Join us on Monday, October 23rd from 7:30pm-8:30pm ET on Brandmeister talk group 3126 as Chip WØCHP discusses the WPSD Digital Voice dashboard for pi-star hotspots & the M17 network

Posted on November 6, 2023

Join us Monday, October 23rd on Brandmeister talk group 3126 from 7:30pm ET – 8:30pm ET for the DMR Tech Net.

We will have Chip Cuccio WØCHP to discuss the WPSD Digital Voice Dashboard for pi-star hotspots.  He will also explain the M17 network as he’s one of the developers behind M17 and the new features it will have.  We’re starting early at 7:30pm ET so we have time for Chip to answer your questions about the M17 network and the WPSD dashboard.

 

Tom N8TJ, Stan WB8QJZ, Steve KC8WXM, & Dana KC0MYP,

 

The DMR Tech Net starts at 7:45pm ET on Brandmeister Talk Group 3126 (statewide Michigan) and runs until 8:30pm ET, except for Monday, October 23rd when we’re starting early at 7:30pm.

Stay on TG-3126 to join the Michigan One DMR net (the longest running Michigan DMR net) at 8:30pm, hosted by Dustin N8RMA.

We are branching out to the TGIF network.  The DMR Tech Net team has our own TGIF talk group 31268 that you are welcome to use.  We’ll leave the lights on and best of all, there is no 10-minute limit!

https://tgif.network/talkgroups.php

Upcoming DMR Tech Net topics

Monday, October 23, 2023 from 7:30pm ET – 8:30pm ET on Brandmeister’s DMR Talk Group 3126:

  • Have you wondered what the M17 digital network is?  We have Chip Cuccio WØCHP to talk about and answer your questions about M17.  He’ll also explain the improvements & cool things available with his WPSD dashboard for your Pi-star hotspot.

Monday, October 30, 2023 from 7:45pm ET – 8:30pm ET on Brandmeister’s DMR Talk Group 3126:

  • What talk groups do you utilize, and why?  Do you participate in other DMR nets?  If so, what time, network, and talk group are they on?

*This is our tentative schedule and it can change*

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Michigan Brandmeister statewide Michigan DMR talk groups:

  • 3126              Statewide Michigan (10-minute limit except for nets)
  • 31260            Michigan WX ARES EmComm
  • 31261            Mi-5 Statewide 1
  • 31262            Mi-5 Statewide 2
  • 31263            Mi-5 Event 1
  • 31264            Michigan TAC
  • 31265            Mi-5 Event 3
  • 31267            West Michigan Talk Group
  • 31268            UP (Upper Peninsula) of Michigan
  • 31269            West Michigan Technical Group

 

WPSD (‘W0CHP-PiStar-Dash’)

 

WPSD (“W0CHP-PiStar-Dash”) is a next-generation, digital voice software suite for amateur radio use. It is used for personal hotspots and repeaters alike. It supports M17, DMR, D-Star, Yaesu System Fusion (YSF/C4FM), P25, NXDN digital voice modes & POCSAG data/paging.

 

WPSD began as a derivative/“fork” of the popular Pi-Star software, and has evolved into its very own software and distribution over the years. It is available as an installable disk image(s), and multiple platforms are supported.

 

Table of Contents:

 

  • Getting Help/Support
  • Download WPSD
  • Installing WPSD
  • Updating WPSD
  • Features, Enhancements and Omissions (not an exhaustive list)
  • Screenshots
  • Notes about M17 Protocol Support
  • Known Issues & Incompatibilities
  • ChangeLog
  • Credits

 

Getting Help/Support

  • Read The FAQs.
  • Ensure you read about any known issues and incompatibilities.
  • Before you ask for help, read how to properly ask for help.
  • Some really great users, fans and contributors of WPSD have setup a Facebook Group and a Discord Server to get community support, etc. These are the only official online support mediums for my software.
  • XLX-493 ; Module E is the WPSD Chat Module. A direct DMR conference to this module/room is bridged with BrandMeister; simply call TalkGroup 3170603.

 

