Getting Started With DMR and DSDPlus

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Andrew Milluzzi, KK4LWR

125 SE 16th Ave., Apt L202, Gainesville, FL 32601; andy@gatorradio.org

Getting Started with


DMR and DSDPlus
This simple tutorial can help get you started on digital modulation.

Digital modulations are becoming quite


popular in Amateur Radio. Technologies like
DMR, D-STAR, and System Fusion have
made the technology accessible and a new
platform for experimentation. Recently there
was much buzz about the Tytera MD-380,
an inexpensive digital mobile radio (DMR)
handheld transceiver. Technologies such
as the RTL-SDR — software defined radio
based on the RTL chip set — have brought
software defined radio to the masses.
Combining these two technologies can
enable additional experimentation.
Recently the Gator Amateur Radio
Club, W4DFU, at the University of Florida
installed a DMR repeater for Gainesville
and the surrounding area. This repeater is a
great resource for students and Technician
class operators to talk all over the world
using UHF locally. It is easy to get started Figure 1 — DMR decoding setup using a Tytera MD-380 handheld transceiver, a laptop
with DMR by just listening to typical DMR computer, and an RTL-SDR dongle. [Andy Milluzzi, KK4LWR, photo]
contacts. Depending on the talk group, some
are quick, others are well organized nets. One transceiver, since I am quite interested in
option to decode DMR is to purchase a radio. What is DSDPlus? the ongoing firmware experimentation
Another is constructing a receiver from an DSDPlus is an application that runs on a community. You might already have a DMR
RTL-SDR, an antenna, and some software. Windows computer that can decode multiple source, via other hams and perhaps a local
digital modes.1 Similar to the open source repeater. If you do decided to purchase a
DSD program, DSDPlus takes an audio DMR radio, Motorola Solutions and Hytera
What is DMR? stream from a radio and can generate text or
DMR stands for Digital Mobile Radio. each make some outstanding radios. Both
audio. The main difference for the scope of Connect Systems and Tytera make some
Sometimes it is called MotoTURBO, this tutorial is that the open source program
the DMR product produced by Motorola more inexpensive options.
must be compiled from source code, while The second needed piece of hardware is a
Solutions. Like D-STAR or System Fusion, DSDPlus offers a Windows binary.
DMR digitizes voice using a vocoder and radio to connect to your computer. You could
sends the information via digital packet. use a VHF/UHF radio and a sound card to
Hardware Setup interface with your computer. However, I
Unlike D-STAR and System Fusion, DMR My decoding setup requires just a few
uses TDMA (Time Division Multiple opted for an RTL-SDR for this project. An
pieces of physical hardware, seen in Figure RTL-SDR is essentially an inexpensive TV
Access) with two time slots in 12.5 kHz. This 1, and a some virtual hardware. The first
enables one DMR repeater to act as two on a tuner USB dongle for your computer. It
thing you need is a DMR source. I already can be purchased for less than $20 and can
given frequency. had purchased a Tytera MD-380 handheld cover 50 MHz to 1.7 GHz. Your Windows

QEX March/April 2017 19


operating system will most likely need a the program will launch. Type “FMP.EXE” devices. For this program, we need to feed
special driver to use the card as an SDR. You in your command prompt window. Without the output to our virtual audio port input. On
can install the correct driver with assistance an SDR plugged in, the application should my computer it is “Audio output device #2”
from the Zadig web page.2 The Zadig website fail to launch, but will still list the audio seen in Figure 2.
has a simple guide for installing the WinUSB
driver. This tutorial will assume you are using
an RTL-SDR with the appropriate driver.
The final needed hardware component
for this tutorial is virtual. The DSD software
needs a way to pass the audio. If you are using
your computer sound card and an external
radio, then you can skip this hardware. I
recommend a VB-Audio Virtual Cable as
a free solution.3 When you download and
install the software, you should notice a
new audio input and output device on your
computer that acts as a sound card.

