7 Year Itch: Global Digital Repeater Growth

With cooler weather here to stay for a while, its time for another global digital repeater roundup brought to you by Steve K2GOG of Hudson Valley Digital Network.

This has been a 7 year in the making project tracking the different digital voice modes currently leading VHF/UHF repeater deployments, according to data from repeaterbook.com

Every May and October, data has been collected from the leading source of the most accurate source for repeater details globally.  While some local options might exist that may be more up to date, ideally that information should be shared with repeaterbook.com to help out lazy travelers or those visiting an area for the first time who would more easily find this website compared to local club or individual websites.

Leaders:  Most Popular Options

By now, its defacto information that both the proprietary Yaesu Fusion and the quasi open standard multivendor DMR options are by far the most popular.   Low cost equipment helps drive the reasons which justify having more repeaters for these modes.

In the last year, there have been no major developments for new mobile or handheld equipment aside from some small refreshes on existing models like the popular Anytone or Alinco DMR radios. Yaesu has only given us the FT-5DR and FTM-200DR which is pretty good considering they are the only company that makes fusion capable radios which can be used on its 3200+ strong network of repeaters.

P25 is a commercial standard and is not marketed directly to amateur radio operators in any off the shelf non-professional grade equipment, but its growth rate is very strong. Based on how long it took for D-Star by Icom to become popular before flattening out, could we see P25 or NXDN become the dominant force in digital modes?   The answer is likely not, but that is where a new mode called M17 will come into play.

More then digital voice:  M17

All the digital modes mentioned all can do some other tricks beyond just voice communications.  Icom D-Star probably has the most advanced options from sharing location, photo, text and more with other users who have Icom equipment or the no longer made Kenwood TH-D74.

Yaesu Fusion really misses the mark to some degree, but most Fusion radios support analog APRS which increases interoperability for certain use cases.  There are a few DMR radios with very basic analog and digital APRS functions.

M17 which is absent for now on the digital repeater list promises us a true open digital standard for voice with some additional tricks up its sleave such as location sharing or text messaging.

The what's next

This would be a complex opinion based discussion, so lets use the airwaves or social media to discuss this fun stuff instead. Doink! 

SPECIAL EDITION: 10,000+ Digital Repeaters - October 2021 Global Digital Repeater Roundup

Major Digital Milestone Reached!

In May 2021, HVDN reported that we were creeping ever closer to that 10,000 digital repeater mark and as of our October survey of repeaterbook.com data this important date in amateur radio history is here with 10,035 digital amateur radio repeaters now tracked.  

Here is the latest data based on our semi annual collection efforts since 2016, but no data was collected in 2017.

Our first near casualty of  the digital evolution

Someone will really need to look hard at repeaterbook.com data to ensure accuracy of these D-Star tabulations since it appears that 21 less D-Star repeaters exist in October 2021 compared to May 2021.

It is pretty well documented by now thanks to HVDN and pretty much any radio amateur today that DMR is by far the most popular digital voice mode today with an impressive 155.35% increase over the last 5 years.  

Still don't believe you, my local 2m FM repeater is just fine! 

For those into more fancy math if we are talking about growth or declines, compound annual growth rates (CAGR) are often used in different industries to track growth over a certain period. Over the past five years, DMR is still leading the pack at 20.62% CAGR.

However,  beyond the two dedicated non-commercial amateur modes known as Yaesu Fusion and Icom D-Star, it certainly seems interesting that the commercial P25 standard is growing faster than DMR.  

Using repeaters to track the healthy growth of amateur radio is smart.  Repeaters are expensive and local people with radios are needed to create a need for them to exist or to influence what to purchase. This is why counting repeaters is a great proxy to measure growth and adoption trends.

However, some areas do not have many digital voice repeaters but users are purchasing certain digital radios to use with hotspots. Many of these additional digital adopters are likely learning towards DMR or Fusion as a "my first digital radio" rather than D-Star or the two commercial modes known as P25 and NXDN.

Our secret digital future is already here

We have seen new products brought to market by smaller commercial companies and entrepreneurs, such as the RFinder series of DMR smartphone radios thanks to Bob W2CYK.   

