E1508: What's WRONG with DMR?

dot live. Check out the interview I did with Sean, the creator of ham dot Live. In the description blow I have been on DMR since about twenty twelve. Texas has had DMR systems in our state since twenty ten, and Brandmeister came online in twenty fifteen, five years after the fact. TGIF came online in a few years after that. I don't know TGIF had some There used to be a TGIF talk group on Brandmeister. The guys in charge of that talk group and Brandmeister gotten a tiff. They

disagreed on some things. There's a PC way to say it. Y'all should congratulate me. I'm not a very politically correct person. Yeah, so something happened there. I don't have all the details anyway, and then TGIF split off and now they have their own network, but it's been a long time coming. They've

been working on that for quite some time. And now if you tie a brandmeister in TGIF talk group together, they're gonna disable you because they don't want any of their talk groups tied together, or at least that's how it used to be. But all of that to say, I've been involved in DMR for about twelve years. Okay,

maybe a little bit over twelve years. The second video I ever posted on this channel was what I call my anniversary date May second of twenty fifteen, which we're gonna be celebrating ten years of this channel on May second of twenty twenty five, so a tune for information

about that. But that set that video was the very first time I had ever called the channel ham Radio two point zero and it was a presentation about intro to DMR that my friend Kent Wa five yxs and myself made at a local HAMM radio club here in the Fort Worth, Texas area. So lots changed since then. So I've been involved in DMR pretty much since the beginning of this YouTube channel. Okay, so I have some opinions. A lot of these opinions are probably not going to

be shared by some of you. Some of you are going to disagree with what I have to say. And again, this is part one. I'm gonna make a part two to this video and talk a little bit more in depth. But I found this reddit article. Yes, this is another Reddit article. I was already talking about making a video about how I think DMR is used wrong, okay, and then I found this reddit article right here. Has Brandmeister

USA really stopped issuing new talk groups. I've been trying to get a five digit group for our club now that we're putting up a new DMR repeater, and quite a few of us are already acting on DMR, but we've been using the club's DMR idea as the talk group. My question is, has Brandmeister really stopped issuing new talk group numbers? Their website states so here create new talk group.

As of May of twenty twenty five, digit talk groups are no longer being labeled issued to the USA do their limited number of talk groups available so they haven't run out of talk groups. Yet your repeater six radio ID you can use as a talk group. They have not run out yet, I'm told, but they are not issuing talk groups anymore, or at least if they are, they're very slow to respond to keep everything above the table.

I know one or two of the Brandmeister admins for Brandmeister USA, and I traded some emails with one of them before making this video, and I said, hey, here's what I want to say. It's not going to be in a positive light about Brandmeister. I don't want to step on anybody's toes. I'm not mad at anyone specifically. I just think that some things that were done were stupid and that kind of thing. So I traded some emails with him. I'm not going to tell you who it is. He was very polite. He and I get

along very well. We've traded emails for years and years, so he knows what I'm what I'm doing here. And I showed him this Reddit article and he said, no, the five digit IDs are not all used up. But he says what used to happen was someone would request a talk group ID, they'd use it for a few months, and then they'd stop using it, so Brandmeisterer would turn it off because they can see all the stats of when the talk group is used. I mean it's all

on the computer. It's all over the internet, okay, so everything's logged, Okay, so you can always see stats when the talk group is used. So they would turn the talk group off, and then about a year later they would get emails saying, hey, where'd my talk group go? Like they wouldn't even notice it's gone for months and months afterwards, and they're like, look, we can't just issue a talk group to anybody. If you're gonna use it, then fine, he said. The one of the last ones

they issued was actually for Poda. There's a PoTA talk group on Brand. I had no idea myself. So you can still get a talk group, and the admins are overworked and there's not very many of them, so they're a little bit slow to respond. I don't think they've completely stopped, but they are a little bit slow just because they're overworked. Okay, first comment. In my experiences, they

don't even monitor support tickets at all anymore. And I've heard lots of people say that we've had a linking request opened to update the exciting link for over an exciting link. Maybe an existing link is what he means. With no action despite repeated inquiry, Brandmeister is a great example of why centralized closed systems are bad for the hobby. So I've got I've got something to say about that.

The first first comment here says, really unfortunate. Now we're all locked into a shambling husk of d on mor network. I ah, I made this call ten years ago. Ten years ago, I made this call. I'm like Brandmeister is a bad idea, and that's a big part about behind why I say we use DMR incorrectly. That's a big part of it. I'm not going to elaborate in this video. I'm going to talk about specific topics about this video.

