Some thoughts about Fusion, digital modes, and the future. Fusion uses the lower layers of the P-25 architecture. Modulation, transport, framing, etc. The primary differences revolve around what’s in the packet. For example: The use of call signs instead of unit IDs. So Fusion shares most of P-25. FWIW, Fusion is also very similar to DMR. The primary difference is that it doesn’t use TDMA – jamming two separate channels into the space of one. P-25, DMR, NXDN(Kenwood), IDAS (Icom), Read more…
DG-ID is like a CTCSS tone, but for digital. It filters out signals with different DGID’s as well as having the ability to do split DG-ID’s (like split CTCSS). DG-ID can be in a state of Rx & TX (DG-ID), Rx Only, Tx Only, and Split Rx & Tx (different DG-ID). DG-ID servers as a means of selective signaling for access to a repeater or for a WiRES-X node. For the repeater it has a couple of different applications (IMRS Read more…
An internal tuner is limited in what it can do.
Conduct CW QSOs from your computer, tablet or smart phone! HamRadio.Solutions offers a Virtual Band with several bands where you can hold CW QSOs. The sit lets you set all your CW parameters. You can even hook up your keyer and use that. Or just listen to the QSOs. You can select audio, text or both, so you can compare what you copy with that which was sent. Give it a try! This service is provided courtesy of David, W6DS. Last Read more…
W6DS operates a network monitor which simultaneously displays activity on a number of YSF reflectors including MNWis, SoCalHam (K9EQ), US-MVARC (Idaho), US-KENTUCKY, US-SADRC, plus others. In addition, you can listen to the conversations or go back in the transmission history to hear past conversations by clicking on the reflector. It also shows technical data so you can see how well you are getting in. What you want is the minimum number of sequence errors. Check out the Network Digital Radio Read more…
Always test repeaters in FM! Your ear can determine a lot of things. On digital, the range goes down and people that get into the repeater fine don’t notice it. About 90% of the time when people complain about bursty noise, it’s the antenna system. If you’re running a duplexer and there IS ANY kind of bad connection, that bad connection will act like a diode. You get the diode effect whenever two dissimilar metals are in contact! What often Read more…
Many people have reported Fusion repeater lock-ups that required the repeater to be shut down (power removed) and rebooted. I’ve had repeater lock happen as well with an HRI-200 directly connected to the DR2X. In this particular case I believe the event was triggered by sending a number of commands from the radio (such as the GM mode) which resulted in a race condition within the firmware. I have previously observed that invalid data (I.e., with a lot of bit Read more…
I use VyprVPN from GoldenFrog. It is necessary to turn of NAT for your account. That means that each VPN connection is a raw connection straight to the Internet. YOU HAVE NO PROTECTION OTHER THAN WHAT YOU PROVIDE!!! (The same company will rent you a VPN that you can host on your own cloud provider where you can control port forwarding – but I suspect this is well beyond most folks.) I’ve been using this solution for over a Read more…
If you are experiencing low or no power output….. 1. Replacing a blown final does not necessarily fix the problem that caused the blown final. Never replace a blown final in anything where you haven’t gone through and figured out if there was a reason the final blew. These are very rugged transistors that should last a very long time. 2. Some failures are related to heat, most are not. The DR repeaters have excellent cooling. Unless the Read more…
The DR repeaters are calibrated in the middle of the band. For UHF that is 440.000 MHz. You may want to check the power output at that frequency as you are operating right at the band edge. While you’re at it, measure the Tx current. At the lower power output the current should be lower, otherwise it could indicate a problem. Under no circumstances should the Tx current be above 10 amps (I recommend a 10 amp fuse in the Read more…