New networks run entirely by the radio amateur community like Brandmeister Network and its amazing development team have opened new doors to expand all digital voice modes, including an entirely new up-and-coming amateur created mode such as M17 thanks to Wojciech SP5WWP.

The community also even has other entirely open source network tools such as DV Switch,  HBlink plus the amazing MMDVM and Pi-Star projects that Andy MW0MWZ, Jonathan G4KLX, Andy CA6JAU and others created to let us use repeaters or hotspots and fanned the flames of the digital evolution fire probably the most.

And, how could I not mention the work that folks like Roger VK3KYY are doing with OpenGD77 plus the equally fine development around OpenRTX which both help create new ways to use existing radios for digital communications, such as the case with modifying the cult favorite TYT MD-380 DMR radio to be used as M17.

We should expect some exciting times ahead for amateur radio as we also cross the boundaries of generational differences for people born after 1980 who will be entering later career stages and will have even more time for amateur radio experimentation.

Maybe its popular somewhere else?

Different parts of the world are at a crossroads today when it comes to adopting or retiring certain types of equipment. 

This is something which HVDN will further track publicly going forward since as the below chart indicates the current split between North America and Rest of World digital voice repeater data.

With M17 Project starting to get more attention, especially with a large investment enabled by non-profit entities Amateur Radio Digital Communications and Open Research Institute it is just a matter of time before something groundbreaking grabs mass attention.

What is next?

Many people do not have the attention span to read articles like this, but they need to pay attention to what is being discussed here very closely if you care about your amateur radio hobby.

Here is my prediction for the next two years (2022 and 2023) for digital repeater counts

While spending time within the HF spectrum chasing rare stations or park activators is good fun and will only get easier as the 11 year sunspot cycle matures over the next few years, do not forget about next generation technology.  

Spending more time on SSB during a 20m contest or CW on 40m will not propel the hobby forward for the next generation. Same also with using local 2m analog only repeaters for casual morning gatherings.

Please, spend some time experimenting with different technologies, modes and new ways of thinking and challenge yourself to try and keep track of how much time you spend in different aspects of the hobby month by month or year by year.   

The more time spent on the future will secure our past and ensure amateur radio exists for the next 100 years. 

Feel free to share some comments below on this and check out our past articles to learn what we are doing which may inspire you to get involved with something new in the future of digital amateur radio.

 Awaiting your rotten tomatoes,

Steve K2GOG

Co-Founder HVDN

May 2021 Global Digital Repeater Roundup

Our May 2021 summary of the HVDN Global Digital Repeater Roundup marks our 9th edition in this series which tracks the evolution of digital voice mode popularity within the amateur radio community.

Starting back in October 2016, a fellow local club in the Hudson Valley was firm in not wanting to invest in a digital mode repeater until they knew based on fact, which was going to be the most popular mode to promote to its membership and find ways to fund. This is what spawned HVDN.

Hudson Valley Digital Network compiles data on repeaters based on freely available information found on the repeaterbook.com website.  While repeater deployments only tell a fraction of the story relating to the overall use of digital voice, they also are a great way to measure the health of amateur radio communities in certain locations around the world.

Repeaters are expensive to build, manage and operate  

The Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club in New York operates two analog FM VHF repeaters, with one of those being considered a wide area repeater. 

This sole wide area repeater has proven to be a major resource in creating a social and positive atmosphere which attracts new membership to this club and offers an alternative for those not happy with overall "repeater culture" found in other area organizations. 

This repeater is also credited with providing a valuable mental health benefit during the early and dark days of the COVID situation. 

Without examples like the OMARC 146.805 MHz repeater, many other clubs around the world would find it hard to show value to its membership unless they are involved in other public awareness aspects beyond repeaters of any type.

Adding digital repeaters to the right club, enhances its  membership reach and community value but adding a digital repeater to the wrong club does nothing other than to deplete the club treasury.  

Careful decisions need to be made when considering how a repeater will be funded, managed and operated.

Not a New York or a Hudson Valley thing, but a global thing!

