BrandMeister and Amatuer Radio

[PanJurekMrJerry]

Does anybody know what this is? This is a DMR network that supposedly has something to do with Amatuer Radio. Can I listen to this network on my scanner? If so, how?
Thanks.

 

[eaf1956]

If there is a Brandmiester repeater close by yes.

 

[jaspence]

You should be able to listen to most amateur DMR on a properly equipped scanner. Brandmeister is not the only network for DMR radio and since encryption is not allowed on amateur frequencies, you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[K8EAA]

Go to Ohio repeaterbook.com. Click on DMR. You will get a list of repeaters for the state. The freqs are for the repeater output. That is the
one you have to program into the scanner.

 

[eaf1956]

TGIF seems to be a much better DMR network rather than Brandmiester.

 

[bill4long]

TGIF seems to be a much better DMR network rather than Brandmiester.

Better in what way?

 

[bharvey2]

Better in what way?

I'm curious about that myself.

 

[eaf1956]

Brandmeister has too many rules and if you don't do things their way they block you.

 

[Kaleier1]

Does anybody know what this is? This is a DMR network that supposedly has something to do with Amatuer Radio. Can I listen to this network on my scanner? If so, how?
Thanks.

Yes. This is a voice over internet protocol (VOIP) network that gets connected to VHF and UHF ham repeaters so that repeaters can be linked (connected) to each other worldwide. You can use a ham hand held to talk with someone in another state or country through a local repeater. There is also the DMR MARC network which used to be more popular.

There are different talk groups for different areas or interests, like worldwide, nationwide, statewide, etc. It is up to the repeater owner as to what talk groups the repeater has. DMR uses 2 time slots so you can have two conversations one one frequency. The repeater will usually have two static talk groups which are always on like nationwide on slot 1 and statewide on slot 2 but then have dynamic talk groups that are activated by keying up the repeater with a talk group ID. The dynamic talk groups stay active for 15 minutes after that last transmission at which time the repeater goes back to the static talk group.

As long as you have a scanner that can receive DMR you can listen to them.

 

[bharvey2]

Brandmeister has too many rules and if you don't do things their way they block you.

It's odd that you say that. Most DMR repeater owners in my area switched over to Brandmeister when it came along. However, many switched away because they saw Brandmeister as "free for all" giving the repeater owner too little control of their own repeater.

 

[eaf1956]

It's odd that you say that. Most DMR repeater owners in my area switched over to Brandmeister when it came along. However, many switched away because they saw Brandmeister as "free for all" giving the repeater owner too little control of their own repeater.

As I said Brandmeister wants it their way.

 

[jaspence]

There are reasons for the rules. Because so many users did not use TG 310 as intended, repeater owners were having their output amps destroyed by continuous use when they were not designed for that type of duty cycles. The cost to get on the air if you don't have to rent an antenna sight is still going to be around $2,000-$3000 for the repeater alone. Because many users choose not to learn good radio practices, the only way to protect equipment is rules and limited access. The Mi5/CMEN network has some strict rules too, so unless the complainers are willing to pay the costs, they might consider a new hobby.

 

[2IR473]

Can anyone confirm my recollection ?...I recall when Brandmeister started up a number of years ago. I thought it started in Russia ?

Also, does anyone know if the folks behind the Brandmeister Network are selling your data ? (IP address, etc.). I recall the issue of a few years ago when the Brandmeister team had a conflict with the DMR-MARC folks, regarding the issuance of CCS-7 id numbers. When state-associated numbers were running out, DMR-MARC started issuing numbers starting with “11xxxxx” and the Brandmeister folks were not happy, stating the MCI country code was required for “3rd party vendors”. ???

And as an aside, can anyone tell me why the Pi-Star software appears to poll your home network every night, to identify all devices on your home network ? If I am wrong about that, I would welcome an explanation. I am not educated in networking. and it appears to me that many ham are not either, yet willingly jump into these VOIP networks with little to no education as to the environment they are operating. Isn’t that why we have to take tests to obtain a ham license ?

 

[bill4long]

Can anyone confirm my recollection ?...I recall when Brandmeister started up a number of years ago. I thought it started in Russia ?

Also, does anyone know if the folks behind the Brandmeister Network are selling your data ? (IP address, etc.). I recall the issue of a few years ago when the Brandmeister team had a conflict with the DMR-MARC folks, regarding the issuance of CCS-7 id numbers. When state-associated numbers were running out, DMR-MARC started issuing numbers starting with “11xxxxx” and the Brandmeister folks were not happy, stating the MCI country code was required for “3rd party vendors”. ???

And as an aside, can anyone tell me why the Pi-Star software appears to poll your home network every night, to identify all devices on your home network ? If I am wrong about that, I would welcome an explanation. I am not educated in networking. and it appears to me that many ham are not either, yet willingly jump into these VOIP networks with little to no education as to the environment they are operating. Isn’t that why we have to take tests to obtain a ham license ?

Pi-Star source is open source, and anyone is free to peruse it. Maybe you should check it out and report back.

 

[eaf1956]

There are reasons for the rules. Because so many users did not use TG 310 as intended, repeater owners were having their output amps destroyed by continuous use when they were not designed for that type of duty cycles. The cost to get on the air if you don't have to rent an antenna sight is still going to be around $2,000-$3000 for the repeater alone. Because many users choose not to learn good radio practices, the only way to protect equipment is rules and limited access. The Mi5/CMEN network has some strict rules too, so unless the complainers are willing to pay the costs, they might consider a new hobby.

Or they can move to networks that actually want to carry their traffic. And Brandmeister can sit idle and safe from burnout.

 

[alcahuete]

...repeater owners were having their output amps destroyed by continuous use when they were not designed for that type of duty cycles.

Lesson learned. Pay the extra money and get a repeater with 100% duty cycle...or if you don't want to do that, then stay off the various networks and just use it locally. I can't even imagine using a repeeater that isn't 100% duty cycle.

These repeater owners knew very well that their equipment wasn't 100% duty cycle, yet they willingly put it on one of these big worldwide networks anyway? That's their fault, not the fault of the users of the various talkgroups.

 

[EdmontonFireRadio]

It's odd that you say that. Most DMR repeater owners in my area switched over to Brandmeister when it came along. However, many switched away because they saw Brandmeister as "free for all" giving the repeater owner too little control of their own repeater.

What type of control were they wanting but not getting?

 

[dwh367]

Better in what way?

For one the admins and the dev team are easily accessible should you have a question or concern. They normally hang out on the TGIF talkgroup (31665). They're getting ready to switch over to a new and improved server, in the near future, and last Friday they hosted a 4 hour long question and answer session with the person responsible for implementing it. They didn't close the net until there were no more questions. That's why it lasted so long. That's something that would never happen on Brandmeister!

They have rules that they enforce, of course, but in the grand scheme of things they are a lot more laid back than what Brandmeister is. That's because it was founded by a group that finally had enough of Brandmeister's heavy handed tactics. One of the admins previously stated that they don't keep their hand on the "ban" button just waiting for someone to make a simple mistake.

I like it there much more than I do Brandmeister. As with any crowd, you'll have some exceptions, but there seems to be great group of people there for the most part.