What It Is
A hotspot is a small board (usually an MMDVM modem) on a Raspberry Pi or similar computer. It talks to your digital handheld on a UHF frequency at a few milliwatts, and to the networks over your Wi-Fi. To your radio it looks like a private repeater with a range of one room.
Most hotspots handle several modes: DMR, D-STAR and Fusion, and often P25, NXDN and M17. They’re popular with hams who have no digital repeater nearby, or who live where antennas aren’t allowed.
Setting One Up
Hotspots run free software with a web page for settings; Pi-Star and WPSD are the best known. You enter your callsign, your DMR ID (for DMR), your Wi-Fi, the frequency, and which networks and talkgroups or reflectors to connect to.
A simplex hotspot has one frequency and carries one DMR time slot. A duplex hotspot works like a small repeater and carries both. Simplex is enough for most people.
- Pi-Star ↗ — hotspot software.
- WPSD ↗ — hotspot software.
- Get a DMR ID at RadioID ↗
Picking a Frequency
Use a UHF simplex frequency your band plan allows for this kind of use, not a repeater input or output, and stay out of the satellite segment (435 to 438 MHz). Listen before you pick one, since neighbors may use hotspots too. Our band plans page shows the segments.
The hotspot is a transmitter under your license: you’re its control operator, and it identifies with your callsign.