If clubs fail to innovate or provide services to its membership, they fail to grow.  When a club fails to grow,  its area competitors stand to take advantage in attracting new members or create reasons for  alternative organizations that can help educate or attract new amateur radio enthusiasts. 

Repeaters are often the lifeblood of many amateur radio clubs and need to be carefully considered. 

The above chart and table shows that DMR is by far the most popular digital mode with a staggering 148.42% growth over the last 5+ years globally.

The next closest contender is Yaesu's single vendor ecosystem Fusion System at a still impressive 106.91%.  

The oldest digital voice mode offered by the limited dual vendor ecosystem behind Icom D-Star comes it at a slow and steady 20.72%, even though it had a huge head start over its competitors for more than 10 years prior to 2016.

Since our last update in October 2020, DMR repeaters globally grew 7.97% compared to Fusion's 7.32% increase.  In contrast, Icom's D-Star only added 1.43% growth in the same time period.

With these three amateur designed and amateur only digital voice systems representing at least 9,146 global digital voice repeaters, its clear that the total number of next generation repeater systems is catching up fast to the approximate 17,000 total of analog repeaters world wide which has had about a total of 40 years to get to that point.

Should you still invest in DMR?

Every digital radio today supports legacy analog FM mode along with its newer digital friend be it DMR, as found in the popular Anytone D878 series of radio or any of the Yaesu, Icom or Kenwood counterparts capable of Fusion or D-Star.

Commercial standards like P25 are technically fastest growing mode at 157.27% over the last 5 years whereas NXDN is growing at 91.46%, but both lack consumer grade equipment and prices to really capture the hearts, minds and wallets of many amateur enthusiasts.

Since October 2020,  P25 global repeaters increased another 6.82%. NXDN grew at 13.76% but this is still mostly only happening in parts of the south eastern United States and is not considered true global growth.

All five of these modes do require licensing of the underlying technology to bring a new radio to market which impacts pricing and vendor ecosystem support.

There is a totally new open standard based on FDMA technology called M17 being developed by the amateur radio community which has a goal to circumvent some of these issues.

While most repeaters capable of supporting 9600bd data rate communications with 2.5PPM or better stability can be converted to work on any digital mode,  hand held or mobile radio equipment is not as ready to modify. 

Not having  ready made M17 capable radios are needed and not yet available. M17 wont be impacting new buying decisions of the amateur community in the near future.

Exit M17: Is the future here?

The M17 project which is supported by HVDN  as well as by a massive investment by Open Research Institute and a grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications is unique since its developer community has found ways to modify DMR radio equipment such as the popular TYT MD-380 to transmit and receive M17 signals. 

The OpenTRX alternate firmware along with some hardware modifications are needed but is not a fully mature approach yet.

This is interesting since TDMA based DMR is very different than M17's FDMA architecture. More details on this can be found on the M17 Integrations summary page.

It is not likely that any of the Yaesu Fusion, Icom or Kenwood D-Star equipment will permit this type of modification, so purchasing any one of the many DMR products available today not only gives you the most popular digital voice mode along with legacy analog access, but could in the future be useful for M17 as it gains prominence.

To date, there are believed to be two M17 capable repeaters in development, but there is already a digital backbone being developed to support the future of digital repeaters and the many more hot spots that will likely result. 

Summary

So summarize all the above is easy:

• DMR is still the most popular digital mode

• DMR is not likely to be passed by anything in the near future

• There are more DMR capable radios to choose from and not as impacted by supply chain issues like Yaesu or Icom.

• If you travel, DMR is likely where to find more activity excluding the use of a hotspot.

• The latest Anytone D878 which has AX.25 packet (APRS) is by far the best $299 USD utility radio to invest in for now and the near future.

• Upgrading from an older TYT MD-380 or Radioddity GD77 to an Anytone or Alinco may give a good reason to modify your old radio to be used on M17 in the near future.

• Supporting the future of the hobby via the M17 project will ensure relevance for the future to show alternatives to HF or analog VHF for terrestrial communications.