Setting up DSDPlus Suite


Download the latest version of DSDPlus
and DSDPlus DLL package from the
DSDPlus web page.4 Extract the contents of
the DSDPlus zip file and the DLL zip file to
a folder. You should see a few dozen files. For
this tutorial, we will focus on FMP-VC.bat
and VC.bat. In DSDPlus two programs must
be configured: FMP and DSDPlus. FMP is Figure 2 — Running FMP.EXE produces this text. Note the listed audio output devices.
a basic narrowband FM tuner for an SDR.
DSDPlus is the decoder.
With all the files extracted, open a
command prompt. In the Windows
environment, this can be done by pressing
the Windows key on your keyboard and
typing CMD. Once open, navigate to the
folder containing the DSDPlus files. Another
option in Windows 8 or Windows 10 is to
click on the File menu in your Explorer
window. One of the options listed is open a
command prompt. If done from the DSDPlus
folder, you will not need to navigate.

Setting up FMP
Open the file FMP-VC.bat. You will see
several parameters. Modify this script for our
use by configuring the four parameters “–I”,
“–o”, “–P”, and “–f”. The “–i” parameter
followed by number (without a space)
indicates which SDR to use as an input. For
the SDR we can assume it is the only one on
your computer, so set it to “–i1”. The “–o”
parameter followed by a number is the output
audio device. The “–P” parameter is the
parts-per million (ppm) correction for your
SDR. The “–f” parameter is the frequency
in megahertz.
To determine the values for the other
parameters requires some knowledge about
your setup. Let’s first tackle the output
audio source. Each computer is different.
The best way to determine the audio output
is to observe what FMP sees. For this next
part, you might find it helpful to unplug the
SDR from the computer; if it is plugged in Figure 3 — Screen capture of FMP successfully running, controlling the SDR. Note the
command prompt window showing the correct ppm correction and frequency.

20 QEX March/April 2017


Setting the ppm correction for your no way to stop the program from opening A few other parameters must be set to
SDR is specific to your device. You can all the windows, so you might need to move make DMR work. The first parameter, “–
experiment by leaving it at 0.0. Alternatively the various windows out of the way to see rv”, tells DSDPlus that we expect voice.
you can use another SDR program such as the command prompt and get your results. DSDPlus must also be set to decode DMR/
SDR# from the AIRSPY web page to find On my computer I got the results shown in MotoTURBO, since DSDPlus can do
the ppm correction.5 My device required a Figure 4. much more than just DMR — DSDPlus
ppm correction of +75. The input should be set to the virtual documentation indicates that it decodes
The last parameter to set is the frequency audio cable output. The output must be your D-STAR, except audio. It also can also
to monitor. I do not want to clog the larger system speakers. In my case this results decode P25 Phase 1 and NEXEDGE.
DMR network with my testing traffic, so I in input device #1 and output device #1 To enable DMR we need to pass the “–fr”
generated my own signals on 446.075 MHz, respectively. This enables me to hear anyone parameter. We also need to tell DSDPlus
one of the UHF simplex frequency. DMR is calling. which of the two time slots we want to
mostly on UHF in the United States. Once
the system is working, you can change the
frequency to a local repeater.
If done correctly, your FMP-VC.bat
should look like:
“FMP –i1 –o2 –P75 –f446.075”.
Plug in your SDR tuner and run the
script. You should see several windows pop
up. Your computer screen should look like
Figure 3. Save the changes to FMP-VC.bat.
You can close FMP by pressing the ESC key.

Setting up DSDPlus
Configure the DSDPlus script with
a similar process. Open the VC.bat file
and observe the various parameters. The
parameters that start with a “w”:
“–wsl”, “–wss”, “–wel”, and “–wcl”
control where the windows are launched.
You can set these as you like.
We must configure the audio as we did
before by launching DSDPlus from our open
command prompt. Unfortunately, there is Figure 4 — Running DSDPlus lists both input and output audio devices.

Figure 5 — A screen capture of several windows of DSDPlus while decoding.

