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

VK2RKG DMR repeater Bathurst - go-live August 2024

 News from Josh VK2MES:

As of 18th August, 2024, the ARNSW VKDMR RadNet Digital Voice Repeater is operational from West Bathurst, running 10W. The first of the new Motorola SLR1000 repeaters for the ARNSW RadNet network, which is the more compact version of their DMR repeaters.

Frequency is 439.875 MHz Output with a -5.0 MHz input. Callsign is VK2RKG and DMR ID is 505115

Reports can be sent to Josh VK2MES

There is also a VK2RKG 2metre analogue voice repeater 146.900 MHz with -600kHz input, no CTCSS tone required.

Nearby NSW Central West DMR repeaters : VK2RAO Orange 438.725 MHz with -5.0 MHz input VK2RBT Wyangala Dam/Cowra area 438.825 MHz multimode DMR & analogue FM, 9.1.5HZ required

VK2RDD Dubbo 439.950 MHz with -5.0 MHz input

VK2RDX Mt.Bindo/Oberon area 438.150 MHz with -7.0 MHz input

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

WSJT-X 2.7.0-rc4 Candidate Release

 Dear WSJT-X Users,

We are pleased to announce that Release Candidate WSJT-X 2.7.0-rc4 is
ready for download and use by beta testers.

WSJT-X 2.7.0 Release Candidate 4 includes new features (especially for
companion program QMAP) as well as bug fixes.  A full list of
enhancements can be found in the Release Notes:

https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/wsjtx-doc/Release_Notes_2.7.0-rc4.txt

See also Section 1.1 of the WSJT-X User Guide for this candidate release:

https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/wsjtx-doc/wsjtx-main-2.7.0-rc4.html#NEW_FEATURES

Release Candidates are intended for beta testers.  If you download and
use WSJT-X 2.7.0-rc4, please remember to provide feedback to us on the
new features in version 2.7, and on anything that does not seem to work
properly for you.

Direct links to installation packages for Windows, Linux, and macOS can
be found on the WSJT-X page https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/wsjtx.html
Scroll down to the heading "Candidate release:  WSJT-X 2.7.0-rc4".

For those who like to compile from source, a complete source-code
tarball is available at the WSJT-X page. Public access to the git
repository for the WSJT project is also available on the "Git" tab here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/wsjt/
It may take a short time for the code to be updated on SourceForge.


WSJT-X is licensed under the terms of Version 3 of the GNU General
Public License (GPL).  Development of this software is a cooperative
project to which many amateur radio operators have contributed.  If you
use our code, please have the courtesy to let us know about it.  If you
find bugs or make improvements to the code, please report them to us in
a timely fashion.

The authors and Copyright holders of WSJT-X request that derivative
works should not publish programs based on features in WSJT-X before
those features are made available in a General Availability (GA) release
of WSJT-X.  We will cease making public Release Candidate (RC)
pre-releases for testing and user early access purposes if this request
is ignored.

Feedback should be sent to this email list or one of the of the others
mentioned here in the User Guide:

https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/wsjtx-doc/wsjtx-main-2.7.0-rc4.html#SUPPORT

We hope you will enjoy using WSJT-X 2.7.0-rc4, and that you will help us
to create a new General Availability (GA) release soon.

    -- 73 from Joe, K1JT; Steve, K9AN; Nico, IV3NWV; Uwe, DG2YCB;
         Brian, N9ADG; and John, G4KLA

Direwolf APRS/Packet radio software "soundcard" application - v1.7 released October, 2023

 Releases · wb2osz/direwolf (github.com)

available for Windows, Linux, MacOS

For me I am interested in it for APRS usage applications.

VK2RBT 70cm DMR-analogue FM repeater

 I overheard some hams talking about a repeater covering Cowra area.  That got my attention as I wandered through Cowra a few times in recent trips out west.

I know of existing repeaters  VK2RKG 146.900 at Kelso, linked with VK2RCW 147.200 at Gowan, plus I know of the repeater network for WARC, (Wagga ARC) Repeaters - Wagga Amateur Radio Club (warc.org.au)   and their most northern repeater in their network is VK2RYL 146.875 MHz near Young.

