What are the advantages of FreeDMR and what features do you support?
Dial-a-TG: Set a channel in your radio on TG 9 and call up any TG you want without having to create more channels.
Custom Pi-Star Options to control all your settings yourself such as:
Voice Idents (Hotspot voice identifies with your CALL)
Single Mode TG Access (Allows for only a single TG to be accessed at a time)
Language Selection (Language for Voice Idents)
Time out Timer (TG Timer Setting – How long to leave the TG open to your Hot-Spot)
ex: Options=”TS2=310441;DIAL=1;VOICE=1;LANG=en_GB;SINGLE=0;TIMER=15;”
Do you support direct connection of Repeaters?
Yes. You can connect your repeater to our system directly. Please contact us for connection information.
Do you support ECHO or PARROT?
Yes, While connected to our network with your hotspot. PTT on 9990 to activate the ECHO service and then PTT again and begin speaking!
What networks are you connected to?
Currently we are peered with FreeDMR as well as TGIF (TG310441). A list of current TG’s can be found here.
Do you support sending GPS/D-APRS to APRS.fi?
Yes, While connected in to our network with your hot-spot just direct your radio to send its GPS/D-APRS data to TG 900999 (WNYDIGITAL) and it will pass through to APRS.fi.
SMS Command List: (Create new radio contact WNYDIGITAL ID: 900999)
*SSID 7 (Sets your APRS SSID to “7” or any other number you select.)
*APRS on (Turns on APRS for your radio)
*APRS off (Turns off APRS for your radio)
*ICON /[ (Sets your APRS icon to the portable icon)
@WXBOT Lasvegas,NV (Request weather for the area specified)
Can you legally drive and talk on Ham Radio in the US?
Short answer is YES! “Driving while Rag-chewing”? See these links. link1 link2
When would I need a proper DMR ID?
If you are connecting directly or indirectly to any DMR gateway you will need a properly registered DMR Id. You can start that process by visiting here!
Why do you route your Digital Voice traffic over IPv6 versus IPv4?
While IPv6 has been around for quite some time, the world is just now starting to adopt its use more and more due to the shortage of IPv4 addresses available. We currently own and route thousands of IPv6 sub-nets over multiple ASN’s giving us millions of IPv6 addresses at our disposal. IPv6 being so new has nearly no congestion on networks and very minimal latency as compared to IPv4. Digital Radio technologies such as DMR require less than 700ms of latency which can be an issue on some larger networks however if you route that traffic over IPv6 instead it is a lot cleaner due to the way it routes and moves traffic via RA. On a small DMR network this isn’t such a big deal however when you want to route DMR over larger segments you want the traffic as clean as possible. There are also a lot more fancy features in IPv6 and RA that you can use in DMR/Digital networks such as these like better compression, roaming IP, and others.
Some people have HOT Mic’s (Really LOUD) or are really low and hard to hear on DMR. What can I do on my end to fix that?
Unfortunately there are so many brands of DMR radios out there its hard to have an actual standard. I personally use the 25% rule which is; your mic gain should be set so that most people can hear you perfectly with their volume knob set to 25% audio. This leaves room to lower the volume if needed but also allows a 75% increase of audio if you are somewhere really noisy say in a vehicle or crowd. This 25% rule seems to work quite well among the users on the system. Don’t be afraid to adjust your audio gain and get on the system and ask how it sounds. We’re all here to help and enjoy the hobby together!
What is linking or Clustering and how does it effect my Hot-Spot or Repeater?
Linking or Clustering is the ability to link a static Talk Group among many Hot-Spots and Repeaters in the area which help to extend the communication coverage of that Talk Group or (TG) for local Hams. Once you are linked in and you use your Dual-Radio Hot-Spot from anywhere in the world on TG:310441 you will still be connected to all the local repeaters in the area as if you never left. As an example lets say you travel to Florida for vacation and you have your Hot-Spot connected via your Hotel or Cellular Phone. Now you key up on TG:310441 and magically through the internet you are talking over the repeaters in Buffalo back to your friends and family locally!.
Who is the Admin of the WNY-DIGITAL System?