Global Digital Repeater Round Up: Our 1st Post COVID Analysis?

Each May and October going back to 2016, HVDN has analyzed repeaterbook.com data for digital amateur radio repeater deployments. 

Today being the 1st of June and now officially in the "End of COVID" era according to United States Center for Disease Control, lets have a look at the latest data to kick off summer time in many parts of the world. Lets celebrate with some pie of all digital flavors!

Yaesu Fusion - Still the 2nd most popular (by volume) digital repeater with an impressive 9.97% growth over the reporting period.  New radios like the FTM-300 and FTM-500 by the single manufacturer of Fusion equipment help drive reasons for more fusion repeaters around the world, with a total of 6 current production radios on the market. The least expensive Fusion capable radio is the FT-70 handheld for around $180 USD. 

Icom D-Star - The good news is that Kenwood has the TH-D75 handheld radio ready to go to market later this year and will support D-Stat much like its earlier relative, the TH-D74. However, Icom is still the only main supplier of D-Star handheld, mobile or base radios.  While the new Icom ID-50 handheld will also support D-Star, there are eight current or near production radios that support this digital mode and none of them cost under $200 USD.  Icom D-Star has remained flat for repeater deployments at 1.79% growth but its worth noting like all digital modes, the internet or a repeater is not needed for digital mode communications. 

DMR - How do we explain 12.46% period growth for DMR?  More radios offered by more vendors and full tier 2 compliant handheld radios sold for as low as $30 USD such as the COTRE series of radios found on Amazon.  While you do not need a repeater to use DMR or even the internet, the multi vendor ecosystem certainly is working for the adoption of DMR as the leading (by volume) driver of digital amateur repeaters.

P25 - Still a commercial standard and no inexpensive new radio equipment available, but digital repeater deployments are growing at 15.67% over the reporting period which shows promise.  As commercial users retire phase one P25 equipment, expect to see more digital repeaters be put on the air globally. If the license for the P25 was as loosely enforced like DMR, we could expect to see P25 really grow fast over the next few years unless the new open standard M17 finally gets into production grade equipment.

NXDN - Another commercial standard generally deployed for non-critical users, there continues to be some decent growth by CAGR and not by volume of this digital mode offered by companies like Icom, Kenwood and others.  There are still no very low cost radios available using NXDN, so expect this mode to just be a novelty in use across some pockets of amateur radio enthusiasts. 

Get a slice of : What did you say about M17?

The good news is that repeaterbook.com now shows a total of five total digital repeaters using this open source mode. Currently there are the following:

• N1KGN - Located at Bridgeport Hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut (United States)
• WX5RC - Located at Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma (United States)
• KC1AWV - Located in NHL Bruin's territory in Rockingham, New Hampshire (United States)

Its worth noting that two of these three repeaters are listed as multi-mode  and are not M17 full time. The only one likely as a dedicated M17 repeater is Steve KC1AWV's since he is part of the official M17 development team.

There are two international repeaters with the secret one in Poland in Nowy Dwor Mazoweicki operated by the inventor of M17, the infamous Woj SP5WWP and the multimode capable VK3RCQ repeater located in Junortoun Australia.

By October,  HVDN hopes to see a few more M17 repeaters on the air, but there are still no off the shelf M17 capable radios available for purchase which will continue to hold things back for M17.  

However, there are some exciting things happening in the M17 community which will be more clear in the next few months to come.  So, for now keep an eye on M17 but it will take a long time for this one to reach mainstream which is ok given there are no "current" commercial companies making available equipment to use M17. 

HOPE: Global Digital Repeater Round Up 2022

 

Life has been busy for Steve K2GOG and that is reflected in the lack of recent blog entries on HVDN Notebook.  This post "should" have happened in late May or early June, but that was not possible due to 1,000 other distractions such as our Hudson River Radio Relay on June 11th, ARRL Field Day on June 25/26, a new job, countless family adventures and other stuff..

However, lets get things back on track here since it has now been five years since HVDN began and this is an appropriate way to re-energize with HVDN readers via our twice a year global digital repeater roundup series. Look for more stuff coming soon plus BIG news regarding HVDN if you live in the Hudson Valley of New York.

First off, let me apologize for having to use July 10th 2022 data to provide the 1H22 reporting data.

This extra month plus a few extra days should not really throw anything too far off, since its still clear that the total global digital repeater mode leader in volume is DMR. However, P25 is the true leader if we look at overall CAGR.

As noted in the table above, data is shown from May of 2018 and through July of 2022.  Measurements are taken every end of May and end of October.  Raw data per mode is shown for each period and CAGR was calculated for the May and October periods independently. An average of both periods can be found at the far right of the table.

