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.

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 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

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.

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

P25 Activity for NSW & Qld areas as of 9th April, 2023

 P25 Activity for NSW & Qld areas.

we have some P25 repeaters linked to the network on TG10700, these include :
VK2RCG GPT Sydney City 438.200 MHz
VK2RNS Asquith (Sydney North) 439.975 MHz
VK2RHP Horsley Park, (Sydney south west) 438.1375 MHz

VK4RVR, The Knobby, Ipswitch - NEW P25 rptr  has joined the network

Other Operational P25:
VK2RMB Terrey Hills 438.175 MHz but is standalone, waiting to be configured and linked to P25 network
VK2RWK Kurrajong, standalone
VK2RGN Goulburn - not sure if it linked into network yet.

Non-operational or redeployed :

VK2ROT Paddington, off air, 
VK2RWI Dural - now a VK-DMR rptr
VK2RHT Chatswood - now a VK-DMR rptr
VK2RAG Somersby - gone, redeployed
VK2RHR High Range - failed, getting fixed
VK2RCF Carlingford - gone
VK2RLE Heathcote - gone
VK2RWS Berowra - gone

Planned :
possibly a P25 repeater for central west NSW (Bathurst-Orange region).

Activity:

I heard yesterday VK4AZ and VK4MCU testing on the VK4RVR multimode P25/DMR rptr, others heard this weekend VK2LP, VK2PCH, VK2GUM, VK2PET, VK2PTB, VK2JDS, WB9COY

another DMR network

 

I discovered there is another DMR network out there,  this one called FreeDMR, looks to be based out of the UK. It has talkgroups for Australia 505 and 5050  and for New Zealand  it has TG530. It is aimed at opensource development and experimentation.

FreeDMR – Open Networking. Reaching out to the World.

WSJT-X 2.6.1 GA Release

 WSJT-X 2.6.1 GA Release

The WSJT Development Team is pleased to announce that today the Solar
Flux Index is 234 and Sunspot Number is 195.

Oh, yes: and the WSJT-X 2.6.1 General Availability (GA) release is now
available for free download from SourceForge.

Version 2.6.1 is a bug-fix release.  It corrects a flaw in Q65 mode that
prevented display of the T/R period spinner, makes initialization of the
decoded text font more robust, does more complete initialization when
the program is started in FT8 Hound mode, and corrects a bug causing
program crash with more than 100 decodes in a single FT8 sequence.
Additional details can be found in the Release Notes:
https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/wsjtx-doc/Release_Notes_2.6.1.txt

The WSJT Home Page is now located here: https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/
Direct links to installation packages for Windows, Linux, and macOS can
be found on the WSJT-X page https://wsjt.sourceforge.io/wsjtx.html

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 available on the "Git" tab here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/wsjt/

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.

Bugs should be reported by following instructions found here in the User
Guide:

https://www.physics.princeton.edu//pulsar/K1JT/wsjtx-doc/wsjtx-main-2.5.4.html#_bug_reports

We hope you will enjoy using WSJT-X 2.6.1.

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

Brandmeister DMR Network Update for VK & ZL as of 14 Feb 2023

 Brandmeister DMR Network  Update for VK(Australia) & ZL(New Zealand) as of 14 Feb 2023

Talkgroups:

95 VK-ZL Chat

98 Echo Test

505 VK Call Channel

530 ZL National Call Channel

5050 XLX500G Reflector

5051 VK1 Chat

5052 VK2 Chat

5053 VK3 Chat

5054 VK4 Chat

5055 VK5 Chat

5056 VK6 Chat

5057 VK7 Chat

5058 VK8 Chat

50510 XLX510-D Reflector

50521 Illawarra ARS chat

50525 P25 Bridge & VK3 Allstar Repeater Network

50526 CCARC VK2RAG

50531 VK3 chat1

50533 Southern Peninsula ARC (vk3)

50539 Next-Gen 

50566 WICEN

50590  VK2HK-2-ROOM Wires-X

50591  VK2GP-ND Wires-X

50592  VK3KAY-ROOM Wires-X

50593  XRF740-C Reflector

50594  VK2RFG-ROOM

5059742  XRF740-C Reflector

5301 ZL1 Chat

5302 ZL2 Chat

5303 ZL3 Chat

5304 ZL4 Chat

53020  ZL XLX626A Reflector

53021  ZL  IFROAR Reflector

53029  ZL XLX299X Reflector

53050  ZL  XLX751 Reflector

53060  ZL  Taupo ARC

53099  ZL XLX750 Reflector

and the official Brandmeister TalkGroup list  Talkgroups | BrandMeister

and the Pi-Star Brandmeister TG List  BrandMeister Talkgroup List - pistar.uk

Timeslots ? BM repeaters run with Slot1 and Slot2 Linked, Hotspots run in DMO (Direct Mode Operation)

meaning  that you do not need to specify a TimeSlot number (1 or 2) for use with the Brandmeister Network TalkGroups.

Wayne Knowles, ZL2BKC silent key

 Wayne Knowles ZL2BKC, creator of the ZL PLL boards for microwave and weak signal enthusiasts, became silent key on 30th December, 2022.

Release of WSJT-X 2.6.0-rc2

 Dear WSJT-X Users,

We are pleased to announce that Release Candidate WSJT-X 2.6.0-rc2 is
ready for download by beta testers. A list of its essential changes from
previous releases can be found in the Release Notes:
https://physics.princeton.edu//pulsar/k1jt/Release_Notes.txt

Links for downloading WSJT-X 2.6.0-rc2 can be found on the WSJT-X Home
Page, https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html
Scroll down to find "Candidate release: WSJT-X 2.6.0-rc2".

We hope you will enjoy using this beta release of WSJT-X 2.6.0. As a
beta tester you should report on your experiences with its new features,
successful and otherwise, on one of the relevant WSJT forums. Bugs
should be reported by following instructions found here in the User Guide:

https://www.physics.princeton.edu//pulsar/K1JT/wsjtx-doc/wsjtx-main-2.6.0-rc2.html#_bug_reports

WSJT-X and MAP65 are licensed under the terms of Version 3 of the GNU
General Public License (GPLv3). 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. Additional licensing details can
be found here:
https://physics.princeton.edu//pulsar/k1jt/devel.html

73 from the WSJT Core Development Team
Joe, K1JT; Steve, K9AN; Nico, IV3NWV; Chet, KG4IYS; Uwe, DG2YCB;
Brian, N9ADG; and John, G4KLA