While I understand the concepts of it all, I think I need to find a local Elmer to learn the details of all the C4FM / Fusion / WIRES-X / blah blah blah stuff, since it seems like fun to tinker with.
@croyle smartly didn't sign-up for that job when he sold me the FTM-200D. If he had, he'd be begging me to send the radio back for a refund by now. 😂
@AF0AJ For me, it was fun for about a day. Going to get a lot of hate but these voice modes are like VoIP with extra steps (and average sound quality).
Find a local repeater. You need one with WIRES-X for Yaesu. That's pretty rare. If you configure your call and sign up on their network, it should just work.
The more popular alternative is DMR mode and the BM network: https://hose.brandmeister.network/
You need a "hotspot" for it, which routes IP traffic into RF packets to your HT/rig (locally, qrp).
@AF0AJ Alternatively, you can get an app like dudestar or droidstar, and connect and QSO from your phone or PC. You can connect to both the wires-x servers, brandmeister, or one of the billion other networks. On BM, talkgroup (room) 91 is the global one.
As for the acronyms: C4FM is the low level layer (4FSK modulation scheme), System Fusion is the protocol (codec + how packets carry data) and Wires-X is the Internet repeater part of it. Yaesu and naming things, eh?
@croyle It wasn't a bad experience, I just found it quite... limited. It is more of a ragchewers' haven, and even then, it works if you like average audio quality and it's mandatory to hold a PTT to talk.
But I caught the HF bug first, which is more like a game of skill and chance.
And Yaesu is the one that sounds good and is easy(-er) to set up. DMR is yet another layer.
@AF0AJ but perhaps, it does have a use. Remember that CW QSO we'll sked someday? 😀
@yo3gnd @AF0AJ I spent a fair amount of time researching how the whole thing worked, which wasn't exactly intuitive but ok, then connected to the biggest site I found listed for California (about an hour north of me) and I finally got in and the main "room" was basically empty.
The whole concept didn't seem to be my sort of thing. I find HF much more fun too, and random digital ragchews just have no appeal to me. But I probably should give it another shot... Some day.
I thought I wrote this all out once for someone and if I find that, I'll post.
D-STAR, YSF, and DMR are all the same. They all use a vocoder from DVSI to digitize voice into a very narrow data stream. Each of the three protocols then wrap that digitized voice different ways. D-STAR and YSF use callsigns in the headers while DMR uses a telephone-like number that corressponds to your call in a 3rd party DB.
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Each can connect over the commodity internet to other stations, repeaters or reflectors/rooms/talkgroups. The latter are software constructs that connect groups of stations, hotspots, or repeaters to one another. Station to station is possible on all but (at least with D-STAR) are little used in favor of "reflectors".
Lately, people have been adding multi-protocol reflectors that transcode from one protocol to the other on the fly. On the Canada-wide CANNET (2100 ET Friday). I think…
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… this is the home, but if you are on D-STAR, you need the "g2_link" package on your gateway to connect ... though there are other ways in (REF038A is how we connect). http://103.xlxreflector.org/index.php?show=liveircddb
The main thing is that conceptually, they are all the same. Well, OK, DMR uses TDMA so a single physical repeater can support two simultaneous channels. Other than that, though ...
#DSTAR #YSF #DMR #DV #hamr #hamradio
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(not sure this threaded correctly ...)
@croyle @yo3gnd Everyone’s into different things. My interest is mostly in (potentially) talking to people I know who are nowhere near me, by radio, dependably (i.e., without depending on propagation). And yes, it’s glorified VoIP… not really sure I care.
To be clear, I have very little interest in rag-chewing with strangers. That’s as true with HF as VHF/UHF. But who knows… I might turn some strangers into friends. Stranger things happen. (Bad pun.)
Wes AFØAJ
Richard
David Croyle
Come On Giant Asteroid!