: Alinco DJ-MD5 battery life is greatly extended by using low power as to be expected with a hotspot.

Memory Configuration

There is ample storage for DMR specific information and is easy to understand compared to some other DMR radios and appropriate programming software. Common terms:

Digital Contact(s):  Sometimes referred to as the "User Database", this is where up to 160,000 user details with DMR ID, call-sign, name and location are entered.  

Loading the entire database of just parts of it help identify who is speaking just like a caller ID function on telephones.  

A great tool for gaining access to the DMR user database can be found at http://amateurradio.digital/

Talk Groups:  A separate area for the storage of up to 10,000 talk groups allows all the "official 1,170+ Brandmeister talk groups to be stored. 

It is possible to also store the same talk group number with different names to accommodate locally numbers talk groups that are not accessible over networks like Brandmeister, NEDECN, Phoenix, etc 

Channels:   Storage of frequency, repeater shift, analog/digital mode, time slot, talk group, channel name, color code, encode/decode tones, power setting, scan lists, group lists and more are done on a per channel basis.  4,000 channels can be created and stored.

Zones:  Multiple channels can be organized into a zone of up to 250 channels. 

Common examples would be for channels for a specific repeater with different talk groups,  simplex channels and local non-amateur communications such as first responder, rail, and marine communications.  Scan lists can be created much like how a scanning radio such as those made by Uniden and Whistler to not miss communications.

Display Feedback

The color display is easily readable in most lighting conditions and shows all important information.  Navigation for settings shown is done through two soft buttons under the display labeled in green and red.  An up and down arrow key performs further navigation functions along.

Vibrant display as found on the new Alinco DMR handheld radio

The keypad can be used to send DTMF tones or access different functions found in the menu.   Shortcuts or "hotkeys" can also be created to access frequently used functions.

Entry of most parameters of this FCC type accepted radio can be performed by the keypad, including a memory or VFO mode that allows the user to change frequencies to allow for monitoring and tactical changes easily.

The speaker is of a ported design and is above and below the keypad. The microphone is below the green button and above the "1" button. A menu in the radio and software can increase/decrease gain based on user preference.

There is no major need for an instruction manual for this radio as much of the configuration should be enabled in the included software which is easy to follow and understand.

Help and description menus are part of the software to help better understand certain functions. 

Here are few of the more interesting and fun features I think makes this radio a good option for beginner or experienced users.

Alinco MD-5 Series Advanced & Fun Features

A good amateur  radio should be easy to use for access to  information and communication and the Alinco MD-5 is no exception.

Reception in the United States of the National Weather Broadcast system found between 162-163 MHz is possible with the MD-5 and also the FM broadcast band from 87-108 MHz for music, news and more.

Cool Feature: The built in GPS will show location coordinates of the user and also the distance and direction to another DMR user. This function works "radio to radio" and also via Brandmeister based on either the self entered coordinates of a users hotspot or actual location.

A general complaint with many DMR radios with GPS has been no clear way to use it. The Alinco is the first radio aside from the Anytone D868 that has made attempts at this in order to compete with some of the benefits of APRS enabled radios.

Non-Voice Communication

The Alinco DJ-MD5 allows the user to send manually created or preprogrammed text messages while in DMR mode.  This is partially dependent on how each user programs each radio, but it is possible to have voice and text at the same time on the same frequency because of the TDMA based DMR mode time slot functionality.

Cool: How to send text and location data over DMR with TYT MD-380

Text messaging does not work over analog FM, so please consider this when considering the purchase of this or other DMR radios.  Text messaging is part of the ETSI standard that DMR is based on. There is no such standard for analog communications unless one is talking about AX.25 based APRS.

Other Functions

One of the best features of any radio is the ability for it to turn off after a period of in-activity.  Alinco offers this along with a power save function to cycle the receiver on and off to save battery.

The volume setting is unique with Alinco in that the user can create listener profiles to have maximum or minimum volume levels set to avoid ear damage or even by accidentally turning the volume all the way off and missing a potential call.

The Alinco DJ-MD5T offers interesting features like , but does not
include a "mosquito repellant" function as found on older analog Alinco radios
such as the DJ-195, SJ-S446 and others.

Every few years Alinco offers a radio with some rather interesting features, such as a "mosquito repellent" or "theft protection" feature like "digital monitor".

