Hello, my friend and welcome back! There has been a lot of hype lately about the new digital mobile radios. In fact, I recently purchased one to see for myself what all of the fuss was about. After all, when it all hits the fan, you’re going to need all of the information you can get to survive. Now grab a cup of coffee my friend and have a seat while we visit and I will let you know my thoughts on it.
First off, let me explain what makes these radios different from all of the others. What is digital radio anyway? DMR as it is known stands for Digital Mobile Radio. Without going into a lot of technical stuff, it’s a big selling point is that it allows you to talk all over the world using the internet.
This is accomplished through the use of “Hot Spots” and radio repeaters. They allow the radio to connect to the internet using radio signals. Hot spots are usually local and connect to your home internet so you can use less power. Not all repeaters have the ability to connect to the internet using DMR, in fact, at this time there are very few that do. There are hundreds of DMR channels covering many states, and countries as well as some local channels,
Once I was able to connect to the internet using my hot spot at my home, I was quickly disappointed. I was expecting to hear others talking and discussing all kinds of information, instead, there was only silence for the most part. I heard maybe 5 or 6 people a day on them and they were just doing radio checks for the most part. I couldn’t believe it, there were no groups of people talking or anything. I tried many, many channels and all I found was Just silence.
Now has it just not caught on yet, or maybe it’s just not that popular here in the USA. When I went on a few Ham radio sites looking for information about it, I quickly found out that most ham radio operators do not consider it to be real ham radio because it uses the internet for all of its communications. Maybe that is why it hasn’t caught on.
In any case, I found it completely useless for getting information of any kind. In hindsight, I realize that in most SHTF situations, the internet is not something you will want to depend on. It’s just too easy to manipulate the data. It would also be easier to track down your location using your IP Address.
At any rate, If you are looking to add a DMR radio to your communications collection, I wouldn’t recommend it. Save your money and buy a good antenna or some other device that you will be able to use. Now, this is just my opinion and I’m sure that a few others may feel differently. That’s their right and I respect it.
I love Ham Radio and I encourage everyone to get licensed and learn everything they can about its use. As for the DMR Radios, however, I see no value in it.
Well, that’s it for today, and I hope this post helps you in some way. Until next time my friend, stay safe, stay strong, and stay prepared. God Bless America!
Sarge