Anyway, I did some searching and discovered there is VK2RBT out at near Wyangala that covers that Cowra area.  I had sort of wondered if there might be someone else put up a 2metre repeater and link it with the WARC network. Maybe one day.

Anyway, looking up repeaters gave me VK2RBT  and the WACRS group.wacrs.org – Wyangala Amateur and Citizens Radio Society. This yielded good info, glad to see some hams out that way getting a repeater network up and running. VK2RBT is currently a 70cm repeater, dual mode, DMR on the VK-DMR network, plus FM analogue  requiring 91.5Hz CTCSS tone on input. The Output is 438.825 MHz and input is 431.825 MHz (-7.0Mhz)

Here is hoping they can get some more repeaters up and running.

Winter Weak Signal DX Update - 28th June 2023

 here are some very impressive DX contacts,  from VKSpotter Propagation Reporter,
specifically the microwave activity on 23cm and 9cm, this represents  the path of Gladstone to Brisbane.

Note : 9cm via Aircraft Enhancement using Q65 digital.

That is equivalent path of Sydney to Albury,  or Sydney to Coffs Harbour

Release Candidate WSJT-X 2.7.0-rc1 is ready for download by beta testers

 Dear WSJT-X Users,

We are pleased to announce that Release Candidate WSJT-X 2.7.0-rc1 is
ready for download by beta testers.

WSJT-X 2.7.0 Release Candidate 1 introduces a new program called "QMAP",
a new Special Operating Activity known as "Q65 Pileup", and a number of
other program enhancements and bug fixes.  A full list of enhancements
can be found in the Release Notes:

https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/wsjtx-doc/Release_Notes_2.7.0-rc1.txt

Release Candidates are intended for Beta testers.  If you download and
use WSJT-X 2.7.0-rc1, please remember to provide feedback to us on its
new features -- and on anything that does not seem to work properly.

Direct links to installation packages for Windows, Linux, and macOS can
be found on the WSJT-X page https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/wsjtx.html
Scroll down to the heading "Candidate release:  WSJT-X 2.7.0-rc1".

For those who like to compile from source, a complete source-code
tarball is available at the WSJT-X page. Public access to the git
repository for the WSJT project is also available on the "Git" tab here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/wsjt/  It may take a short time for the
code to be updated on SourceForge.


WSJT-X is licensed under the terms of Version 3 of the GNU General
Public License (GPL).  Development of this software is a cooperative
project to which many amateur radio operators have contributed.  If you
use our code, please have the courtesy to let us know about it.  If you
find bugs or make improvements to the code, please report them to us in
a timely fashion.

The authors and Copyright holders of WSJT-X request that derivative
works should not publish programs based on features in WSJT-X before
those features are made available in a General Availability (GA) release
of WSJT-X.  We will cease making public Release Candidate (RC)
pre-releases for testing and user early access purposes if this request
is ignored.

Feedback should be sent to this email list or one of the of the others
mentioned here in the User Guide:

https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/wsjtx-doc/wsjtx-main-2.7.0-rc1.html#SUPPORT

We hope you will enjoy using WSJT-X 2.7.0-rc1, and that you help us to
create a GA release of this version very soon.

   -- 73 from Joe, K1JT; Steve, K9AN; Nico, IV3NWV; Uwe, DG3YCB;
        Brian, N9ADG; and John, G4KLA

1296.500 MHz WSPR weak signal

 VK2BLS and VK2HC playing WSPR on 1296.500 MHz today

extract from VKspotter.com

updated my VK-DMR handheld and hotspot today 12th Feb 2023

 I finally got around to updating my  VK-DMR Pi-Star hotspot and my TYT MD380 handheld, these are the ones I use for VK-DMR. This  reconfig and re-programming is keeping in line with the changes made by the VK-DMR network on 9th February, 2023.  I fixed up the hotspot to remove old static TG's I used to monitor and shifted the TG's on TS2 over to TS1, leaving only TG505 and ECHO in TS2. TG505 is the only static TG now, all the rest of the TG's in TS1 are UA (dynamic).

