Discovering DMR – 3

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3) Putting it all together

Okay, time to kick things into high gear and get on the air with DMR!

3a) First things first: Register for CCS7 ID

To operate on the DMR system, you need to register with an authentication and routing system called CCS7 (Callsign Communication System, 7-digit).

The DMR system uses the CCS7 ID number instead of your callsign, though its authentication service maps your CCS7 ID number to your callsign.

Registrations for everywhere—including North America, South America, Asia, and Oceania, Europe, and Africa—are now all handled by RadioID.net.

The registration systems are administered by volunteers so be patient, it can take a few days to receive your CCS7 ID.

• Note 1: If you already have a CCS7 ID—for example, I got one to use with D-STAR on DCS reflectors—it will work for the DMR system, as well. No need to get another.
• Note 2: Since DMR operates using the CCS7 ID, your callsign may not be transmitted to the radio the way it is with D-STAR, so you need to announce your callsign just like you do on analog.

3b) Customer Programming Software (CPS)

Many ham radios can be programmed from the keypad on the radio, but the process is cumbersome. In many cases, the manufacturer or a third party offer radio programming software to make it easier to program a radio, especially when you want to add a lot of memory channels.

DMR radios are different because typically they allow programming the radio only from an application called Customer Programming Software (CPS). In fact, because of this, commercial DMR radios often don't have keypads; although some DMR radios made for amateur radio now do allow some limited amount of programming to be done via a radio's keypad.

Using the CPS, you add your basic settings and defaults, like your CCS7 ID and, in some cases, how you want certain buttons to behave (for example, do one thing when you short press them and another when you long press them). You also add contacts, zones, and scan lists, and then weave them all together as channels.

3c) "Read" your radio to start a new codeplug

I'm a fairly cautious person, so the way I started out was to open the CPS and "read" my new radio, save that as a codeplug backup file, and then make a copy of it to work in. That way I'll have the radio's original codeplug to go back to in case, for example, I mess things up badly enough that I want to start over, or if I want to reset the radio to give it to someone else.

Most DMR radios I've seen require a special cable that enables them to be connected to the PC's USB port. Once it's plugged in, open the CPS, turn on the radio, and then click the CPS Read button. It takes just a few moments to read the radio's data.

Similarly, whenever you want to update your codeplug, make a copy of it, and then make your changes to the copy. That way, if you need to you can revert to the previous working codeplug.

3d) General settings

There are a variety of general settings. The most important one is to enter your CCS7/DMR ID as the device or radio ID.

Other settings control things like how buttons behave, how menus are displayed, and whether and how one-touch calls are set up.

3e) Create contacts/talkgroups

There are a couple kinds of contacts: talkgroups and individuals. For the AnyTone AT-D878UV and D868UV, you important the contact list and set up the talkgroups you want to use.

• Name/alias – A description of the talkgroup (for example, Colorado statewide) or individual (callsign and first name).
• Call type – Group call, Private call, or All call. For amateur radio, Group calls are most common. A Private call is rarer for ham radio; an example of when it is used is a parrot call (echo test) or for linking to unlinking from a reflector. An All call is primarily a commercial feature used by a user in a supervisory capacity, for example, a call from an individual radio to all radios in a system.
• Call ID – A talkgroup ID number or an individual's CCS7 ID.
• There may be other options, for example, whether or not a receive tone sounds prior to unmuting the radio when a Group, Private, or All call is being received.

3f) Create digital channels

This is where it all comes together!

i) Primary channel settings

The following essential items that must be set up for each channel:

