Brandmeister

Mumblemeister?

Brandmeister is out there innovating again.

There’s a low latency VOIP solution based upon on an open source codec. The codec is called Speex and, as the name indicates, is optimized for speech. So bring on Mumble.

Mumble is a multiplatform VOIP client that makes use of Speex. It has been integrated into the Brandmeister backend and is currently being tested with a few select talkgroups…CNJHAM 31340 is one of them. You can also get on 3100 and some others.

So if you’re brave (and aren’t going to bug me or BM for support), give it a try. Your user ID is your CALLSIGN-DMRID (ex. N0CALL-1234567 and case matters) and your password is your BM hotspot security password. You’ll need to add mumbleeast.repeater.net as your server.

Remember, this is a test. This is only a test, so your mileage may vary.

73 de K2IE

Important Brandmeister Network Change!

In an effort to prevent hijacking of DMR IDs by unauthorized users, the USA Brandmeister team is rolling out Hotspot Security as a requirement. This will begin on November 30, 2020…but don’t wait. It will take a few minutes of reading and effort on your part to get it setup, but the entire DMR community benefits by restricting the network to authorized users only.

Hotspot Security establishes as password that all of your hotspots will use to logon to the Brandmeister DMR Master Server. This is different from the password that you use to logon to Brandmeister Self Care.

They’ve put together an excellent explanation of how to setup this up on the OpenSpot, Pi-Star and BlueDV platforms.

Kudos to Brandmeister for a good decision.

020 in 2020: An Update on the 020 Project Multiprotocol Digital Network

You may know it as CNJHAM, because that is how it all started. CNJHAM was first implemented as a lone StarNet smart group. CNJHAM then begat XLX020. Hardware transcoding was soon implemented and followed by links to Brandmeister DMR and YSF Fusion. In this new year, we’ve added Wires-X (for connection from Fusion repeaters) as well as P25 connections.

CNJHAM/XLX020A can be reached via the following methods:

D-Star Callsign Route	CNJHAM	via Quadnet
D-Star Reflectors	XLX020A, XRF020A, REF020D	XLX020A preferred
D-Star Repeaters	NJ2DG-A NJ2DG-C W2RJR-B	Fulltime
Brandmeister DMR	TG 31340	CNJHAM
Fusion YSF	YSF 44977	US CNJHAM DTMF 44977
Wires-X	CNJHAM	DTMF 28255
P25	TG 31340	Pi-Star
NXDN	TG 31340	Pi-Star
XLX DMR	XLX020A	Enable DMRGateway in Pi-Star
XLX YSF	XLX020A	Some Pi-Star config required

Whatever the protocol, CNJHAM is Jersey Strong!

73 de K2IE

Will Opaqueness Kill Brandmeister?

In response to the ill-advised Brandmeister ban on the DV4mini devices by Corey Dean (N3FE), I approached some of the key personnel behind the Brandmeister DMR system to determine if I could put up a new master server in the USA. The purpose of the server would be to support the stations requiring extended routing who had been disenfranchised by N3FE.

Most of the Brandmeister core team do not publish email addresses, but I was able to get in touch with Yentel (ON3YH). He indicated that he was not active any more in the development process, but said the he would pass on my message to Artem (R3ABM) and Rudy (PD0ZRY). After a couple of weeks with no further response, I tried some social media channels where I put the following questions to Artem and Rudy:

“Does Brandmeister have a policy which supports the action of the USA Administrators who disabled access to TG 4999 (extended routing)?

“Thousands of USA users who require access to extended routing have been abandoned by the current admins. Therefore, I propose to put up a new master server in the USA which will support those abandoned users by explicitly supporting extended routing. Will you permit/support this?”

Finally Artem came back to me. Not with a straight answer mind you, but a roadblock:

“Please discuss this with Corey Dean”

Talk about opaque. Not a yes, not a no, not a statement of policy. Not an answer on behalf of the core development team as to whether they support the actions of the USA team. Rather, appeal your execution to the executioner and don’t bother me. This is not exactly an answer in keeping with the amateur radio objectives of mentoring and experimentation.

The team running Brandmeister has a published list of policies. Policy number 9 for master server operators is:

“Promote a positive image of BrandMeister”

It seems that the leaders of this project could better comply with their own policies. Their image is not looking too shiny to me right now.

What happens next? What if someone decides that MMDVM boards made in China or Kenwood repeaters or you fill-in-the-blanks are not to their liking and decides to ban them? It is ironic that the Brandmeister project sprang up because of the closed nature of the DMR-MARC C-Bridge networks which preceeded them. The Brandmeister devs were the freedom fighters.