October 2019 Global Digital Repeater Round Up

Twice a year, HVDN tracks the total growth of digital voice repeaters.  Since 2016, there has been a tremendous increase of repeaters that support DMR, P25, NXDN, Fusion and D-Star digital voice amateur communication.  All but one of these modes are showing fantastic growth. Lets find out which...


October 2019 Global Digital Voice Repeater Roundup


According to repeaterbook.com data, DMR is the first digital voice mode to surpass the 3,000 repeater mark globally.

Just as long as those updating this website do so with accurate details, if you were traveling somewhere today and could only take one radio with you, a DMR radio along with its legacy analog FM capability would be the best choice followed by Yaesu Fusion and Icom D-Star. 

The chances are also higher that an area with more of one type of digital voice repeater may also have more simplex activity or non-internet connected digital voice repeaters, so it could not hurt to program appropriate digital voice channels or scan around for even more repeaters than what repeaterbook.com may list.

The P25 and NXDN commercial mode amateur radio repeaters are too limited on a global scale, but may have pockets of high activity in certain geographies. Any example of this from a NXDN perspective was covered in an HVDN article entitled "NXDN: What is it and where is it?" which may be be updated in the coming year.

Considering that both of these modes do not have any amateur market only equipment available, its still interesting to see higher percentage growth over the same time period compared to Icom D-Star, which is the oldest digital amateur voice mode currently available as detailed in a presentation on Digital Modes and Hot Spots given by Joe, N1JTA at the Trenton Computer Festival.

In a three year span from October 2016 to October 2019, here are the growth percentages of digital voice repeaters:

• Yaesu Fusion = 80.43%
• Icom D-Star =  17.64%
• DMR = 101.94%
• P25 = 108.45%
• NXDN = 52.43%

Even though DMR is the most popular, Yaesu Fusion is close behind.  The best "audio" according to many is found on Fusion and also translates the best to other modes via Pi-Star, including P25.

It would also be wise to travel with one of the MMDVM Pi-Star "hot spot" devices which can fill in gaps where there is no repeater coverage, but where there is internet access.

The DMR and Fusion modes also offer the most flexibility for mode translation, which means that you can use a DMR or Fusion radio with a hot spot to "talk through" other mode networks such as all those listed here with little exception. Further detail on this can be found on the Pi-Star website.  Thanks to these two modes, we may see a growth of P25 and NXDN as a result. 

What drives digital voice repeater growth?


To access a repeater, you need a hand held or mobile digital voice radio.  Since a repeater is expensive, those who decide to install one often know that there are users with radios that may access the repeater.

Another driving reason for digital voice repeater growth is a wide array of equipment and cost points.  DMR has seen success because of lower cost "entry level" radios selling for as little as $60 USD such as the Baofeng DM-1801 or Radioddity GD-77, but also higher end equipment thanks to better quality radios marketed to both the amateur and commercial user too numerous to list here. 

Many vendors are also selling DMR equipment which creates more choice for buyers and this competition is a good thing should someone have had a personal bad experience with one vendor for one reason or another. 

Yaesu Fusion is the only mode that has only one vendor behind it, but offers equipment at various prices and incentives to entice buyers. This strategy has certainly helped Yaesu since prior to 2018, it followed the same "hold the price high" strategy that Icom has adopted.

Both Yaesu Fusion and DMR also offer different accessory options such as microphones, chargers and batteries to ensure a buyer stays within a particular brand of equipment. Yaesu generally has great fan's of its equipment and this was a smart move to ensure brand loyalty. A recent example of this was the same battery pack can be used with the FT-2DR and its latest FT-3DR model.

Icom is the majority equipment vendor for D-Star with only Kenwood having a single radio capable of this GFSK based digital voice mode.  The cost to license the underlying technology from the JARL is very high and has prevented other vendors from embracing this technology.

Impact 2020: The latest digital voice radios

There are two very exciting new digital voice radios just about to come to market directed at the amateur radio community. Both offer features not just for digital voice mode users, so these create two great ways for people to expand interest in different parts of the hobby.

The Icom IC-705 is the first highly portable D-Star radio that combines 2m and 70cm capability along with HF for long range communication.  This new radio also allows the Icom ID-51 handheld radio battery to be used with the IC-705, so for those that have this other radio and its accessories on hand, buying this radio for portable use could be a good long term decision.

