Inkonsistente Registrierungs-Informationen

Von radioid.net habe ich ein JSON File, welches einen Database-Dump aller weltweiten repeater enthält heruntergeladen und in CSV konvertiert. Mit Ron’s CSV Editor geöffnet und schlicht einen Schock bekommen. Schaut man auf die Spalte ipsc_networks, welche repräsentiert zu welchem Netzwerk dieser DMR Repeater gehört, findet man:

  • Fragezeichen
  • Telefonnummern
  • IP-Nummern
  • Müll-Eingaben

und Information zu welchem ipsc_network der Repeater gehören KÖNNTE !

Wo es jetzt lustig wird (wäre es nicht so traurig….) ist z.B. wie BrandMeister eingetippt wurde. Hier ein paar Beispiele: 

BM, BandMeister, BradnMeister, BRAINSMATER, Brand Meister, Brand meister, Brand mister, Brandeister, Brandmaiester, Brandmaister, BrandMaister, BRANDMASTER, brandmaster, Brandmaster, BrandMaster, BrandMeirster, BrandMeiste, Brandmeiseter, BRANDMEISTER, brandmesister, Brandmiester, BrandMiester, BRANDMISTER, brandmister, Branmeister, branmister, Bransmeister, BRANSMESITER, BrantMeister, Brewmister, Brndmeister.

Brewmister wird sicherlich mein “all time favoured”, aber mal ehrlich: “Was zur Hölle machen die Repeater-Betreiber da draussen eigentlich ?” Davon ausgehend das die Registrierung des Repeater NICHT per Brieftaube, Brief oder Postkarte, sondern per Internet geschieht, frage ich mich was so schwierig daran ist, erst zu recherchieren und dann notfalls per Cut and Paste die Eingabe einzustellen. Mir ist klar, das gesunder Menschenverstand, die begrenzteste Ressource im Universum ist, aber das die Verknappung so stark ist, erstaunt mich wirklich !!

Andererseits zeigt es mir, das die Formulare der Registrierungsstellen auf deren Webseiten zu viel Raum für individuelle Eingaben lassen, schlimmer noch…die Admins der Registrierungs-Datenbanken scheinen keine Richtlinien für korrekte Eingaben zu haben und winken einfach alles durch ohne Korrektur oder Ablehnung wenn falsch. ERGEBNIS: MÜLL !!

Dgl. findet sich natürlich auch bei DMRplus, DMR-MARC usw.. Keine Konsistenz der Daten

Darüber hinaus habe ich 621 (!!) Repeater (oder ca. 8%) in der Datenbank identifiziert, die gar keine Information haben, zu welchem ipsc_network sie gehören. EINE SCHANDE !! Warum – falls diese unabhängige Repeater (also nicht vernetzt) sind – steht dann nicht in einer Drop-Down Liste “no ipsc_network connection” später im ipsc_network Feld ?

Erkenntnis:

Die Registrierung von Benutzern und Repeatern muss von Profis durchgeführt werden, nicht von Hobbyisten. Der Registrierungsprozess sollte in der Hand unserer nationalen Clubs (DARC, ARRL usw.) oder einer noch höheren Instanz liegen, wenn möglich. Klare Formulare mit Drop-Down Listen, Hilfestellungen, Automatische Berechnung/Überprüfung z.B. der Lat/Lon auf Grund der Adresse, Prüfungen gegenüber anderen Datenbanken etc. verhindern, das “Frei-Text-Eingaben” durchgeführt werden können. Eingaben werden genau verifiziert, um zu  verhindern das die  Datenbank inkonsistent wird, wie es derzeit der Fall ist.

Inconsistent Registrar Informations

I downloaded a JSON file from radioid.net containing a database dump of all repeaters worldwide. With Ron’s CSV Editor I opened it after conversion from JSON to CSV and got a shock. When you look at the column which represents the information which ipsc_network this DMR Repeater belongs to you will find:

  • Question Marks
  • Phone Numbers
  • IP-Numbers
  • Garbage
  • and information to which ipsc_network it MAY belongs to. 

