Note: Had a quick chat with Bob W2CYK the developer of RFINDER last night at the Peconic Radio Club monthly meeting and he mentioned that he’s got some new stuff peculating in his secret RFINDER lab.

I think we will all be pleasantly surprised and amazed at his next venture! Bob is an amazing guy with an array of software and hardware that brings the World of Repeater Directory Information directly to your fingertips. RFINDER is partnered with companies like RT Systems and other organizations around the globe.

Getting back to DMR or Digital Mobile Radio, during the short time that I have been involved with DMR, I wrote some code which I run on a Linux server where I track and reference the DMR database information.

When I began experimenting with DMR, the number of registered DMR Id’s maintained by the Motorola Amateur Radio Club was around 14k. At last count my database has around 55k entries in it!

Wow what an explosion! In just over a year, the number of worldwide id’s has skyrocketed.

As an Extra with HF privileges, I never thought much about DMR as a means of reaching beyond local repeaters. But as one Tech Ham friend of mine said, DMR provides a convenient way for him to communicate across the country and to places around the world for those with only 28 and 50 MHz at their disposal. DMR has provided a way to step out under the dismal HF band conditions of recent years.

If a digital repeater is unavailable, a Hotspot can provide a method of communicating with Ham’s around the world with DMR+ and BrandMaster networks right from the armchair in your home.

Depending on the radio(s) you have, it is also possible to reach out to other Hams using DSTAR, Fusion and P25 with one of these multi-mode Hotspots.  The Shark RF Openspot  is one of the most popular Hotspot devices around today.

Perhaps you will poke around the Web and explore the World of DMR.  73, Gary KE2YK