We’ve adopted talk group 23564 on the BrandMeister network for discussing “maker” related subjects. It is the unofficial DMR home of Maker Space (Newcastle upon Tyne) members. It is a static talk group on repeater GB7XY and repeater GB7MS, and can be keyed up on other BrandMeister repeaters and hotspots. Out of town visitors interested in making are most welcome. [Last Heard]
Subject matter includes most things technical and geeky including …
- Digital Mobile Radio (DMR)
- Amateur Packet (including APRS)
- LoRa / LoRaWAN
- Amateur paging (POCSAG)
- Home control and other ISM based tech including Zigbee/433MHz controllers
- Software Defined Radio (particularly using dongles, innovative boards and cool stuff such as gnu radio)
- Other non-radio making and creating.
TG 23564 is also used as a back channel while experimenting.
For more generic subjects talk group 23561 is good for the Tyne and Wear area because it is currently linked to all the DMR repeaters in this area, otherwise check out our suggested groups on our repeater page.
Etiquette…
When joining the talk group it is customary to call “CALLSIGN calling on 23564” to start a conversation, or “CALLSIGN standing by on 23564” to let others know you are listening in but not fishing for a conversation. If a conversation is in progress jump in with just your call sign between calls and wait for someone to invite you in to the conversation.
When group discussions are in progress we throw to each other on a round robin basis. Mistakes often happen but as long as you remember to throw to someone then it is generally not a problem. Please leave a few seconds in between calls for anyone wanting to join to shout and acknowledge you heard them when you do. You do not need to throw the conversation to them instantly but insure they are included in the next rotation.
Mistakes will happen and not everyone will have read this. Also these are guidelines and not rules. Please operate with respect for everyone and embrace any chaos.
Background…
Why does this exist? We realised how useful a DMR group can be to a community based around common interests. We considered using the regional talk group but we did not want to accidentally take over so started a new one. Instead we have created this new one modeled after another group that we have been listening to for many months.
Why 23564? It was the first unused talk group in the block loosely allocated to the North East UK. It ending with a base 2 number is a geeky bonus. If we can show a high usage we may or may not be asking for it to be listed on the BrandMeister site.