Where it gets funny (if it would not be so sad…) is how i.e. BrandMeister was typed in. Here are some examples:

BM, BandMeister, BradnMeister, BRAINSMATER, Brand Meister, Brand meister, Brand mister, Brandeister, Brandmaiester, Brandmaister, BrandMaister, BRANDMASTER, brandmaster, Brandmaster, BrandMaster, BrandMeirster, BrandMeiste, Brandmeiseter, BRANDMEISTER, brandmesister, Brandmiester, BrandMiester, BRANDMISTER, brandmister, Branmeister, branmister, Bransmeister, BRANSMESITER, BrantMeister, Brewmister, Brndmeister.

Definitely Brewmister will become my all time favoured, but what the hell is going on with the repeater sysops out there. Given the fact, that they are not sendig carrier pigeons, letters or postcards to the registrar, they do it for sure by Internet. What is so difficult, to do some research, cut and paste ?? I know that common sense is the most limited natural resource in the universe, but I did not recognize that common sense is THAT LIMITED !!

On the other hand, it shows me that the repeater registration forms at the registrars websites leave to much room for individual entries, even worse, the admins of the repeater registration databases do not have guidelines how a correct entry must look like. I suppose that they wave the entries through without checking them. RESULT: COMPLETE MESS !

The same can be found for DMRplus, DMR-MARC etc. No consistency

In the repeater list I have identified 621 (!!) registered repeaters without any information which ipsc_network they belong to, which is approx 8% of all entries. A SHAME !! If they are independent repeaters, ok fine, but than have in the drop down list  “no ipsc_network connection” later in the ipsc_network field.

 

Conclusion:

The registration of Users and Repeaters has to be carried out by professionals, not by hobbyists. It should be in the hand of our national clubs (DARC, ARRL etc.) or even a higher instance if possible. Clear forms with drop-down lists, automatic processing (lat, lon calculation by address), checks against other databases and so on, to avoid that individual entries can be made, all entries must be verified, to avoid that the database becomes inconsistent as it is now.

 

Brandmeister, DMRplus, etc. – welches Netzwerk ist das richtige

Ich persönlich bevorzuge Brandmeister (BM), andere DMRplus (D+), DMR-MARC usw.. Diese Netze können parallel auf einem Gerät existieren, wenn man auf die Unterschiede achtet, denn einige Parameter unterscheiden sich. Daher empfehle ich die Repeater dieser Netze entsprechend in der Kanalliste zu kennzeichnen. Z.B. der DMRplus repeater DB0PBS wird DB0PBS D+ genannt, der BM Repeater DO0ERK wird zu DO0ERK BM usw. 

Selbiges muss sich dann auch bei den TG’s niederschlagen, den D+ TG world hat die Nummer 1 bei BM hat die TG world die Nummer 91. Die Talkgruppen sollten daher als D+ World (=1) bzw. BM World (=91) benannt werden, damit ich Repeater und TG übereinstimmend auswählen kann.

Natürlich gibt es Multi-Net Übergänge zwischen den Netzen (Interfaces zwischen den Netzen oder den Technologien wie C4FM, DStar etc.) die in jedem Netz verfügbar sind. Leider hatte ich noch keine Zeit diese auszuprobieren. Falls interessant, bitte selbst im Internet recherchieren. Weitere (umfangreiche) Informationen finden sich hier.

