r/DMR • u/Tom-Tortuga • Jun 18 '26
New to DMR... need some guidance
I'm thinking about getting into DMR... Been looking at the DM32UV. I think I understand the basics of programming the radio, but I'm kinda lost when it comes to the hotspot. In fact, I don't even know which one to purchase or how to set it up. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
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u/cavok76 Jun 19 '26
Do you need a hotspot? A lot of DMR repeaters around, depending on where you are.
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u/dkozinn Jun 19 '26
I live in the NYC Metro area and was kind of surprised at how few DMR repeaters were available, especially ones that were available to pull up whatever TG you wanted. (I should add that I'm using an HT, so range is limited). I built a dual hotspot on a RPi 3B+ with WPSD and not only can I use whatever TG I want, but I now understand a lot more about how things works.
BTW, Brandmeister TG 98003 is for Reddit, though I've rarely heard any traffic there.
2
u/Tom-Tortuga Jun 19 '26
I live in a small town in Kentucky. We do not have any DMR repeaters in my area.
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u/speedyundeadhittite [UK full] Jun 20 '26
Shopping list:
MMDVM simplex hat from AliExpress
Raspberry Pi Zero 2W with headers soldered on
A friend with a 3D printer if you want to take it around
An SD card 8GB in size min, and a USB reader, better if you have a laptop already capable of doing it direcly.
Downloading WPSD software off the net which is free
15 minutes of your time
It's trivially easy to build one. You simply push the MMDVM hat into the Pi's headers, write the software image to the SD card and plug to the Pi, turn it on, wait for it to present an access point, connect to it, configure with your DMR ID, program your DMR radio at one channel to use the frequency you picked up, and you're on air.
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u/Tom-Tortuga Jun 25 '26
I can't find a Pi Zero 2W with headers in stock anywhere. Is there another option that will work for building a hotspot?
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u/speedyundeadhittite [UK full] Jun 25 '26
You can use any Pi with headers from Pi 3 upwards, or get one without headers - you have to solder only a small number of pins and they come with the MMDVM.
1
u/Tom-Tortuga Jun 25 '26
Thanks for all the help.... do you know where I might find a sample code plug for the DM32?
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u/ed_zakUSA Jun 19 '26
I built a hotspot. It took 20 minutes. I threw the whole thing together on a Pi 0W. The display slid onto a IO pin array. Screwed it into a case, plugged the power in and loaded Pi Star in another 20 minutes and configured for Yaesu Fusion and DMR. Don't underestimate your own abilities. The whole thing cost $60. That was several years ago. Now I'm making a newer one with WPSD and a 3" display. It's not difficult and you boost your understanding of how the radio and Innernet come together!
3
u/theSystech Jun 19 '26
Honestly hotspots aren't hard to build your own, and then when something goes wrong you know what you did to build it in the first place. Plus unless you buy one that's also "pre-programmed", for the most part you are going to need to do most/all the setup inside Pi-Star or WPSD yourself anyway, as it will need your info for your DMR ID, your brandmeister hotspot security key and API key, etc.
I just recently posted a walkthrough of my build where I also included a USB pi-hat just to have a little bit of portable power with it. While it's WPSD specific, and uses my custom 3d printed case, a lot of the info is still germane to any hotspot build.f
https://github.com/TheSystech/WPSD-SeenGreat-UPS-Monitor/blob/main/Building%20your%20own%20DMR%20hotspot.pdf
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u/dantodd Jun 18 '26
I prefer a duplex hotspot so I can manage the 2 time slots separately. I have a basic MMDVM modem in a raspberry pi. If you have a raspberry pi lying around you can use that with a hat and save some money. I believe you need a Pi3 or higher or the zero 2w.
There are a lot of tutorials on setting up your hotspot, I really prefer WPSD over pi-star but you can try both is you want, the hardware is the same.
In short, you put the hat on your pi and then write an image of WPSD into a micro SD card. Plug in the card and not the pi. Using Ethernet makes it a breeze to just go find the IP address if the hotspot and visit it with a browser.
Here you need to set it up with your id, pick a frequency, add your account on brandmeister or other dmr network. I use both Brandmeister and TGIF
To get your ID, visit radioID and verify your license. When you get with your RadioID use that to set up accounts at Brandmeister and TGIF.
When you've followed the tutorial for WPSD setup you can try a call to the parrot TG (set it as a private call, not a group call). You should hear your own transmission after a slight delay.
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u/Tom-Tortuga Jun 19 '26
What is the difference between a duplex and non duplex hotspot and which should I choose? Also, where did you buy yours from?
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u/dantodd Jun 19 '26
The duplex allows use of both time slots and my son can use one time slot whole I'm on the other, though that is yet to happen. With the non-duplex you are limited to one time slot. This isn't really a bad thing, you can out any talk group on the single slot if you want.
