A Comparison of Amateur Radio Digital Voice Systems

A Comparison of Amateur Radio Digital Voice Systems Presented By: Mark Kleine N 5 HZR SCARS April 2016 Meeting Originally Prepared By: Roland Kraatz W 9 HPX Charlotte Digital Radio Group

Topics Digital voice description Technical comparison Operational features Programmability Radio choices Oklahoma DV repeaters Information sources Q&A See p 30 April 2015 QST

What is Digital Voice? Audio to be sent is digitized in the user radio Digital audio is processed through a vocoder to compress the data and add forward error correction Data is chopped into uniform length packets Header data is pre-pended to provide sync bits, routing instructions and user identity Other data can be interleaved or substituted for the voice to send text, pictures or other files Digital data modulates an RF carrier

Packet Structure View

Tech Spec Comparison D-STAR DMR Fusion Vocoder (see note) AMBE+2 Forward Error Corr. Voice Only Modulation GMSK 4 FSK C 4 FM Multiplex Method FDMA TDMA FDMA Transmission Rate 4. 8 kbps x 2 9. 6 kbps Bandwidth 6. 25 k. Hz 12. 5 k. Hz Channels supported 1 2 1 Standard Developer JARL ETSI Yaesu GMSK = Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying 4 FSK = 4 -level Frequency Shift Keying C 4 FM = Continuous 4 -level Frequency Modulation FDMA = Frequency Division Multiple Access TDMA = Time Division Multiple Access Note: Newer radios implement the vocoder in the DSP chip

Bandwidth Comparison

User Identification D-STAR DMR Fusion Yes No User identity Call sign Subscriber ID Call sign ID displayed on radio’s display Call sign Subscriber ID* Call sign 4 characters 20 characters No No Yes† Registration required? Other text display options Adequate for FCC ID? * Call sign is displayed if the receiving station’s subscriber ID has been programmed in the radio’s contact list; otherwise subscriber ID appears. † While voice ID is not required by law, it is still a good idea for the benefit of everyone listening.

Repeater Connect-ability D-STAR DMR Fusion Talk locally Yes Yes Link to another repeater Yes No No Multi-repeater connection Selection method Reflectors Talk Groups * WIRES-X Rooms UR entry Channel Dial Room name or number Direct Route to another ham Yes No No Echo test Yes No Request link status Yes No No * “Reflectors” in Europe.

Radio Operating Features Memory selection Repeater connection selection Mode selection method Radio programming complexity Newbie learning curve User manual pages D-STAR DMR Fusion Dial or GPS search Key Press Dial Key press Memory stored Key press * Difficult/Easy ◊ Difficult Easy Steep Fairly easy 65 340 425 (ID-51) (CS-700) * Fusion radios have AMS (automatic mode select) ◊ Older D-STAR radios are more difficult to program. Newer ones are pre-programmed, but must be updated as repeaters change. (FT-2 DR)

Signal Readability FM D-STAR DMR Fusion * Voice naturalness Very Good Narrow – Good Wide - Very Good Signal noise Varies None Sync robustness N/A Fair Good Sync recoverability N/A Poor Best * Fusion has two bandwidth voice modes. Wide sounds slightly better than narrow. Sync robustness is the tendency to fall out of sync Sync recoverability is the ability to recover sync quickly The opinions shown here are highly subjective. Your opinion may differ.

Networking Characteristics D-STAR − User controlability – substantial − Networking options – G 2, D-Plus, irc. DDB − Innovation ability – many efforts and accomplishments DMR − Centrally controlled structure – inflexible − Networking options – c-bridge, hytera − Innovation ability – limited, but not impossible Fusion − Yaesu controlled servers – inflexible − Networking options – WIRES-X − Innovation ability – limited, but hams are just getting started

DMR Network Topology

Oklahoma DMR Topology All 17 Oklahoma repeaters route through a Rack Space housed open source bridge Oklahoma repeaters routes through Kansas K 0 USY CBridge Since all of Oklahoma is on one bridge port, the 'PTT' channel actions are shared. One person kerchunks a channel and the whole state hears it.

