DMR - suggestions on what radio to buy for first time user

Status
Not open for further replies.

mauiblue

Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2006
Messages
52
Location
Maui, Hawaii
Aloha to all. I would want to delve into DMR and was wondering what I should be looking for in my first DMR radio. I know there is two DMR repeaters here on Maui that I could access. I was hoping to get more info about a good handheld radio I could use. I've tried researching this topic a bit but there is so much radios out there. Thanks.
 

jaspence

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 21, 2008
Messages
3,042
Location
Michigan
Dmr Radio

My preference is the Hytera (not Tytera) brand. They are a professional grade used in many foreign countries and a professional competitor to Motorola. If they are more than you want to spend, Connect Systems has some good choices starting around $140 for a decent HT to $399 for the dual band mobile. Connect Systems The low end is the Tytera MD 380 and variations, from around $85. I have one, and it works but does not compare in circuitry or build quality to my CS or Hytera radios. The CS 750 would be my choice for a good entry point as it has capacity for 2000 channels and 65,280 contacts.
 

mauiblue

Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2006
Messages
52
Location
Maui, Hawaii
Thank you, jaspence. I'm glad that prices for these DMR radios aren't too expensive. I've been working the local analog VHF/UFH repeater systems and no one really uses them. Boring as heck. A fellow ham that has a DMR repeater told me to try it. So on looking at what's out there in regards to radios.

Are they easy to program? Will I be able make more contacts than the analog repeaters?

Sent from my HTC6545LVW using Tapatalk
 

N4GIX

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
May 27, 2015
Messages
2,124
Location
Hot Springs, AR
Are they easy to program? Will I be able make more contacts than the analog repeaters?
They are not terribly difficult, but you will be entering four times as much data as with a simple flat-file analog radio.

As for contacts, I should hope so! After all, DMR will allow connections to over a thousand repeaters all over the world.
 

mauiblue

Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2006
Messages
52
Location
Maui, Hawaii
Thanks N4GIX. I'm looking forward in getting into DMR. The local repeater system is quite good as it cover practically the whole island and parts of the island of Hawaii. It is also connected to an Oregon repeater when the repeater manager allows it to. But hardly any contacts are made. Only more experienced hams are around and they don't want to chit-chat much.

Thanks for your response.

Sent from my HTC6545LVW using Tapatalk
 

jonwienke

More Info Coming Soon!
Joined
Jul 18, 2014
Messages
13,416
Location
VA
The TYT MD-380 is a decent DMR radio for under $100. It will let you get your feet wet without too much expense. If you want something a bit more robust and water-resistant, the MD-390 is about $130.

DMR only works worldwide if the repeater is linked into a network of repeaters. If it's a standalone, then you'll generally only be able to make local contacts, the same as an analog FM repeater.
 

n5ims

Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2004
Messages
3,993
Thank you, jaspence. I'm glad that prices for these DMR radios aren't too expensive. I've been working the local analog VHF/UFH repeater systems and no one really uses them. Boring as heck. A fellow ham that has a DMR repeater told me to try it. So on looking at what's out there in regards to radios.

Are they easy to program? Will I be able make more contacts than the analog repeaters?

They aren't that hard to program, but are much more difficult than the typical analog ham radio. They are similar to programming a commercial radio where you have to deal with codeplugs and the like where a simple oops can make the difference between it working well and not appearing to work at all.

My suggestion is to talk to that fellow ham with the DMR repeater (assuming it's local to your area) since they will know exactly what radios will work and probably have the correct codeplug available to get them working in your area with minimal changes (basically change the user's ID from the original one to the one assigned to you) and load it into the radio.

As I indicated above, you'll not only need your ham callsign, but also a DMR ID assigned to you so you can be accepted on the repeater network. This can be gotten here --> https://www.dmr-marc.net/cgi-bin/trbo-database/register.cgi
 

N4GIX

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
May 27, 2015
Messages
2,124
Location
Hot Springs, AR
Thanks N4GIX. I'm looking forward in getting into DMR. The local repeater system is quite good as it cover practically the whole island and parts of the island of Hawaii. It is also connected to an Oregon repeater when the repeater manager allows it to. But hardly any contacts are made. Only more experienced hams are around and they don't want to chit-chat much.

I suggest that you go here* and read up on what is available in Hawaii. For example, there are both VHF and UHF analog repeaters available, as well as 13 UHF DMR repeaters, so you might consider either of the following two dual-band radios:

MD-2017 ~$230
GD-77 ~$88

I have both of them (among several other single-band DMR HTs) and they both work quite well. I've checked all 13 DMR repeaters and all of them do offer IP connectivity for both World-Wide and U.S. English talk groups.

* http://www.qsl.net/ah6rh/am-radio/dmr/hawaii.html
 

n5ims

Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2004
Messages
3,993
One thing to think about is that some of the lower cost DMR radios have been banned from some ham DMR repeaters because of how they do (or fail to do) the TDMA functionality. Basically, they send the digital signal over both timeslots, instead of just one, as is specified. What is generally going on is that they're using the "simplex, non-TDMA mode", which is Tier I. The typical repeater is designed to use Tier II, which has two TDMA timeslots and the repeater owners frown at a user tying up both due to a misconfigured radio or one that isn't designed to work on that mode.

Also be aware that there are some radios that state that they work on both Type I and Type II systems, but require that a firmware upgrade be done to activate the Tier II functionality and this upgrade often must be done at the factory (at the user's expense).

Details can be found on this old thread --> https://forums.radioreference.com/b.../343636-baofeng-dm-5r-banned-hoosier-dmr.html
 

N4GIX

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
May 27, 2015
Messages
2,124
Location
Hot Springs, AR
There is one - and only one - low cost DMR HT that displayed this problem, and it's getting hard to find: the BaoFeng DM-5R+...

Both the MD-2017 and the GD-77 are fully Tier II compatible. I'd put both on my digital service monitor and they meet their published specifications.
 

mauiblue

Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2006
Messages
52
Location
Maui, Hawaii
Doing a bit more of research and I finally decided to get the TYT MD-390. I have a ID number that I requested from one of the DMR websites. So now the waiting game of when I will receive the radio and then programing it.

Thanks you guys for all the info you have given in this thread. I hope this will also help others that are in my situation in trying to get my feet wet in DMR.
 

mauiblue

Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2006
Messages
52
Location
Maui, Hawaii
UPDATE: A little over a month now with my new TYT MD-390 and I am loving it. I've installed the experimental MD380toolz firmware and I am so happy I did.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top