Out of the UA based TG's I only interested in TG's 5,9,530, 1910, 3801-3809, WICEN 3810, VK-JOTA 30

VK-DMR Network updates - January 2023

 Begin forwarded message:

From: "VK3TE via groups.io" <vk3te=bigpond.com@groups.io>

Subject: Re: [VK-DMR] Changes to the VK-DMR Network

Date: 29 January 2023 at 10:11:55 am AEDT

To: <VK-DMR@groups.io>

Reply-To: VK-DMR@groups.io

Good Morning All

For Hotspots this will have NO Impact to you as you set your TG’s that you want to listen to.

The Link from the Repeater Server to the Hotspot server to pass the TG’s will NOT change

So what ever is on the IPSC2 Repeater server will still pass the TG’s to the Hotspot Server

 

The Phase 2 all you will have to do is move the TG 380x to TS 1 Now and the same to reprogram your Radio for TG 380x to now use TS 1 (Time Slot 1)

 

Now for your Promiscuous Mode, we keep telling you that your Hotspot could hear another TG, and with your Radio is programmed to Promiscuous Mode it will jump to this TG, and if your Hotspot hears another different TG it will jump to this TG and your radio will follow and you do not know what you could be listening too, this happens a lot when listening to the TG 5 Broadcasts, and you then try to talk back to the person and you are now on a different TG.

 

This has been reported many times and even watching the VK-DMR IPSC2 Hotspot and Repeater Dashboards many of these promiscuous mode users are on the wrong TG when trying to talk back

 

As this is your choice we keep telling Amateurs that Promiscuous mode is not a good practice

 

You should be setting the TG for RX and TX for each channel you have programmed to your Radio, as the Hotspot just listens to what it is set to, and will follow what your Radio is sending to your Hotspot.

 

Anyway the Phase 2 of Changers will be coming to make it easier for all to use moving forward and the TG 8 for each Region will be removed and replaced with a New Set of Fixed TG’s and the TG 10008 to 90008 that is TG 8/1 to 8/9 will be replaced with a all New Set of TG’s you will need to check on the VK-DMR Network Web Site at https://vkdmr.com/

 

Peter Brennan

VK3TE & VK4SPB

DMR status updates as of 3rd January 2023

Status update on changes for VK-DMR and Brand Meister networks  for VK (Australia) region.

Using DMR – VK DMR this is link to VK-DMR Supported TalkGroup listing.

 Note : VK-DMR is still gatewayed to Brandmeister equivalent TG's

VK-DMR  TG's 3801, 3802, 3803, 3804, 3805 & 3807 all on TS2  gateway respectively to

Brandmeister TG's 5051, 5052, 5053, 5054, 5055 & 5057 as respective State TG assignments

IPSC2 Dashboard Index (vkdmr.com)  VK-DMR Repeater dashboard, currently 57 repeaters connected.

IPSC2 Dashboard Index (vkdmr.com) VK-DMR Hotspot dashboard, currently 268 hotspots connected.

Note: VK-DMR now has some gateways into the Fusion Repeater network.

Repeaters | BrandMeister Brandmeister Repeater dashboard, currently only 11 licensed repeaters in VK, being VK2RAY, VK2RCM, VK3RAH, VK3RBA, VK3RHD, VK3RSV, VK3RUT, VK4RDB, VK6RDM, VK6RLM &  VK7RCR

Hotspots | BrandMeister Brandmeister Hotspots dashboard, currently 252 hotspots connected.

LastHeard | BrandMeister Brandmeister dashboard  "Last Heard" list of user activity.

BrandMeister Talkgroup List - pistar.uk this provides the full list of Brandmeister TG's worldwide, for VK refer to 505x and 505xx TG's

That was interesting comparing VK-DMR versus Brandmeister devices in VK (Australia)

57 x VK-DMR repeaters, compared to 11x Brandmeister Repeaters, 

whereas hotspots is pretty similiar with 268 on VK-DMR compared to 252 on Brandmeister.

