DMR for Tactical Awareness - A Sneak peek of my latest project with used Motorola MotoTRBO Radios

Here's a quick ad-hoc video covering my latest project. I am experimenting with the Motorola MotoTRBO line of radios to address tactical awareness needs for the following groups:
Search and Rescue
Community Emergency Response Teams
Private Security Firms
Public Service Events
Mutual Assistance Groups
I am looking for early customers that can't quite afford the high dollar Motorola offerings, but still need reliable communications with the ability to track resources in the field. My contact information is on my channel's About page.
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#thetechprepper #dmr #motorola

[@gregrush6570]

I have been following you because of your EmComm Tools software, but it seems to me you have abandoned that in order to pursue other projects. Will you be offering that to the public or is that project dead?

[@Imaboss8ball]

I think he gives it out with his patreon.

[@TheTechPrepper]

This is part of the overall EmComm Tools effort. In order to keep working on the community version, I need to make some money. Otherwise, I would need to shut down all of this work. I really take offense as I am taking 5 weeks off unpaid from work so that I can work on the redesign. I also highered a design firm to help with the design. Please note that even the community version will not be free.

[@TheTechPrepper]

The BMAC members will be getting small tech preview samples with various EmComm Tools sub modules. I'm working on the Tech Preview for the Yaes 8xx plug-and-play system.

[@gregrush6570]

@@TheTechPrepper understand an no offence meant. I've been supporting you through BMAC since January. It might be of interest to offer (and yes I knew it would be for sale and not free) the package as is instead of pushing a release further down the road. This way it can be debugged via customer feedback today instead of after additional features and platform support changes and upgrades. There will always be the next discovery and the next idea, etc. Sorry for asking if it was a dead project as I haven't followed your progress on the DMR platform since I don't share the same interest. I didn't know it was a continuation of the same project. Sorry, but I'm not interested in videos on DMR or RV power poles. I do wish you the best though. I felt enthusiastic about your progress in the past, but that is waning, and I feel for you as your passion for success is strong. You can do this. I'll keep watching for the release.

[@TheTechPrepper]

@@gregrush6570 I really have tried my best to run this channel and develop all the ancillary products (TTP Manpacks and antennas) all in an effort to help fund my work to deliver my flagship product--EmComm Tools. After working 80+ hour weeks (this side venture plus the day job) since January, it has become apparent that I need a sustainable business model so that I can have just one job and focus. While well received, the manpacks turned out out be a huge financial loss. The antennas are monthly loss leaders to keep the members happy. The cost of running this business (e.g., gear, hardware, software, lawyers, software services, accountants, taxes, licenses, etc.) is proving to be more of a challenge than expected. While on this unpaid sabbatical, I arrived at the solution. I need to go after the commercial market to fund my vision. There is overlap between the commercial and amateur radio versions of EmComm Tools in terms of my vision for offgrid communication. Both will benefit from the same shared technology. The commercial market is the only way for me to get the capital I need to deliver. This is not a rant. I am just sharing the realities of trying to build a platform that is not a toy. It will take time. Thank you for the support. I completely understand if my content and approach are not right for you. DMR is another tool with value, so it will be covered on this channel. Heck, there will be another video mixed in this year on another RV communications upgrade as well as a bikepacking video. This is not a one dimensional channel. Take care and best of luck. I hope you find another content creator and product designer that has what you are looking for.

[@njw1977]

Id like to see something like this with ATAK.

[@richardkennedy815]

Yes, affordable options...at least for our situation here that is necessary to even consider switching to DMR. I think most of the folks that are actually in "our situation" would agree the DMR radio's have tremendous benefits. Equally, we are already trying to balance preps almost daily.

[@pajefferies]

Fantastic work. I can see this being useful to the land search & rescue & mountain rescue services here in the UK. Keep up the good work 👌

[@TheTechPrepper]

Will do. That's one of the target audiences.

[@pajefferies]

@@TheTechPrepper I guess the challenge is many of these rescue services are voluntary and probably only have small budgets but conversely that's where your opportunity is if the price point is right

[@TheTechPrepper]

@@pajefferies That's the plan. This solution will be pennies on the dollar when compared the commercial software and APX line of radios. It will not be inexpensive from the perception of the general public, but it will be from the perspective of existing Motorola customers.

