Undoubtedly, the only way to promote activity on any form of Digital Radio is to make facilities available to the Amateur Community. From the moment a Digital system goes on the air, curiosity will kick in and questions will be asked. What are those strange signals on the 2m and 70cm bands? At very minimum, handheld radio will be the entry point into the new mode and as it becomes more popular and interest takes a hold, more sophisticated equipment may be utilised.
Galway does have a good interest in the Fusion mode which is logical considering Limerick also run the Fusion system on VHF and UHF. DMR is a popular mode and will result in good useage. D-Star has a following of 2 users at present and the P25 and NXDN modes will probably remain very much experimental.
System Fusion
In Galway there is a Yaesu DRX-1 Repeater which covers analog FM and System Fusion this has been set to AMS which is the Automatic Mode Select. The Repeater has been under test for sometime at a Low level QTH and it will probably not see much activity until it is placed on a higher site. Naturally if operators can make the contact point to point there is little necessity to go through a repeater located at ground level. Wires-X has been added to the Fusion Repeater making it more versatile and giving operators the freedom to select a node to allow their transmission to come out in an area of their choice.
In addition to this system, there will be a Wires-X gateway located in Galway to allow experimentation with the Wires-X system without hanging up a repeater. The Gateway is a simplex system requiring just a Transceiver, a Wires-X modem and a computer controller.
Anyone can set up a Wires-X node for personal use provided it does not transmit from the main station antenna. In this case, it would act much like a hotspot with many interesting facilities. Galway will have a licensed system, EI2SHD, for all to use. Whilst it will default to CQ-IRL, this gateway can be routed to anywhere of the user's choice. The gateway will default back to the original CQ-IRL Node when there is no activity.
Multimode Operation
At present, there is a multimode gateway in operation from Galway City centre. It currently operates on DMR and Yaesu Fusion. The mode of operation is dictated by the mode received. Whilst the gateway is linked to the Irish Brandmeister Server, it has static talkgroups programmed in to promote activity. As with with simple gateways only one Time Slot may be utilised and in our case this is Slot 2. Anyone can set up a gateway with just the basics: A Motorola GM350, A MMDVM Board, A Raspberry Pi and a good antenna. The system will run 20 watts quite comfortably. Running a cooling fan on the heatsink is a good precaution.
This system is versatile and it can be programmed to run D-Star, DMR, Fusion P25 and NXDN and, in fact, can be configured to cross connect between DMR and Yaesu Fusion. It is, however, easier to choose just two modes of operation so that there is not too much conjestion.
At present, Static TalkGroups 2722 (Ireland Calling) TG 2723 (Ireland Chat), TG2724 (YSF Ireland - a bridge between DMR and Fusion), TG 5055 (Australia) and TG 5505 (Australia) are programmed in. This means that the gateway will be active if anyone should appear on these Groups. If things did get busy it might be prudent to reduce the number of Static Talkgroups.
Reflectors may be connected by setting the Radio to TG 9 and dialling in the reflector number on the Keypad of the Radio and pressing the PTT. When finished it is a simple matter to disconnect by dialling 4000 on the keypad and pressing the PTT.
When the DMR Repeater arrives in Galway and, when the Yaesu Fusion Repeater is placed in a meaningful location, it will be possible to experiment with other modes on the gateway such as D-Star, P25 and NXDN. DMR will probably remain as the gateway is operational on 2 metres.
DMR Repeater
It is planned to run a Hytera RD 985 DMR Repeater from a high site just outside of Galway City. This will give superb coverage of the City and Surrounding areas which would include many roads leading out of the City.
The Repeater has two Time Slots - effectively two repeaters on the same site. The two time slots can transmit simultaneously with the each of the users being oblivious to the operation of the other time slot in operation.
So how does it all work?
