Does anyone here uses digital HAM radio?

[El-Dracho]

Yesterday I went out to the local chapter of the Amateur Radio Club. We heard a very good presentation on the introduction to digital modes and discussed it. For me those digital modes are very exciting. Would like to dive deeper into it.

In particular, for the beginning, I would be interested to know which type or which network you use and why (advantages and disadvantages). Practical experience with the use of repeaters and virtual rooms is also interesting.

Are there HAMs here who, for example, use DMR, C4FM, D-Star, Tetra, etc. regularly in the amateur radio service? Perhaps we can exchange experiences and know-how about it? That would be great!

Thanks,
Bjoern

 

[Frdmskr]

Yesterday I went out to the local chapter of the Amateur Radio Club. We heard a very good presentation on the introduction to digital modes and discussed it. For me those digital modes are very exciting. Would like to dive deeper into it.

In particular, for the beginning, I would be interested to know which type or which network you use and why (advantages and disadvantages). Practical experience with the use of repeaters and virtual rooms is also interesting.

Are there HAMs here who, for example, use DMR, C4FM, D-Star, Tetra, etc. regularly in the amateur radio service? Perhaps we can exchange experiences and know-how about it? That would be great!

Thanks,
Bjoern

I have DStar and DMR in the truck. I prefer DStar of the two when doing digital. If doing a trail ride though, I stick to strictly FM because you never know when someone outside your group will need to contact you for any reason. Further, not everyone has all digital modes so FM is the only one you know they will have (assuming a ham radio.)

 

[Kent R]

@M Rose @Prerunner1982 This is right up your ally

 

[Dilldog]

Digital modes are great, but do have their limitations. You won't get as much signal fade or choppiness at the limit of range which is nice. However when you exceed it's range there's no chance of reading the signal, it just disappears. It also doesn't like multipath, so you need to be sure of line of sight.
I would like to see more digital voice in my area, 90% of the time signals are much cleaner when compared to FM.
As far as mode goes, I have played around with DMR quite a bit. It's a bit more accessible as the bulk of the radios for that mode are lower cost Chinese imports. It also has great global support, nothing like talking to the world from a $200 internet "repeater".

 

[KyleGrant]

Yep, I run Fusion personally. Fusion doesn't require any wild programming and though I have an extensive background in P25 and can handle DMR programming fine, I find Fusion is more accessible for travels. DMR for me is more a local only mode due to the complexity. Granted, I don't have experience with D-Star.

Fusion radios have some really cool features such as Group Monitor. Buddies in town and I run GM when we meet up, the radios are constantly 'pinging' one another and everyone on frequency will show up on the screen with a signal bar. In addition, if operating digitally I can see a heading and distance to the other user (also with APRS).

Overall I'm no Fusion snob, just my personal primary experience. I hear D-Star is also great but haven't messed with it much.

Dilldog mentioned a key consideration with digital, commonly referred to as the 'Digital Cliff'. It can be great as it reduces static but as he mentions, when you lose the signal - it's gone. Digital radios can all handle a certain amount of errors, after all you're now transmitting modulated 1's and 0's as opposed to analog voice FM modulation. The perk is that radios can handle a certain error rate (Bit Error Rate, BER) and correct for this to fill in gaps of lost bits. In the P25 world this is generally around 5%, but I honestly don't know what Fusion can do... I wouldn't say it's a pure negative, just something to be aware of and adjust accordingly. In noisy RF environments I find Fusion works great.

 

[M Rose]

I’m in agreement with everything @Dilldog said. digital voice is a fun service to play around with, it not practical for Overlanding.

 

[Chris Arnesen]

I administrate a D-STAR repeater and have a Yaesu FTM-500DR on preorder to put in my 4Runner.

My experience is that D-STAR is awesome in conjunction with an Internet Gateway connected repeater. The idea that you can use callsign routing to talk with any other D-STAR user around the world is pretty amazing. Our D-STAR repeater doesn't get much other use now that hotspots (like the SharkRF openSPOT) have become so popular and easy to use.

The reason for getting a System Fusion radio in my 4Runner is really because I'm interested in using a more modern digital codec (D-STAR is 20 years old at this point without any codec changes).

For overlanding purposes, I keep it on FM but it's cool knowing I can get my Starlink up and my hotspot connected to reach out where there aren't repeaters or hams monitoring the typical calling frequencies.

I did pick up a DMR handheld, however I wouldn't recommend them due to the complexity of programming necessary to use them.

 

[El-Dracho]

Thanks for all the contributions here! Great.

Yeah, I wouldn't think of using digi modes for communicating on the road while overlanding either, sure. Then I keep it on FM monitoring the common frequencies of course.

The idea that you can use callsign routing to talk with any other D-STAR user around the world is pretty amazing.

But this point @Chris Arnesen mentioned, that's exactly what excites me to try the digital modes. Because this allows radio amateurs with only a VHF/UHF device via repeaters and virtual rooms to get in contact with radio amaateurs from all over the world. And that with quite simple technology without great effort and without an extensive HF system.

 

[rtexpeditions]

I Have D-STAR. I was looking for an FM-only radio but the IC-2820 was a good price.

Digital modes would be great for Overlanding if everyone had them as the audio is much clearer. It's good that most of them have FM as well.

 

[UpDown]

I use the Yaesu C4FM digital mode for the location and voice features it has. Or will do normal simplex and aprs on a separate radio. Both are great options for overlanding with your buddies.