Updating my Pi-Star MMDVM hotspots as of July 2026

 Updating my Pi-Star MMDVM Hotspots as of  July 2026.

I had to upgrade the Kernel to get the latest image installed.

now Kernel is 6.12.75+rpt-rpi-v6

Pi-Star  version is 4.3.7

Dashboard is 20260501  (1st May 2026)

Once installed I found the  DMR and P25 tabs were not coming up and 

showing RED instead of GREEN so I ran the Update function on each Hotspot, 

while watching I noticed some fixes go in and also a later Dashboard 

which is 20260623, now everything starts up and get the GREEN indicator

and I started receiving traffic from DMR and P25 sources respectively.

I configured the first DMR Hotspot for the new VK-DMR IPSC3 network, 

but after a day or two I noticed I not hearing much activity, just TG505 

traffic, which confirmed from monitoring the VK-DMR IPSC Heard List.

Then I configured another of my Hotspots against the VK-DMR IPSC2 network, 

since then I now receiving the normal TG's that I had configured as STATIC 

on IPSC2. 

Currently I can monitor traffic from IPSC3 and IPSC2 Networks simultaneously.

I also configured two of my Hotspots for P25 TG10400 and TG10700 talkgroups.

P25 TG10700 Activity as of 19th Jan 2026

 P25 TG10700 Activity as of 19th Jan 2026

Alternative DMR Networks for VK & ZL as of October, 2025

 Alternative DMR Networks for VK & ZL (Australia & New Zealand)

Apart from the VKDMR Network (DMR-MARC)   and  Brandmeister DMR Network, there are some other alternate DMR based networks, providing servers in Australia and New Zealand, these are :

Digitial Voice DMR Australia (DVAU) Network    https://dmr.dvau.au/

Digital Voice DMR New Zealand  (DVNZ) Network    https://dmr.dvnz.nz/

the DVAU and DVNZ are experimental networks working together.

VKFreeDMR Network Australia    https://www.vkfreedmr.org/

FreeDMR Network New Zealand    https://freedmrnz.dvnz.nz/

The two FreeDMR networks are associated with the FreeDMR network   https://www.freedmr.uk/

They all have their own dashboards so you can see activity, and similar structured talkgroups.

Brandmeister DMR TalkGroups for VK & ZL as of September, 2025

 Brandmeister DMR TalkGroups for VK & ZL as of September, 2025.
Here are some  talkgroups for Brandmeister DMR network, some bridged to VK-DMR Network, some are some gateway ports setup by clubs and groups going to different networks, usually DStar.

505  National Calling Talkgroup for VK
5050 >> XLX500 G Reflector
5051 bridged to 3801 VK-DMR
5052 bridged to 3802 VK-DMR
5053 bridged to 3803 VK-DMR
5054 bridged to 3804 VK-DMR
5055 bridged to 3805 VK-DMR
5056 bridged to 3806 VK-DMR
5057 bridged to 3807 VK-DMR
5058 bridged to 3808 VK-DMR
50520 >> BMARC Net Monday 09.30utc
50521 >> IARS Chat
50525 bridge to P25 and NXDN Networks
50526 >> CCARC
50529 >> XLX500
50566  WICEN
50590  >> VK2HK Wires-X
50591  >> VK2GP Wires-X
50592  >> VK3KAY Wires-X
50594  >> VK2RFG 
505205  >> XLX500
5052110  >> XLX500

ZL TG's :
530  >> XLX299
5301  ZL1 Regional
5302  ZL2 Regional
5303  ZL3 Regional
5304  ZL4 Regional
53020  was used  for XLX626
53021  >> IFROAR  (Rotarians)
53029  >> XLX299 X
53050  >> XLX751
53060  Taupo ARC
53085  >> XLX299 >> AllStar Bridge
53099  >> XLX750

VK-ZL-Pacific:
95

Dashboard | BrandMeister

VK-DMR and P25 Activity for VK & ZL as of 25th September, 2025

here is some screenshots to show some of the typical activity on VK-DMR and P25  talkgroups covering VK & ZL,  recently noting a few ZL's appearing on P25 mode which is  good, as the P25 gateways and talkgroups for ZL had basically faded away or turned off.