• Channel name
• Color code – Hotspots typically use color code 1.
• Time slot – Simplex hotspots typically use time slot 2.
• RX frequency – When setting up a hotspot, you choose a frequency to use with it, which should be one that is mostly unused in your area. Then you use that frequency for every channel that uses the hotspot.
• TX frequency – In some CPS applications, this can be auto-generated from the offset. Many hotspots are simplex, so the RX and TX frequencies are the same; however, there are some dual or duplex hotspots available now, which require offsets.
  Important! Avoid frequencies used for other purposes, for example, 435.0 - 438.0 and 145.8 - 146.0, used internationally for satellite communication, which can be disrupted by even low power hotspot transmissions.
  Band plan: See your country's band plan and your local frequency use plan. For example, for the U.S., see: U.S. Band Plan. For the U.S. State of Colorado, see: Colorado Frequency Use Plans (especially, CCARC Guidelines on Hotspots). To find links for other U.S. states, refer to the Amateur Radio: Frequency Coordinators list by Tom, W2XQ. See also the info posted by Ron, VE1AIC: Digital Voice frequencies.
• TX contact – Choose the contact that you previously set up that you want to use with the current channel.
• Power level (default) – Varies from radio to radio, ranging from low to high. I choose low for all the hotspot channels I set up, and typically choose high for the DMR repeater and analog channels.
• Admit criteria/TX Permit – This controls when your radio is allowed to transmit on a DMR repeater. The most common recommendation I heard was to use color code free (AnyTone calls this Different Color Code), which means that you're allowed to transmit on the repeater when no one else is transmitting on the same color code. That way, you avoid doubling. This is one advantage of the DMR standard: your radio is constantly receiving from the repeater in between your micro transmissions, so it knows the status of the repeater at all times.

ii) Other channel settings

In addition, there are a few other items that can be set up for each channel, including:

• Talkaround (on/off) – This typically means using the RX frequency (a repeater's output channel) for direct simplex communication, radio to radio, rather than through the repeater. For example, talkaround can be useful if someone with a more powerful radio that can hit the repeater wants to talk to someone nearby with a less powerful radio that can't hit the repeater.
• TX Timeout Timer (TOT) – A limit on how long you can transmit (in other words, the length of time that you can hold down PTT). This is done to protect the radio. A reasonable timeout is 120 - 180 seconds (in any case, it should be set to an amount of time less than the repeater's timeout). There's also a TOT pre-alert tone that you can set to warn you a few seconds before the timeout, so you can transmit "Pause," and then reset.
• Scan list – This is a "Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?" step. For some radios, you have to create channels first in order to create scan lists (see the next step), but then after you create the scan lists, you have to come back and add them to the channels you want to have them available for.

3g) Create scan lists

I don't use this feature much and have set up only a few scan lists, for example, one that includes all the BrandMeister regional talkgroups, and another that includes all the talkgroups on nearby DMR repeaters. I created a channel in each of the associated zones that has an appropriate scan list selected for it, so I can dial in that channel and then begin scanning.

3h) Create analog channels

Setting up an analog channel for a DMR radio is similar to what you do for an analog radio. There is one difference in the CPS I have used: I needed to set the CTCSS tone for both the RX and TX frequencies, even when they are the same.

3i) Create zones

When I created my zones, I thought about the groups of channels I think I'll want to use in proximity.

Since most of my activity will be via the hotspot, and since the hotspot I was using had separate connectors for the BrandMeister and DMR-MARC networks, I set up my zones this way:

1. The BrandMeister talkgroups I'll monitor most frequently via hotspot.
2. The UHF analog frequencies I use.
3. The DMR-MARC talkgroups I'll monitor most frequently via hotspot.
4. Talkgroups on the nearby DMR repeaters I'll monitor when driving.
5. All the BrandMeister regional talkgroups via hotspot.
6. All the BrandMeister U.S. statewide talkgroups via hotspot (obviously, this requires multiple 16-channel zones).

Then I added the appropriate channels to each zone, and organized the channels in the order I figured I'd want to flip through them.

3j) Save codeplug and write to radio

As you're working in the CPS, you should save regularly, and save it one more time when you're finished.

The final step is to connect your radio to your PC with the programming cable, turn on the radio, and then click the CPS Write button to transfer the codeplug to the radio. It takes just a few seconds. My radio restarts when the write is complete. At that point, all the new contacts, zones, channels, basic settings, etc. are in the radio and ready to use.

3k) QSO!

And it worked! I fired up my hotspot, turned on my radio, selected a channel with a BrandMeister talkgroup I was interested in, keyed up once to link to the talkgroup and, once I heard that the talkgroup was free, a second time to announce myself (DMR ettiquette is to give your callsign and announce the talkgroup you're monitoring, for example, "KE0FHS monitoring 3108"). Another person on the talkgroup acknowledged me, and I had my first DMR chat. Nice !

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