The below table shows the included 2016 data if you were wondering how long we have been tracking things if you are a new reader and missed the past nine other articles. 

Report:  What has happened in digital voice since October 2021?

Well this is rather interesting to say the least. In our October 2021 edition, I predicted some growth projections as found in "SPECIAL EDITION: 10,000+ Digital Repeaters - October 2021 Global Digital Repeater Roundup" and I was not "too" wrong.  

Estimates I predicted last October for May of 2022 included:

• Yaesu Fusion Global Repeaters = 3135 forecast (Actual 3218)

• Icom D-Star Global Repeaters = 2429 forecast (Actual 2471)

• DMR Global Repeaters = 4009 forecast (Actual 2003)

• P25 Global Repeaters = 569 forecast (Actual 630)

• NXDN Global Repeaters = 160 forecast (Actual 167)

Lets first talk about Yaesu Fusion's latest developments.  My guess is that the latest crop of radios which have come to market over the last 8-9 months may have pushed some clubs or repeater trustees to put up some additional repeaters to support the people who paid money for digital technology. 

A few radios like the mobile FTM-300DR and FTM-200DR plus FT-5DR handheld added to an existing pool of equipment available with C4FM capability.  The strategy of "Make more Fusion radios" is probably working well for Yaesu as a single vendor ecosystem.  Go Yaesu! You blew past my forecast!

Yaesu FTM-200DR pictured which retails for around $380 USD
and is competitive against other digital mode offerings for competition modes

Oh, sad sad Icom.  Will you figure things out when it comes to D-Star? To your credit, I was surprised just a little as I had expected that you would lose repeaters according to repeaterbook.com but you did actually gain a few. 

Now I am not sure if all 2471 around the world are actually active and if repeaterbook.com removes incorrect data as frequently as they should.  I do know that when traveling not every D-Star repeater is on the air though....so your secret is safe with me for now.

Maybe people who now have the super fun Icom IC-705 and IC-9700 have put pressure on magical repeater gnomes to conjure up a few more repeaters to use those expensive radios on or the new handheld ID-52 which finally is shipping. Maybe this is true, but CAGR still does not lie.  

Hovering around 1% CAGR is not fun to see, but perhaps if some cost effective equipment that supports D-Star ever comes to market, that should change things like we see with Fusion and DMR.

Be honest, did you buy a $1700+ Icom IC-9700 radio to talk on your local repeater?
If yes, I would love to hear about that

Ok, now for the record, I currently own more D-Star capable radios than I do for DMR. However, DMR is the mode I use the most still when I have time to play radio.  

The Alinco DJ-MD5XTG continues to be my favorite "ham" grade DMR radio and I sort of wish something more expensive and with features like the D-Star Kenwood TH-D74 or Yaesu FT-5DR would come to market. The RFinder B1 is a really cool radio which supports DMR but I am not interested in a smartphone based device for $1000 USD.  

With continued impressive repeater growth numbers for DMR, most people probably are using Anytone or Alinco equipment plus who ever is still supporting TYT and Radioddity based equipment.  The key thing here is that lower cost gear gave DMR a boost and repeater ninjas knew what to invest in.

For DMR, there is even a rather good  Under $30 basic radio called the COTRE CO01D which only can program 16 channels, but otherwise is great to use with a hotspot on limited talk groups. It is doubtful we will ever see a competing D-Star option at this price since the JARL license for D-Star is 2-3x the cost of just one of these radios. 

Alinco offers the MD520 which offers dual band 2m/70cm plus 220 MHz and VHF air receive. Anytone has a comparable D578UVIII for sale at around the same price. Both compete with the Fusion radios for close to the same price.

I was really close to my P25 prediction and was only off by 1. That is actually pretty nice.. Growth of P25 is fueled by surplus commercial equipment. NXDN is pretty much the same story and actual versus predicted growth from October 2021 to today  Not much really to talk about for equipment since options for new gear are from commercial companies only and surplus options are too varied to discuss.

The growth of P25 is interesting to continue to see though. As more municipalities change radio systems around, it should be interesting to see how P25 and NXDN evolve within amateur radio.

M17:  Will it happen ever?

Being nice here, but I own 3 total M17 T-shirts, a bunch of stickers and a semi-functional TYT MD-380 converted to be used via hotspot for this open source FDMA based mode.   I have yet to find people local to me to try simplex M17 to M17 but have done that at a hamfest.  

Every day that goes by  possibly gets us closer to off the shelf turn key equipment for M17 and I am hopeful that this mode explodes once it has some reliable equipment to support it. The back end infrastructure to connect repeaters to is already in place and a few "test" repeaters are sort of available to a few people. 