VK-DMR

 

P25 TG10700

P25 TG10400

P25 TG10401   Note: this is APAC/WICEN TG, but being used by stations from China.

update on P25 TG10700 as of 12th May, 2025

 I suddenly spotted some new callsigns appeared on P25  TG10700 today,
that is good, some new people playing with P25.

Noting:  I upgraded my P25 MMDVM hotspot recently to PiStar 4.1.10  and dashboard 20250429

P25 Repeaters for Sydney and surrounds - as of 11th February, 2025

 P25 Repeaters for Sydney and  surrounds

VK2RCG GPT Sydney City 438.200 MHz now standalone

VK2RNS Asquith (Sydney North) 439.975 MHz standalone

VK2RHP Horsley Park, (Sydney south west) 438.1375 MHz  TG10700

VK2RMB Terrey Hills 438.175 MHz  is standalone

VK2RWK Kurrajong, 439.825 is standalone

VK2RWS Berowra 438.275  w/ -5.4MHz  (WICEN rpr) - unknown status

VK2RWH Nelson Bay 439.625 standalone (WICEN rptr) - unknown status

Non-operational or redeployed :

VK2RHR High Range - being repaired

VK2RGN Goulburn - off air.

VK2ROT Paddington, off air, possibly gone
VK2RWI Dural - now a VK-DMR rptr
VK2RHT Chatswood - now a VK-DMR rptr
VK2RAG Somersby - gone, redeployed
VK2RCF Carlingford - gone
VK2RLE Heathcote - gone

VK3GWY disappeared

 the VK3GWY gateway seems to have disappeared, I haven't heard the VK3 network activity on Brandmeister DMR, P25, NXDN and YSF networks, not hearing the daily and weekly nets held on the VK3 network.
I noticed it disappeared off the various dashboards and checking Brandmeister dashboard it looks to be 26 days ago, so that is around the 14th September.

DMR Stats and Dashboards

 here are the dashboards again plus Matt VK2FLY's Statistics pages for VK-DMR

IPSC2 Dashboard Index (vkdmr.com)  VK-DMR Repeater List

IPSC2 Dashboard Index (vkdmr.com)  VK-DMR Hotspots List

IPSC2 Dashboard Index (arec.info)  ZL DMR Repeaters and Hotspots List

VKDMR Information - From VK2FLY  VK-DMR Information page from VK2FLY

VKDMR Information - From VK2FLY weekly stats for VK-DMR  from VK2FLY

Digital Multimode Reflectors

 I am more interested in the Reflectors for DMR & P25,  most are centered around D-Star, here are some :

XLX

XRF

P25ref by G4KLX

NXDNref by G4KLX

alternative P25ref by DG9VH

alternative P25ref by M0VUB

code bases are found on GitHub

P25 Activity as of August 2024

 here is a bit of a list of known and active P25 TalkGroups  primarily from a VK/ZL perspective, but includes the main Overseas TG's and their dashboards (where applicable)

TG4 - VK4TUX  is defunct, long gone.

TG445  SuperMag AU - p25.supermag.fishersaudio.com.au  - defunct, its gone

TG530  ZL (NZ)   - zldigitialreflectord.hopto.org  - defunct, its gone

TG5057  VK7HSE  45.248.50.37  XLX505  dashboard is there, but no P25 port anymore

TG5205 CCARC VK2RAG  5205.p25dvm.com  - not configured

TG10100 World Wide  - is active

TG10101 TAC1 - no activity seen

TG10102 TAC2 -no activity seen

TG10201 USA -is active, but not that busy

TG10202 USA - no activity seen

TG10400  VK - pacificp25.repeaters.info  -  is active

TG10401 VK WICEN - pacifictac1.repeaters.info  and p25wicen.repeaters.info  - activity is scarce

TG10403  Pacific TAC3  - China stations

TG10403  Pacific TAC4  - Taiwan

TG10700  AU - active, but dashboard has gone

TG10750  AU Secondary  - defunct, its gone.