So if you guys want to hear more about that, put a comment blow because i do want to talk more about that. Now we've all got locked into a shambling husk of dn MAR until somebody comes along and reinvents it. Well, that's already been done and the cycle begins anew. I'm sure there are no end of Ham's willing to pick up the reins and help manage it. Once again, that's already been done. But you know how

a lot of these folks are. They'd rather take what they built to the grave than seed control, so it lives on. Once I started seeing the ten minute limit on every state wide talk group, I knew BM was done for. I started going through the wiki pages or whatever. It seems like they don't want anybody actually using the network. Now, I will say this, Okay, one thing, This is all I'm gonna This is the this is the this is the last thing I'm gonna say about. Well, maybe not

the last thing. This is one of the last things I'm wanna say about this, Okay. One of the problems. Now, Okay, there's few fifty states in the nation, and there's fifty one entities, maybe fifty two entities as far as statewide talk groups in the USA, I'm talking about USA statewide talk groups. Here for amonent, Washington, d C. Has a statewide talk group, Puerto Rico has a statewide talk group.

The US Virgin Islands, and a couple other of the US territories down in the east they might have talk groups too, I don't know, but there's at least fifty at least fifty two, including DC and Puerto Rico statewide talk groups. Not everyone had DMR before Brandmeister came around in twenty fifteen. Okay, not everyone did. Several states did. Texas did? Oklahoma? Did? Arkansas? Did Ohio? No? Not Ohio? Indiana did the Who's your network? Who's your DMR network? Florida? Did?

I believe New York did? I think Arizona Turbo was around before? Then There's several others. Okay, I don't know them all. Okay, those are the ones that I could name off the top of my head. We had our talk group, our Texas statewide Talk Group was three one four eight. We had that up and running for five years before Brandmeister ever came around. And when Brandmeister came around and created their own network, they duplicated everyone's statewide

talk group network. So there was a Brandmeister three one four eight that was created in addition to the original Texas repeater network three one four eight. And when people would get on Brandmeister three one four eight, because I started, I did. I started a Texas statewide talk Group DMR net that still takes place to this day on talk Group three one four eight on the repeaters in the state of Texas. As far as I know, this is the only DMR net that is not piped out to

everyone everywhere on the planet. This is an actual local Texas only at that only takes place on the Texas statewide repeaters. We have a sea bridge network in Texas, the sea bridge. There's multiple sea bridges that are all connected together in Texas. I own one of them. That talk group is shared with all the sea bridge owners in Texas, but it is not piped out to everyone else on the Internet. Okay, so we have an actual

Texas statewide talk group. The thing that the talk group was supposed to was originally meant to be used for, was for people in that stake to communicate with one another. You have local talk groups, citywide talk groups, statewide talk groups, you have nationwide talk groups worldwide. You have talk groups segregated by geographical location, and talk groups segregated by language. There's English, French, Spanish, Russian, is Raeley talk groups. Okay,

all kinds of talk groups like that. So the original Texas Statewide Talk Group was three one four eight. We started the net. I started the net in twenty thirteen. It's still going today. Several other people helped me take it over. So for other guys run it, I kind of took a step back a couple of years ago because I got tired of doing it after ten years. In twenty twenty three, I took a step back. These guys do a fantastic job. These guys who run it

now do a fantastic job. Every Wednesday at seven thirty pm, if you are in the state of Texas near a DMR repeater, you can get onto that net. But when Brandmeister spun up their network, they created three one four eight, and we would have I would get emails from people saying, hey, I turned on my hotspot last night on three one four eight and I didn't hear the net. I'm like, well, you can't get to it with a hotspot. You have to go into Texas and get on the repeater. And

he's like, well, I'm in another state somewhere. How do I join your net. I'm like, you don't. It's a Texas net. It's not that we don't welcome other people, okay, but it's a Texas net. It's not a worldwide net. It's not a nationwide net. There used to be a spreadsheet list of several hundred DMR nets that took place all across the globe, all kinds of Brandmeister nets, c bridge nets. I'm sure there's probably some TGIF nets these.