The MD-5 offers a menu called digital fun that has something very interesting called digital monitor.

This function lets the user in DMR mode allow either one or both time slots to be monitored at the same time.  A function like this can be helpful if the user does not know what time slot certain communications is supposed to take place on

A built in voice recorder allows both digital and analog voice recording for up to 14 hours. Other DMR radios only offer recording on DMR mode.  The Alinco not only allows received audio, but also what is spoken into the microphone.

Super Nice Feature: This may be interesting for those interested in satellite operation and recording of contacts for later playback

As illustrated, there is a lot of functionality this radio is capable of and should become pretty popular.

Any secrets?

The Anytone D868/D878 and BTECH 6X2 are very similar to the Alinco MD-5. Many of the software functions and operation of the radio are roughly about the same.

This will be the topic of a tear down of the MD-5 in the coming weeks, so please look for that on the HVDN Notebook by making use of the tag cloud feature for any content that covers the Alinco MD-5

Overall Verdict

• Build quality is excellent and the keypad numbering does not seem like it will wear off easily. 

• Audio quality for signal reception is pretty good and does not seem to struggle at maximum volume.

• Owners of other DMR radios should be able to learn the Alinco function set pretty easily

• Code plugs from other manufacturers will either partially or completely work with the Alinco MD-5

• Battery life is excellent and audio accessories are plentiful 

There will be much more to say about the Alinco MD-5 for sure and it will be interesting if Icom, Yaesu and Kenwood come out with something to compete with Alinco.

Thanks for reading. Ask some questions and share your own comments, if you dare.  

The Official "NOT" Review of the Alinco MD-5 Series

The Alinco MD-5 series of DMR radio first appeared as a "Coming Soon" model in 2017.

Not long ago, official "for sale" release dates were announced by vendors such as GigaParts, Universal Radio and DX Engineering as being late October 2018, early and late November 2018.

Some vendors made a pre-order wait list available to help understand product demand and guess what?

The first Alinco MD-5TGP's have not only started to appear in the United States in late September, but have already sold out!

First is the worst, second is the best?

HVDN has been lucky to secure one of the first batch of radios and will be a source of  a detailed review inside and out as we did with the TYT MD-UV380 Part 1 and Part 2.

However, we will not release this until it is supposed to be officially for sale later this month or possibly early November once market supply of the product is stable and potentially available to everyone.

The now FCC certified the Alinco MD-5 series as covered in our
article "FLASH NEWS!: Alinco MD-5 Series Cleared by FCC" on September 10th 2018.

Tariffs, Certification & Type Acceptance Situation

Lately in the news, there has been an FCC ruling that states:

"Two-Way VHF/UHF radios may not be  imported, advertised, or sold in the United States unless they comply with the commission's rules"

Moreover, this also pertains to the actual users of these radios as well.  The full text of  FCC Public Notice DA-18-980 can be found here.

HVDN wants to focus on being purely neutral and objective and takes no political leanings, but this FCC ruling is related to the long list of Chinese imports affected by the 1,333 product categories reduced from a much larger list proposed in Docket Number USTR-2018-0026.  

Where could I NOT get one?

Based on some vendor polling the day this article was posted, at least 350 units of Alinco's MD-5TGP have been sold in the US and were imported directly or through some other means rather than the official distribution channels most vendors usually adhere to.

So, how were these radios imported into the United States and able to be sold to amateur radio operators is the big question.

Give a listen to some of the popular DMR talk groups and chances are that you might just hear someone using one of the 350 or so radios that have supposedly already been sold in the US.

Looking at the "Call Statistics" page on Brandmeister can help users
determine when may be the best time to find activity on interestingly focused
talk groups such as "Burning Man" , "Reddit" or "The Guild"

There have already been a few people in the Ohio, California and Texas areas that have made it known that they have one of these radios "On The Air", but do not seem to really know what they have or do they?

Impacts on the US Amateur Radio Community

Even though Alinco is a Japanese company, there are Chinese origin components and manufacturing  related to the Alinco MD-5 and thus affected not only by impending tariff laws but also by  US law on what equipment is permissible to be operated by an amateur radio operator within the amateur radio spectrum in the United States right now as of October 4th 2018.

Is this one reason for the delay from manufacturer to distribution to re-sellers and finally into the hands of end users?

Third is the one with the hairy chest!