TG50525  VK Bridge  50525.p25dvm.com and tg505.repeaters.info  - very active, linked to VK3network

TG50535  VK Multimode  Link    p25to50535.vkradio.com   -  defunct, its gone

TG50536 FreeStar VK  p25.tg5036.vkradio.com    defunct, its gone

TG53099  ZL Bridge  (NZ)  203.86.206.49  (XLX750)  operational, but no P25 port anymore

 

here are some Nets to listen to on DMR in VK/ZL, as of 13th May 2024

VK3XEM's Welfare Net, Mon to Fri 10am AEST, runs on the VK3 AllStar Network, but accessible from Brandmeister DMR TG 50525, also P25 TG 50525 and I think also on NXDN TG50525.

VK3KK Round Table Net, Wed 8pm AEST, same network as above, on the VK3 AllStar Network, but accessible from Brandmeister DMR TG 50525, also P25 TG 50525 and I think also on NXDN TG50525.

ZL Digital Net, Friday night, 8pm NZT, 6pm AEST, on  VKDMR TG 530 ZL Call Freq

Westlakes  Net, VK2ATZ  Sunday morning from 8.00am AEST on VKDMR TG3802 linked to Brandmeister TG5052

Westlakes Broadcast, Sunday morning 9.00am AEST on VKDMR TG3802 linked to Brandmeister TG5052

VK7 WIA / REAST Broadcast, Sunday morning 9.30am AEST on VKDMR TG5

VK-DMR Net, Tuesdays 0900z on VK-DMR TG505

BMARC Monday night net 19.30pm AEST and Thurs 19.30pm AEST via Brandmeister TG50520

 Port Stephens Net Thurs nights 19.30pm AEST VK-DMR TG3809 & Brandmeister TG5109

P25 Activity as of 6th May, 2024

 looking at some of the P25 Activity  around as of 6th May 2024,

TG10100

TG10201

TG10700

P25 TalkGroups Activity as of 29th April, 2024

I showing some of the activity over past week,

TG10100 WW  (M1GEO  UK), - it has a new Dashboard URL  - it has activity

TG10101   WW - some activity

TG10102    WW TAC2  - some activity

TG10103     WW TAC3  - unknown

TG10200 NA TAC

TG10201 NA TAC1 - plenty activity

TG10202 NA TAC2  - some activity

TG10203 NA TAC3 unknown

TG10400 Pacific P25

TG10401  Pacific TAC1/WICEN  - nothing, but it is a WICEN channel

TG10402  Pacific TAC2 - used by stations in China

TG10403 Pacific TAC3 - no response could be gone

TG10700 plenty of activity, a good dozen stations on here.

TG50525  plenty of activity, as it linked to VK3 Allstar network, multimode gateway

Dashboard URL's :

TG10100 - TG10100/Worldwide P25Reflector-Dashboard (m1geo.com)

TG10200 - - P25 North America Reflector (dvswitch.org)

TG10201 - - P25Reflector-Dashboard by DG9VH (dvswitch.org)

TG10400 - TG10400 PACIFIC P25-NXDN Bridge - VK2HK

TG10401 - TG10401 PACIFIC TAC1 (WICEN) P25 - VK2HK

TG10700 - AU P25 NSW - YSFReflector-Dashboard by DG9VH (gustotech.net)

TG50525 -  TG50525 P25 Gateway-Bridge - VK2HK & TG50525 NXDN-DMR-P25-YSF - VK2HK

MMDVM HS_HAT Modem Firmware Release Notes

 I haven't found any release notes yet for v1.6.0 or 1.6.1, but here are the recent previous releases