Now, they are the bureaucrats.

Brandmeister USA Team Kills DV4mini

It has been apparent for some time that at least one of the members of the Brandmeister USA team has it in for the DV4mini. There have been occasional actions to block users of the DV4mini from connecting to the master servers operated by the USA team. Comments in a Facebook group by a team member have long indicated a desire to eliminate connections from this somewhat flawed, but useful and prolific device.

While investigating why my DV4mini stopped working on the Brandmeister network, I learned that the USA team disabled reflector access. Reflector 4999 is needed on the Brandmeister DMR network to take advantage of extended routing. I note a comment from Corey Dean (N3FE) on the Brandmeister USA Facebook group back in October that states, “DV4MINI and reflectors are disabled on all US masters.” This shows what I believe to be the true intent of disabling reflector access, although the DV4mini is not specifically mentioned in the Brandmeister USA wiki. He later makes comments about this freeing up talkgroups in countries whose codes start with 4. However, there is no code assigned to a country that starts with 499, so extended routing could still be allowed and not interfere with any Asian or Middle Eastern nation that wants to jump on the Brandmeister wagon.

So, DV4mini users in the USA who connect to one of the 4 master servers (3101, 3102, 3103, and 3108) now need to resort to connecting to a server outside of the USA.

Dissatisfaction and requests for reconsideration to allow extended routing should politely be directed to dmr-admins@repeater.net.

November DV4mini Image Update

The K2DLS DV4mini image for the Raspberry Pi 2 and 3 (only!) has been updated to include the October 12 release of the DV4mini Control Panel. This includes XRF through letter Z and REF up to 100 for the D-Star users. The image will fit nicely on an 8 GB SD Card.

DV4mini RPi Image Updated to Raspbian Stretch

The K2DLS DV4mini image for the Raspberry Pi 2 and 3 has been updated to Raspbian Stretch. The DV4mini client and BMXTG 1.3 start automatically upon boot. VNC has been updated to RealVNC. Both VNC and ssh are started by default.

The installation fits nicely on an 8 GB SD card and it looks great on my 7″ touchscreen display.

The default password for the pi user is “raspberry” — please change it immediately!

The image may be found here.

BMXTG 1.3 released on Github

I’ve added BMXTG to Github and updated it to version 1.3. File locations have been formalized for consistency and I’ve created a .deb package for easier install.

If you have a running DV4mini build and want to add BMXTG, grab the .deb file from the link in the README.

To install:

sudo dpkg -i bmxtg-1.3.deb

After installing, copy the desktop file to your Desktop directory. This will make the desktop icon available.

cp /usr/local/share/bmxtg/bmxtg.desktop ~/Desktop/

Running BMXTG on Windows 10

I’ve been able to run the Brandmeister XTG Dialer on Windows 10 by following this procedure.

Visit the PyGTK FAQ page and fully read 21.1.

I installed the following items referred to in the FAQ:

Python 2.7.13
PyGTK for Microsoft Windows using the all-in-one installer

Run a Windows command prompt as Administrator.

cd \Python27 python -m pip install -U pip setuptools python -m pip install -U requests

Exit the Administrator command prompt and then open a command prompt as a regular user.

cd %AppData% mkdir Python

Copy bmxtg-v1.2.zip into your %AppData%\Python directory and unzip.

Create a desktop shortcut to bmxtg.py. The “Target” should be “C:\Python27\pythonw.exe bmxtg.py” and the “Start in” directory should be “%AppData%\Python\bmxtg-v1.2”.

Be certain to review and follow the configuration notes in the README. Then, you’re ready to fire it up!

BMXTG 1.2 Released

The Brandmeister XTG Dialer (BMXTG) has been updated to version 1.2. Enhancements include automatic download of the masters address list and automatic download of talkgroup IDs and labels. Any talkgroup label may be changed through use of the talkgroups.conf file. Be sure to review the README file for changes.

DV4mini control panel in the background with the Brandmeister XTG Dialer in the foreground.

The changes will make BMXTG easier to configure and the user no longer needs to be concerned about IP address changes of the BM servers. A simple stop and start of the program will refresh the server list and talkgroup list automatically.

I’ve also updated the DV4mini Raspberry Pi 2/3 image to include BMXTG v1.2.

BMXTG is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution + Noncommercial 3.0 License. Attribution Required / Noncommercial use permitted.