The main market Icom is looking to gain market share in with this radio clearly is the market category that the Yaesu FT-817 expanded back in 2001 .  Both radios and the 2018 refresh version of the original FT-817 named the FT-818 have competition from Xiegu, Elecraft and a few others that sell portable QRP power HF equipment. Icom could make the IC-705 a real winner, but for every reason not related to D-Star.

There are many other reasons that make the IC-705 interesting, but are outside the scope of this article.  However, it was worth mentioning that Icom does appear to be trying to maintain ecosystem users since the Icom ID-51 has proven popular and could be a good way to sell many IC-705.

Looking at the DMR ecosystem, the long awaited Anytone AT-D578UVIII is going to offer a 2m/70cm model for outside of North America and a version with the 220 MHz 1.25m band in the United States and Canada.  Expected availability for purchase is now late October due to manufacturing issues given the current economical climate or other factors.

This mobile radio will also be the first DMR radio to offer true dual band. dual receive capability. While this radio lacks a remote head for more flexible installations in a vehicle, this radio will certainly become popular for many reasons, including use from a home location.

With the only other mobile DMR radios being somewhat limited, if Anytone has learned from past education, this radio is going to become very popular, very quickly.  Since a mobile radio offers extended range while mobile, this single radio may influence even more DMR repeaters to come online in 2020.

Digital Voice Repeater Outlook

Based on a global estimate of 19,500 analog repeaters, in time this number will shrink as equipment becomes not worth repairing or being able to be re-purposed for digital modes.  Digital repeaters may reach the total number of global analog repeaters one day, but will never truly replace nearly 40 years of analog advancements.  The official estimate of HVDN is that by the end of 2021, there should be over 11,000 digital voice amateur repeaters globally. 

Past Global Digital Repeater Round Up Articles

• May 2019 Global Digital Repeater Round Up
• October 2018 Global Digital Repeater Round Up
• May 2018 Global Digital Repeater Round Up
• Basic Digital Voice Infrastructure Round Up (Q1 2018)

North Star Digital Net: Presentation on BlueDV

The weekly North Star Digital Net held every Tuesday evening at 9:00 PM Eastern on DMR talk group 31630 (STEM).  Any amateur radio operator is welcome to attend. 

Access via All-Star and Echolink is possible to through Hudson Valley Digital Network with details on that at stem.hvdn.org for those without a DMR radio or not able to use a radio at the time of the discussion.

Net control, Jim WA2UMP often turns over the floor to someone knowledgeable on a specific topic followed by a Q&A  session.

This week featured Rick, W1RHS who shared information about the popular BlueDV application. BlueDV allows you to create a hotspot for digital ham radio modes under Windows, Linux, Android and iOS. 

BlueDV allows you to create a digital communications platform under these operating systems using only a computer, tablet or phone and using the computer or devices speaker and mic.  

The presentation covers the DVMega radio/modem board combined with the BlueStack board for USB or Bluetooth connectivity and the AMBE 3000 dongles with AMBE Server.  

There is a comparison between BlueDV and PiStar and a review of the DVMega Cast network radio. Not covered in the presentation is "Peanut" which is one of many growing applications used to augment access into digital voice infrastructure today.

Download a copy below and be sure to check back next week if you have further questions.

More details:

• North Star Digital Net

• BlueDV for Digital Ham Radio Presentation

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

Presentation: Digital Hotspot Pi-Star MMDVM Hardware Overview

Joe N1JTA gave a presentation as part of a workshop at the Trenton Computer Festival on March 23rd.

Billed as the world's oldest computer festival,  TCF19 was the 44th year in which many hobbies converged which show how ubiquitous computers and wireless technology has become.

There is more detail about TCF on websites such as Hackaday and the official event website here.

What made Joe's presentation unique was that it focused only on open source hardware and some best practices and purchasing tips to guide newcomers into a less frustrating entry into the world of digital voice amateur radio technology.

N1JTA also focused on how the MMDVM and Pi-Star combination is an excellent learning tool for those interested in deploying a wide area digital mode repeater, but would like to first experiment on a much smaller scale thanks to a digital hot spot.