CA6JAU Release notes for version 1.5.2 :

• Support for BridgeCom SkyBridge HS
• Fix pictures transmission in YSF (Manuel EA7EE)
• Add "." to CWId (Andy MW0MWZ)
• Support for OrangePi firmware installation using generic_duplex_gpio_fw.bin (Sergei)
• Support for ZUMspot Dualband RPi and ZUMspot Duplex RPi (Abad Vera)
• Old ZUMspot Duplex USB is now Generic Duplex USB
• Serial Repeater RX optimization (Shawn Chain)
• UDID support (Shawn Chain)
• UDIO optional
• Beta fw support for installer scripts

This is a beta release 1.5.1b, for beta testing:

• Support for new boards: ZUMspot Dualband RPi and ZUMspot Duplex RPi (Abad Vera)
• Old ZUMspot Duplex USB is now Generic Duplex USB
• Serial Repeater RX optimization (Shawn Chain)
• UDID support (Shawn Chain)
• UDIO optional
• Beta fw support for installer scripts
• Fix bugs

Release notes for version 1.4.17 :

• Additional "sleep" for flashing (Florian DF2ET)
• Update NanoDV (Tom BG4TGO)
• Enabling Serial Repeater RX (Garry WD0DUD)
• Add D2RG MMDVM_HS support

Release notes for version 1.4.16 :

• Add support for POCSAG calibration mode by Florian DF2ET (latest MMDVMCal)
• Add I2C host communication support (custom firmware compilation)

for the rest of the release notes go to here :

Releases · juribeparada/MMDVM_HS · GitHub

Upgrading MMDVM board firmware from Pi-Star

 I just recently completed the exercise of upgrading my Pi-Star units with the Dashboard upgrade to 20240309 (9th March, 2024), and the Pi-Star firmware to 1.4.8

I noticed my MMDVM modems were still on 1.4.17, I looked at CA6JAU's GitHub and could see latest version he has was 1.5.2    GitHub - juribeparada/MMDVM_HS: MMDVM HotSpot: firmware for ZUMspot or MMDVM_HS based boards (D-Star, DMR, YSF, P25, NXDN and POCSAG)

but when I actually used the  Pi-Star > Configuration > Expert  > FW function to upgrade firmware, I discovered it was deploying version 1.6.1 for MMDVM_HS_HAT and same version for MMDVM_HS_DUAL_HAT

for my MMDVM HS_HAT modems (JumboSpot and the S56AL clone (Red)) were all same firmware that I upgraded manually a few years back. Below are  extracts from Pi-Star Livelogs, before and after upgrade :

MMDVM protocol version: 1, description: MMDVM_HS_Hat-v1.4.17 20190529 14.7456MHz ADF7021 FW by CA6JAU GitID #cc451c4

MMDVM protocol version: 1, description: MMDVM_HS_Hat-v1.6.1 20230526 14.7456MHz ADF7021 FW by CA6JAU GitID #7ff74ed

for my MMDVM Dual HAT modem, extracts from the Pi-Star Livelogs, before and after upgrade :

MMDVM protocol version: 1, description: MMDVM_HS_Dual_Hat-v1.4.17 20190529 14.7456MHz dual ADF7021 FW by CA6JAU GitID #cc451c4

MMDVM protocol version: 1, description: MMDVM_HS_Dual_Hat-v1.6.1 20230526 14.7456MHz dual ADF7021 FW by CA6JAU GitID #7ff74ed.

I ran into issue when doing the MMDVM_HS_DUAL_HAT modem board, the firmware upgrade stopped with an error, 

So I did a google search to see what to do about it, a few forums mentioned, but explanations were not easily understood, but eventually found the error details I needed, which was basically solder a JP1 solder pad  and solder a wire link into a header position, then I was able to complete the modem firmware task from Pi-Star menus, Configuration > Expert > FW.

