DMR: A NEW MODE FOR AMATEUR DIGITAL RADIO DMR – Digital Mobile Radio a new standard for amateur radio David Andrews, N1ESK, West River Radio Club 10 Feb 2016 CCDX, Keene, NH

K1KU sends his regards… Darrel Daley, Putney’s aging, but still Premier Pontificating Pundit, could not make it. He just received his new portable radio and is busy testing it out..

Analog Repeaters Expensive Not Spectrum Efficient Static – Not Nimble Standalone repeaters Difficult to Link for Wide Area coverage Expensive Not Spectrum Efficient Static – Not Nimble Who Knows the Codes?? Who Really Knows What is Linked to What??

Digital Mobile Radio An ETSI published worldwide standard Over a DOZEN manufacturers of radios (Connect Sysems,Tytera, Vertex, Motorola, Kenwood and Alinco) Superior voice quality (AMBE+2) vs older digital modes (AMBE, IMBE, GMSK) Longer battery life! Automatic Roaming! Supports multiple talk groups on one freq. Supports data applications (txt,email,gps)

Time For a Few Definitions ETSI – European Telecommunications Standards Institute Vocoder – A category of voice codec that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression multiplexing, voice encryption, voice transmission, etc.

Vocoder Progression AMBE (D-Star, Inmarsat, Iridium, XM Radio) IMBE (P-25 Phase 1) AMBE+2 (P-25 Phase 2, Fusion, DMR)

Modulation Schemes GMSK – Gaussian minimum shift keying D-Star FDMA – Frequency division multiple access System Fusion / P25 Phase 1 TDMA – time division multiple access P-25 Phase 2 / DMR

DMR Association Equipment Mfg Members

DMR Standard-ETSI TS 102 361 Tier 1 (Unlicensed) Tier 2 (Conventional) FDMA, Consumer applications, .5 watt dPMR (446 MHz European unlicensed service) Tier 2 (Conventional) 2-slot TDMA IP Site Connect (Vendor specific) Tier 3 (Trunked) Multi-channel, Multi-Site

Amateur Digital Voice Systems D-STAR (Icom) GMSK/AMBE Vocoder P25 Phase 1 (Multi-Vendor) FDMA/IMBE Vocoder P25 Phase 2 (Multi-Vendor) 2-slot TDMA/AMBE+2 Vocoder System Fusion (Yaesu) FDMA/C4FM/AMBE+2 Vocoder DMR (Multi-Vendor)

TWO Repeaters in One! Lower infrastructure cost, 1 box in rack ] You save on antenna networks or combining systems by having 2 repeaters in one box with one antenna. Lower infrastructure cost, 1 box in rack TWO voice/data channels from one repeater

Half the Channel Bandwidth 16K0F3E 7K60FXE fc - 12.5 fc fc + 12.5 fc – 6.25 fc fc + 6.25 Traditional Analog 25 kHz Channel Bandwidth 1 Channel 1 Repeater DMR 12.5 kHz Channel Bandwidth 2 Channels 1 Repeater

More Spectrum Efficient than Older Digital Modes Two 6.25 KHz repeaters (like D-Star) need Guard Bands between them if located near each other to co-exist without interference, thus taking more spectrum! The actual FCC emission designator for DMR is actually 7K6 or 7.6 KHz Bandwidth. fc – 11.25 fc fc + 11.25 fc - 6.25 fc fc + 6.25 Guard Band as large as 10 kHz between channels Total BW= 22.5 kHz No Guard Band between 2 channels Total BW= 12.5 kHz

Better Signal Quality No hiss, popping, or static Better RF range than older digital technologies Forward Error Correction and Cyclic Redundancy Check coders

So What Does It Sound Like? TG 9998 (more to come on this in a few minutes) is a Parrot Channel, used for testing systems and radios. You transmit to the parrot server, and it time delay repeats your audio.

Better Audio Quality Listen for yourself. DMR does sound better than older digital technologies.