Check out the full presentation below and hopefully this enables further learning about one of the most modern incarnations of amateur radio.

HVDN Digital Hotspot Pi-Star MMDVM Hardware Overview PDF Edition (March 2019)

Presentation: Satellite Spectrum & Amateur Radio

Steve K2GOG presented on "Satellite Spectrum & Amateur Radio" at the Trenton Computer Festival on March 23rd alongside another 50+ technology and innovation focused topics.

The goal of the presentation was to cover the valuable radio spectrum available through amateur radio and promote its use through innovative communication applications on earth and in space thanks to underlying computer technology

How much spectrum do we have?

For those that are already licensed amateur radio operators, you may have a printed version of the below spectrum chart that the ARRL publishes or at least have seen it somewhere before.

In the United States and most other countries, there are different license classes of amateur radio operators. Some countries restrict the transmit power or operating modes as well as what frequencies can be used depending on your license restrictions.

Steve decided to add up all the spectrum that is accessible to the three current United States amateur radio licenses and further highlight just how much of the total 1.4 GHz of total discontinuous spectrum can be used for satellite related communications. The results are pretty interesting.

What really separates the Extra from General or Technician?

Sometimes it is good to be simple. Get the highest license possible and ensure you never have to worry about operating on the wrong frequency. Currently, the only thing that separates the highest from the lowest license class in terms of spectrum access is 3.9321 MHz of operating capability.

The difference in spectrum for the different license classes is mostly found in the HF bands ranging from as low as 135.7 kHz and up to 29.7 MHz. The only other spectrum not accessible to the technician class license is the 219 to 220 MHz portion of the under utilized 1.25m which many consider as being only from 222 to 225 MHz.

The remaining spectrum is all available to the Technician class license holder!

What if your not interested in long range "HF" communication?

With advances in radio receiver sensitivity and advanced low signal to noise ratio transmission modes, large antennas often associated with HF operation are not always needed.

However, even with specialized magnetic loop antennas and FT-8 digital text modes -nothing beats a full sized dipole for global communications on the 14 MHz or 7 MHz bands often referred to as 20m and 40m respectively and not everyone has the space or interest in such an antenna.

Radio propagation theory does not always guarantee communications are possible at all times of the day which may frustrate some people who only have limited times to "play radio" with HF spectrum.

RF HF propagation is just like the weather

A forecast is still just a forecast and is generally correct, but the difference between satellite communications and HF is the predictability.  For those with limited time to gain "radio communications" gratification, satellite communications may be worth a look.

You can easily calculate when a satellite will pass over head in the case of the "Low Earth Orbit" satellites covered in Steve's presentation for example. It certainly would be great if the weather was like that, wouldn't it?

Depending on satellites

One shortcoming of most satellite communications is that you are reliant upon a man made piece of technology flying over your location in order to make long range contact.

The other shortcoming is you can only make contact with other stations in the footprint of the satellite, which is different than HF since technically you can talk around the world and sometimes even hear your own echo under the right conditions.

Benefits of satellite communication is that you can get a lot of "ham radio" done in a very short amount of time given the brevity of low earth orbit satellites for those not fortunate to live in the foot print of the only current geosynchronous satellite that covers all of Europe, Middle East, Africa, India and a few other countries across Asia.

Fight:  Innovation in amateur radio

The first amateur satellite put into orbit was OSCAR-1 in 1961, just 4 years after Sputnik was put into orbit as the first ever satellite. 

Now almost 60 years later, there has been a total of over 100 satellites put into orbit and most of them being fully operational, with a few example success stories being AO-7, SO-50, AO-92 and QO-100.

In total and thanks to international regulatory efforts, all this satellite success requires spectrum to be set aside since managing who or what can use certain frequencies is more challenging compared to how a specific country can manage its finite spectrum resources.

Its pretty clear that there has been a lot of innovation within the amateur radio satellite spectrum, but much of it has yet to be fully realized.

