The Baofeng DM-1701 radio is a dual-band VHF and UHF radio with both, digital DMR (true Tier I and II) as well as analog FM capabilities. There is a NEW VERSION created by the cooperation with Baofeng and Radioddity releasing. It's featured with many new features such as 120,000 contacts import, digital monitor, talkgroup adding by keypad, and so on. DM-1701 offers a total of 3,000 channels (Analog and Digital), up to 10,000 manually addable contacts, and you can operate various functions through the radio panel. This article aims to provide methods of how to upgrade firmware, how to import the DMR ID database, and how to program it once you get it, etc. Special thanks to our first customer Klaus (DG5EAU) who offered help on this.   What you need to do. 1. Get a DM-1701 digital radio 2. Get a programming cable for DM-1701 (Cable included if your radio comes from Radioddity) 3. Download DM-1701's latest firmware & software from Radioddity website Note: Please make sure you get the right cable before programming. The USB programming cable has the typical USB Type-A plug on one side (to plug into the proper USB-port of a PC) and a two-pin "K-1" connector to plug into the DM-1701 radio. In order to not mix up the cable with cables of other radios, it is a good idea to place some permanent sticker onto the cable. 　 How to Upgrade Firmware of DM-1701 Step 1. Install and run the firmware upgrade software "DMR Firmware Download (User English) Setup v3.06" (or other versions). Step 2. Connect the radio to the computer with the programming cable, press and hold PTT + SK1 when turning on the radio, the radio will go into upgrade mode and the Rx/Tx signal light will flash green and red. Step 3. Click "Open file upgrade" and select the firmware file DM-1701(CSV)-V02.02.bin (or other versions), then click "Download file of upgrade". Step 4. After it shows "Download upgrade file successful", reboot the radio and the upgrade is finished. Note: When upgrading the firmware, please make sure the battery is with power. This firmware is specific to this model (NEW VERSION created by the cooperation with Baofeng and Radioddity) only. Loading a DM-1701 firmware to a different model radio will not add extra features to that radio but quite likely make it unusable. 　 How to Import DMR ID database to your DM-1701 You can choose to download the full DMR ID database according to your needs. With its current 120k+ entries, the list contains almost all amateur radio DMR ID numbers in the world. You can find the DMR database at various sites, such as https://ham-digital.org/status/ Make sure that your CSV-file looks similar to the following picture. If you have double-checked the format of your CSV file you may then import it to your CPS. If you want to finish the import quicker, please select the CSV-file provided by Radioddity directly. Step 1. Run the programming software, select the following option. (Program – Write Contacts) Step 2. Click "Import" on the pop-up, select the provided CSV file from your PC.     Step 3. After import success, connect the radio to your PC with a cable, turn on the radio and click "Write". The screen of radio would display "PC Program USB Mode", the green light would keep on till finish writing (due to the size of the database, loading data may take more than 5 minutes). After the success of writing, restart your radio with 100k contacts data! Step 4. Confirm the import. Check it on the radio by press MENU – Contacts – ViewContactsCSVList – ContactCSVist 　 How to Export DMR Database from CPS to PC You may even create a CSV file of the DMR database you just read from your DM-1701 using this last option of the ‘Read/Write contacts” menu. Step 1. Click on "Program" -> "Read/Write contacts" Step 2. Select "export" within the popup window Note: Bear in mind that you need to read the DMR database from the DM-1701 radio to the CPS before using the export functionality. 　 How to Program DM-1701 by PC Before programming your radio, connect your DM-1701 to a PC, run the programming software read the current information from the radio to your PC to create an initial CPS template, and at the same time back up the factory data for future use. Step 1. Click on "Program" -> "Read Data" to read the current information from your radio. Step 2. Click "Edit" -> "General Setting" to edit functions like Alert Tone, Lone Worker, Power On Password, Talkaround, etc. Note: If you set a PC programming password, you must remember this password. If you forget it, there will be no way to retrieve it. Step 3. Click "Edit" -> "Menu Item" to check various functions. Those menu functions checked will later be displayed in the various menus of the DM-1701 radio. Those not checked will not be displayed and not become accessible on the radio. Step 4. Click "Edit" -> "Button Definitions" to edit Radio Buttons, One-touch Access and Number Key Quick Contact Access. Step 5. Click "Edit" -> "Text Message" to edit the quick text messages that you use frequently. Step 6. Click "Edit" -> "Privacy Setting" to set digital encryption password. The person you are talking to can only hear your voice by setting the same encryption password as you, avoiding other people hearing your call. Step 7. Click "Edit" -> "Digital Emergency System" to set the emergency system including system name, alarm type, alarm mode, etc. Step 8. Click "Edit" -> "DTMF Signaling" to apply settings if DM-1701 is used in a system that makes use of DMTF-signaling Step 9. Click "Edit" -> "VFO Mode" to set various parameters. As for how to prepare for DMR operation and more details of the programming guide mentioned above, please download the Baofeng DM-1701 programming guide created by Radioddity from the support page or just CLICK HERE to download the V1.0 version. 　 