The amateur radio punchline to the rhyme is that right now it is:

100% illegal to use the Alinco MD-5 by amateur radio operators in the United States because even though it has FCC certification, it is not Part 15 type accepted and able to be used under Part 97 rules.

This radio and many others like it are capable of transmission outside the amateur radio spectrum making them "technically" only operable by those with a commercial license.

Users covered under an umbrella license such as those for public safety, schools, businesses or some other organization that has permission to operate on certain licensed frequencies are not amateur radio related, so why are amateur radio vendors selling this radio to those not properly licensed to transmit with it?

Even if you are one of those people who hold a "General Radio Operator License" or "GROL", that will not allow you to use this radio currently on amateur radio frequencies.

FCC Rules

Part 15 certification mostly deals with radios capable of "scanning" or wide frequency operation. Part 95 is focused on certification for little to no interference to other devices. Part 97 pertains to amateur radio governance.

These are just high level summaries of a few FCC rules that often come up in amateur radio discussion.

At some later date, the Alinco MD-5 will likely be properly certified, so maybe there is nothing to worry about, or is there?

Competing single and dual band DMR radios of foreign origin that were previously
reviewed in our "Comparison of Entry Level DMR Radios (2017 Edition)"

Certain vendors such as Retevis, TYT, Radioddity, Baofeng and others seem to already by looking for loop holes to still sell radios in the US and for users to remain in compliance of US law. These loopholes include setting up US address headquarters as noted in relation to the BTECH 6X2 and also that the Radioddity GD-77 was just a re-branded TYT model

Alinco clearly is trying to do the right thing through certification, but will it succeed as it relates to Part 15, 95 and 97? Chances are it will and this could be a reason why Kenwood, Icom and Yaesu have not yet tried to sell a DMR capable radio because they will likely also want to do it 100% the right way also.


The Virtual Green Wire

Up through the mid to late 1990's any radio sold in the United States and marketed towards the amateur radio community could not have any "out of the box" capability to transmit outside the FCC Part 97 spectrum which overs amateur radio.

Some radios also had/have restrictions covered under Part 15, 47, 80, 90, 95 to reduce the ability to receive certain frequencies as well as to transmit on frequencies licensed to other services such as marine VHF, MURS (154MHz), FRS, GMRS, and CB frequencies in the US.

Many vendors had simple modifications that could allow "out of band" transmit capability and were often called the MARS/CAP modification.  Clipping a certain color wire or soldering two or more pads together are all it took to enable this functionality.  

With Military Affiliate Radio Service (MARS) or Civil Air Patrol (CAP) no longer permitting radios not capable of narrow band (N-FM) or tight frequency tolerance (<0.5 PPM) operation for digital modes, most "modified" radios while possible to operate out of the amateur bands could no longer be officially used under MARS/CAP because of how those two service changed how the treat the use of radio equipment.

Have a look at websites such as Mods.dk and other clones of it that share helpful tips on how to modify radios for different manufacturer unintended features.

Has any vendor been in trouble?

Back when Radio Shack was in operation, they got in major trouble for releasing a radio named the HTX-204 that was so easy to modify, it got pulled from stores in less than a week and most of the stock was physically destroyed.

Since that time in 1997, there has not been such an infraction, so how have certain vendors avoided the same issue since?

The HTX_204 is considered a rate collectors item
thanks to its "easy modification" to allow out of band operation

Baofeng was one of the first Chinese radio companies to sell inexpensive analog radios in the US and were capable of "out of band" operation with no modification and there was also no easy way to restrict operation to only the amateur radio bands.

With many of the DMR radios, they come fully capable to operate out of the amateur band, but can be restricted in the software to only amateur radio spectrum.

The very popular TYT MD-380 is one such radio that can be restricted this way through modification of one file that can then be uploaded to the radio. This was partially covered in the past "Radioddity GD-77: Frequency Expansion".

In mid 2018, it has been rumored that a slightly different version of this TYT radio has started to turn up with some sort of "changes" but has not been verified by HVDN. Could this be part of a start to better control radios being sold to the amateur radio community?

The Alinco MD-5TGP right now is being sold by amateur radio vendors and clearly we know who is buying these radios.  