One example of how technology originally meant for meteor scatter or earth-moon-earth communications which involves bouncing signals off of these non-man made satellites is known as low signal to noise ratio modes, mostly invented by Joe Taylor, K1JT.  The modes can now be found in use on the HF bands rather than for space related contacts. Here is how computers and amateur radio together create innovation.

Technology Improvements: We all benefit 

OSCAR 100 which was put into functional orbit by the Qatar Amateur Radio Society along with technical guidance from the German branch of the Amateur Satellite Corporation known as AMSAT pushes the boundaries of technology and spectrum management.

In 2018, various digital voice modes such as those enabled and made more accessible due to Multi Mode Digital Voice Modem (MMDVM) hot spot devices created an issue for certain satellites operating in the congested 435 to 438 MHz band.   A LEO satellite such as AO-92 speeds overhead at an average altitude of 220 miles and can easily be interfered with by 20mW hot spots and the lower power radios people use to access them. OSCAR 100 is the only satellite that does not have this issue.

Price has driven the adoption of MMDVM hot spots and radios such as the Anytone D868, TYT MD-380 and others. 

Today, thanks to the QO-100 satellite, there is a lot of rapid innovation taking place which shows that cost and user benefits generate lots of excitement that highlights the growth of the radio arts as specified in FCC Part 97.1.

The only unfortunate thing for North American amateur radio operators is that its not possible to utilize this innovative satellite and its great use of spectrum because it is in geosynchronous orbit. However, the AMSAT project GOLF is coming near which is exciting!

Looking beyond, satellite is just one way to show innovation through the use of spectrum. The future of amateur radio is dependent on finding other innovative applications for spectrum, so why not look at what else may be possible outside of the HF bands, even going as high as the mmW bands -
GigaHertz.... not MegaHertz!!!

Full Presentation & Added Bonus

The complete, but non-animated version of the presentation can be found at the link below in addition to the amateur spectrum database compiled to help develop some of the content Steve K2GOG presented both at the HVDN Quarterly meeting this past March 11th as well as TCF on March 23rd.

HVDN Satellite Spectrum Presentation

How was it? February HVDN Meeting

Even with all the snow, ice, sub-zero temperatures and sporadic unseasonably warm winter weather, it was possible for just over 20 people to venture out on March 11th and take part in the first Hudson Valley Digital Network meeting of 2019.

What was on the agenda?

Our meeting inspired both the local maker community and national level of amateur radio leadership to have representation that illustrated first hand what amateur radio is all about as created by the Federal Communications Commission almost 100 years ago!

Because amateur radio is a federally licensed service, we have our own unique set of rules to follow. Part 97.1 of the FCC rules found in many places such as government, lobbyist and even legal academic websites such as New York's own Cornell Law School.  

From the over 21,000 MHz of discontinuous wireless spectrum we are provided to the equipment, power levels and information we are allowed to transmit - there is so much that amateur radio can offer a wide range of hobbyists that goes unnoticed at times today.

The major draw of the evening in Rhinebeck New York at the ultra modern co-working space aptly named CO. were our two presenters. Sean Swehla of the Squidwrench maker group and rarest of rare contacts to ever make through "on the air" methods, talked about the upcoming (and nearly sold out!)  Build It: Oscilloscope & Signal Source event taking place on March 9th.

This upcoming event focuses on education about soldering and how many hobbyist groups can benefit through education of practical use of basic or advanced test equipment.

STEM & Amateur Radio Together?

In comparison, our other presenter was Ria Jairam spends much more time making use of the wireless amateur radio spectrum compared to Sean who also holds an amateur radio license but they both have different yet similar hobby interests which is one thing that makes amateur radio great!

Ria holds the distinction of being the newly elected Hudson Division Director of the Amateur Radio Relay League provided a great presentation and insight as to the priorities of the ARRL at the highest levels including renewed focus around Science, Technology, Engineering & Math.

She also highlighted the new executive leadership of the ARRL and experiences that will help ensure that amateur radio principles are made more visible to wider audiences. Ria also highlighted the newly improved and expanded Hudson Division website and its activity calendar.

The Future Of Amateur Radio

The organizers and presenters of the meeting all agreed that the future of amateur radio is under attack if we as a community do not promote modern and relevant aspects of the hobby in an overly connected world we have come to know today. 