DMR mit wenigen Worten erklärt

Als ich mit DMR begann, wurde mir schlicht schwindlig und der Verbrauch von Kopfschmerz-Tabletten stieg dramatisch an. Nach einiger Zeit hatte ich aber das Konzept verstanden und kann sagen das mein analoger Yaesu FT857 ist eine größere Herausforderung um alle Einstellungen korrekt vorzunehmen. Nun ja, ich bin mit Computern seit 1980 eng verbunden, was mir sicherlich hilft. Aber wenn Sie sich etwas mit Excel (oder Ron’s CSV Editor, den ich bevorzuge – da einfacher zu bedienen) ist man schon fast am Ziel

DMR ist nicht kompliziert, es ist komplex. Ein anderes Problem ist, dass viele Informationen im Internet entweder falsch, veraltet und/oder unklar sind, oder sie gehen so tief ins Detail, das die Informationen irrelevant für die Programmierung des Geräts sind. Der Universalschlüssel zum Gerät ist die Codeplug (CP-) Software des Herstellers und diese muss mit den richtigen Informationen gefüttert werden. Der Codeplug besteht in der Minimalversion aus einer Frequenzliste (analoge und digitale Frequenzen, nach Repeatern oder Aufgabe benannt), diese werden in Zonen logisch zusammengefasst (z.B. alle digitalen Repeater in NRW, in Deutschland usw.). Weiterhin benötige ich noch eine Liste von Talkgroups (TG’s) oder Sprachgruppen an die Sie interessiert sind (z.B. Welt, Lokal, Regional, Land, Bundesland, Sprache oder für spezifischer Nutzung wie den Notfallkanal 112)

Sie selbst brauchen für die Teilnahme an DMR (und DStar) eine CCS7-Kennnummer. Diese kann für Europa und Afrika hier beantragt werden. Nord-Amerika, Süd-Amerika, Asien und Ozeanien registrieren sich hier. Beide Registrierungsstellen verlangen einen Scan Ihrer Amateurfunklizenz.

Registrierte DMR (DStar) Benutzer stehen dann in einer CCS7 Datenbank zur Verfügung und kann von dort heruntergeladen werden. Heruntergeladen und ins Radio transferiert erlaubt dann bei einem QSO zusätzliche Informationen auf dem Display zu sehen, wie z.B Rufzeichen, Name, Stadt, Staat, Land.

Darüber hinaus werden Sie mit Timeslots (TS) in Berührung kommen, namens TS1 und TS2, da DMR (und DStar) auf einer Frequenz 2 QSO’s gleichzeitig unterbringen können und nicht nur ein QSO wie die analoge Welt. Obendrein gibt es noch Color codes (CC), die in Ihrer Kanalliste (Frequenzliste) mit dem Repeater übereinstimmen muss.

Zum guten Schluss werden Sie auf dem Repeater statische und dynamische TG’s finden. Statische Talkgroups sind immer da, d.h. sie können rund um die Uhr mithören und senden. Dynamische Talkgroups verhalten sich anders, da nach der Auswahl der gewünschten TG kurz die PTT-Taste gedrückt werden muss damit der Repeater sich mit der TG verbindet. Bei Inaktivität Ihrerseits fliegen Sie nach 6-10min. raus. Insbesondere schade dass hier in Deutschland nur die Deutsche TG (262) statisch ist, die TG Welt (91) ist nur dynamisch verfügbar. D.h. alle 6-10min. muss ich wieder die PTT Taste drücken. Dies wiederspricht eigentlich der Grundidee des Amateurfunks. Welcher TS welche TG bereitstellt findet man meistens auf der Webseite des Repeaters. sowie auf den Brandmeister / DMRplus Webseiten. Jeder TS kann sowohl dynamische als auch statische TG’s bereitstellen.

Eigentlich nicht so schwierig !! Oder ?

 

Viele nützliche Informationen finden sich in der Linksammlung

Setting up hotspots

My first hotspot was a ZUMspot from HAM Radio Outlet, which I bought in Plano,TX. Well it is a PI-Zero in a nice housing, running in simplex mode and has a small OLED display. It worked fine at the beginning but for whatever reasons (never investigated deep into it) it became unstable. As I had to Raspberry 3B at home I ordered two china-made Dual-Hat MMDVM’s for the pistar software. They run much faster and quite unproblematic and in Duplex mode. My setup here is that one Hotspot run’s DMR, the other DStar with the latest pi-star beta-software. The DStar one has an OLED display the DMR one has a colour Nexion display which needs a bit more attention in terms of configuration and preparation for this job.