I used to have a list of like literally one hundred and fifty nets that would take place once a month or once a week, all across the DMR networks that existed, okay, And the one thing they all had in common is that all of those talk groups through Brandmeister could be accessed from anywhere in the world. So you couldn't actually do a Texas or a Florida or in New York or a Wisconsin net because your talk group was spread to everybody across the planet. Okay, okay, okay,

that's cool, Okay, no problem. But we wanted a Texas net, or I wanted a Texas net, and that's what I created, and that's what still exists today. We have a net for Texas based ham radio operators who want to get on DMR and TOY and we'll have anywhere from thirty forty to fifty check ins on that net every week. But when Brandmeister duplicated our talk group, it caused huge

amounts of confusion. We connected our talk group to Brandmeister for about a week, and all the Sea Bridge owners complained because guess what, this Canadian guy was talking to this guy in Florida and they were ragchewing for an hour and a half about nothing that didn't involve Texas with the Texas Talk group. But also I'm like, why you guys use your own talk group. People don't use talk groups correctly. As far as the state wide talk

groups go, people don't use talk groups correctly. That's one of my big beefs about DMR in general. Now, if you do run a net, if you do run a net in fact, maybe I'll maybe I'll try to go. I used to do net control for my Texas state wid dmornet about well. I used to do it every week, and then a lot of really good guys stepped up and took over weeks and I would do it once a month instead of once a week, and then other people would do it on the other weeks of the year.

But I recommend heading over to ham dot live. Ham dot live is the sponsor today's video. Anyone from anywhere it can use ham dot live to log your net check into a net. See who else is checked into a net. I did an interview with Sean, the creator of ham dot Live on this channel. I'll link that in the description below. Ham dot live works from any platform, Windows, Mac, Linux, your smartphone, Android, iOS. It's web based. You create a

log in, it's free. You get to track who is where and who's checking in from where, and you get to kind of see what is happening in your net. So go check out hamdot live if you run a net or if you have access to it, if you check into a net and they don't use anything like netlogger or anything like that, check out hamdot live. It's a free service. Let me know how you like it, and thanks to them for sponsoring this video. So there's

a lot of comments kind of like this. There's a lot wrong with each of the digital mode implementations in this hobby. BM is DMR's biggest ugly elephant in the room. We shouldn't have systems that rely on external entity for linking and communication. I think the whole purpose of amateur radio noncentralized communication depend of large centralized servers. Well okay, yes, no, I no, I think that that. I think that's I think that's accurate. Okay, but we had that and we

gave that up in lieu of brandmeister. Okay, more to come on that later today, I want to talk about this. This is, this is, this is. This kind of made me laugh here, and this isn't specifically about DMR. Dm R is the dumbest mode for ham radio for the simple fact that every call sign needs a radio ID assigned to it for it to work on any network. And I replied, this is my reply. Every digital mode needs this. DSTAR and YSF use a call sign, DMR

uses a number. If you fail to enter any of those into a radio, you won't be able to transmit on the network wires X, DSTAR network whatever. I don't see how DMR is more complicated than others just because you use a number rather than your call sign. And he replies back, you have to regisure that call sign with a third party. Yes, that is radioid dot net, which is run by him out of Canada. Yes, that's correct, which then assigns you the ID. The process isn't trivial.

You have to create an account and upload a reference copy of your license. From what I can remember, you are correct, that is that is an absolute truth. I know plenty of hams that can't be bothered with that. If you don't have a reference copy of your license, then it's off to mess with the FCC website to try to find it. I think it's stupid because it's a result of DMR being a commercial mode on a Yazoo radio. You input your call sign in off you go, what does that mean? You don't have a copy of

your Ham radio license? What so? The FCC used to used to mail you a physical hard copy, a paper copy of your license when you got licensed, when you renewed your license, when you upgraded your license, they would mail you a physical copy. Several years ago they stopped this. They stopped doing it, and now you can download your license in PDF format. Guess what, guys, there's my license right there. I had a plan that my wife actually made that for me Christmas leg of several years ago.

That black sign with the wood frame around it, that is my general ticket Ham radio license. That's what that is. You are required to have your license displayed in your hamshack, or in your mobile shack, or on your person. I used to have a paper copy in my wallet. I should probably renew that. I don't actually have that myself. You're required who doesn't have a copy of their HAMM radio license? You should have a You should already have that. Okay, I can't I read this, and I'm like, is this

guy serious? You don't have a You have to be bothered to go get a DMRID. You have to be bothered to go download your handwrit You should already have that, dude. You should have that displayed in your hamshack. You should have a copy of it saved somewhere. It's part of the FCC requirements of your license to have a copy of your HAMM radio license that you can show to someone should they ask for it, which never happens. Okay, but why would you not have a copy of your

ham radio license? That doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever. So I go on to reply to this guy. I was like, every ham should already have a copy of their license. It's actually required for you to have a copy of your license. Your home station, mobil station were on your person. They used to mail hard copies, but since they stop, that is on s to go download a PDF copy of your license and keep them. Why would anyone not want a copy of your own license?