[@joshe1165]

@@TheTechPrepper Yup, what most hams don't realize (that don't work in commercial comms) is that just programing CPS software can cost thousands of dollars on the commercial side. As a ham myself I make my living in aviation communications, we charge $2k plus just to click a box in our software to activate features (and that's cheap by some avionics companies) that was already built into the firmware. I respect what you are doing and it's awesome and a breath of fresh air. Don't let the 'clowns' that can't afford your software or appreciate your efforts get you down, there are many more of us that will be willing to pay good money for what you are doing, commercial or ham.

[@TheTechPrepper]

@@joshe1165Thank you. I really appreciate this. I am carrier software engineer for the last 20 years professionally. We fall under the category of "knowledge workers." I am not sure why everything believes software and knowledge capital should be free. I would never insult a plumber or an electrician and ask them to work on my house for free. Cheers!

[@norrinradd8952]

Brilliant. Thank you for documenting your journey. Can't wait to see more.

[@TheTechPrepper]

Thanks for following along. It's fun sharing the early breakthroughs and progress.

[@greggdrennan]

@TheTechPrepper I'm just getting into looking into DMR and am very happy I found your channel. Until a few years ago I lived in the Phoenix area and used to sit on the porch at Harold's in Cave Creek with friends to watch the parade. I have a number of Ham buddies there from when I used to live in Wilhoit and volunteer with the Southern Unit of the Yavapai County Search and Rescue Team. We did a lot of the comm work for searches and used APRS to track our searches. In fact, most of the APRS repeaters up near Prescott are ones we put out. I'm not sure if you're still looking for a radio savvy group of SAR guys to help with your application. If you are, I'll be happy to connect you all. I'm enjoying your videos and wish you success. Gregg KG7YUM

[@hackerhomestead]

This totally sold me on getting some 6550s to experiment writing software for.

[@save2a4all]

Very impressive... ATAK like "centralized" situtational awareness and coordination via the commercial Motorola radios. Now i understand why they cost so much and are so widely used!

[@TheTechPrepper]

Bingo. They're great tools. I was fortunate to find two radios on the used market for $300.

[@BobBob-il2ku]

Will you be sharing your code plug for the anytone to the buy me a coffee members? Maybe a stripped down version that doesn’t have local repeaters on it ect

[@TheTechPrepper]

Yes. I will be sharing my code plug with the members.

[@jargero8203]

Now this, is freaking cool!!!

[@TheTechPrepper]

Right? When I discovered the over-the-air networking feature on the MOTOTRBO line, I knew that something powerful could be done. This is very much in the early stages.

[@thegunsmithful]

I use exclusively motorola 7550e for handheld and my preps. I have 10 of them. Your software looks awesome! Will it be for sale to the public at some point?

[@TheTechPrepper]

Yes. It will be made public next year after I pilot it with a few organizations. The development is very early. I also have a related project coming out on the amateur radio side.

[@thegunsmithful]

@@TheTechPrepper Will it be available soon on buy me a coffee? Hell I would even do the $100 a month if there all the software you are making is available. We are very much the same as far as man packs, tools not toys and use the same modes. This particular software would be great for us up in the mountains where I just built a house because there is no cell service and we all carry a 7550E. Could even be life saving if something happened.

[@TheTechPrepper]

@@thegunsmithful Unfortunately, it will not be ready soon. I just took 5-weeks of work to do a full redesign of the platform as well do some much needed R&D. The members will be getting at least one tech preview this year (i.e. a sample module from the platform). I have no timeline on the actual release, but the BMAC members will be the first to get the product. This project is delayed until some undetermined time in 2024. I was not able to work on it as much I would have would like this year with the day job. Part of the reason why I am exploring a commercial version of EmComm Tools for the MOTOTROBO line is to hopefully bootstrap the business so that I can do this full time. This will allow me to split the EmComm Tools platform into two products: one for amateur radio use and the other for duty use (i.e. what is presented here). Thank you for your willingness to support my efforts. I just need the community to be patient. I have been working 80+ hours weeks since January 2023 and I am trying to burn out.

[@repiv59]

I have been following your channel for about 18 months now. Thank you for all you have done and are doing. What I am curious about is that you seem to settled on the XPR6550 (used) as your HT of choice. What I am curious about is the DMR mobile is an AnyTone and you have it in your pouch designs (they are great by the way). So this leaves me with these questions 1. Is the AnyTone able to 'digitally' interface with the XPR HTs in Data Mode as you desire, or is there additional configuration / setup required ? 2. Will the AnyTone mobile AES work properly with the XPR HTs when using the Land Mobile Radio business use ? I have been working with DMR and I have had and pursue similar thoughts about it as you do, and the Data mode to move information between radios has had me thinking. Looking forward to what is to come in your videos.