The attending audience seemed to be in agreement and following the presentations during refreshments were many discussions covering topics including some of the following:

• DMR University (Details shared in person by Len N2LEN at the meeting too!)
• Satellite communications
• Electronically steerable antenna
• Upcoming Trenton Computer Festival  (Thanks Joe N1JTA & Steve K2GOG)
• What is the Circle of HOPE? (Thanks Joe NZ2E)

The next HVDN meeting will be on March 11th at 6:00 PM in Rhinebeck with location details at https://hvdn.org/meeting . Featured March discussions will likely include:

• Sneak preview of Steve K2GOG's satellite spectrum presentation and live demonstration of SATCOM

• Oscilloscope use cases based on the DSO150 scope and signal source constructed at Build It two days prior.

• Special guest speaker and topic 

Anyone interested in suggesting future presentation topics or contributing in some other way (snacks, prizes, etc) for the future meetings, please contact HVDN at info <at> hvdn <dot> org

March 23rd: TCF19 Computer Festival

This event has a little something for everyone interested in modern technology and applications, not just related to amateur radio or even computers.

The featured keynote this year will be led by Tony Sager of the Center For Internet Security which is headquartered just outside Albany, New York.  Tony will talk about the importance of cyber-security and how it affects almost every aspect of our connected lives today.

Other featured presentations include:

• The State of Cyber Crime in New Jersey by NJ Department of Homeland Security Cyber Team!

• Maintaining the Integrity of Elections in a Digital World – Rebecca Mercuri

• Quantum Computing – Barry Burd 

• Amateur Radio Satellite Spectrum - Steve Bossert 

• WordPress Bootcamp – Lou Judice

• Cybercrime and Theremin Zen – Kip Rosser 

• MMDVM Hotspot Construction - Joe Apuzzo  

• Hands-on Arduino Workshop for Beginners – Katalin Frolio

• All Day Robotics Pavilion – Seung-yun Kim

What about amateur radio? 

HVDN's very own Joe Apuzzo N1JTA and Steve Bossert K2GOG will be among the 50+ presentations and workshops also taking place during this fantastic event.

In N1JTA's 30 minute presentation he will talk about how radio and computers has converged through the popularity of digital modes in Amateur radio and how it has grown exponentially over the last few years due to the affordability of VHF/UHF digital handheld radios and other equipment.

One of many MMDVM hot spot options, the N2BOC version 

is full duplex capable and the same size as a Raspberry Pi Zero. 

A large part of this growth can also be attributed to the impact of hot spot devices and the unique learning capability they create. A hot spot is a small access point type device that uses amateur radio spectrum and a decentralized network of servers to enable global or local  digital communication.

Joe will cover at a high level, what is needed to construct your own "micro repeater" or hot spot device and how it works, along with how to create secure connections and utilize a decentralized network maintained by a group of amateur radio operators around the world.

Brandmeister is unique in that it can route all types of digital voice traffic through its decentralized network of servers to end node devices such as hotspots and repeaters

Since the hot spot device is nothing more than a Raspberry Pi single board computer and a multi mode digital voice modem hat plus some open source software called Pi-Star it is relatively inexpensive but very complex to understand how it works.

Steve will be cover in varying detail more than 21,000 MHz of spectrum available to amateur radio operators looking to experiment with satellite communications today. While much of this spectrum is above 1.2 GHz, this still leaves over 60 MHz of varied spectrum that can be used by those holding the easiest to get Technician class amateur radio license and with minimal expense.

Your DMR radio can also be used for satellite communications
via analog FM mode you might have forgot exists.

Steve's discussion will cover the most common spectrum used today for amateur radio operators interested in satellite communications, additional spectrum users to be mindful of and a review of the most active satellites that can be used with less than $100 of invested equipment.  He will also give a "sneak peak" on this topic to attendees of the March 11th HVDN meeting in Rhinebeck, NY.

More about TCF19, the full agenda and when is Joe's presentation can be found at https://tcf-nj.org/

Interested in other interesting events? Check out the HVDN activity calendar