How about a real conversation? Short QSO with K9VO outside Chicago, using TAC310

Longer Battery Life Older Digital Modes (FDMA) DMR (TDMA) “For each hour of usage the TDMA radios show between 19% and 34% less battery capacity is required than for the FDMA models.” “40 percent improvement in talk time in comparison with analog radios “ http://dmrassociation.org

Data and Voice at the Same Time Slot 1 Voice Slot 2 GPS Location (or second channel voice when not sending GPS data) Give your location WHILE talking!

IP Site Connect 1 or 2 slots (channels) Link statewide/regionwide systems Peer Peer Bridging Hardware Peer Peer Master Master Peer Master Peer

IP Site Connect A peer can participate with one or both time-slots Peers register with the Master Master keeps peers informed about other peers Master/Peers function as a fully meshed network for voice and data traffic If the Master fails, the full mesh network continues to operate, but new peers can not join nor are changes announced A third-party bridge (c-Bridge or SmartPTT) is used to interconnect IP Site Connect networks

c-Bridges Links master repeaters (groups of 15-20), and bridges Mfrs: Rayfield Communications, TL-Net Provides arbritration. If two users key up simultaneously, one gets denied and immediately is notified to prevent dual transmissions. C-Bridges and SmartPTT devices offer methods of bridging and patching repeaters, time slots and talk groups.

C-Bridge

New England Digital Networks DMR-MARC EWARN MIT HYTERA

Dynamic Mixed Mode: First in – First Out Analog Analog OR Slot 1 TDMA Slot 1 TDMA Slot 2 TDMA Slot 2 TDMA Repeater dynamically detects the type of input IP site connect is supported on digital modes This is an option for a phased migration from analog to networked DMR repeaters.

Free Text Messaging Send to one person, or a group of people. - Weather Alerts - Club Meetings - Announcements

Motorola Amateur Radio Clubs and other private repeater owners 500+ site network in 47countries Also bridged to other networks DCI, NorCal, AZ, NC, MI, KS, CO and Texas DMR networks 100% Pure Digital More than 24,000 registered users To register or learn more http://dmr-marc.net

Go to Google Networks Map DMR-MARC Networked Repeaters (use group call ID 1 on slot 1) Click on city for coverage maps. green=portable and blue=mobile                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Go to Google Networks Map More than 80 repeater sites in New England and growing fast!

Local DMR Repeaters VT – Brattleboro WR1VT 444.400 VT – Mt. Ascutney W1UWS 448.475 VT – Pico W1IMD 444.500 NH – Hudson K1MOT 145.26 NH - Hudson K1MOT 447.725 NH – Derry K1QVC 145.31 NH - Chester K1OX 145.19 NH - Manchester W1RCF 145.22 NH - Goffstown N1PA 145.20 NH - Bow K1OX 145.17 More sites are planned!

New England and Maritimes Recent Network Expansions Fredericton, NB Moncton, NB St. John, NB Calais, ME Bangor, ME Augusta, ME Mt. Ascutney, VT Pico Peak, VT Keene, NH coming soon! More sites welcome!

Amateur DMR is Trending Jan 2013 = 2511 Users

Amateur DMR is Trending Jan 2013 = 2511 Users Jan 2014 = 4618 Users

Amateur DMR is Trending Jan 2013 = 2511 Users Jan 2014 = 4618 Users Jan 2015 = 9802 Users

Amateur DMR is Trending Jan 2013 = 2511 Users Jan 2014 = 4618 Users Jan 2015 = 9802 Users Jan 2016 = 24,388 Users This past year, a 149% increase. Primarily fueled by the competition among radio manufacturers and features offered.

Customer Programming SW CPS is a windows program for loading channels and features into your radio.

XPR4550 Mobile Here is a typical Motorola mobile radio.

MD782 mobile Here is a typical Hytera mobile radio.

DMR Radios

SL+XPR7550 Portables Here is are typical Motorola portable radios.

PD782 portable Here is a typical Hytera portable radio.

MTR-3000 100 w.Repeater This is a high tier 100 watt repeater

XPR-8400 50 w. Repeater Here is a mid-tier 50 watt repeater.