Power-on Password Required If your DM-1701 radio suddently required a power-on password while he did not (remember) try to set any password for the radio, try the following solution. Solution: 　 If the default password set by the Programming Software (CPS) ""00000000"" does not work, the situation can be reversed, but it is going to take a few steps. 1). Using Windows File Manager, open the folder that the DM-1701 CPS is started from. The default location is C:\BAOFENG\CPS DM-1701 V1.0x, where x is the last digit of the Version. Located in this directory, you will find a file named ""setting"". 2). Open this file using Notepad (Right-Click on the File and Choose Open With, then Choose Notepad from the Application choices offered) . 3). Locate the Line that has ""password=0"". Change this to ""password=password"" & save the change. Save the edited file using the Save option, not the Save As option [See screen capture attached for setting file contents]. 4). Then open the CPS (If already opened before editing the setting file, close the CPS and open it again for the CPS to recognize the change in the setting file) 5). Write a Blank data file (codeplug) to the radio. This is generated with the New option from the File menu of the program software. It will contain the change in the setting file. 6). Once that is done, choose Read from the Program tab in the CPS to retrieve the modified codeplug. 7). Edit the data for the correct values - Password(s), Radio Name, etc. Items to pay attention to will be the Password and Lock in the Menu Item options & Power On Password in the General Setting options. 8). Write the corrected codeplug to the radio. For more questions and answers, be free to browse our HELP CENTER, or CLICK HERE to contact us to get a solution. 　

Our engineers have been busy and did a complete review on the old version of our 'Getting 'on air' with your new DMR radio' document. The former version was already quite old and needed an urgent review. Now the archive includes not only the 40 page document that´s supposed to get you started with DMR without taking all those hurdles that normally show up. The archive also includes sample codeplugs for Radioddity GD-73, GD-77, GD-88, DB25-D, RD-5R and GD-AT10G. Besides those, it also comes with sample codeplugs for Baofeng DM-1701 and TYT MD-9600. And in order to support you on getting the required parameters in order it also includes a bunch of spreadsheets. What can you learn from this document? 1. Disclaimer 2. Make yourself familiar with DMR 3. Apply for and receive your DMR ID 4. Gather information about a DMR station 5. Install any USB-driver that might be required 6. Install CPS according to your DMR-capable radio 7. General process of creating a DMR code plug from scratch 8. Sample codeplugs Get you copy of the archive > CLICK HERE <

--- by Jason Reilly Introduction: "The nice thing about standards is there are so many to choose from." I love the ironic humor in this statement; a standard should result in everyone doing things the same way in order to be compatible, and prevent having to constantly re-invent the wheel. Yet, everyone has to have their own standard! Just take two-way radio digital voice systems for example: there’s P25 phase 1 and phase 2, NDXN, DMR, TETRA, OpenSky, Provoice, and dPMR, along with a whole host of legacy digital voice modes as well. That doesn’t even consider the ham radio contenders, such as DStar, Fusion, FreeDV, some old offerings from Alinco & AOR and so on. And guess what? Absolutely none of them are compatible! Choosing what digital voice standard you'll go with can be daunting. For emergency services and government communications, P25 is by far the most dominant, there’s no doubt about that. For business & private radio, DMR followed by NXDN is the two most popular choice. In the ham radio arena, the picture is a little less clear. DStar took an early lead, but Yaesu is keen to take market share with their Fusion offering. Hams have always been keen to leverage off existing commercial equipment, and it seems the most popular commercial system adopted presently is DMR. Personally, I think DMR will take the lead in both the commercial business & private two-way radio field as well as in ham radio. This is helped in no small part by the ready availability of DMR radio equipment at prices that rival traditional analog two-way radio, and that one of the biggest names in two-way radio, Motorola, are throwing their weight behind DMR. 　 Motorola's SL7750 blurs the line between DMR radio and cellular mobile phone 　 Three flavours: There are three "tiers" or levels of functionality for DMR systems. Tier 1: The simplest form of DMR is Tier 1, which is mainly used for simplex communications, with no repeaters. The human voice is digitally sampled and compressed with the AMBE+2 codec, and then transmitted in this digital form to another radio. Tier 2: Things start to get a bit more complicated here. With Tier 2 DMR, repeaters are used in a TDMA arrangement, with two "timeslots. What this means is that two completely separate radio transmissions can be going through the repeater at the same time; each radio takes turns in transmitting in short 27.5 millisecond bursts. In addition to this, radios can be set to logical closed groups called ’talk groups’, which you can think of as ’virtual channels’. Repeaters can be linked via the internet to form networks that can be as small as just two repeaters, or thousands of repeaters across the world. Again, the AMBE+2 codec is used to turn speech into compressed data for transmission. All amateur radio DMR systems are Tier 2, as are many business / commercial radio DMR systems. Tier 3: This is effectively a trunked radio system on top of Tier 2. A pool of frequencies are used to carry the TDMA transmissions. This is used by more complex or larger networks for big businesses and commercial radio users. 　 