Quest: DMR
You can listen to Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) transmissions across the globe on the web without having to log in or have a ham radio license.
In this quest, we’ll listen in on some conversations using DMR.
You might be surprised that anyone can listen to these conversations.
In fact, all ham communications except those controlling aircraft or satellites are presumed public. Said a different way, in exchange for the (sometimes exclusive) privilege to transmit on specific radio frequencies, hams agree to have their transmissions subject to monitoring.
This implies that you should consider carefully what you say on the radio.
The old rules about what considerate people don’t talk about in polite company still apply.
Brandmeister Network
The Brandmeister Network is one of the largest organizations providing DMR services. The Brandmeister Network maintains a hoseline site that shows all of the DMR traffic going through the Network.
You will see something like the following:
{#fig-include/img/brandmeister-hoseline-2023-04-03}
This shows all of the stations connected to the Brandmeister network in the entire world.
The TGIF network provides an alternative to Brandmeister.
Visit https://tgif.network/lastheard.php to watch DMR QSOs on this network as they occur.
Click on an active QSO
To listen in on one of these QSOs, click on an active QSO. Active QSOs will be outlined in red.
{#fig-include/img/brandmeister-network-active-qso}
You can also listen in on specific talkgroups. A talkgroup is like a repeater, except that it repeats signals from stations connected via the internet. There is often traffic on talkgroup 91 (TG91 Worldwide) or talkgroup 93 (TG93 North America), so let’s listen in on those.
Click the PLAYER button in the upper right hand corner.
This will open a small panel where you can select what talkgroups to listen to or which stations to monitor.