QEX March/April 2017 21


monitor. This is done via passing “–1” or also enabling a way to connect with other
“–2” after the “–fr” parameter. Those are the Test Radio Setup users.
only required parameters to make it work. Testing was done on low power and This tutorial was just the tip of the iceberg
You can record what DSDPlus decodes simplex. I programmed my Tytera MD-380 in terms of software defined radio. While
using the “–Pwav” parameter to save the to use the standard Talk Group 99, Time scanning DMR with DSDPlus is nothing
audio as a wave file. You might also discover Slot 1, and Color Code 1, as found on the new, the software can be intimidating. We
a “–v3” parameter in the sample provided Amateur Radio guide on the DMR-MARC have just scratched the surface in what
by DSDPlus. This enables verbose logging web page.6 I also have the channel admit DSDPlus can do and hopefully this will
and I recommend using it, especially for criteria set to “always” since there is no encourage you to experiment with all the
debugging your scripts. signal with which to sync up. features or get started with DMR. Most of the
When you are done, you should have a DSDPlus documentation is in text files with
VC.bat script similar to: Results the software. Give it a try and see what you
“DSDPlus –fr –1 –rv -Pwav –i1 –o1 –v3 – The setup easily decodes my DMR test can come up with!
wsl400.210 –wss100.200 –wel172.522 –wcl528.0 signals from my MD-380. Figure 5, shows
>>VC.log”. that DSDPlus is successfully decoding Andy Milluzzi, KK4LWR, is an Amateur
Run VC.bat along with FMP-VC.bat and the incoming DMR voice packets. The Extra licensed ham, first licensed in 2012. He
you should be able to decode DMR audio. software successfully identifies key packet is president of the Gator Amateur Radio Club,
Figure 5 is a screen capture containing information, such as talk group, device ID, W4DFU, at the University of Florida. Andy
several windows of information from my and so on. The audio output is clear and easy is 2012 alumnus, receiving a BS in Computer
test transmission. If you look at the “DSD+ to understand. The software saves a “.wav Engineering and a BS in Software Engineering,
DMR VC Channel Activity” window you of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in
file” of the audio, enabling me to mute the
Terre Haute, Indiana. He is a PhD candidate
can see my target was Talk Group 99. The speakers while testing to avoid feedback. and 2013 alumnus, receiving a MS in
signal came from my radio programmed with With the setup working correctly, I have Electrical and Computer Engineering, at the
3112746, my DMR-MARC registered radio configured an old computer with the RTL- University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.
number. “The DSD+ VC event log” also SDR to act as a DMR monitor for W4DFU Andy loves how Amateur Radio affords him
reflects this same information. The “DSD...” repeater. I used the time slot selection of the ability to tinker and relax, while still
window shows a trace of the audio signal. DSD+ to limit monitoring to time slot 2 (to incorporating his passion for engineering.
The most useful information comes from the avoid hearing the near constant traffic on
command prompt script, lower left window. North America or World Wide talk groups). Notes
You can also see DSDPlus initially locked on This lets me hear local traffic and just a few
my signal before getting regular information. larger area talk groups. The W4DFU repeater
1
www.dsdplus.com/
This is because my simplex mode has an
2
zadig.akeo.ie/
is part of the K4USD network. Details for 3
vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/
“always” admit criteria. If we tweak our time slots and talk groups can be found at 4
www.dsdplus.com/download-2/
script to use slot two, the information for my the K4USD web page.7 I live a few miles 5
airspy.com/download/
signal would look the same in the command from the W4DFU repeater and the small
6
www.dmr-marc.net/media/Amateur_
Radio_Guide_to_DMR_Rev_I_20150510.
prompt, but no audio would play. This is stock antenna that came with the RTL-SDR pdf
because DSDPlus is expecting time slot two is easily able to pick up the repeater from 7
k4usd.org
to provide the audio. We can also see my my desk.
radio ID and the talk group in this window.
Next Steps
Like many hams, I am always learning
something new. I love the challenge of
mastering a new technology. I am far from
an expert on DMR, but I am having fun
discovering the features of this digital mode.
This SDR scanner project is just one way to
gain a better understanding of DMR while

22 QEX March/April 2017

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