DSDPlus DMR RIDs with alias labels

[devicelab]

So I have the latest version of DSDPlus (Fastlane) and I just happened upon a DMR frequency that uses alias text labels on their RIDs just like NXDN. Has DSDPlus always supported this? I'm just curious as I've never seen this on DMR before... only NXDN.

 

[bravo14]

I haven't seen any DMR RID Alias popped up before on any version (free or paid) of DSDPlus.

 

[wx5uif]

I don't remember when this was added in DSDPlus, but it has supported talker alias for quite a while on DMR.

ETA: Release info.

New DSD+ FL - Nov 11th

Surprised there is no discussion on this yet... I'm sure the Phase II will be popular! Full release notes are with the update, but here are the highlights... DSD+ 2.145 Memory usage has been further reduced The -mp (PSK optimizations) command line option has been removed...

forums.radioreference.com

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

I don't remember when this was added in DSDPlus, but it has supported talker alias for quite a while on DMR.

Way back in 2018, Version 2.145. See here

 

[TheButcher]

I have seen this occur on ham frequencies. The callsign / name pops up.

I wonder how this can be configured on the radio / repeater side of things ???

 

[CanesFan95]

For ham radio, I thought the way it worked was to put the whole DMR callsign database in your DSDPlus.radios file. The hams only transmit their assigned radio ID number, then DSD+ looks that up in the file and displays the alias in the file.

But this looks like DMR can actually transmit alphanumeric text strings over the air? Never realized DMR could do that and thought it was only an NXDN thing.

 

[mwjones]

I have seen the same thing on a Hytera DMR Tier 3 system as well, so its not just exclusive to DMR Conventional.

 

[wx5uif]

DMR talker alias has been in the standard sine around 2016.
Several radios including many CCRs have supported it for quite a while. Motorola, who I’de say probably has most commercial radios out there hasn’t supported it except in the last couple of years on newer radios / firmware. Then you have the issue where firmware never gets upgraded because it’s “working fine.”

 

[TheButcher]

" For ham radio, I thought the way it worked was to put the whole DMR callsign database in your DSDPlus.radios file. The hams only transmit their assigned radio ID number, then DSD+ looks that up in the file and displays the alias in the file. "


This was without the ham ID file imported. Cool eh? I am unsure what brand of radio the hams were using. I have also seen ID's transmitted on other commercial TII and also on TIII systems.

 

[g6fgy]

Talker Alias (TA) is mainly used by the amateur DMR network known as Brandmeister, both in the UK & Europe. As has been mentioned, the users name/callsign is transmitted as part of an embedded text stream for general decoding & display in the receiving radio and is added by user, therefore doesn't rely on a huge database of radio ID's being stored in the radio. There are currently over 200,000 registered amateur ID's world wide and there are not many radios (Anytone excepted) that can store that amount of data.

The problem with TA, is that on older radios, particularly Motorola's, they are unable to decode the data stream properly, which results in reports of audio drop-out. Therefore most amateur DMR networks that use Motorola repeaters do not make use of the TA facility.

Hope this helps

Eric - G6FGY (UK)

 

[devicelab]

...this looks like DMR can actually transmit alphanumeric text strings over the air? Never realized DMR could do that and thought it was only an NXDN thing.

I didn't either. The interesting thing is that you can "see" these particular transmissions on the SDR because they have a little penis at the start of the waveform. You can easily see the difference when comparing to a normal DMR waveform.

 

[LimaZulu]

As G6FGY said, this is a feature that has to be programmed in the radio but not all brands and models support it.

....

The problem with TA, is that on older radios, particularly Motorola's, they are unable to decode the data stream properly, which results in reports of audio drop-out. Therefore most amateur DMR networks that use Motorola repeaters do not make use of the TA facility.

Hope this helps

Eric - G6FGY (UK)

Not only factory Motorola repeaters. The ones built with Motorola radios with MMDVDM modules has the same audio issues.