The latest hotspot I bought is the SharkRF openSPOT3 which plays in a much higher league than the MMDVM ones, as it starts within 5 sec. has a build in lithium battery which is nice in the car, cause starting the car always takes for a short moment the power away and the raspberries do not really like it (use a power-bank in this case).

The MMDVM is quickly installed to the raspberry pi, the only soldering work are the antenna sockets which have to be soldered on the PCB and maybe the connectors for the displays. The OpenSPOT3 comes ready made and needs some easy configuration, much easier than the pi-star software.

 

If you want to know much more about hotspots, try this website, it gives you tons of information. In addition the pi-star website maintained by Andy Taylor (MW0MWZ). Information about the openSPOT3 can be found at the SharkRF website.

I will not dive deeper into the technology or configuration of hotspots, as there are thousands of excellent articles about it in the internet – google is your friend.

Hotspots are ideal if you have antenna restrictions, or you are on the road and do not want to have a repeater list for your whole country or state in the radio, you are in a hotel, clinic or too far away from a repeater. Together with your mobile in tethering mode (mobile is set to WLAN access point) or you have a small LTE/WLAN Router, these hotspots are simply great. Especially the SharkRF one, as it can bridge by hardware transcoding automatically with the built-in AMBE® vocoder chip to other technologies for instance to DMR from C4FM, DStar and vice versa. 

Codeplugs for specific use (QTH, Car, Portable)

Let’s assume you have the same gear as I have. Three D-878UV Handheld, two D-578UV mobile radio’s, one in the car, one in the QTH. Just by their use they are different.

 

Radio Where located Movement Repeaters in Codeplug Remarks
D-578UVPlus QTH none, static local connects to repeaters nearby, always the same ones
D-878UVPlus Always with me, beltclip often, dynamic Europe or Countries I will travel to connects to repeaters when available otherwise to a hotspot 
D-578UVPlus CAR mounted often, dynamic Europe or Countries I will travel to connects to known repeaters or hotspot, gps-roaming should be enabled for common regions. “Normal” roaming should be configured after your countries band plans

I am lazy and want to get what I want without pressing to much buttons or crawl in lists. That’s why I created three different CP’s each developed with the best performance for the specific use in mind.

QTH: The D-578UV in the QTH knows only my hotspots at home and 8 repeaters nearby. BUT I have multiplied each repeater (channel) 23 times. As the codeplug software does not accept duplicated channel (repeater) names, each repeater name got an addition which represents the TG. I.e. you will find the repeater DB0ANT as DB0ANT World, DB0ANT Germany and so on. In the channel list a different TG is associated for each channel of the same repeater as you can see here in the screenshots:

Zone Edit - pointing to the channels with TG for the QTH zone
Zone Edit – pointing to the channels with TG for the QTH zone

Part of the channel list, repeaters with TG's directly associated
Part of the channel list, repeaters with TG’s directly associated

 

The zones I have defined are the digital repeaters with (QTH) or without (CAR, PORTABLE) associated TG’s, my hotspots, PMR, analog repeaters and European DMR repeaters as seperate zones for each country. The TG-List is still there with all TG’s available worldwide, but for QTH use, I just need the channel knob to switch between talkgroups by using the Channel/TG combination. Very convenient. A roaming list is not needed, as this radio normally does not move.

CAR: Differently constructed is the CP for the D-578UV in the car. Each repeater is marked with the associated Timeslot (TS) and my most used TG. That means i.e. DB0ANT has two entries DB0ANT-Germany (TS1) and DB0ANT-World (TS2) associated by me as a default. That saves channel entries and is used in all DMR zones.