To help keep M17 top of mind,  presentations can be found all over the place and the upcoming HOPE conference will feature at least two of them talking about this open source mode. 

Feel free to check out open source RF experimentation at 10:00 AM Saturday July 23rd co-presented by Steve K2GOG and Joe NE2Z plus a much more legit one about M17 scheduled along with so many great ones found at https://scheduler.hope.net/new-hope/schedule/# 

HOPE 2022 is going to be epic and hope you can make it in person or virtually

October 2020 Global Digital Repeater Roundup

Since 2016, there has been a tremendous increase of repeaters that support DMR, P25, NXDN, Fusion and D-Star digital voice amateur communication. Twice a year, HVDN tracks the total growth of digital voice repeaters in articles like this one.

Much has happened in the world since May 2020 and it does not seem like repeater growth trends have been drastically affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic after looking at the last four years of data. This shows that no matter what, digital growth will continue because radio amateurs love the hobby they are part of anywhere in the world.

All digital voice repeater information pulled for this update was done October 20th 2020 at 3:00 PM Eastern US time.

October 2020 Global Digital Voice Repeater Roundup

The data source used to compile this information is repeaterbook.com which is often very reliable and accurate.  

Looking at the one year period from October 20th 2019 to October 20th 2020, we see that both DMR and P25 have the two highest growth percentages at 13.93% and 15.54% respectively.

Over the last four years from October 20th 2016 to October 20th 2020, DMR based amateur radio repeaters globally grew at a rate of 130.07% while P25 is at 140.85%.

This is not a fair comparison since volumes are drastically different, but it does show that there is huge interest in digital voice experimentation with either easy to get and affordable DMR equipment designed for the amateur enthusiast or via surplus only commercial P25 equipment that has come out of service from phase one deployments while commercial users either migrate towards phase two or systems that are LTE based cellular private networks or national programs such as the US based FirstNet.

Three Points: Why is DMR so popular globally?

There are three major reasons why DMR is the most popular global digital voice mode compared to Yaesu Fusion and Icom D-Star. NXDN and P25 are not compared further as they still are considered commercial only digital voice modes with no directly marketed amateur equipment.

Over the last year, Icom D-Star repeaters grew by 1.16% globally while Yaesu Fusion grew at 6.85%. Looking at the four years of data that HVDN has, Icom D-Star has a 19.01% growth but Fusion digital voice repeaters grew at 92.80%.

Even the commercial mode known as NXDN grew at 76.2% over the last four years and 10.4% in the last year alone. This is surprising given only surplus commercial equipment is available, such as what has been retired from certain railroads like the MTA MNRR in New York. 

Based on global repeater growth data, DMR is the most popular digital voice mode as no one invests in deploying a repeater unless there are a number of local users who will actively spend time using it. 

Point #1:  Ecosystem

Icom has done a lot to modernize amateur radio and started the modern digital voice revolution back in 2002 via its D-Star digital voice products. Yaesu came to market in 2013 with its Fusion system which used FDMA (C4FM) based technology which has superior audio characteristics over the older GFSK based Icom D-Star.  

Both vendors have a loyal following, but lack the ability to really to grow a multi-vendor ecosystem based on how the underlying digital voice technology they use could be licensed externally. 

Kenwood came to market with the first over $500 digital voice based handheld radio that supports D-Star and could only do that by adding every other possible feature into a handheld radio to help offset the high D-Star licensing costs.

Many amateur radio operators like to have choices and DMR offers that since it is based on a commercial standard that is now open source with much lower per device licensing costs.  

In 2016, there were 6 D-Star capable radios and 4 years later, there are only 7 with most of them falling in a premium price or greater category due to other non-DV features such as those found in the Icom IC-9700, IC-7100 and IC-705.  

Yaesu has 6 Fusion capable radios, which is one less than in had in 2016 and also offers higher end equipment but has a broader portfolio that appeals to entry level and advanced fans of either Fusion, Yaesu or both.

The new Icom IC-52 D-Star radio will compete
with lower cost or feature rich options such as the
 Kenwood TH-D74, Anytone D878 and Yaesu FT-3DR

The 2020 crop of DMR equipment has at least 31 products spread across 11 vendors and a few even share compatible batteries and external microphones.  Programming DMR radios via computer software is generally the same across vendors to make it easy when upgrading to another radio.  

The Radioddity GD-77 and a few other DMR radios even support community driven alternative firmware to help make an even better non vendor specific ecosystem.

For any digital voice mode to succeed, as many vendors as possible need to have cross compatibility just like we have with the 30+ year old analog FM based equipment.

