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Boomerang Hotspot

Byldupee

A hotspot lets you connect a radio to DMR (and other modes) and transmit via the internet. CQRadios has several hotspot options. The one I will be talking about is the Pro Duplex model.

I have 2 other hotspots that I use. One is set up for DMR, and the other for D-Star. A note up-front, you want to use the NEDECN option for your DMR options (not BandMeister, even if it is the Pi-Star Master setting you are configuring) in VT. Both of those units had only 1 antenna. This one has 2 antennas: it receives on one frequency (and antenna) while transmitting on another.

Now you may be asking if the other two work, why the new one? Do you just collect hotspots? Let’s do a little history. The first one I got had a 3-inch screen. The screen was giving me issues when I first set it up with Pi-Star (the base of every hotspot I’ve seen). So I got a smaller, pre-built one to use while I figured out my issue. I got my display fixed (I had to play with the display settings in Pi-Star). I now had two, and while they can handle multiple modes, I set one for D-Star and one for DMR.

When I had an issue with one unit (micro SD cards can become damaged, so keep backups), I realized a flaw in that type. These units only had Wi-Fi connections. If what went wrong affected its Wi-Fi connection, you had to build a brand-new unit, push the Wi-Fi setup (or play with the config on the micro-SD), and get it connected. I wanted one with a cable connection so I would have an alternative path to check the unit and make Wi-Fi password changes easier.

The Pi-Star software has duplexing built in, but I did not have it in place on the other units. I have it set on this one, and it works very well. I have been using it with an HT for a couple of weeks now. The only difference here is the configuration you use on your radio to handle the frequency offset.

The unit itself sports 2 antennas (replaceable) as well as a display and a series of LEDs to provide status (the LEDs will even show the active modes). If you are looking for an inexpensive way to get into DMR and don’t have a repeater nearby (or want it as a backup), you should add this to your toolkit. If you don’t want to use a computer to attach and change settings through the hotspot hosted website, there is a unit with a 10-inch touchscreen (for about an extra $100).

Pair that with a Baogfeng (review of what I use in another post), and you have a reliable way to get into DMR.

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