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)

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

Basic Digital Voice Infrastructure Round Up (Q1 2018 Edition)

In October of 2016, Steve K2GOG made a presentation at the Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club of Ulster County New York at its monthly membership meeting.

At that point in time according to Repeaterbook.com, there were 45 DMR repeaters across all of New York State.

Fast forward to March of 2018, that count has increased to 61 according to the same website.

What about Fusion, D-Star Repeaters in New York?

• D-Star had 29 and is now up to 33
• Fusion had 32 and is now up to 39

What about global growth of digital voice repeaters?

• 2,204 Fusion repeaters (1,431 in Oct. 2016)
• 2,315 D-Star repeaters (2,051 in Oct. 2016)
• 2,326 DMR repeaters (1,493 in Oct. 2016
• 330 P25 repeaters (213 in Oct. 2016)
• 107 NXDN repeaters (82 in Oct.2016

How much growth has there been since October 2016?

• 154% growth for Fusion
• 112% growth for D-Star
• 156% growth for DMR
• 155% growth for P25
• 130% growth for NXDN

With Icom's D-Star being the oldest digital voice technology at 15 years, its days of accelerated growth are unlikely due to a lack of new radio equipment being introduced. The newest radio supporting D-Star is Kenwood's tri band TH-D74 handheld at $550 USD.  A dual band FT-70DR Yaesu Fusion radio can be had new for as low as $199.99. Icom's only current dual band D-Star hand held radio is the $390 ID-51.

There are multiple dual band hand held options from different vendors however for DMR ranging from $86 for the Radioddity GD-77 at the low end and no less than 4 others from vendors such as alinco, Anyone, Aiulence, Retevis and TYT for between $150 to $200.

There are also commercial radios that can be purchased new or at reduced cost for used options for DMR, P25 and NXDN. DMR is the only mode supported by non-commercial radio vendors though.

What about non-repeater use?

Hot spot devices such as the Shark RF OpenSpot, MMDVM based ZUMSpot, JumboSpot, NanoSpot devices and a few others allow users not near a repeater to talk globally. All of these devices are capable to support most all modes listed above and a few able to cross mode translate. This function allows a user to use a DMR radio to talk on D-Star or Fusion networks as an example.

According to Brandmeister Network, there are 5,498 hot spots currently connected to its network which is interesting given that there are only 7,282 digital voice repeaters accounted for globally. Combined, repeaters and hot spots make a very robust communications network for both local and global communications.

Democratized Modern Radio 

Digital voice infrastructure would not be needed if there were no users looking to access it, so a rough conservative estimate is that there should be between 350,000 and 700,000  hand held digital amateur radios in somewhat frequent use globally based on repeater and hot spot deployment figures. That figure is based on the following criteria:

• Number of known registered DMR users
• Number of hot spots currently internet connected 
• Number of repeaters currently internet connected
• Number of repeaters not internet connected
• Number of DMR handheld radio products sold in last 12 months on E-Bay
• Estimated number of D-Star and Fusion users and equipment currently in use. 

Original presentation from October 2016 can be found here

Leave a comment about estimated hand held or combined with other form factors below.