Point #2:  Price

Because of how the D-Star technology is licensed, this contributes to higher costs of D-Star hardware and is why Icom is the only major supplier of D-Star equipment. 

Even after its introduction in 2002, it has only seen Kenwood support D-Star through its very high end TH-D74 handheld radio which boasts a very wide feature set that appeals to radio enthusiasts not only looking for a dependable digital voice capable radio. 

DMR has become popular in introducing digital voice to many radio amateurs because they are less expensive compared to the flag ship products offered by Yaesu with its FT-3DR handheld or the new but not yet released Icom IC-52. 

While both radios are full touch screen and lack a full keypad, the DMR Anytone 878 handheld retails for more than 50% less than its Fusion or D-Star counterparts and is just as dependable in terms of quality, usability and construction. 

Icom will sell many of the new IC-705 radios, but likely
not just because it is D-Star capable

Yaesu only started to see a large increase in repeater deployments after it released lower cost entry level equipment such as the FT-70 handheld or the FTM-7250 mobile radio.  Icom still does not have a handheld or mobile radio close in price to a Fusion or DMR radio.  

For Icom to succeed long term in digital voice, the IC-52 and any other products need to be priced closer to where DMR is succeeding.

Point #3: Resilience

DMR offers the only ability for a repeater owner to deploy a system that is not in any way dependent on the internet.  Icom's D-Star requires users to have a registered ID and to be associated with a specific home repeater. The Yaesu Fusion system does not require a separate ID and relies just an an amateur radio callsign, but repeaters need to be internet connected to function.

When looking at DMR, a repeater owner can support two separate discussions at the same time on the same frequency without the internet. This becomes powerful when properly implemented especially when there is internet accessibility to share the repeater with other non local users.  

An ID is required for DMR but the entire database of global users can be stored in your own radio.

When thinking about multiple networked repeaters, DMR offers much more flexibility to those looking to cover wide areas without true internet compared to Fusion or D-Star.

The next four years

Since 2016,  HVDN has tracked digital voice technology to help educate radio amateurs globally, across the United States, in just New York and even just in the local area known as the Hudson Valley.

Based on our data, its clear that DMR is the current technology that is likely still going to be dominant over the next four years and possibly another twelve.  While a new CODEC2 based open source digital voice mode is in development called M17, this is nothing that will impact the market until they have reliable equipment and supporting infrastructure. 

In early October 2020, Steve K2GOG of HVDN gave a presentation about digital voice to the Orange County Amateur Radio Club (OCARC) in the Hudson Valley looking for guidance on what to invest in plus how to factor in hotspot impacts on how amateurs are using digital voice today.

No matter what, the next few years will be important as the amateur radio hobby continues to evolve and digital voice must be considered as part of that change in order to remain relevant for another 100 years.

Past Related Articles

• May 2020 Global Digital Repeater Roundup
• October 2019 Global Digital Repeater Round Up
• NXDN: What is it and where is it?
• May 2019 Global Digital Repeater Round Up
• May 2018 Global Digital Repeater Round Up
• Basic Digital Voice Infrastructure Round Up (Q1 2018 Edition)

Yaesu FT-3 Instruction Manual Review

Perhaps HVDN will start a new trend where we do a review of instruction manuals and everyone else follows along. Lets start this amazing idea off with the FCC approved Yaesu FT-3 radio manual now available.

FCC ID:  K6620725X20 Manual Review

So many products today in amateur radio land almost seem to ship with little documented information on how to use them.  As digital voice radios continue to get more complex, there are "certain vendors" that do not put any effort into a decent instruction manual.

Yaesu is one vendor that actually does put forth good effort in trying to document almost every function, quirk and specification possible, so we thank you very much for that.

This article will hit on a few interesting nuggets found in the new Yaesu FT-3 C4FM capable dual band hand held radio.  We will not discuss the "how to install the battery or hand-strap" unfortunately.

As predicted with absolute precision all the way back on May 28th 2019 in our "FCC Update:  FT-3 cleared for launch" article, the instruction manual would be made public for our eyes to gawk at on July 10th.  A much better version will soon appear on the Yaesu website though, so please be aware of that.

This basic manual is not even available on Yaesu's website yet.  For anyone ever complaining about government dysfunction, the person responsible for pressing buttons at the FCC is doing a great job.

 Lets Review Page....

The really fantastic thing about page 11 is that Yaesu is pretty much telling us specifically that battery life will be near horrible with this radio just like the brochure pointed out so we all knew what we were in for after the $500 investment involved in acquiring a Yaesu FT-3.