SLR-5700 50 watt Repeater

K1MOT Hudson Site 145 and 447 MHz MotoTRBO 50 watt Repeaters on 1400 VA UPS Kohler 14 KW Auto-start Generator

WR1VT Site 146.865 Analog 444.400 MHz DMR 50 watt Repeaters on 1500 VA UPS Kohler 30 KW Auto-start Generator

Tait TB9300 DMR Repeater Dual 50W Repeaters Dual 100W Repeater 1000 Channels; uses modules of TB9100 for P25 to DMR conversion! Should support Conventional DMR (Tier2) in 2nd firmware revision!

Consult www.nedecn.org for current Hierarchy Talk Group Hierarchy Consult www.nedecn.org for current Hierarchy

Talkgroups Planned for Keene Time Slot #1 - Group Call 1 = World Wide (Sat. Net) Time Slot #1 - Group Call 13 = WW English Time Slot #1 - Group Call 3 = North America Time Slot #1 - Group Call 3172 = Northeast Time Slot #2 - Group Call 3181= New England Time Slot #2 - Group Call 8 = Region North Time Slot #2 - Group Call 3150 = VT Statewide Time Slot #2 - Group Call 3133 = NH Statewide (PTT) Time Slot #2 - Group Call 3125 = MA Statewide (PTT) Time Slot #2 - Group Call 9 = Local Site Note: All New England repeaters also have TAC310, TAC311, UA113, UA123

Talkgroups Planned for Keene Time Slot #1 - Group Call 1 = World Wide (Sat. Net) Time Slot #1 - Group Call 13 = WW English Time Slot #1 - Group Call 3 = North America Time Slot #1 - Group Call 3172 = Northeast Time Slot #2 - Group Call 3181= New England Time Slot #2 - Group Call 8 = Region North Time Slot #2 - Group Call 3150 = VT Statewide Time Slot #2 - Group Call 3133 = NH Statewide (PTT) Time Slot #2 - Group Call 3125 = MA Statewide (PTT) Time Slot #2 - Group Call 9 = Local Site Note: All New England repeaters also have TAC310, TAC311, UA113, UA123 (All on TS1)

Ham Friendly Dealers Sandy’s Comm., contact Jeff, 866.993.9011 TwoWayDigitalRadio.com, contact Ken 706.896.0000 Connect Systems http://csi-radios.com/ E-Bay or Local Dealers TRBO DMR radios are DMR–and-Analog monoband

Some DMR Web Sites (check out the links below) http://dmr-marc.net/ (WW Net) http://nedecn.org (New England)

How To Get Started Amateurs must register with the central DMR database to obtain a Subscriber ID. An amateur cannot operate a DMR radio without the Subscriber ID. http://www.dmr-marc.net/cgi-bin/trbo-database/register.cgi Each radio must be defined with a subscriber ID. Amateurs normally will not register no more than two IDs. ◦ 1) Portable radio ◦ 2) Mobile radio Encouraged to register up two subscriber ids per call sign only. Radios with the same Subscriber ID – only one can be in use at the same time.

Important: Do, Don’t, & Never If you purchase radio from Connect Systems, use their firmware updates ◦ DO NOT USE MANUFACTURES FIRMWARE UPDATES – YOU WILL LOOSE AMATEUR RADIO FEATURES Never use encryption settings on a radio ◦ Forbidden by the FCC – Part 97 Never use GPS ◦ Unless the repeater is specifically configured to a data channel. Never use Private Call ◦ Occupies a TS which blocks fellow hams. Never make a DMR emergency call ◦ No emergency systems are configured in this network Never use Lone worker settings

DMR: A NEW MODE FOR AMATEUR DIGITAL RADIO Spectrum Efficient ! Supported by multiple manufacturers! Automatic Roaming for Safe Driving! Longer Battery Life! 3 Year Warrantees on many radios Resilient Networks (no servers needed at sites) To learn more http://dmr-marc.net To Summarize…

Questions? Contact David Andrews, N1ESK, n1esk@Comcast.net