I have in my channel list all (and I mean ALL) European DMR repeaters after this methodology. Countries can be selected by the zone list, where each country has its own entry with the corresponding repeaters associated twice (TS1/TS2 = Germany/World). With one look at the repeater name I can imagine my TS and my TG is also displayed underneath the repeater name. Of course my hotspots are also there, in case I can not reach a repeater and I have a hotspot with me. In such a case I have LTE connection for my DMR hotspot to the WLAN router in the car. In addition I have created a roaming channel list and a roaming zone list for my state, where I travel most. With the roaming switched on, the radio in the car chooses by itself the next reachable repeater. GPS roaming is also switched on.

PORTABLE: The handheld radio has the same channel-list and zones plus the QTH zone with the Channel/TG combination settings. Furthermore it uses roaming zones and roaming channels as well as GPS roaming. Also my hotspot can be used with the handheld, either in the QTH or i.e. in a hotel with internet access or using my portable router where LTE is available.

I hope that my ideas behind these different CP’s became clear to you, if not pls. blame me as I must have explained it in a wrong way.

 

DMR explained with a few words

When I first started with DMR my head started spinning and my consumption of pain killers against head-pain raised dramatically. After a while – understanding the concept – I can say that my analogue Yaesu FT857 is more challenging in terms of settings, than my Anytone DMR radios. Well I am deep into Computers since 1980 which is an advantage for sure. I strongly recommend to use Rons CSV Editor in the PRO Version for some $$$ or use OpenOffice Calc from within the OpenOffice suite. I mention that because Microsoft’s Excel is a nightmare compared to this two alternatives when it comes to csv files, and we mainly deal with csv’s.

DMR is not complicated, it is just damn complex. The other problem you will find, is that most information in the internet is either wrong, outdated, half the truth, unclear or goes too deep into details which are not important for the programming of a radio by the Codeplug -Software (CPS). Programming a radio via the codeplug is a bottom up approach.The whole thing consists of a channel list (analog and digital frequencies named by repeater or the use of it), Zones where you group your frequencies logically (i.e. by country, region, usecase or personal taste), a Talkgroup-list of Talkgroups (TG) you are interested in (World, local, regional, country, state, county, language or specific use like emergency comms).

The next hurdle you have to take is the quality of the Codeplug Software. Always the English translation is the best even if makes a native English speaker laugh out loud. If you understand English, feel like belonging to an elite group, which has access to an close to understandable piece of software. If you don’t speak English – good luck !!

Furthermore you need your personal DMR/CCS7 Identifier, a seven digit number which represents you and your callsign in the DMR (and DStar) network. For Europe and Africa, you can register here. North America, South America, Asia and Oceania must register here. In both cases you have to upload a scan of your License.

DMR user details are available in a DMR/CCS7 Database which is ready for download in the internet. Downloaded and imported to the radio, you will see each station with additional information like Call-Sign, Name, City, State, Country. Good sources are radioid.net, AmateurRadio.digital, but my preferred tool is the “easy DMR contacts generator” by HK3A as it supports different radio types. If you only see a 7 digit number, either your Digital ID list is outdated and you have to load a new one or your radios Digital ID database is full and the newly registered callsigns can not be loaded to your radio. Either way – it’s not the other OM’s fault that you do not see his/her callsign, the problem is on your end !

When dealing with repeater (channel-) lists, you will come across a colorcode. This can be a value between 0 and 15. Mostly color code 1 is used. You will find the color code in the repeater lists for DMR in the internet (see useful links for details). The color code of the channel in your codeplug has to be the same as the one on the repeater.

Finally you will find static talkgroups and dynamic talkgroups associated to TS1 or TS2. Which talkgroups are associated to which Timeslot you can find out on the website of your repeater or at the Brandmeister / DMRplus pages in general or for the desired country. The difference is that a static TG is always there, if you want to join a TG which is not static (=dynamic), you choose the talkgroup of your liking in the radio, select it, press PTT and you are subscribed (dynamically) to it with an inactivity timeout of 6-10 min. if you do not have a qso, otherwise you have to press the PTT again (and again) because this TG is closed by the repeater if it is not kept open by you (or others). Both kind of TG’s can be on any TS but you should use TS2 for dynamic talkgroups. The reason is if you choose a dynamic TG on TS1, you disturb the static talkgroups, mainly the country wide ones which are very frequented. If you want to listen permanently to a talkgroup which is not static on your repeater, consider to buy a hotspot, which you can configure to your personal needs without disturbing other OM’s.