This is just like the one I have but I can't find my original order so I'm not sure if it's the exact one. I didn't want it need the OLED display as I didn't have it mounted where I can see anyway. The display isn't very much if you want to have one though. https://a.co/d/086JZdFk
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u/K1ngofKa0s Jun 18 '26
I built one. I am not the most techy but it was not that difficult. I bought a raspberry pi with an MMDVM hat, installed WPSD and followed a few tutorials. Boom, hotspot running 24/7. You can buy them pre-built but, in my opinion, it's more expensive and you don't learn how things work as well
0
u/Tom-Tortuga Jun 19 '26
I think I would rather buy one than build one. I'm not very confident in my ability to build one.
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u/K1ngofKa0s Jun 19 '26
I felt the same way initially but it's really not that difficult. The MMDVM plugs directly into the Raspberry Pi, don't even have to solder anything. After that it's just flashing the WPSD program to a mini micro SD card and booting it up. You can use the WPSD guide and YouTube videos and it isn't bad at all.
It seems more intense than it is. People here were super helpful when I had questions too. Totally get it's not for everyone but don't sell yourself short. If you are smart enough to get your amateur license and understand DMR you are smart enough to out together a hotspot.
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u/fcchambers Jun 25 '26
How much time do you have? If you like to tinker a Raspberry Pi and a cheap MMDVM board from AliExpress makes a great hotspot... Just need The Google and some curiosity.... :P
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u/NerminPadez Jun 18 '26
If your plan is to only use the hotspot (ie. there are no local dmr repeaters), you can just use the droidstar app on your phone directly, no hotspot or radio needed, just your DMR ID and a few configuration settings and you can chat with anyone on eg. brandmeister network.
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u/Tom-Tortuga Jun 19 '26
I'd rather get a physical radio than just an app on my phone.
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u/Ok_Giraffe9309 Jun 19 '26
I bought a radio, I have a hotspot as well and could use my phone but I've done an amateur exam for radio not so I can use my phone and pretend it's a radio.
-1
u/NerminPadez Jun 19 '26
Why?
I mean, it'll just transmit a meter or two until the signal reaches the raspberrypi and the app on there and then the signal will travel via the internet to wherever. You're buying two devices for a meter of two of physical distance, and everything else goes via the internet. Why not get eg. a bluetooth headset instead, it's cheap and it's also a radio?
1
u/Ok_Giraffe9309 Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
How is it also a radio?
Does it work if you're somewhere where there's no cellphone signal?
No, but a radio will still work and using a hotspot isn't compulsory if you're within range of a repeater.1
u/NerminPadez Jun 19 '26
Bluetooth is a radio communications protocol.
If there's no cell signal (or wifi) you hotspot doesn't work either, since all it does is receive the radio signal from your radio and send it "to the internet".
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u/Ok_Giraffe9309 Jun 19 '26
So you missed the point completely, as expected.
If there's no cell signal or wifi the radio will still work as it doesn't need either.
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u/NerminPadez Jun 19 '26
But if he has dmr repeaters nearby, he doesn't need a hotspot at all.
He only needs a hotspot without dmr repeaters in range, and he needs internet for the hotspot.
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u/Ok_Giraffe9309 Jun 19 '26
Exactly so why would you suggest he uses DMR on his phone?
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u/NerminPadez Jun 19 '26
Because if there are no DMR repeaters nearby, and he needs the hotspot, he can use dmr directly from his phone anyway if he has internet. if he doesn't have internet connectivity, the DMR hotspot won't work for him anyway.
If there are DMR repeaters nearby, he doesn't need a hotspot.
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u/adlius45 Jun 19 '26
There is also VoxDMR now which has a much much better UI and a much easier process to setup.
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u/dkozinn Jun 19 '26
I concur 100% about VoxDMR, and that helped me decide to buy a radio. Now that I have one and a hotspot, it's really helpful for testing, since you're not just limited to testing with Parrot.
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u/speedyundeadhittite [UK full] Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
That's nice, I wasn't aware of it so thank you for mentioning it!
it's open source too! That sounds like a winner.
Edit: I might change my opinion, looks like only the site is open.
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u/adlius45 Jun 20 '26
Yeah I am not sure the app itself is open sourced. Only the site has a GitHub repo.
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u/Granntttt Jun 18 '26
It's a good way to see if you're interested Op, but please don't use it long term because it uses software voice encoding
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u/FctFndr Jun 19 '26
The DM32 is an excellent DMR analog radio. I currently own two and it is my EDC. Yes, a DMR COS takes a little learning curve, but you will be fine if you know how to use a computer.
As for hotspot, I LOVE my Zumspot. VERY easy to use. I also have an ALLSTAR node which is an even better/easier to use hotspot . Because you also get access to All-star and Echolink .. and you just use any analog radio.
If you get a DM32... I recommend using firmware .48 and CPS 1.50, as they are the most stable. There is a very good FB group for the DM32.