Digital Talkgroups Internet vs Repeaters

[C_615]

After many decades as a radio hobbyist, I am seriously considering getting my Ham license. In learning more about all the digital modes now available, I have a question that I can’t seem to find the answer to elsewhere: Does some talkgroup activity exist exclusively on the internet or is there always a repeater involved?

Let’s take for example a talkgroup on the Brandmeister Network. Let’s use TG 31124 (whether it’s real or not is irrelevant). Let’s say Person A and Person B are both using open spot to access the TG. Let’s also pretend that my local repeater has 31124 on it. Does the repeater transmit all traffic that occurs on that TG or only if Person A or Person B (or both) was using the repeater to access the TG?

I hope this makes sense, because what I am getting at is: is there more traffic on TGs than I’m hearing over my scanners and SDRs?

 

[N4DES]

In the C-Bridge (for a Moto) a talkgroup can be set full time or from an RF PTT. If it's set to RF PTT the repeater will remain muted until a local radio talks to it. I mix and match in mine with the local/state talkgroups are full time on and regional/nationwide are PTT only.

 

[hill]

Depends.

Some talkgroups are fulltime. Meaning the are always on and are always coming from the repeater.

Others are Push to Talk (PTT) and are only local repeater when some one using it stays active for a length of time before it times out. The time it stays on is listed some are 10 minutes or 15 minutes.

 

[K4EET]

After many decades as a radio hobbyist, I am seriously considering getting my Ham license. In learning more about all the digital modes now available, I have a question that I can’t seem to find the answer to elsewhere: Does some talkgroup activity exist exclusively on the internet or is there always a repeater involved?

<snip>

First, great to hear that you are seriously considering getting your ham license. It is a great hobby and there is so much to do you should never get bored.

Second, to answer your first question, talkgroup and room activity almost always involves RF somewhere in the path whether it be a repeater for access or a hotspot for access. But with thousands upon thousands of talkgroups and rooms on the various networks, not all involve a repeater.

Some talkgroups/rooms will bring up multiple repeaters worldwide while other talkgroups/rooms are not active on any repeater. In most cases, the repeater’s owner or trustee will determine if a particular talkgroup/room will be “locked in” on a repeater or if the repeater will have dynamic access to different talkgroups/rooms as selected by the radio operator.

Of course DMR, Yaesu System Fusion (YSF) WIRES-X, and ICOM/Kenwood’s D-STAR all work differently but the user interface is somewhat similar. Personally, having capabilities to access all three systems, I find WIRES-X to be the easiest to access a particular room. On WIRES-X, the Kansas City Wide room (America KC-Wide) is very active with worldwide comms. On DMR, I enjoy listening to the Kansas City Wide (KCWide) talkgroup which is obviously linked. The main website for KCWide is:

America's Kansas City Wide – International Digital Network

That talkgroup/room is retransmitted on repeaters all over so the repeater ops discourage ragchew type comms so that users worldwide have a chance to talk.

But all that is just one snippet of Amateur Radio. With the Technician class license, there are other frequencies and modes that you can get involved with. I have been a ham for 50 years and am still learning and exploring and experimenting with new things all the time. I am getting set up for satellite and ISS comms on VHF/UHF. I am also building a magnetic loop antenna (MLA) from hamfest parts that have cost me less than $50. The MLA is for Tx/Rx 40 through 10 meters at up to 50 Watts RF. I am using a vacuum-variable capacitor as the tuning capacitor to handle the extra wattage.

Keep us posted on your progress!

73, Dave K4EET