D-Star Programming

System Fusion Programming

DMR Programming Frequency – Oklahoma all UHF (VHF is available) Color Codes (Like analog CTCSS) Time Slice (1 or 2) Talk Groups – Local, Nationwide, Worldwide, OK-KS, Regional and more Echo - Parrot

D-STAR HTs ID-31 A ID-51 A Plus Single band (70 cm) Dual band 5 W 5 W u. SD card record 500 memories 1300 memories Internal GPS Repeater geo search $295 new $450 new

D-STAR Mobiles Older – ID-880 H Dual band 50 W 1050 memories $420 new Newer – ID-5100 A Dual band Touch Screen 50 W 1000 + 1500 DR memories Internal GPS & DPRS SD card recording Repeater geo search $600 new

DMR HTs Moto. Trbo – XPR-7550 Hytera PD 782 G-U 1 440 MHz band 4 W 4 W Color screen 1000 channels 1024 channels $ 700 new $ 545 new

DMR HTs (cont. ) Connect Systems – CS 700 440 MHz band 4 W 1000 memories Chinese copy of XPR 6550 $ 200 new

DMR HTs (cont. ) Tytera MD 380 Great audio 440 MHz band 4 W 1000 memories $ 134 new

DMR HTs (cont. ) Tytera MD 390 Waterproof Better Audio than MD 380 440 MHz band 4 W 1000 memories $ 180 new Now just available

DMR Mobile’s Moto. Trbo - XPR-5550 440 MHz band 40 W 1000 channels Color screen $ 600 new Hytera – MD 782 G-U 1 440 MHz band 45 W 1024 channels Color screen $ 530 new

System Fusion HT’s Yaesu – FT-1 DR Dual band 5 W Automatic Mode Select 900 memories GPS & APRS $300 new Yaesu - FT-2 DR (new) Dual band 5 W Automatic Mode Select 1245 memories GPS & APRS Touch screen $550 new

System Fusion Mobile Yaesu – FT-400 DR Dual band 50 W Automatic Mode Select 1000 memories GPS & APRS Color Touch screen $600 new Yaesu – FT-100 DR (new) Dual band 50 W Automatic Mode Select 1000 memories GPS & APRS $400 new

Base Stations ICOM – IC-7100 HF + 6 M – 100 W 2 M - 50 W + 70 cm - 35 W 1600 memories GPS Touch screen $1, 100 new Yaesu – FT-991 HF + 6 M – 100 W 2 & 70 cm – 50 W Color TFT display Automatic antenna tuner Automatic Mode Select 1000 memories GPS & APRS $1, 600 new

Other Digital Voice Suppliers DV Dongle Internet Labs D-STAR on your PC $200 new Thumb DV Northwest Digital Radio D-STAR on your PC Uses AMBE 3000 Other modes? $120 new

Other Digital Voice Devices DV Access Point Internet Labs Hotspot repeater Single band 2 M $240 new 70 cm $260 new DV Mega Guus van Dooren PE 1 PLM Hotspot repeater Dual band $180 new

Not near a D-STAR Repeater? Make your own – with this…

Or this…

Or This. . . DV 4 mini for D-Star, DMR, Fusion, APCO 25, DPMR and other digital modes which are based on GMSK, 2 FSK or 4 FSK. $145, including antenna

Raspberry Pi G 4 KLX GUI

D-RATS

Oklahoma System Fusion

Oklahoma D-Star Repeaters

For More Information w 5 nor. org/information - This is our web site. www. dstar 101. com www. dstarinfo. com www. dstarusers. org www. maryland-dstar. org - for Raspberry Pi enthusiasts www. ncprn. net - Web site for our area DMR repeaters & code plugs. www. dmr-marc. net www. trbo. org www. trinityos. com/HAM/Yaesu-System-Fusion/Yaesu-fusion-and-c 4 fmv 7. pdf - Talk given by David Ranch KI 6 ZHD at 2015 Bay-Net meeting. arvideonews. com/hrn/ - Ham Radio Now – watch episodes 161 & 195 https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=e. OYio 06 rsuo – John Hays K 7 VE

Questions?