For those interested in UHF operation, perhaps changing over to VHF would be a better experience for anything requiring slightly better battery life.  The Yaesu FT-3 out of the gate sounds like a great radio to mostly listen versus talk for any length of time, which is OK because most repeaters have very little traffic on them these days or do they?

This is the Yaesu FT-3 radio that this
article is focused on, of course.

Who ever is selling VHF capable hot spot devices should increase prices now to reap the benefits of Yaesu publishing this specification.  Quite a bit of activity can be discovered globally by using a Fusion radio with a device like one of many Pi-Star based MMDVM devices or the Open Spot 2.

The older Yaesu FT-2 battery will also fit the FT-3 which is nice, so stock up on those now before those get scarce in case third party vendors stop selling them or stocking aftermarket versions.

This is the Yaesu FT-2 which lacked C4FM
and a color screen found on the new FT-3

Vendors who sell the Anytone, TYT and Radioddity gear have for a few years now been running great deals on packages that include a spare battery, but we will likely never see Yaesu, Kenwood or Icom ever do something like that even if you purchase a $500 USD radio.

The last note on battery life is,  do not go anywhere with your new radio. The manufacturer is clear that any disturbance such as a warm fart or brief trip to the outhouse while playing ham radio may reduce the life of your battery.

The ability to receive in AM mode is actually a major benefit so that you can listen to aircraft communications in the VHF 118-136.995 MHz portion.  There is no voice communication in the 108  to 118 MHz segment as that is reserved for navigational aids.

The "hidden feature" is the ability to swap to AM in the 138 to 144,  148 to 150 MHz for military "air to air" or "air to ground" communications.   The same holds true within the 225 to 400 MHz band which is considered the domain of military operations around the world, including these big guys flying out of Stewart Air Force Base right here in the Hudson Valley of New York and tracked using the HVDN ADS-B monitor.  The FT-3 can only monitor voice transmissions in the above mentioned frequency range and not the 1090 MHz or 978 MHz transponder signals which is what ADS-B is for.

Not everything in this band segment is AM though, so having a look at the UHF Satcom website for other ideas might not be a bad idea when there is no activity on the 2m and 70cm ham bands.

Compared to the Kenwood TH-F6 and TH-D74, there is no SSB mode on the Yaesu FT-3, so HF monitoring will be limited to only AM broadcasters or the rare AM enthusiast on the 80m or 10m bands.

Lets skip ahead a bunch of pages to talk about a feature involving the use of Yaesu Fusion which is the digital voice mode they have adopted.  The above graphic shows some interesting use cases for the advanced calling function which may help use one frequency for many users at the same time.

In the 1990's there were many radios by different vendors that offered selective calling features not too different than this. Yaesu is touting this as a major feature of the FT-3, but your use will be limited to only people with a Yaesu radio with the same feature.

Back in the day for example, the Yaesu FT-530 was top of the line and funny enough, commands a price used on par with that of the FT-3 smaller sibling known as the FT-70. Neither new radio supports the cool external display speaker microphone though, but the FT-3 does have an option for a microphone that can take and send pictures, with images view-able on the color screen on this latest Yaesu radio.

The FT-530 was a great radio.
Does it not look like fun to use?

Right now the only other handheld Fusion radio is the FT-70, which retails for less than $160 USD and offers all the same C4FM functionality as the $500 FT-3 radio.  It is not clear if these extra selective calling features or picture sending option will help sell these radios except if there are groups buying in bulk and require these functions for some reason along with the appropriate accessories.

Here is more detail on calling functions in the menu system along with a really nice abbreviation for "Weather Alert"  which is a US market only feature that will certainly see more use compared to the different squelch, DTMF and Bell features. For analog FM ham radio use,  tone and to a lesser extent, DCS will also see a lot of use for FM analog repeater use.

There is plenty of detail on one of the stand out features of the FT-3 which sets it apart from the FT-70 which is APRS. Using 1200 baud data packets, the user can exchange location details with other users along with sending text messages. The APRS feature set can be used to communicate to any APRS radio including those produced by Kenwood, Alinco, Icom and the new Lanch HG-98 radio at a very affordable price.

Its worth noting that the FT-3 can store multiple paths for APRS which is helpful for those interested in satellite communications and may use "ARISS" to bounce off the International Space Station digipeater when it is powered up or any of the APRS capable LEO satellites such as NO-84, NO-44 and PSAT2. 

The FT-3 is also capable of high speed 9600 baud APRS  which is what Falconsat3 uses and requires a path setting of PFS3-1 rather than the normal WIDE1-1, WIDE2-1 settings for ground based use.