 

Was it that hard ?

 

More good information can be found on the useful links page

 

Time Slot’s and Color Codes…what the hell..?

A timeslot is relatively easy to explain. It divides the digital transmission on the frequency in two channels, named TS1 and TS2. Analog communication can only do one communication on a channel at a time. In DMR two conversations can happen at the same time as the digital packets need less “space” (see graphic below). Depending on the setup of your repeater you will have i.e. static TG’s in TS1 and dynamic TG’s in TS2. Which are static and which are dynamic depends on the sysop and recommendation of i.e. the Brandmeister community. If you want to use a specific TG, simply select the TS2, the TG you want and press PTT for a short time. Depending on the time-out value the repeater sysop has set, you are now in this TG dynamically and without any activity of you (i.e. a QSO), this dynamic TG will be removed after 6-10 mins.

Same with color code. The color code you have set for a digital repeater in the Channels List of your codeplug must correspond with the color code this repeater uses. Most repeaters use color code (CC) 1.You will find the CC’s typically in the repeater lists in the internet for your region, state or country. Here is a worldwide repeater list as an example I have created, which covers all Brandmeister repeaters worldwide which I could find. Due to inconsistencies in the database I dumped the records which made no sense, therefor I am pretty sure it is not complete, but it is a start for you. Keep in mind that if a repeater works on multiple frequencies, it can not have the same name for both frequencies, you have to modify such an entry in your codeplug channel list or in the channels.csv file if you are importing from there.

In the above graphic the 12.5 kHz Bandwidth of a channel is subdivided into 2 TS’s. DMR Radio one and three use TS1 and DMR Radio two and four are using TS2 simultaneous on one channel frequency without disturbing each other.

DMRplus, Brandmeister, etc., which network to use ?

I personally prefer Brandmeister (BM), others DMRplus (D+), DMR-MARC etc.. Actually you can use all, if you have many different local DMR networks, just in one radio. The only thing you should take care of is to name channels and talkgroups in a way that you can distinguish which repeater does what (BM, D+, DMR-MARC etc.). If I would use more than one network, my repeaters would be named i.e. “D+ DB0PBS” or “BM DO0ERK” and so on.

The same should be done for Talkgroups (TG’s). Brandmeister’s world Talkgroup is TG91, DMRplus uses TG1 for woldwide. Therefor I would name the TG’s “D+ world” (=1) and “BM world” (=91) in the Talkgroup list accordingly, like in this example: TalkGroups marked for Brandmeister (BM). The only thing I have to do now to switch between the networks, is to use the right repeater with the right Talkgroup.

Of course there are are Multi-Net Bridges (Interfaces between different networks like DMRplus, Brandmeister and technologies like C4FM, DStar etc.) available in each of the networks. I never used them or played around with them, therefor pls. do your own research in the internet. This presentation gives you a bit more information.

My Digital Radio Setup

How it all begun…

I was on a business trip in Plano, TX, some years ago, where I visited a local Ham Radio Outlet (HRO) and bought an ICOM ID51E for DStar and a ZUMSpot. Back home in Germany I made it to work within a few days as this was completely different from my analogue experiences in HF/VHF/UHF so far. But the activities here in Germany on DStar were not overwhelming and in a lot of publications DMR was pushed heavily. The ID51E still exists but I am now mostly on DMR-Brandmeister, which I really like. But now in 2022 I found that Brandmeisters DMR became a bit rough and undisciplined here in Germany, so I often go back to DStar, to enjoy civilized OM’s.

Due to the fact that the ZUMspot can do both, I ordered an Retevis RT90, but we both did not click into each other. I got it working, but the software was not stable, crashed very often and the radio could only be run via Codeplug, no VFO Operation possible. I simply did not like it.

