What Digital Modes Interest You On VHF/UHF In MN?

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JASII

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As posted above, what digital modes do you listen to, or would you like to listen to, in Minnesota on VHF/UHF?

For public safety, it seems that P25 is king around here.

For amateur radio, it sounds like MOTO TRBO, D-Star, and P25 are in use. Is there much Yaesu Fusion in use?

For business, it looks like MOTO TRBO is the most common.

Is there any NXDN for railroads around Minnesota?

Are there any other digital modes that are being used around here?,
 

WA0TXJ

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You can download the complete list of coordinated repeaters from www.mnrepeaters.org/MN_List.pdf Jerry Dorf N0FWG is the coordinator for the state of Minnesota.

At the current time the repeater list has two sorts. The first sort is by emission (such as 20K0F3E 5 kHz FM Voice, 4K00F1E NXDN 6.25 kHz voice, 9K36F7W Yaesu Fusion, and others). You’ll notice there are quite a few Fusion and Icon D-Star systems coordinated. There is a very limited number of DMR, NXDN, and P25 systems coordinated. The second sort is by region.

My EFJ 5100ES P25 has been scanning the Minneapolis 146.7 mHz and it has been a while since there has been a digital transmission. My guess is the Fusion system will prevail over P25 and NXDN even though that is not where I’ve put my money a number of years ago. Yaesu was offering repeaters at $500 to clubs, and for those groups running older, or unsophisticated systems the price was too good to pass by for an equipment refresh. The VHF channels are lower than my Nuand BladeRF can received, and the HP-2 only will get the FM and P25 conventional.

Alan W0ZKB operates D-Star sites in downtown Minneapolis and near the MSP. He also has a portable system used in the marathons and bike races.

Good luck!
 
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wogggieee

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On the ham side of thing repeaterbook.com is the best up to date listing of repeaters and has sections for niche modes like dmr, dstar, and fusion with maps. Last time I checked, the number of fusion repeaters nearly equals that of D-star repeaters. Currently there are five dmr repeaters in the state, 4 metro and 1 out-state. As far as actual activity on those repeaters, based on my own monitoring, I'd say they rank, in order of most active to least active, Fusion, DMR, D-Star.
 

ScanWI

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As far as actual activity on those repeaters, based on my own monitoring, I'd say they rank, in order of most active to least active, Fusion, DMR, D-Star.

I would not put D-star anywhere near the end of the list, D-Star is very active in Minnesota. There are multiple statewide nets and many of the repeaters are linked into REF053A. Not all the D-Star repeaters are linked or have network access. The ones that do however are very active. I have never had a hard time finding someone to talk to on them.
 

wogggieee

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I would not put D-star anywhere near the end of the list, D-Star is very active in Minnesota. There are multiple statewide nets and many of the repeaters are linked into REF053A. Not all the D-Star repeaters are linked or have network access. The ones that do however are very active. I have never had a hard time finding someone to talk to on them.

My monitoring would indicate otherwise. Additionally looking at the Dplus dashboard shows 9 keyups in the last 12 hours with no apparent actual QSO activity on REF53A. On fusion and DMR I have heard multiple QSOs in that time. Maybe I'm just listening at the wrong time (evening) and everything on the reflector isnt getting reported, but I'm just do not see the evidence to show me that it is very active, and certainly not more so than DMR or fusion.
 

ScanWI

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My monitoring would indicate otherwise. Additionally looking at the Dplus dashboard shows 9 keyups in the last 12 hours with no apparent actual QSO activity on REF53A. On fusion and DMR I have heard multiple QSOs in that time. Maybe I'm just listening at the wrong time (evening) and everything on the reflector isnt getting reported, but I'm just do not see the evidence to show me that it is very active, and certainly not more so than DMR or fusion.

No the dashboard does not always report who is talking. It can depend on how much traffic and how the person is getting to the reflector. When DMR is hooked up to the worldwide network, of course it will be busy as is a D-Star repeater when it is put on REF001C. I usually have no issue finding someone to talk to on REF053A.
 

wogggieee

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167 minutes of talk time yesterday on the Minnesota talkgroup on DMR alone, this doesn't include any traffic on local 2 or local 9. That's all locally originated traffic. I have never once heard that much traffic on D-Star without a net happening. World wide is a PTT talkgroup here so it is only active when someone wants it active and doesn't drive traffic locally. I'm sorry but I have not seen any evidence to show that D-Star is all that active here and certainly not more so than DMR or Fusion. Even if I listen to REF001C the local talkgroups (Minnesota, Local 2, Local 9) on DMR are more active than my dstar radio.

Traffic originated by users per DMR repeater
N0AGI: 96 minutes
NH7YC: 76 Minutes
N0YNT: 31.98 Minutes
 
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