Time slot 1 is allocated to International Calling and also TG 9 local
Static Talk Groups on TS 1 will include:
TG 91 Worldwide
TG 93 USA
TG 92 Europe
TG 95 Australia
TG 9 Local
Time Slot 2 is allocated to Local and Regional operation also TG 9
Static TalkGroups on TS 2 include:
TG 2722 Ireland Call
TG 2723 Ireland Chat
TG 2724 YSF Ireland
Possibly a UK-wide calling channel such as TG 2350
TG 9 Local
Whilst TG 9 is in operation on either TS 1 or TS2, the Hytera will act as a repeater. It will receive transmissions off air and retransmit them on whichever Time Slot is in use at the time.
If any connection is made to a TalkGroup other than TG 9 the repeater will act as a Gateway and route to the Talkgroup selected. Bear in mind, that when calling on one of the International TalkGroups, your signal will be transmitted on many repeaters around the world or in a particular continent at one time. This why long QSOs should be avoided on TS1.
There are no restrictions to the use of TG 9 Repeater useage here but do give way to or answer any one making a call through the repeater.
Static Talkgroups will always result in transmissions from the repeater. This will result in residual activity courting a QSO through the repeater so it won't be silent all the time..
Slot 1 is for International calling only and only brief QSOs should be made on this Slot. If the QSO looks like it will become a long QSO take it to Slot 2 on a chat channel.
Reflectors may not be accessed on TS 1. This is an implementation on the Brandmeister system.
TS2 is for Local and regional operation. The local Channels are static here but this does not preclude connections to Talkgroups in the UK or elsewhere for QSO purposes.
Reflectors may be accessed on this Time Slot. It is mannerly to disconnect from the reflector in use after one has finished but if there is no activiity for 15 minutes it will disconnect automatically.
Roaming may be a possiblity when more repeaters come on line. This facility will be assigned to TG 8 on Time Slot 2.
A full list of Brandmeister TalkGroups may be found on the Brandmeister Dashboard making programming of Codeplugs relatively easy. The Yaesu System Fusion Facebook Page has plenty of information and does include DMR information in its files section. You will have to join to be able to download. "A Guide to DMR Operation" is avalable for download from this site. This a compilation of DMR terminology and useful facts and ideas for programming.
As the year progresses the DMR repeater should be up and running before the Autumn 2018 and the Wires-X gateway will also be available before May 2016.
Both the Galway VHF Group and the Galway Radio Club have made these facilities possible for ALL radio amateurs in both Galway City, the Wider County and even into adjacent counties.
Code Plugs
It would be logical to have a common code plug available for the local DMR facilities, and this will be available on request from EI5DD depending on the tranceiver in question. This will not preclude the addition of individial preferences that can be added into the program as required.
Of course it is always preferable to program your own code plug ad then you can be sure that all your own needs are catered for.
Further Experimentation
P25 is one mode that is of interest in Galway. It is possible to use the multimode Gateway to connect to International servers in Europe, the USA, Canada, Russia and Australia where the activity is at its highest. In total P25 is in use by amateurs in approximately 60 countries. Sadly equipment is expensive for this mode.
P25 has clearer audio quality, the digital ID, the automatic location functions, and data transfer functionality. Even though it has all this, it was, and possibly still is, very susceptible to interference of the intentional kind. There has been several studies down where they have found the the P25 system has a major flaw in it’s security. Used mainly by Emergency services in the U.S.
Now and again there are the occasional bargains found on E-bay but these will be few and far between.
NXDN is another area that will be of interest but is also very expensive. NXDN is a Common Air Interface(CAI) that is part of a consortium of companies. Kenwood and Icom are major players, although there are other companies that also produce products. NXDN uses Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), and uses either 6.25khz or 12.5khz of bandwidth. One advantage for amateur radio use of NXDN is Icom and Kenwood repeaters can be used in “mixed-mode”, meaning that traditional analog FM at 12.5khz can be used to allow for legacy equipment.
NXDN is in used mainly in the U.S and Canada with some area of Europe. NXDN is a niche mode that is not going to attract every ham radio operator, but it does provide a mature platform that is tested in the commercial market. NXDN provides excellent audio quality in a true 6.25khz channel. Equipment has been available for about 8 years now, and the secondary markets, such as Ebay, are starting to have radios for about 25-30% of what it would cost to purchase new.