[@TheGeekiestGuy]

Good job, my man. I still only have a Btech dmr, but I look forward to seeing the progress. Bridge everything you can. I've been digging into working with gcode and 3d printing. I ended up with the largest printer I could get my hands on. Thanks for the progress report. 🤙🏽

[@kidbach]

I see no expense was spared, with the state of the art, high tech visuals from TTP Graphics Dept. Lol. Seriously tho, thank you for allowing us to ride along on your journey to comms prep. Thanks for sharing. KC3UEE

[@TheTechPrepper]

Nice. This was about as low-budget production quality as it comes. This was just to quickly share a fun side project.

[@joejenkins9181]

Hey Man, been following you for a while! Ever thought of incorporating meshtastic/esp32 type of devices into your projects?

[@TheTechPrepper]

It's been in the backlog for the last year. Based on my current workload, an evaluation of Meshtastic and LoRa will be in 2025. That's not a typo. Thanks for the long time support.

[@Jay-hr9ci]

This would be amazing for the P25 XTS5000s

[@TheTechPrepper]

If this is successful, I plan to add support for the APX line.

[@Jay-hr9ci]

@TheTechPrepper and xts please.. I'd pay.$$

[@Swamp-Fox]

Making progress......very impressive!!

[@byroncudworth382]

First twice in one day wow.

[@TheTechPrepper]

You must have your phone handy. Thanks for the view. This one was very raw. No editing. Just a point-and-shoot video showing off the latest development effort. Have as good night.

[@leopoldarkham7017]

Nice work reverse-engineering the protocol, I can see that handshake feature being really handy. Does this mean you can offer an alternative to a similar, proprietary solution Motorola already offers? What is their initial intent for this functionality? When I did some admittedly shallow reading on their R7 lineup I didn't see this mentioned.

[@lonewolf2017]

Impressive.

[@TheTechPrepper]

Thanks. It's still early, but the potential for tracking resources and communicating real time messages could be a game changer for small teams.

[@jeffstrallow]

Dude, you're amazing. 😮🤯

[@genebalinski645]

Outstanding ideas and video

[@TheTechPrepper]

Thank you very much!

[@brokensimulations]

cool led lamp i in the back what is it?

[@justinr9341]

Hello, I saw its been a few months since anyone has commented. Was wanting to know if you have an ETA for the software release? Would love to pay you for it and would be using it for the HAM, private use. Looking forward to the release.

[@TheTechPrepper]

I appreciate the offer, however, I killed the project after speaking with an attorney late last year. I'd prefer not to get into a legal battle with Motorola.

[@ke8mattj]

Wow, nice job on this.

[@TheTechPrepper]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@ke8mattj]

Are you planning on releasing any documentation on your reverse engineering of Motorola's protocol?

[@TheTechPrepper]

@@ke8mattj Not at this time. I covered the high-level approach of how I went about it during the November Member Live Stream. The tools to perform the exercise are publically and freely available. In general, a low level software development background with ability to understand UDP packet dumps and perform some bitwise operations is all that is needed to deduce how the protocol works.

[@ke8mattj]

@@TheTechPrepper Thanks for responding, figure I'd ask. I am definitely nowhere near that level of programming--just dabbled a bit in PHP when I was in high school as a hobby. I'm leaning towards transitioning towards DMR now due to a variety of reasons and needing extra security in our comms. As you mentioned in a previous video, more layers of security does not hurt. I'll keep watching and will learn a lot from it!

[@joshuas390]

Amazing stuff man!!

[@TheTechPrepper]

Thank you, sir!

[@pewtuber243]

This is awesome!!

[@hikingmando]

So cool!

[@kerbalairforce8802]

It sucks that adding modern coms to your bag doubles the investment costs

[@TheTechPrepper]

This is all discontinued gear that I found on eBay over the last year. It's only pennies on the dollar compared to when it was new. The Toughpad was $100 and the XPR6500's were $120 each.

[@magnumsalyer]

this is a really cool looking project, but I am curious, is there not already an application/program that does this? if not, then I'm glad that you are doing one

[@TheTechPrepper]

Yes, there are very expensive commercial applications that fall under the category of "dispatch software". However, mine is looking at the problem from a 100% offgrid-first perspective while embracing new technology. Most of the dispatch software runs on Windows-only, has some degree of dependence on the Internet, and requires full desktop/laptops with keyboards and mice. Mine will run on rugged hardware and support a touch experience.

