I’m not currently affiliated with any of the repeater owners/sponsors/trustees so the following may be partially or mostly wrong. With that disclaimer …
Connecticut Amateur DMR is complicated. There are three predominant DMR networks present with overlapping, partially interoperable and somewhat conflicting talk groups. Not all networks carry all talk groups and to make matters more confusing, sometimes a talk group (TG) on one network is carried as a different TG on a different network.
The
Connecticut Digital Amateur Radio Network (CTDARN ctdarn.org) is affiliated with the New England Digital Emergency Communications Network (NEDECN
nedecn.org) and generally follows DMR-MARC (
dmr-marc.net) practices and talk group numbering. Example: CTDARN/NEDECN “CT Statewide” is carried as TG 3109 and can generally be reached by any repeater that carries 3109 that is part of the DMR-MARC network hierarchy.
The
Connecticut AREAS DMR Network (CT ARES ctares.org) mostly follows DMR-MARC, but the “CT Statewide” TG 8901 is specific to CT-ARES and is NOT the same as “CT Statewide” carried as 3109 on CTDARN/NEDECN/DMR-MARC. I’ll also note, several of the TGs listed on the CTARES website appear no longer active, such as PARROT 9998, TAC 310, and TAC 311. The good part about this network is the coverage across the state is excellent! Based on public information, it appears many of the repeaters are affiliated with the State Police Amateur club (W1SP) with numerous repeaters being colocated on state communications towers. The 8901 CT SW TG runs a weekly CT-ARES net on Sunday nights at 20:30 ET. It’s a good way to look at the various Netwatch and Peerwatch sites to see where it’s carried.
Brandmeister (Brandmeister.network) has a handful of repeaters in the state (not including hotspots) and I believe that Torrington W1HDN Repeater is part of the Brandmeister network now and not CT-ARES. Although, Brandmeister TG numbering is similar to DMR-MARC numbering, it’s been extended significantly and determining if a particular TG on Brandmeister, say NY Statewide 3136, is the same as TG 3136 on DMR-MARC repeaters takes investigation and/or local knowledge.
Here’s the plot twist, TG 3109 on Brandmeister, is NOT the same as TG 3109 (known as “CT Statewide”) on the CTDARN/NEDCN repeaters. They are entirely different! In fact, Brandmeister 3109 is the same as CT-ARES TG 8901, locally known as “CT Statewide”. Confusing, right?
So based on what you observed with the Torrington repeater….
You’ll need to used TG 3109 on that repeater (or any Brandmeister repeater) to connect to the CT-ARES CT Statewide TG, which is TG 8901 on the CT-ARES repeaters in CT. (Be aware that using TG 3109 on any CTDARN/NEDECN repeater puts you on the DMR-MARC version of 3109). You’ll also need to key up on the Torrington repeater on 3109. According to the PVRA website you visited, that TG is PTT activated which means if you will only hear traffic if you (or someone else) keys up periodically. Most PTT TGs time out after 10-15 min so a key up is required to hear the traffic again. It varies by repeater.
It does look like Northeast TG 3172 is carried on that repeater at all (again, based on the PVRA website).
Hope this helps. Feel free to DM me if I missed something. And is someone with better insider knowledge of these repeaters wants to weigh in, it would be great to confirm or debunk what I’ve offered.