It will be intersting to see the direction of Digital Radio over the next few years. One can be pretty certain that DMR will undoubtedly remain a leader as the network is growing on a wordlwide basis.
Galway does have a good interest in the Fusion mode which is logical considering Limerick also run the Fusion system on VHF and UHF. DMR is a popular mode and will result in good useage. D-Star has a following of 2 users at present and the P25 and NXDN modes will probably remain very much experimental.
System Fusion
In Galway there is a Yaesu DRX-1 Repeater which covers analog FM and System Fusion this has been set to AMS which is the Automatic Mode Select. The Repeater has been under test for sometime at a Low level QTH and it will probably not see much activity until it is placed on a higher site. Naturally if operators can make the contact point to point there is little necessity to go through a repeater located at ground level. Wires-X has been added to the Fusion Repeater making it more versatile and giving operators the freedom to select a node to allow their transmission to come out in an area of their choice.
In addition to this system, there will be a Wires-X gateway located in Galway to allow experimentation with the Wires-X system without hanging up a repeater. The Gateway is a simplex system requiring just a Transceiver, a Wires-X modem and a computer controller.
Anyone can set up a Wires-X node for personal use provided it does not transmit from the main station antenna. In this case, it would act much like a hotspot with many interesting facilities. Galway will have a licensed system, EI2SHD, for all to use. Whilst it will default to CQ-IRL, this gateway can be routed to anywhere of the user's choice. The gateway will default back to the original CQ-IRL Node when there is no activity.
Multimode Operation
At present, there is a multimode gateway in operation from Galway City centre. It currently operates on DMR and Yaesu Fusion. The mode of operation is dictated by the mode received. Whilst the gateway is linked to the Irish Brandmeister Server, it has static talkgroups programmed in to promote activity. As with with simple gateways only one Time Slot may be utilised and in our case this is Slot 2. Anyone can set up a gateway with just the basics: A Motorola GM350, A MMDVM Board, A Raspberry Pi and a good antenna. The system will run 20 watts quite comfortably. Running a cooling fan on the heatsink is a good precaution.
This system is versatile and it can be programmed to run D-Star, DMR, Fusion P25 and NXDN and, in fact, can be configured to cross connect between DMR and Yaesu Fusion. It is, however, easier to choose just two modes of operation so that there is not too much conjestion.
At present, Static TalkGroups 2722 (Ireland Calling) TG 2723 (Ireland Chat), TG2724 (YSF Ireland - a bridge between DMR and Fusion), TG 5055 (Australia) and TG 5505 (Australia) are programmed in. This means that the gateway will be active if anyone should appear on these Groups. If things did get busy it might be prudent to reduce the number of Static Talkgroups.
Reflectors may be connected by setting the Radio to TG 9 and dialling in the reflector number on the Keypad of the Radio and pressing the PTT. When finished it is a simple matter to disconnect by dialling 4000 on the keypad and pressing the PTT.
When the DMR Repeater arrives in Galway and, when the Yaesu Fusion Repeater is placed in a meaningful location, it will be possible to experiment with other modes on the gateway such as D-Star, P25 and NXDN. DMR will probably remain as the gateway is operational on 2 metres.
DMR Repeater
It is planned to run a Hytera RD 985 DMR Repeater from a high site just outside of Galway City. This will give superb coverage of the City and Surrounding areas which would include many roads leading out of the City.
The Repeater has two Time Slots - effectively two repeaters on the same site. The two time slots can transmit simultaneously with the each of the users being oblivious to the operation of the other time slot in operation.
So how does it all work?
Time slot 1 is allocated to International Calling and also TG 9 local
Static Talk Groups on TS 1 will include:
TG 91 Worldwide
TG 93 USA
TG 92 Europe
TG 95 Australia
TG 9 Local
Time Slot 2 is allocated to Local and Regional operation also TG 9
Static TalkGroups on TS 2 include:
TG 2722 Ireland Call
TG 2723 Ireland Chat
TG 2724 YSF Ireland
Possibly a UK-wide calling channel such as TG 2350
TG 9 Local
Whilst TG 9 is in operation on either TS 1 or TS2, the Hytera will act as a repeater. It will receive transmissions off air and retransmit them on whichever Time Slot is in use at the time.
