Thursday, December 31, 2015

DMR Radio takes on new Talkgroups in the UK (UPDATE)

DMR Radio is currently in a state of rapid development in the UK with the addition of new repeaters and new people taking up the hobby and old licence holders having another go.
This influx of extra traffic to the DMR system means that talkgroup changes have now taken place to improve system access. The UK repeaters can now handle the following talkgroups.

 
(Click on the above for a clear image)

Notes
TG800 and TG862 have been added to the above list.

The repeaters activated with the new talk Groups are as follows:
TG801 AK,CK,CL,EK,EX,IK,LD,SE
TG802 EP,GF,HR,ID,MP,NS,SC
TG810 AV,BK,C,3WE,WL
TG820 BR,CA,HM,LP,MB,MR,PN
TG830 FW,GB
TG840 CL,CT,DS,FU,LN,MK,PE
TG850 DD,EE
TG860 EL,HS,HX,LE,SR,TD,TP,XX
TG862 HS,HE,LE,MR,TD
TG870 HM.PN
TG880 LY,OM

TG1,TG2,TG13 & TG235 are calling talk groups please QSY to a user activated (UA) talk group after contact is made.
User activated groups have a 10 min time out.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

DX from North Korea (Test Station)

(Click on the above for a clear image)

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Review of UK DMR repeater talkgroups

A recent document has been made available which offers options to reconstruct the talk groups used by the DMR repeater system. DMR is a rapidly increasing Amateur Radio system in the UK and around the World and it's development is bringing many Amateures back to the hobby.

The document can be downloaded from:

DMR

(Thanks to Manx Repeaters for this information)


UK Spectrum Usage and Demand

A new document has been issued which considers the use of the radio spectrum in the UK. This interesting document has a section on Amateur Radio spectrum usage;
3.11 Amateur radio
Sector scope: A wide range of applications, all of which use designated frequency bands for strictly non-commercial activities. Radio amateurs are licensed based on their passing certain tests, and despite their non-commercial activities may be as experienced and well trained as professional radio users.
Pinch-points: 14
UK Spectrum Usage & Demand: Second Edition Summary Report v3 Issue date: 16 December 2015.
1. The main issue in most areas of the spectrum is interference, especially as many AR communications use weak signals
2. In HF and VHF congestion has reduced due to lower demand from other users, although noise floors continue to increase.
3. In UHF and higher bands congestion is increasing due to greater amateur usage from digital repeaters, demands from defence usage and loss of spectrum to commercial users.
4. The RSGB believes current AR primary allocations are insufficient and there are no primary allocations between 400 MHz and 24 GHz, threatening confidence, investment and growth in AR.The problem is greatest for satellite transponders, EME and narrowband terrestrial systems.
5. Additional spectrum is needed to relieve digital voice congestion, enable new technology experimentation, introduce and extend digital TV, introduce new data modes and higher speed data technologies and to continue to enable the UK’s lead in small satellites


The full document can be downloaded from:
Spectrum Use

The page asks for your personal details before downloading, but any information will get you to the download page (PDF file).

Saturday, December 12, 2015

A very interesting lecture about Digital Radio and Bandwidth requirements.


Many thanks to Ham Radio Now for this video.


K7UDR Lecture