Keeping in mind the structure and usage is quite different between VK-DMR and Brandmeister  networks. Each network serves a different purpose, don't try and compare one as being better than the other.

VK-DMR is repeater oriented, linking groups of repeaters in various combinations, but with no PTP TG's, whereas Brandmeister is not repeater focused, but has individual repeaters, but primarily is supportive of PTP connections and multi-mode gateways, including digital to analogue.

WSJT-X 2.5.3 GA Release (Dec 2021)

 vale Bill Somerville, G4WJS  - Amateur Radio experimenter.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

WSJT-X 2.5.3 GA Release (Win64 only)

Dear WSJT-X Users:

As most of you know, we are mourning the recent death of our friend and
colleague Bill Somerville, G4WJS, who since 2013 has contributed so much
to the WSJT project.

One of Bill's many WSJT-related tasks was creating installation packages
for Win32, Win64, Linux (Debian, Fedora, Raspberry Pi, ...), and macOS
for each new program release.  At present we have a straightforward
system for building the Win64 package -- the best choice for the
majority of WSJT-X users -- but no systems in place for building Win32,
Linux, and macOS packages.

WSJT-X 2.5.3 includes a feature of special interest to users who will
enter the ARRL January VHF Contest (January 15-17, 2022). For benefit of
those users, we have decided to release WSJT-X version 2.5.3 for Win64
even though we have not yet made prebuilt packages for the other
operating systems.

Differences between WSJT-X 2.5.2 and 2.5.3 are minimal and described in
the Release Notes:
https://physics.princeton.edu//pulsar/k1jt/Release_Notes.txt

The new feature for the ARRL VHF contests is an enhanced macro facility
for Tx messages, aimed at making it easier to ask another station to QSY
to a new band.  The feature is described briefly here in the User Guide:
https://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wsjtx-doc/wsjtx-main-2.5.3.html#TXMACROS

Additional information will likely appear on VHF-contest-related forums.

A link for the Win64 installation package for WSJT-X 2.5.3 is now
available on the WSJT-X web page:
https://physics.princeton.edu//pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html

Pre-built packages for Win32, Linux, and macOS will be added when we
have created new means for creating them.

 -- 73 from Joe, K1JT; Steve, K9AN; and Nico, IV3NWV

Brandmeister DMR activity in VK-ZL

 I just reviewing logs from my Openspot to see what the main activity is from on the Brandmeister DMR network here in VK and ZL,

mostly TG 50525, which is tied to the VK3 AllStar network 

next highest usage is  TG's 505, 95 and 530,  I noticed the two ZL's TG's getting some regular usage, I hearing more ZL-VK traffic in there.

then 53099, another ZL TG, certainly being used in past week. I not noticed this one used much before.

and the rest are state TG's 5051, 5052, 5053, 5054, 5056 and 5057  which are linked to their equivalent State TG's on VK-DMR network

next is Private Calls (station to station)

I have two DMR handhelds I listen to both DMR networks (as well as the P25 network)  each day whilst working,  I got to say that activity on both VK-DMR and Brandmeister is much the same. I have noticed  quite a few  QSO's operating across the VK-DMR to Brandmeister links, which I think is great, as people use either VK-DMR or Brandmeister based on their local situation. The interface between VK-DMR network and Brandmeister network helping encourage on-air activity.

VK P25 activity

 here is some more P25 activity from VK,  on Talkgroups  TG4, TG10700 and TG10400

VK-DMR Network activity

 This shows example of the  activity on the VK-DMR network

PI-Star for MMDVM Release 4.1.5 and Dashboard 20210621 now available

 PI-Star for MMDVM Release 4.1.5 and Dashboard 20210621 now available as of 21st June 2021.

I haven't seen a release note for it yet. Upgraded three of my units from 4.1.4

All of my units are running HS_HAT 1.4.17

PI-Star for MMDVM hotspot update

 current versions of Pi-Star for MMVDVM  is  4.1.4 and Dashboard is 20210517