Foibles of Fusion

So far, mostly so good. The Yaesu Fusion HRI-200 WiRES X interface is connected up to the FTM100DE and is working as intended ... in digital mode. Not so good in analogue mode though.

I'm having issues with the analogue audio being received by other stations. It's either absent, or very low. Perhaps it's a simple sound card setting on the computer, but I'm stumped. I've posted on the Yahoo! WiRES X Group (WiRES X Yahoo! Group), hopefully it's a problem someone else has already dealt with.

On the digital side of things, it's working a treat. The UK nodes are pretty quiet, the two localish Fusion repeaters (GB7FC & GB7RY) are not responding to any calls put through them, however, this might have something to do with my analogue audio issues, as both repeaters are listed as being in 'Analogue' mode at the moment. Not sure why, I thought they were in dual mode operation. There are Gazzilions of Japanese users. One group had 134 connected nodes. Shame I don't speak Japanese. The Americans are making a good showing, with an '--America-Link--' room that regularly has 40 nodes connected, some in Digital, some in Analogue, all in English. ;)

WiRES X Node software up and running

Yaesu Fusion WiRES-X node connected, with software up and running on the newly acquired, refurbished DC7800. The hardest (longest) part of this install was upgrading to Windows 10 from a fresh install of Windows 7.

It was a long process of updating ... updating ... updating, but it seems to have been really worth it. Windows 10 is very impressive and has breathed new life into this old micro-desktop machine. Everything connected up first time, no driver issues, just plug and play. Very impressive. I had to manually configure port forwarding on my router to allow for all the traffic the node generates, but even that was pretty straightforward.

Just need to get the licence NoV for the Gateway frequency sorted out now.

HP Compaq DC7800 Digital Gateway Computer

My latest radio acquisition. A refurbished 2007 Hewlett Packard Compaq DC7800.

Well, it's radio related. This little beastie (it's an Ultra Small Form Factor PC) is going to be the box that runs the software for the Internet connection on my WiRES X Gateway, and/or my D-Star DVAP Gateway.

It's a 32 Bit Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz with 2GB of RAM, a 160GB HD and DVD RW Drive, with just enough 'grunt' to run Windows 7. On the plus side, it has eight USB 2 ports!

These are workhorse desktop computers, designed to operate in corporate environments all day long, so it should do just fine running my simple node software.

Dipping into D-Star... again.

The Medway Towns has never had a D-Star repeater, it just never seemed to gather enough support from the local amateurs to warrant it I guess. That's not to say D-Star isn't used here at all. We have two D-Star Gateways (MB6NK on 2m and MB6IIK on 70cm), which have tried to carry the torch of D-Star operation in the darkness of quiet analogue repeaters.

Somewhat strangely, we are almost surrounded by D-Star repeaters, GB7SS and GB7ZP to the North, GB7IC to the East, GB7DX to the South and GB7OK to the West, it's just none of them offer coverage of the Medway Towns. Almost, but not quite. It's very frustrating.

So, those of us interested in D-Star rely on the Gateways, and DV Access Points, or 'D-Star Hot Spots', as they are known. I've finally managed to pick one up. This one is a 2m DVAP, and it will compliment my D-Star activity nicely.

Initially it will be hooked up to my Windows PC for home use, but the end goal is to hook it up to a Raspberry Pi as a stand alone unit. Either for static portable use or possibly for mobile use, attached to a 4G WiFi router.

Fumbling with Fusion

Yaesu are a bit of a late comer to digital modes but they seem quite determined to make a mark, they appear to have fully committed to the Fusion digital format. Yaesu initially sold their dual band digital repeater (DR-1X) with a hefty cash back offer, trying to tempt repeater keepers to upgrade, and there are now two hand held units available (FT1D and FT2D), along with two mobile units (FTM 100D and FTM-400D), as well as at least one multi-band multi-mode base station radio (FT-991).

The Yaesu Fusion digital system doesn't appear to have quite the impetus that the MotoTRBO 'DMR' system, or the Icom D-Star system has in the UK. The take up of Yaesu Fusion digital repeaters by repeater keepers seems to be pretty slow, here's a list of the current UK Fusion Repeaters, hopefully the addition of Wires X Internet linking to the mix will increase overall interest.

The main selling point Yaesu seem to be pushing is their Automatic Mode Selection (AMS) feature. This is the ability for the radio to automatically switch between Digital and Analogue, depending on the signal it receives. In all honesty, I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand it enables analogue and digital to coexist, but on the other hand it means people buying digital radios will just end up having to use them in analogue all the time, and, there's very little obvious impetus for existing slow-to-upgrade analogue users to purchase digital kit.