They're free to download from the FCCUS, by the way, totally free to download. Yes, this is a result of DMR being a commercial mode, but DMR is also the fastest growing digital voice mode and HAM radio, so it doesn't seem that be that much of a hurdle for most people. My point was that you still have to put in an input something into the radio to use the radio on a network, unlike analog all Star ecolinkuage

recards nothing. And then I replied again, also, and I used to be in one of the admin's on radioid dot net, so I know this is true. I remember when this happened. You used to be able to go on radioid dot net, put in your call sign, get a radio ID and done, boom done. Now you have to upload a copy of your license, and the reason

for that is to prevent fraud. The reason the license is required on radioid dot net is to prevent someone else from using your call sign to get a dMRI ID, input it in the radio and cause mischief on the bands with someone else's call sign. YESU and d Star have no way to prevent this. Jesu and Icon, I should say, Jesu and ICOM have no way to prevent this. I can buy an Icon radio and put in anybody's

call sign I want to. I can buy a Yazoo radio, put it in anybody's call sign, get on wires X. Okay, you could input your call sign into my radio if I wanted to. I could input your call sign in my radio if I wanted to, and keep on the network as you and you could do it to me. Also, when you get a brand new Yazu radio or a brand new Icon radio the Yaesu, the first thing when you first boot it up, it first asks for your call sign. It kind of forces you to put in.

You can bypass it, but it kind of forces you to put in your call sign. The Icon seven oh five. When I first got it, I was tinkering around with it and I couldn't get it to work on d Star. I contacted Bob K six Uda and I'm like, dude, can you help me with this? And he's like yeah, And we got on a Zoom call and the first thing he said was, Okay, did you input your call sign? I'm like, no, I didn't. He's like, oh, that's why you can't get on the network. You have to input

a call sign. Well, what's to keep me from putting in AB seven GD or Bob K six uda. I'm gonna put your call sign in and get on d Star. Hey, this is Bob K six y Uda. Screw all you guys. What do you guys do it? You know, there's nothing to prevent you from doing that. You can put any call sign into a YAESU radio, or a or a Icon radio or a Kenwood D Star radio. You can put any call sign in there you want to. There's no verification process with DMR. You have to upload a

copy your license, so to prove who you are. I guess if if someone were to steal your license, a copy of your license, then yeah, I mean if you were if you left your license laying around someone took a picture of it, took a copy of it. That okay, maybe they could do that if they want to go to that much trouble. But that's the reason your license is required. To get a DMRID at radioid dot net, so that you can prove who you are and that DMRID is assigned to you and not someone else claiming

to be you. There's a lot of other comments in here. These guys talk about M seventeen. M seventeen the real answer to proprietary crap and control. So yeah, M seventeen guys get in here and they kind of rail on these DMR forums sometimes, so other stuff in here like this. So suffice it to say, Brandmeister is one of my complaints. I don't like the way they implemented certain things. And I called again, I called this ten years ago. Ten years ago. I saw the way they were doing things.

I saw the way they were duplicating IDs. I didn't like the way they were doing certain things. And I'm like, I don't think this is a good thing. I don't think this is a good thing. And one of the things that I get toltalized like, well, brandmeister is free. I used to be on a bunch of DMR talk groups before I got my Facebook account hacked and taken away from me. So I used to be on a bunch of DMR talk groups and one of the common

matras was, well, brandmeister is free, brandmeister is free. Well, go into I challenge you to do this. Okay, if you're a member of a Facebook group about Brandmeister, about dm R, go in there and say, hey, thank you Brandmeister for making a free service for us. The admins will come in there and say, hey, guess what, it's not free. We pay for it. Please go here and make a PayPal donation. And most people don't do that.

Most people want to use it for free and then complain about it when they don't put any money and no skin in the game at all. It's not a free service. Someone somewhere is paying for that. And most of the time it's the admins and people keeping the network alive, so they could, you know, turn that off anytime they wanted to. I guess I don't know. Maybe you should be Maybe you should go be thanking your Brandmeister admins other than railing on them. That's one thing

about DMR that I think we use it wrong. There's more stuff, there's more stuff that I think is used wrong, but Brandmeister is a big part of why I kind of got burned out on DMR. Let me know. If you want to hear further issues on this topic, check out this Reddit article that I'm going to link in the description blow I want to I want to see what your thoughts are. If you like this video, check out this video over here because YouTube thinks you want to watch that one next, seventy three