Now what is a DVSwitch Server and why would I set it up? In short it is to setup a DVSwitch server and use your Android phone as a DMR radio through a digital-analog bridge. DVSwitch is a Client-Server application for Amateur Radio Digital Voice. The application provides a “Server” component which runs on a Raspberry Pi (RPi) or other Linux platform. It can also be installed on a cloud server running Linux. The server component is distributed as an RPi image with all features and functions installed. Therefore, no additional modules or programs need to be downloaded installed for a Raspberry Pi. There are two clients available for DVSwitch. An Android client is available on the Google App store for virtually any type of Android device. In addition, the python Client (pyUC) is available to use on Windows, or Mac.The ultimate aim here is to experiment with analog-to-digital bridges, but setting up a DVSwitch server could be useful in many amateur radio instances. DVSwitch Mobile enables you to use your Android smartphone as a “radio” to access digital networks, such as BrandMeister DMR TalkGroups, YSF Reflectors, XLX, NXDN, and more.
- Your smartphone is your “radio”
- The DVSwitch server is your “hotspot”
DVSwitch supports all current Digital Voice modes with no additional hardware with the exception of D-Star. For D-Star, an external hardware Vocoder such as the Northwest Digital ThumbDV dongle. For other modes, the software Vocoder included in DVSwitch provides high quality audio While DVSwitch has been in use for sometime but the installation was somewhat complex and was mostly used by computer “geeks”. With this release, an average ham can be up and running in less than 10 minutes. This release provides many new features including the ability to switch modes dynamically, customize Talk Group, Room, and Reflector lists from either the server or client and dynamically switch among DMR networks such as Brandmeister, TGIF, QRM, etc. The DVSwitch installation described in the link underneath entails using a Raspberry Pi image. If you choose, you may install DVSwitch on an existing Linux installation. This gives you the option of using a platform other than a Rasbpberry Pi as well as using a platform that as a full GUI or other software.I did not want to install the server to a cloud but rather on a Raspberry Pi. Now how do one install DVSwitch-Server on a Raspberry Pi. You can find a very comprehensive manual HERE.
I successfully installed the DVSwitch Server on a Raspberry Pi 3b and setting up DVSwitch Moble on my smartphone. I conducted several tests yesterday relaying (RX Mode only) DMR to AllStar and Echolink and onto the ZS-Link Network. As can be seen from the images underneath several stations were heard via the system. Even a South Korean station DS4AKP were heard. The server is working well and I will now move on to the second task in establishing an AllStar to DMR Bridge. More on this in a future posting.Finally: Why would I want to build a bridge between Analog and Digital? Simple answer this will create more activity on our local amateur radio bands. I have not yet decided how the bridge would be slot into the current link network. One possible idea is to create a free standing node that can be switched in an out as needed. This will ensure that the ZS-Link network is free to use by local radio amateurs. Stay tuned! (Click on images for larger view.)