Functionality Features

  • Full APRSGateway Support: Selectable APRS Data Sharing with specific modes.
  • Full DGId Support.
  • “Live Caller” screen; similar to a “virtual Nextion screen”; displays current caller information in real-time.
  • Current/Last Caller Details on Main Dashboard (name/location, when available).
  • Talkgroup Names display in target fields (Brandmeister DMR, NXDN and P25 support only).
  • YSF/NXDN/P25/M17 link managers gives the ability to change links/rooms/reflectors/TGs on-the-fly, rather than going through the configuration page.
  • DMR Network Manager allows instant disabling/enabling of configured DMR networks/masters; and fast switching of XLX reflectors and modules. Handy for “pausing” busy networks, talkgroups, timeslots, etc.
  • Full M17 Protocol Support. (See M17 Notes below…)
  • BrandMeister Manager revamps galore:
  • Now displays connected actual talk group names.
  • Connected dynamic talk groups now display idle-timeout time (due to no TX).
  • Added ability to mass-drop your static talk groups; and mass re-add the previously linked static talk groups.
  • Added ability to batch add/delete up to 10 static talk groups at a time.
  • “Instant Mode Manager” added to admin page; allows you to instantly pause or resume selected radio modes. Handy for attending nets, quieting a busy mode, to temporarily eliminate “mode monopolization”, etc.
  • “System Manager” added to admin page; allows you to instantly:
  • Disable / Enable the intrusive and slow Pi-Star Firewall.
  • Disable / Enable Cron, in order to prevent updates and Pi-Star services restarting during middle-of-the-night/early AM operation.
  • Ability to configure POCSAG hang-time from the config page.
  • Native Nextion screen support built-in; no futzing around with Nextion drivers/scripts.
  • Selectable DMR Roaming Beacon Support: Network or Interval Mode (or disabled) – for actual repeaters only.

 

User Interface / Design Features

  • Updated user interface elements galore, styling, wider, bigger, updated fonts, etc.
  • Optional “Simple View”; shows only activity: no mode status, hardware status, etc. Just activity data. Accessed via http://your-hotspot-url/simple/
  • Country-of-origin flags for callsigns.
  • Improved and graphical CSS/color styling configuration page; easily change the look and feel of the dashboard.
  • User-Configurable number of displayed Last Heard dashboard rows (defaults to 40, and 100 is the maximum).
  • User-Configurable font size for most of the pertinent dashboard information.
  • Reorganized and sectioned configuration page for better usability.
  • System process status reorganized into clean grid pattern, with more core service status being displayed.
  • User-Configurable 24 or 12 hour time display across the dashboard.
  • Connected FCS and YSF reflector names and numerical ID both displayed in dashboard left panel.
  • Additional hardware, radio and system information displayed in top header; which can be toggled.
  • Admin page split up into logical sub-sections/sub-pages, in order to present better feedback messages when making changes.
  • Note: Last-Heard and other dynamic tables are hidden in the admin sections by default, allowing users to focus on the tasks-at-hand and their outputs. The Last-Heard data can be toggled in these areas, however.
  • Features in Official Pi-Star Which are Intentionally Omitted in WPSD
  • DSTARrepeater mode/controller type removed: WPSD operates in the more modern and updated/supported MMDVM mode only, and the legacy DSTARrepeater functionality is gone. You can still run WPSD as a D-Star hotspot/repeater, of course.
  • Upgrade notice/nag in header (unnecessary and a hacky implementation). This has been replaced by my own unobtrusive and configurable dashboard update notifier; displayed in the upper-right hand side of the top header.
  • “Upgrade” feature via the dashboard and command line (pistar-upgrade) is removed. The “Update” feature via the dashboard and command line (pistar-update) takes care of all upgrades/updates.
  • Custom BannerH2 (etc.) text options have been removed (added clutter and I never used it). Instead, the hostname is displayed in the browser title.
  • “GPS” link in Call Sign column of dashboard (superfluous and unreliable).
  • CPU Temp. in header; when CPU is running “cool” or “normal” recommended temps, the cell background is no longer colored green. Only when the CPU is running beyond recommended temps, is the cell colored orange or red.
  • No reboot/shutdown nag screen/warning from admin page (Superfluous; you click it, it will reboot/shutdown without warning.).
  • Yellow DMR Mode cell in left panel when there’s a DMR network password/login issue (poor/inaccurate and taxing implementation, and can confuse power users that utilize my Instant Mode Manager, where the default cell is amber colored for paused modes [color is user-configurable].). Instead, the actual network name is highlighted in red when there’s a login issue.

https://w0chp.radio/wpsd/

Open Source Amateur Radio.
We are M17.

M17 is a community of open source developers and radio enthusiasts. We’re building understandable systems in support of the hackers and experimenters’ history of ham radio.

 

M17 is developing a new digital radio protocol for data and voice, made by and for amateur radio operators.

Our protocol’s voice mode uses the free and open Codec 2 voice encoder. This means there are no patents, no royalties, and no licensing or legal barriers to scratch-building your own radio or modifying one you already own.

This freedom to build, understand, and innovate is core to amateur radio, but has been missing from the commercially available digital voice modes. This is part of why amateur radio digital voice modes have largely stagnated since the 1990s and we’re almost wholly dependent on commercial products that aren’t well designed for amateur radio users.

M17 is about unlocking the capabilities that amateur radio hardware should already have.

Here you will find people working on radio hardware designs that can be copied and built by anyone, software that anyone has the freedom to modify and share to suit their own needs, and other open systems that respect your freedom to tinker.

 

Get Started

So, what do you want to do with M17?

 

https://m17project.org/

DMR Tech Net