K0DXV wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 12:07 am
I haven't disappeared and I am not short on appreciation for the help. and... while PARROT now works it doesn't seem that anything else does. I have carefully entered data into a new codeplug so I am not inheriting someone else's poorly defined data. I have 14 entries carefully matching Digital Contacts to Channels Information - Contact Name. And yet... PARROT works but nothing else does.
Admit Criteria = Color Code? Color Code number? Does it matter? I'm not sure why nothing else is working. I am both humble and grateful for any help offered. Thanks --- Doug --- K0DXV
You had one channel working... Does the editor allow you to clone (copy) that channel. If so, make /n/ copies of the working channel. THEN step through these copies making only two changes: the CHANNEL NAME, and the CONTACT NAME.
Then put all these /channels/ into one radio ZONE (I believe one can have 16 channels per zone). Set the radio to that zone, and dial up the channel for the talk group of interest. Without a "group list" you will only hear traffic for the dialed up channel/talk group (but given the way Brandmeister puts in lock-outs, if you PTT one group, BM blocks any other talk group that may have been activated, for some period of time). For receive group list, put the Contacts for the channels in the Zone, and set all the relevant channels to the same group list (While a group list may allow more than just 16 entries -- you'd have to switch ZONE before you could dial up the channel for the excess).
Contacts should not have repeater calls in their name, unless the talk group is specific to that repeater. For Channel names, I use <rptr> <group name> (with HS for Hotspot, group names look like BM N Am, BM WW, BM NationWide [3100]). {Actually, I use <city> <group name>, since pretty much all the DMR repeaters in Michigan are part of the MI5 network, which doesn't allow activating BM talk groups even temporarily [though the Mi5 specific groups do show up on BM]}
When you move beyond the hotspot to actual repeaters, clone the hotspot channels, edit channel name replacing HS with repeater ID, change Rx and Tx frequencies, change color code and time slot (you'll have to check with repeater operator for what groups are on which time slot. Note: they may not allow access to all the groups you have in the hotspot list, so you can delete those cloned channels.
Hotspot usage should have power level LOW to avoid overloading the hotspot (you're unlikely to be more than a 100 feet from it, and it transmits even lower power than the radio LOW setting). Real repeaters, power HIGH may be desirable.
For the hotspot usage, the color code set in the Pi-Star config page is what the radio must be configured for. I usually set Admit Criteria for "Color Code Free" -- after all, that's what you'll be using when you configure real repeaters, and it doesn't seem to affect hotspot usage (especially as the simplex hotspot won't hear the radio if there is traffic on the channel from the network -- so the other options allowing the radio to transmit over receive won't do anything anyways).