However, I think the positives outweigh the negatives.


Positives

• Compatibility between existing analogue users and new digital users
• Two digital voice modes (narrow and wide), with wide offering enhanced audio quality and narrow allowing data along with voice
• Integrated GPS/APRS functionality (Yaesu seem to have really embraced APRS)
• Internet Gateway linking (Integrated Digital and Analogue into Wires)

Negatives

• Yet another digital system...
• Analogue users will potentially force digital users back to analogue operation, thereby negating the whole point of purchasing digital radios in the first place

When you start to compare the different manufacturers digital systems with one another, the one thing that stands out for me is that MotoTRBO 'DMR' is (currently) a closed PMR system. It has a ton of functionality, but very little of that functionality is controlled by the actual operator of the radio. Everything has to be pre-programmed into the radio via software. What's worse, the options you can choose to pre-program (talk groups and contacts) are effectively legislated by the repeater keepers and network controllers. Those Talk Groups aren't user selectable, they are Talk Groups the repeater keeper has pre-selected for you.

Now I do appreciate that I make use of programming software on the vast majority of my amateur kit, but at least I have the option to manually make adjustments and changes on the fly - if needed. This is just not currently the case with existing 'DMR' radios. They are designed to be commercial 'PMR' radios.

This is where D-Star and Fusion win out for me (currently). With both systems you have control of all of the radios functionality and options from the front panel. Also, who you connect to via an Internet gateway is selected by you.

Which brings me to the title of this piece, fiddling with Fusion. You see, Yaesu have one big advantage going for them, at least in my eyes, and that is APRS. It makes Yaesu's new Fusion radios worth a play with, so I have opted to pick up an FT1DE and a FTM100DE, along with a Wires X box to allow for some Internet Gateway connectivity.

The FT1DE hand held and the FTM100DE mobile both have integrated GPS receivers and APRS functionality built in. This means that even if I were to never use Fusion digital, I would still have two perfectly usable APRS capable analogue radios. This is something that Icom failed to do on the D-Star radios. Sure, D-Star radios with GPS receivers can do D-PRS, but they can't do APRS on 144.800MHz.

As a final note, it's a real shame that Icom and Yaesu decided to proceed with different digital formats, especially as Icom opted for a digital format that was created by the JARL over ten years ago, but that is where we are, and these are the systems we have to choose from. On the bright side, at least we have analogue in common. ;)

Dabbling in DMR

There is a bit of an explosion in amateur DMR repeaters appearing all over the UK at the moment. So much so that we even have one in the Medway Towns (thanks Rob G6CKK)!

Getting involved is pretty simple, licensed amateurs can apply for a DMR-MARC user ID from here: DMR-MARC User Registration. They will manually enter you into the system, so give it 24 hours for it to happen. This is required because the MotoTRBO network (what DMR is) was designed for the commercial sector, not the amateur market. So the system uses a numerical ID which has to be manually attached to your Call sign in the database.

It's possible to pick up reasonably priced radios to get you on the air, so I picked up a TYT MD-380 hand held for £150. It's a Chinese digital PMR radio that is designed to work on the MotoTRBO DMR network, so works perfectly for use on the amateur DMR network.

The build quality of the MD-380 is very good, even the included accessories are solidly built and of a good quality. Unlike some of the early Baofengs and Wouxuns. The MD-380 looks and feels like it's been built for the commercial sector.

The radio operates in both analogue and digital mode and has the option of being front panel programmable, but realistically, this is just not worth even attempting, especially for the DMR side of things. It's just too involved. You need to make use of a PC to program this radio. I purchased it from a UK seller and it came with the USB programming cable and a UK power adaptor.

Even better, the radio came pre-programmed from the shop with a recent UK 'codeplug' which included my User ID and Call Sign. So, it was just a case of turning it on and away you go. One of my first contacts was with John Power, M6EZK, and he kindly supplied me with the latest UK codeplug for the radio.

However, one of the problems with the DMR system expanding so fast, is that the codeplug can go out of date very fast. It's one of those things that you may well find yourself going back to the PC to reprogram the radio - either yourself, or by just downloading a new publicly shared (generic) codeplug, just to keep up to date.

So far, there has been plenty of activity on the DMR network. It's set up in such a way that you have local, regional, national and international talk groups that you can connect to, and the beauty of the two time slots is that not only can a group of people be using the DMR repeater as a traditional local repeater - you can also have an additional conversation occurring on a regional, national or international talk group at the exact same time.

I've only had the radio for about a week, and there are already new repeaters applying to join the DMR network in the UK. It's going to be interesting to watch this system grow.