Listening to DMR (dPMR/MotoTRBO/etc)
Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2014 9:07 am
Over the last month I've been spending a bit of time listening to DMR/dPMR frequencies - something I didn't realise was possible until only recently. There is not much info on these forums about the methods to decode this info apart from a post in the software section.
I've been using DSDPlus (DSD+) for the audio decode on DMR voice frequencies with great results. NXDN voice decode is also possible, however not as clear. I run DMRDecoder alongside to decode system information to display colour codes/etc.
DMR and NXDN is certainly gaining a foothold in Sydney, and Grants Digital PMR listing in this section has greatly assisted in finding/confirming active sites.
Many of the digital voice frequencies are part of trunking networks, which makes following conversations harder to track, especially during busy times. Reminds me of when analogue trunking systems first started appearing all those years ago and how monitoring became that little bit more challenging. That being the case, does anybody have any suggestions on how to more effectively monitor these digital trunked networks?
It certain gives hope that there will be a scanner in the future that will decode DMR tier 2 and 3. As DMR is an open standard I see their inclusion as similar to that of P25 monitoring in scanners, or maybe more LTR monitoring ability. The push would need to come from the US, and it does seem that DMR (specifically MotoTRBO) is growing over there. However as it's not generally used by public safety users (more commercial/industrial users) which is the majority of the scanning marker, I can't see it happening in the immediate short term.
I've been using DSDPlus (DSD+) for the audio decode on DMR voice frequencies with great results. NXDN voice decode is also possible, however not as clear. I run DMRDecoder alongside to decode system information to display colour codes/etc.
DMR and NXDN is certainly gaining a foothold in Sydney, and Grants Digital PMR listing in this section has greatly assisted in finding/confirming active sites.
Many of the digital voice frequencies are part of trunking networks, which makes following conversations harder to track, especially during busy times. Reminds me of when analogue trunking systems first started appearing all those years ago and how monitoring became that little bit more challenging. That being the case, does anybody have any suggestions on how to more effectively monitor these digital trunked networks?
It certain gives hope that there will be a scanner in the future that will decode DMR tier 2 and 3. As DMR is an open standard I see their inclusion as similar to that of P25 monitoring in scanners, or maybe more LTR monitoring ability. The push would need to come from the US, and it does seem that DMR (specifically MotoTRBO) is growing over there. However as it's not generally used by public safety users (more commercial/industrial users) which is the majority of the scanning marker, I can't see it happening in the immediate short term.
