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However, one of the problems with the DMR system expanding so fast, is that the codeplug can go out of date very fast.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.