Have you ever wondered what the "Mode of Emission" is and why a vendor can not simply decode it for us to understand what they are for?  Here is what modes the Yaesu FT-3 can decode for your listening pleasure:

• F2D means (F) Frequency modulation + (2) One channel containing digital information, using a subcarrier + (D) Data transmission, telemetry or telecommand (remote control).  This all works out to the so called C4FM Fusion mode but could also apply to APRS signals too.

• F3E would work out to (F) Frequency modulation + (3) One channel containing analog information + (E)  Telephony (voice or music intended to be listened to by a human).  This is also known as "analog FM"

• F7W to close out means (F) Frequency modulation + (7) More than one channel containing digital information + (W) Combination of any of the above. This means the FT-3 could while using C4FM based Fusion could handle some sort of data and voice at the same time but split across multiple channels. 

While that helps understand what can be received, on transmit the FT-3 has even more to offer as we will soon see.

Beyond the already explained F2D, F3E, F7W modes the Yaesu FT-3 can also transmit F1D which is frequency modulation with (1) One channel containing digital information, no sub-carrier and (D) Data transmission, telemetry or telecommand (remote control).  This is what APRS is technically defined as.  The F7W mode is also defined as 4 FSK (C4FM) which is the fancy way to name Fusion.

What did we miss?

What I was really hoping to learn was possible to do some level of programming remotely via bluetooth of this new radio.  Right now, that looks like a big fat no and a reason that the Kenwood TH-D74 is a good purchase even though it supports D-Star, also known as F7W but totally different.  The Kenwood can however receive J3E, A3E and A1E modes.  You can look those up right over here thanks to Wikipedia.

The advanced FT-3 user manual

Lets just stop right there. The advanced manual is not yet out, but why not go out grab a copy of the existing basic manual from the FCC, Yaesu website or better yet, right here for convenience since we know you will not really read it anyway.

Yaesu FT-3 Radio Basic Manual Download

FCC Update: Yaesu FT-3 cleared for launch

On May 26th 2019, the Yaesu FT-3 radio received the FCC ID of K6620725X20. This covers both the radio itself and also the Bluetooth module for hands free operation and possibly other functions too.

Based on news from Yaesu at the 2019 Hamvention, they expect this radio to be available in the June 2019 time frame. It is common with the FCC while requesting an FCC ID to provide test data along with pre-release copy of device photos and instruction manuals.

The above detail found on the FCC OET website shows that a date of July 10th is when this material will be made available to the public through the FCC.

This latest digital voice radio for the amateur community will incorporate Yaesu Fusion C4FM alongside analog FM and AX.25 packet communication. The FT-3 will replace the FT-2 as the flagship handheld radio offered by Yaesu and will compete with the D-Star capable Kenwood TH-D74 for current "most expensive" amateur handheld radio.

HVDN will likely provide a side by side review of the FT-3 against the TH-D74, so be sure to check back later this summer.

The big questions so far are:

• Will the FT-3's dual receiver have desense on receive while operating FM satellites?

• Will the FT-3 allow for Falconsat3 APRS split band 9600 baud?

• How well will the audio record function work?

• Will it be possible to wirelessly pair the radio to a computer for programming like the Kenwood?

• Would AM mode reception be possible in the military aircraft band?

• How easy will it be to program by hand?

• Will the spectrum scope be useful of a novelty?

• Are some of the new Fusion features reminiscent of various 1990 era analog radios?

Sign up for updates below or send in your own questions in the comment section or the Facebook group for this radio.

NXDN: What is it and where is it?

Digital Mobile Radio or DMR for short is where most of the digital voice activity is taking place in amateur radio today followed closely by Yaesu's C4FM based System Fusion.

On the rise, but still far away in terms of users and repeaters is NXDN.  Just like DMR, NXDN is an open standard and was jointly developed by Icom and Kenwood, who in the amateur radio world only have the well aged D-Star mode on offer to cater to digital voice amateur enthusiasts.

Yaesu Fusion is not an open standard although it shares some similar attributes with NXDN because of underlying technology. Alinco is the only current non-Chinese original vendor to offer an amateur grade DMR radio.

The History of NXDN

After 3 years of development, the NXDN standard was finalized in 2005 and product aimed towards commercial users appeared one year later.

NXDN is based around frequency division, multiple access technology which allows different communication streams to run concurrently with only minor frequency separation.  While Yaesu Fusion is also FDMA based, it is not compatible with NXDN or dPMR, which is starting to become popular as PMR or FRS unlicensed analog radio replacements in certain parts of the world.

DMR which is TDMA or time division multiple access based interweaves two different communication streams together in one 12.5 kHz wide channel. 

NXDN can make used of its FDMA technology to run in either a signal communication stream mode in a channel that is 6.25 kHz wide or marry two streams together and still work in one 12.5 kHz stream.  DMR can only work in one 12.5 kHz channel and offers no narrow band option.