The advantages of DMR: So why go to all this trouble, when plain old analogue FM works perfectly well? DMR has the advantage that it four times more efficient when it comes to spectrum usage. For one 25 kHz analogue FM channel, you could fit four DMR transmissions. Not only that, but DMR offers some very flexible calling facilities - you can call one person, a group of people, or everyone in your fleet at once. While not every DMR network supports it, sending of data and short messages is also possible. DMR is also designed to be easy to network, with connections using IP, so creating wide coverage areas using a network of DMR repeaters is already built-in; cover your city or cover the entire country! Yet another advantage is because a DMR transmitter is only turned on about half the time due to it transmitting in bursts, battery life is longer. 　 TYT's hugely popular MD-380 can be bought for around $100 　 Some DMR Jargon: Colour codes: Every DMR transmission uses a "colour code" which is very similar to CTCSS or PL tones in the analogue radio world. On a repeater or simplex frequency, every radio must use the same colour code to be able to communicate together. The main use for colour codes is for where two repeater coverage areas on the same frequency may overlap, different colour codes are used to ensure each radio accesses the correct repeater. Timeslot: For Tier 2 and 3 systems, a timeslot is a slice of time, about 30ms long, that a radio can transmit in, or receive in. There are two timeslots per frequency, and you need to have your radio configured for the right colour code for the repeater, the correct timeslot and correct talkgroup for you to be able to hear anything. Zones: This is simply a collection of channels & talkgroups, all grouped together in one "zone" or bank. A radio user can switch zones to access a different lot of channels & talkgroups that they may wish to use. Typically a zones are divided into repeaters for different areas, so you might have one zone for the west side of a city, and another covering the east side of the city - but there's nothing to say that you must set up a zone that way. Code Plug: This is a Motorola term that has stuck over the years, and in the DMR context means a complete configuration file of channels, talkgroups, zones, contacts etc. for a radio. The code plug can be saved to computer disc, and is used to program a radio to give it the functionality a user requires. CPS: Another Motorola term, meaning Customer Program Software. Simply put, this is the software you’d use to create a "code plug" and configure your radio. Hotspot: A small box that connects to the internet and acts like your own personal low power DMR repeater, useful if you're not in range of a DMR repeater to access. You can even take them with you and use your cell / mobile phone wireless data to connect the hotspot to the internet and be able to use DMR anywhere you get cellular signal. Most hotspots are multi-mode, handling not only DMR but DStar, Yaesu Fusion and P25 as well. ZUMspot, Jumbospot, Openspot, MMDVM etc are all examples of hotspots that you can buy or build yourself. 　 Radioddity GD-77, dual band, DMR & FM, I think the best bang-for-your-buck DMR portable, also around $100 　 So what's in it for me? The use of DMR in radio hobbyist circles falls into two categories: ham / amateur radio and scanning receiver use. Lets take a quick look at each: Ham radio: Hams have long taken advantage of surplus, second hand, or even new commercial radio equipment and re-purposed it for their own use, and DMR equipment is no exception. Worldwide, DMR enabled and connected repeaters are appearing and are interconnected to provide a huge linked network spanning the entire globe. Depending on the talk group selected, you could be communicating just around town, across your region, across the entire country, and some groups even cover the world. Motorola DMR equipment is frequently used, but increasingly the cheaper units, in particular TYT, have increased the affordability and availability of DMR equipment to the mass market. In some cases, you can get on air to the DMR scene for less than a hundred dollars! Scanning: As the world relentlessly marches on to a digital future, many businesses and commercial interests have migrated their legacy analogue FM two way radio systems to DMR. There are scanners available that can hear DMR, enabling the scanning hobbyist to continue to listen to such transmissions. For those hobbyists who can’t justify the high price tag of those scanners to listen in to DMR, there are other alternatives: certain computer software can decode DMR with a regular scanner and a ’discriminator tap’, or a ’virtual audio cable’ if using an SDR, or if portable DMR reception is desired, an entry level DMR transceiver from TYT or Radioddity will do the job very well - to keep yourself on the correct side of the law, you should disable any transmit capabilities of these transceivers.