If any connection is made to a TalkGroup other than TG 9 the repeater will act as a Gateway and route to the Talkgroup selected. Bear in mind, that when calling on one of the International TalkGroups, your signal will be transmitted on many repeaters around the world or in a particular continent at one time. This why long QSOs should be avoided on TS1.
There are no restrictions to the use of TG 9 Repeater useage here but do give way to or answer any one making a call through the repeater.
Static Talkgroups will always result in transmissions from the repeater. This will result in residual activity courting a QSO through the repeater so it won't be silent all the time..
Slot 1 is for International calling only and only brief QSOs should be made on this Slot. If the QSO looks like it will become a long QSO take it to Slot 2 on a chat channel.
Reflectors may not be accessed on TS 1. This is an implementation on the Brandmeister system.
TS2 is for Local and regional operation. The local Channels are static here but this does not preclude connections to Talkgroups in the UK or elsewhere for QSO purposes.
Reflectors may be accessed on this Time Slot. It is mannerly to disconnect from the reflector in use after one has finished but if there is no activiity for 15 minutes it will disconnect automatically.
Roaming may be a possiblity when more repeaters come on line. This facility will be assigned to TG 8 on Time Slot 2.
A full list of Brandmeister TalkGroups may be found on the Brandmeister Dashboard making programming of Codeplugs relatively easy. The Yaesu System Fusion Facebook Page has plenty of information and does include DMR information in its files section. You will have to join to be able to download. "A Guide to DMR Operation" is avalable for download from this site. This a compilation of DMR terminology and useful facts and ideas for programming.
As the year progresses the DMR repeater should be up and running before the Autumn 2018 and the Wires-X gateway will also be available before May 2016.
Both the Galway VHF Group and the Galway Radio Club have made these facilities possible for ALL radio amateurs in both Galway City, the Wider County and even into adjacent counties.
Code Plugs
It would be logical to have a common code plug available for the local DMR facilities, and this will be available on request from EI5DD depending on the tranceiver in question. This will not preclude the addition of individial preferences that can be added into the program as required.
Of course it is always preferable to program your own code plug ad then you can be sure that all your own needs are catered for.
Further Experimentation
P25 is one mode that is of interest in Galway. It is possible to use the multimode Gateway to connect to International servers in Europe, the USA, Canada, Russia and Australia where the activity is at its highest. In total P25 is in use by amateurs in approximately 60 countries. Sadly equipment is expensive for this mode.
P25 has clearer audio quality, the digital ID, the automatic location functions, and data transfer functionality. Even though it has all this, it was, and possibly still is, very susceptible to interference of the intentional kind. There has been several studies down where they have found the the P25 system has a major flaw in it’s security. Used mainly by Emergency services in the U.S.
Now and again there are the occasional bargains found on E-bay but these will be few and far between.
NXDN is another area that will be of interest but is also very expensive. NXDN is a Common Air Interface(CAI) that is part of a consortium of companies. Kenwood and Icom are major players, although there are other companies that also produce products. NXDN uses Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), and uses either 6.25khz or 12.5khz of bandwidth. One advantage for amateur radio use of NXDN is Icom and Kenwood repeaters can be used in “mixed-mode”, meaning that traditional analog FM at 12.5khz can be used to allow for legacy equipment.
NXDN is in used mainly in the U.S and Canada with some area of Europe. NXDN is a niche mode that is not going to attract every ham radio operator, but it does provide a mature platform that is tested in the commercial market. NXDN provides excellent audio quality in a true 6.25khz channel. Equipment has been available for about 8 years now, and the secondary markets, such as Ebay, are starting to have radios for about 25-30% of what it would cost to purchase new.
It will be intersting to see the direction of Digital Radio over the next few years. One can be pretty certain that DMR will undoubtedly remain a leader as the network is growing on a wordlwide basis.