Both NXDN and DMR can support voice/voice, data/data or voice/data essentially at the same time in the same 12.5 kHz channel which is very efficient. DMR is the only mode in use today in amateur radio that is actively capable to support this "two discussions, on the same frequency, at the same time" functionality though.

As of the time of this article, the only way for amateur radio operators to use NXDN is through commercial new or surplus equipment. There is not one single amateur grade or market NXDN radio available.  It is possible for users of Yaesu Fusion and DMR to talk to NXDN users by way of mode translation offered my MMDVM hotspots, but this is not the same as native speaking NXDN to NXDN radio.

In past HVDN articles, we have covered the rise of DMR by looking at the number of repeaters deployed globally.  When it comes to NXDN, we will track registered users and also repeaters moving forward starting with this article.

United States: NXDN Amateur Adoption 

DMR started life as a commercial communications solution but in a few short years started to see second life in amateur radio. NXDN may be the eventual front runner for digital amateur communication for a few reasons. Lets first look at the current state of NXDN adoption in the United States which holds much of the global activity so far.

As of the May 2019, there are only 1,963 global registered users ID's for NXDN and 61.6% of them are in the United States. 

Of the 61 represented countries in the radioid.net database, 6 other countries capture 20.3% of the remaining NXDN ID's which leaves 54 countries around the world to account for the remaining 18% of users not yet accounted for.

The total number of NXDN user IDs grouped by major geographic regions indicate that the south eastern part of the country is the hotbed for NXDN users with Florida and Arkansas holding the two largest pools of users as of the time of this article.

Another view through the lens of FCC amateur radio regions illustrates that regions 1, 4, and 5 are far ahead of the rest of the country. With a total of 20 states represented out of 51 (Including D.C), there is much room to grow in other areas.

NXDN United States Amateur Repeaters

Over the last few years,  HVDN has used repeaterbook.com to keep track of digital voice repeater data with our latest tracker being issued just before Hamvention 2019.

In the data captured on May 9th 2019, there were 119 NXDN repeaters globally.  With Hamvention over, there is already one additional NXDN repeater according to the same data source bringing the total to 120.

NXDN: Future Outlook

With only commercial equipment for both radios and repeaters being available to amateur radio operators, should a vendor such as Icom or Kenwood introduce the next generation of digital voice radio based around NXDN, they may possibly create a similar growth trajectory that DMR has experienced in recent years. 

This may put Yaesu in a tough position to maintain control over its single vendor C4FM/FDMA/YSF/Fusion ecosystem unless it opens up its standard to all other vendors to promote inter-operable digital voice radios across vendors. 

Chinese vendors like Ailunce,  TYT, Radioddity and Retevis may also be challenged to compete, but may eventually offer lower cost NXDN equipment. Alinco does currently offer NXDN capable radio such as the DJ-NX40, but is aimed at commercial users.

Further reading:

• May 2019 Global Digital Repeater Roundup

• October 2018 Global Digital Repeater Roundup

• Digital Voice Radio Made In South Dakota?

• Watch! Two Time Slots In Action

• That was quick:  NXDN to DMR

• May 2018 Global Digital Repeater Roundup

May 2019 Global Digital Repeater Round Up

It is that time of year again, where Hudson Valley Digital Network analyzes the growth of digital voice amateur radio repeaters and provides some additional commentary behind what is helping to push towards the future of mode modulation.

Why May and October?

The month of May in most parts of the world means nicer weather and the start of the hamfest season in many countries. In the United States, many vendors typically announce new products just before, during or after the three day long Hamvention formerly of Dayton Ohio but now held nearby in much more "modern" facilities in nearby Xenia.

This event often impacts purchasing decisions of both end user devices (hand held radios, mobiles, hotspots) and wide area infrastructure such as repeaters or so called "mega-spots".  Taking a measurement just before this event helps not only provide normalized results, but give readers an opportunity to see a big spike in growth just after should they wish to look into this themselves!

The Anytone D878UV is a very popular DMR radio
due to its feature set, price, durability and accessories.

October is the next update before the onset of winter and holiday shopping season when vendors sometimes run promotional sales. Measurement at the start of the fourth fiscal quarter helps provide more normalized measurements to track how things are looking for the future of digital voice mode growth.

May 2019 Digital Repeater Growth

Basing HVDN's measurements on public repeaterbook.com data has multiple benefits.  This website is widely used by the amateur radio community and captures almost all repeaters globally. Most all heavily used repeaters will be listed here and the operators of these resources usually like to let others know they exist to highlight the technical expertise it takes to run a good repeater. These are the two major benefits and why we chose to base our analysis only on this websites data.

