forum.pistar.uk

Hi everyone and thanks for allowing me to join this forum. Being new to DMR I have been on one heck of a learning curve and appreciate everyone's patience and support. That said, I have several questions and I hope their not too dumb to ask!

When I use my radio to connect to the PiStar, if I understand it correctly, I should set both the radio and PiStar to timeslot 2. I see that some Talkgroups are listed as TS1. I assume that's if I were accessing with a repeater - correct?

I see three Brandmeister servers are available. Does it matter which server I connect to?

Finally, when I'm connected to a talkgroup, I see on the dashboard call signs scroll down the list of stations. But I don't hear all of them on the radio. Some I do, most I don't. Am I doing something wrong?

Finally, I see that their are dual MMDVM's available. Mine is only a single. Is there any advantage to me changing?

Thanks es 73, de NO8J

TS1 and TS2 listings on repeater web pages only relate to what is set on the repeater. Your simplex hotspot uses TS2 for everything.

Use the BM server nearest to you to minimise delays.

When listening/watching a talkgroup you will find a lot of “users” key up for a second to activate the talkgroup and then don’t talk. It’s annoying but that’s the only way of using a talkgroup dynamically. Often if you call them you are ignored. It’s sad, but there are a lot of licensed listeners.

Note, you can set a permanent (static) talkgroup via the Brandmeister page, or via Pi-Star if you have obtained an API key from Brandmeister. I have a local talkgroup set as static, but be careful as it’s harder to shut off a static talkgroup than a dynamic one, you can run into problems setting either a busy one that you don’t always want, or setting more than one. You clear all dynamic groups with one click of the screen, or sending a call to 4000 on your radio...

73 Dave

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your reply. It's as I thought, always timeslot 2 with the PiStar.. Yes, I agree, seem to be more listeners then talkers. I don't understand it!

Anyway, two more questions if I may. In looking at the dashboard, on "received" signals is it normal to get BER's and losses annunciated when its to a hotspot????

Where are the three servers in the US located?

73 Mark NO8J

You can find location info about the BrandMeister servers at the top of the BrandMeister USA Wiki page:
https://wiki.brandmeister.network/index ... of_America

When your hotspot is receiving from the internet, the important measurement is Loss. Sometimes BER measurements are displayed; I'm not sure why, but you can ignore them. You can't do much about the Loss, but it does tell you that somewhere on the internet between your hotspot and the transmitting station, there is a bad connection. If you see BER on your radio's transmissions that is over 1%, you can adjust your hotspot to reduce that. See: Fine tuning to reduce high BER
https://amateurradionotes.com/pi-star-n ... #tuningber

Is there an advantage to duplex hotspots? Yes and no. For example, they do enable you to work on two slots when you're on DMR, but they're also troublesome, dropping audio, etc. My personal suggestion: stick with simplex until if and when you run into a situation that you think you can't live without duplex.

Setting up static talkgroups is (my opinion) most sensible if they are light traffic groups, but still are groups one does not want to miss. For example, I have 31261 and 31262 (mirrors of Mi5 Statewide 1 and 2 -- Mi5 repeaters don't allow BM talkgroups but are mirrored on BM) set up as static, while normally leaving 3100/Nationwide as dynamic (and for hotspots, the most recent used dynamic is a pseudo-static in that it doesn't time-out).

On the radio, I have all of them set up in a "receive group list", so that even while the radio is on the 3100 channel, if traffic comes in on 31261/31262 it will be heard, and my radio will display which group the audio is coming in on. I can then quickly dial up the channel that is configured for that group should I wish to take part in the communications.