As I bought it at Amazon, I could send it back within 30 days, but I was already highly frustrated after 14 days and simply sent it back. I promised myself to do some more researches which radio could suite me best and came across the ANYTONE radios. I had a look at the AT-D868UV and AT-D878UV Plus (with Bluetooth and Bluetooth-PTT) and ordered it at a distributor here in Germany. Received, unboxed, Software installed. WOW !!! THIS IS COMPLEX AND COMPLICATED ! (Actually it isn’t when you have understood the basics, which I will explain in another post)

 

During my researches I came across the website of a Dutch HAM, PC5E who is dedicated to a lot of different DMR radios of many manufacturers. I downloaded his Anytone codeplug for Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and studied what he had done to get the Anytone UV878UV running. Playing around with it I understood the concept of codeplugs. Not in depth and not using all features of the Anytone, but enough to get it running. Now, 6 month after buying the AT-D878UV I create Codplugs for others, using my blueprints and being the proud owner of one AT-D878UV Pro and two AT-D578UV Pro (one in the car, one in the QTH).

Beside the radio’s I own four hotspot’s. One ZUMSpot, which I do not use anymore, as it was making problems (not investigated on it) when I visited a friend in Canada (12/2019) and I will later take care of it. The ZUMSpot was later given to my club after I fixed it. I use two MMDVM (China-Clone) Dual-Hat Hotspots mounted on two Raspberry Pi 3B, one for DStar, one for DMR and a brandnew SharkHF openSPOT3 for use in the car, hotel or anywhere I do not have a proper repeater or do not know the repeater frequencies. The openSPOT3 is typically connected through a LTE wifi hotspot or my mobile phone in tethering mode.

At home I use the Dual-Hat Hotspot for DMR to have TG91 (world) and TG262 (Germany) on Timeslot 1 and Timeslot 2 in static mode as the German Brandmeister Repeater OM’s only have TG262 static, TG91 is set to dynamic, which means you get kicked out every 6-10 minutes. To avoid disturbing the local repeaters too much. With this in mind I use my radios in the QTH to monitor TG91, 262 and 263 (multimode) via the hotspot. Both, TG262 (TS1) and TG91 (TS2) are set to static on my hotspot(s).

The other Dual-Hat hotspot at home is dedicated to DStar. Both Dual-Hat Hotspots run the pi-star software.

Here at home I use a DIAMOND X30 about 10m (30ft.) over the ground on a telescopic mast 6.5m (19.5′) for the AT-D578UV Pro and a special construction on the car for a Diamond NR-770H which can be flipped to a horizontal position which is useful for parking garages. In the car I use the Bluetooth PTT switch, mounted to the gear-stick and a typical BT-Headphone for a mobile phone. This does the job more than well. Same for the handheld AT-D878UV , BT-PTT-Switch attached like a wrist watch (with a wrist watch band) to my right arm with the same BT-headset as in the car. In the QTH I use a callcenter style BT-Headset with the PTT-Switch on the desk or in the pocket.

BT-PTT Switch with a wrist watch band  BT-PTT Switch as delivered

 

+ QTH use: AT-D578UV Pro with a callcenter like BT headset and the BT PTT-Key either in the pocket or on the desk
+ Portable use: AT-D878UV Pro with a BT headset for mobile phones and the BT PTT-Key with a wrist watch band
+ Mobile use: AT-D578UV Pro with the same BT-headset for mobile phones, BT PTT-Key mounted to the gear-stick

For the handheld I use (depending where I am) the DIAMOND SRH805S which is only 3.5 cm or 1.5″ long (!!) which works very well, the manufacturers antenna and a DIAMOND SRJ77CA Antenna, about 40.5 cm / 15.9″ long. With the SRJ Antenna I could easily reach repeaters in Canada 30km / 19mi away from the livingroom of my friends house. In tests I could reach repeaters 90km / 60mi away.