From another forum, I learnt some more commandline  commands from Configuration > Expert > SSH Terminal, not so much to resolve, but to interrogate the MMDVM modem, which confirmed a few things.

For the type of MMDVM modems I am referring to above, then here they are:

JumboSpot :

S56AL clone (red coloured) :

MMDVM HS_DUAL_HAT modem :

same modem with OLED display fitted :

and below is the information to unlock the DUAL_HAT modem for upgrading

once the upgrade is complete, you can cut the link and remove solder blob from JP1 pads.

Here are Various Links to Upgrade firmware error discussions :
SOLVED - mmdvm single and duplex firmware update problem - forum.pistar.uk
Zumspot Libre Not upgrading - forum.pistar.uk

Updating MMDVM 1.52 to 1.61 : r/HamRadio (reddit.com)

PiStar MMDVM Upgrade Fix (m7spi.co.uk)    M7SPI covers the SSH commands you can use.

Make sure you upgrade the Dashboard version and Pi-Star software to get the latest Admin functionality.

Data Rate on Brandmeister AU DMR network from OpenSpot hotspot

 just saving a screenshot of Received Data rate from my OpenSpot1 on the Brandmeister AU DMR network,

approx 3.1 kbytes/sec

Pi-Star DMR Configuration Options for Static TalkGroups

 I was playing around with my Pi-Star configuration, with defining Static TalkGroups under DMR mode, I had added 11 x TG's in the TS1, and found the last couple were not there, meaning that I didnt see or hear any activity in the Activity (heard list) on the Pi-Star Dashboard for two of the 11 defined static TG's.  I tested with another radio, to test each TG defined, to find that TS1_10 and TS1_11 dont work, I trimmed the string back to 9 and it all working.

Did some Google searches to find that it is true,  each TS can have maximum of 9 x static talkgroups.

DMR+ Dynamic Talk Groups - forum.pistar.uk

In the Pi-Star Forum it says  you can have 9 x static TG's defined under TS1 and 9x static TG's defined under TS2.

DMR Node count for VK & ZL

 I have taken stat count of nodes in the past, this time I have written it down, but a couple years ago,  I found the numbers were much the same for VK-DMR versus Brandmeister nodes, in terms of VK activity, what I recall was around the 240-250 mark and looks much the same again today.

here is the count as of today, 22nd April 2024 for VK and ZL

VK-DMR :  Hotspots 242, Repeaters 56, Total=298.

BM  (VK): Hotspots  269, Repeaters 11, Total=280

ZL DMR+ : Hotspots Total=55 

BM (ZL): Hotspots Total=32

NOTE in ZL, repeaters don't have distinctive callsigns like VK does.

This is not a comparison of what is best, each type of DMR network does a different job, they are configured and operate differently, it is all about experimenting and learning, regardless of using one or both DMR modes and same goes for experimenting with other digital modes within the hobby.

DMR Nets for VK & ZL regions

 here are some Nets to listen to on DMR in VK/ZL:

VK3XEM's Welfare Net, Mon to Fri 10am AEST, runs on the VK3 AllStar Network, but accessible from Brandmeister DMR TG 50525, also P25 TG 50525 and I think also on NXDN TG50525.

VK3KK Round Table Net, Wed 8pm AEST, same network as above, on the VK3 AllStar Network, but accessible from Brandmeister DMR TG 50525, also P25 TG 50525 and I think also on NXDN TG50525.

ZL Digital Net, Friday night, 8pm NZT, 6pm AEST, on  VKDMR TG 530 ZL Call Freq

Westlakes  Net, VK2ATZ  Sunday morning from 8.00am AEST on VKDMR TG3802 linked to Brandmeister TG5052

Westlakes Broadcast, Sunday morning 9.00am AEST on VKDMR TG3802 linked to Brandmeister TG5052

VK7 WIA / REAST Broadcast, Sunday morning 9.30am AEST on VKDMR TG5

VK-DMR Net, Tuesdays 8pm AEST on VK-DMR TG5