However, this Alinco radio is not being marketed by the sellers to the amateur radio community. One vendor explicitly states:

Other vendors do not have this clause, so what we will likely learn when HVDN does its official review includes:

• Is the Alinco MD-5 radio able to only transmit between 144-148 MHz and 420-450 MHz in the US and receive on other frequencies such as the rest of the 136-174 MHz and 400-480 MHz range?

• How does the version 1.01 Alinco programming software compare to what is offered that comes with other radios?

• How easy is it to "front panel program" the Alinco MD-5 or can you only do this in software only?

• Are there are "green wires" that need be be clipped physically or virtually in the MD-5?

• Anything magically different inside the Alinco MD-5 compared to other DMR radios?

HVDN will publish the first part of the Alinco MD-5TGP the first week of November and a second part shortly there after.

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                                 this and other HVDN Notebook articles

FLASH NEWS!: Alinco MD-5 Series Cleared by FCC

Alinco will now be the first mainstream radio vendor as part of the "Big 4" to release a dual band DMR handheld radio. 

It was awarded FCC certification in early September and should start hitting vendors in the next 30-60 days.

Further details are below. HVDN (Hopefully!!) will be the first to complete a review, so be sure to subscribe for updates and get the appropriate SMA to SMA-J adapter or other SMA-J antennas now to use with this radio. Reason why below.....

Alinco MD-5 Series DMR Radio with possible dual polarity display
(Black on white and white on black?)

FCC ID Details

Alinco MD-5 Series FCC ID is PH3DJMD5

Alinco MD-5 Series FCC ID is PH3DJMD5

Preliminary user manual and other photographic details below main summary

Built-in GPS Receiver -Transmits and receives GPS coordinates automatically, and displays the distances between you and other users. (TGP,EGP models) 

Clear Voice and Powerful Audio - Utilizes DVSI's AMBE+2R vocoder for Crystal clear DMR digital audio for use in noisy environments like construction sites and malls. Powerful 1W audio output to insure loud crisp sounds. 

Large, Full-color Display - Features 1.77 inch display with a menu-driven interface, icons and large, easy-to-use keys for comfortable operations and message reading. 

Real Two-slot DMR - The DMR Tier 2 two-slot TDMA technology doubles your communications capacity! 

Mixed Mode Operation - The DMR Tier 2 two-slot TDMA technology doubles your communications capacity! 

Digital Voice Recorder - Up to 14 hours of recording communications and sounds/voice using an internal or optional microphone.

Other Versatile features - Common to both Digital (DMR) and Analog (FM & N-FM) modes

• Selectable output power 5W/2.5W/1W/0.2W

• 4000 channels, 250 zones, 250 scan lists

• Displays DMR ID, Call sign, Name and Geographical info.

• VOX built-in

• Allows CSV export/import of setting parameters

• Easy import of DMR contact database (entire world wide)

• Single or dual channel selectable

• FM Broadcasting receiver with 100 memory channels and VFO

• Manually programmable Side and Hot keys.

• Automatic date and time calibration by GPS (TGP,EGP models)

* Digital mode Exclusive Features

• 10,000 Talk Groups, 250 Radio ID, 160,000 contact lists

• Displays the Caller ID and name

• 32 preset encryption codes

• Selective calls including Individual, Group or All

• Digital Monitor function to receive signals without matching ID or color codes.

* Analog mode Exclusive Features

• Variety of signaling; CTCSS/DCS/DTMF/2-TONE/5-TONE encode and decode

• Four different Tone-burst tones

• Programmable Auto Repeater Shift (VFO)

Preliminary Alinco MD-5 Series User Manual

Many if not all DMR radios do not require much of a manual as the menu system is vastly superior to other analog radios, so certain details are left out and will likely be covered in a user manual for the CPS application.

Download copy of Alinco MD-5 Series manual here

Additional Photography

HVDN will perform a higher resolution tear-down, much like has been done with the competing TYT MD-UV380. Here are some low resolution photos to aid with pre-purchase clarity.

Alinco MD-5 Series will include desktop charger, battery, belt clip as one would expect.
Battery is 7.4v 1800 mAh and no extended version is available at time of launch

The Alinco MD-5 will have 3 versions with or without built in GPS. The speaker is a
dual port design similar to some Alinco analog radios such as the DJ-S40 no longer for sale

The Alinco MD-5 Series will use the non standard SMA format as found on all Alinco, Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu and TYT radios. The  Ailunce HD1 uses the same antenna connector as well as the low priced Baofeng or similar radios