The data above tells a great story. DMR continues its upward trajectory mainly fueled by inexpensive hand held radios and hot spot devices which create the need for wide area repeaters.

Growth of DMR repeaters over the last 12 months was 18.6% which equals 34.4% of all total digital voice repeaters for the top 5 digital voice modes.

The single vendor supported FDMA based Yaesu Fusion mode grew a respectable 12.6% from May of 2018 to present.  With lowered cost hand held and mobile radios along with a few promotions that resulted in sold out or back ordered equipment early in 2019.

Some other reasons the mode also known as YSF or C4FM has been widely popular are its fuller range audio and easy programming requirements compared to most all other digital voice modes.

Icom's D-Star continues to struggle thanks to its limited and higher cost equipment. There was not a single new D-Star capable radio offered for sale in the last year that fit into the hand held of mobile category.

Aside from the Kenwood TH-D74 which is the only non-Icom radio to support D-Star the only new radio capable of D-Star is the $2,099 USD Icom IC-9700.

This high end base radio will appeal more towards those interested in satellite or weak signal communications in the 2m, 70, and 23cm bands. While the radio is capable of D-Star operation, this radio will likely not cause any uptick in repeater growth.  Of the three major digital voice modes, the 15 year old GFSK based D-Star only saw 2.9% growth.

Commercial To Amateur Impact

DMR started life as TDMA based MotoTRBO offered to commercial customers by Motorola before it was made an open ETSI standard. P25 and NXDN are two other commercial voice modes that have started to see adoption by the amateur radio community as commercial users generate surplus equipment as they adopt newer equipment.

While the numbers of deployed P25 and NXDN repeaters combined equals a microscopic 6% of digital voice repeaters globally, both modes showed promising repeater growth.  P25 repeaters increased 19.1% and NXDN grew 13.3% in the last year.

While these two modes still only account for 525 of 8305 repeaters globally, this is interesting because only commercial new or surplus equipment is available. An HVDN prediction is that these two modes will continue to erode potential D-Star growth as most amateurs seek to experiment with easily obtainable and low cost equipment that has a professional or multi use appeal.

The Kenwood NX-5300 is a analog FM, DMR, P25 and NXDN radio
 made for the commercial market but is starting to show up on E-Bay.

Further 2019 digital voice expectations

While this update focuses on repeater growth, it is getting harder to avoid talking about hotspot devices.   The cost of single or semi-duplex devices thanks to open hardware and software initiatives has continued to trend between $30 to $70 USD which offers an opportunity to those looking to experiment with digital voice while mobile or at home when a repeater is not reachable or even available.

Duplex hotspots are like miniature repeaters as Joe N1JTA referred to them as in his presentation given at the Trenton Computer Festival earlier this year.  Much more about learning how to run a wide area digital repeater can be learned from these devices, especially as it relates to DMR and its unique "two discussions, at the same time, on the same frequency" capability.

Costs for duplex hotspots have remained in the $60 to $150 USD range and will likely hold steady for the foreseeable future.

While the original OpenSpot device continues to be a favorite of digital mode enthusiasts, the next generation OpenSpot 2 fell way short of expectations based on its cost, poor Wi-Fi performance and lack of portable power option.

A well known Chinese ham known as Winters CN, BI7JTA has been an active contributor to the advancement of open hardware for a while now.  He has recently introduced a new product that is very exciting in that it solves all negative aspects of the OpenSpot 2 and at a lower cost.

As a finished product, its likely going to be popular as more people learn of it. Since it also is based around common footprint boards, it can be further enhanced by replacing its MMDVM boards with those of even higher quality by engineers like N5BOC and his popular products.

With Alinco and Anytone becoming two of the more popular vendors compared to TYT and Ailunce of last year, probably the most anticipated new digital voice equipment soon to enter the market is the Anytone D578 mobile.

This radio has many common features as the Alinco, Anytone and BTECH hand held radios but introduces something that will be a first for the amateur radio community.

A full control bluetooth remote microphone with display will help set this radio apart for those looking for "remote head" capable radios but with an easier to install approach.

Digital Voice:  Looking Forward

DMR looks well positioned to continue to dominate digital voice interests in amateur radio, but may be challenged by P25 or NXDN if vendors like Icom or Yaesu decide to leverage expertise in the commercial business lines and introduce them to the amateur radio community. Alinco who is the only large amateur radio vendor to offer DMR product to amateurs, but also has a range of commercial products that supports NXDN also.

Features such as location sharing, text messaging and infrastructure enabled intelligence continue to be explored