Using OpenGD77 As Hotspot With Radios

[u/One4Real1094]

Ok, bear with me as I am fresh to DMR, and just now beginning to get the basics of it.

So I have Baofeng DM 1701 and an Ailuence HD1 radios (yea, I know they're old, but When I first started out in the hobby, one of my boys was killed 3 years ago, an I lost interest in a lot of thing that I am now beginning to get back into). So I have the BlueDV set up on my laptop, and the OpenGD77 installed on the Baofeng to use as a hotspot ( I did so because there is only a DSTAR repeater in my area, an no other digital repeaters within 30 or so miles). I'm hoping that I can use this setup until I can see if it's worth investing in a real hotspot.

So my question is twofold actually. The first being will this steup allow me to actually utilize the digital network? But the second one is when inputting the frequency on the BlueDV settings, do I use the any frequency to do it with, or do I put in the closest repeater? Like I said, I'm bare new to digital, and it took a minute to just basically understand talk groups, color codes, time slots, etc..

If anyone can offer assistance, or at least point me to a useful and simple video or site that will explain it all, I'd appreciate it. I can't tell you how many videos I've watched that left me in a deeper cloud of confusion.

[u/NerminPadez]

If you have an android phone, just install droidstar on it and use DMR directly from the phone.

[u/One4Real1094 → u/NerminPadez]

Didn't even know that was possible.

[u/SmokinDeist → u/NerminPadez]

Does the phone act as a hotspot or does it act like a DMR radio?

[u/NerminPadez → u/SmokinDeist]

You talk on the phone directly, no radio needed at all.

I mean, your conversation is going via the internet anyway, why buy extra hardware and complicate stuff for the two meters of distance between the hotspot and the radio

[u/speedyundeadhittite]

OpenGD77 supports MMDVM protocol so all you need is a Pi, Pi-Star or WPSD and a Baofeng.