[@magnumsalyer]

@@TheTechPrepper ok, that is good then 👍

[@martinbowman1993]

Love it

[@redinator9896]

Do you have any plans to do w f d this year?

[@Chris-ek7up]

Question.. Why would you not base this on standard APRS and non Moto DMR radios. Would you not have a larger community. Id be all in this project with you as im in the middle of implementing a network of DMR repeaters

[@TheTechPrepper]

I am moving away from amateur radio for my personal, local communications goals. The MotoTRBO LRRP protocol offers more power than APRS. I prefer the ability to ask stations for their location rather than getting packet storms from all the remote stations.

[@truthintheword8622]

Would this work with the anytone radios as well or would it be Motorola specific?

[@thuff3207]

I like this but could you not do the same with APRS?

[@TheTechPrepper]

You can achieve something with APRS, but the MOTOTRBO model is powerful as the control station makes the requests for geolocation information. This prevents packet storms and collisions. The messaging is more powerful as you can address one station or an entire talk group.

[@thuff3207]

@@TheTechPrepper I can send messages individually or to the group with APRS. I really believe this is not really different taken from my experiences with APRS. I like the added voice channel on a different frequency too that a dual receiver radio brings. I look forward to what you do next.

[@TheTechPrepper]

@@thuff3207 It's nice to hear that you're making the most out of APRS. The other thing that I can do with the custom software. Is automatically send them messages for navigation to a particular point of interest (e.g. back to the ToC, to another operator, or to the subject of the search). The radio in the field in receives a bearing/heading and distance in mi/km. My goal with this solution is to making this turnkey. No one needs to how the "magic" works. 73's

[@cmh31909]

I'm curious where you are getting the programming software to configure these radios. Unless these are different, most Motorola radios have to be programmed and unless you pay a fortune and buy the programming software, it seems to be hard to come by.

[@TheTechPrepper]

This is no longer the case. You can now sign up for an account with Motorola and download CPS for free. The process takes about 2 weeks based on our groups recent experience.

[@cmh31909]

@@TheTechPrepperThat is very interesting...very unlike Motorola (and their traditional greed). Does the software run on modern computer/operating systems? The older software pretty much required a system running MS-DOS and a traditional (non-usb) serial or parallel port to operate.

[@kc8owl]

@@cmh31909yes the CPS for the XPR line works on windows 10 (I have not upgraded to 11 but assume it works there too).

[@ronbaer67]

how secure is the setup since some groups may worry about the breadcrumbs being used against the team

[@TheTechPrepper]

This is over the air and you need specialized, expensive software, so the attack vector is vanishingly small. This is more intended for search and rescue, disaster relief and rural event services applications.

[@TopnotchitTX]

Just curious if you are still going with the VX-6R or are migrating your comms to XPR6550? or both?

[@TheTechPrepper]

Great question. I need to carry both. They're different tools. I will actually be carrying both the XPR7550 and VX6R. The XPR6550s are for my mutual support group as they are financially more affordable.

[@TopnotchitTX]

@@TheTechPrepper Sounds like a "Shorts" video someday :)

[@TheTechPrepper]

@@TopnotchitTX Good plan. I can explain it in 60 seconds.

[@xNsKxVAPOR]

Would this be possible with something like the Ailunce hd1?

[@TheTechPrepper]

Negative. The HD1 does not support networking via TCP/IP or UDP/IP.

[@xNsKxVAPOR]

@@TheTechPrepper that’s sad. Would love something like this for blufor tracking. I guess it’s meshtastic and atak then

[@NetAgent]

Have you considered coding in Python?

[@TheTechPrepper]

Python is not going to happen, but I will likely rewrite this in Go.

[@aaronakiyama]

Do either of those Motorola handhelds have OTA programming capability?

[@TheTechPrepper]

Yes, they both have this capability.

[@aaronakiyama]

@@TheTechPrepper Exciting! This just keeps getting better and better.

[@SteveBerwick]

Amazing concept. Just unfortunate these radios are 1000/unit. Anyone make a GPS-enabled Baofeng??

[@Imaboss8ball]

Meshtastic or atak should be able to accomplish most of this.

[@TheTechPrepper]

I paid $118 for the 6550 and $285 for the 7550 used. These radios have a special over the air networking feature not found in most radios.

[@SteveBerwick]

@@TheTechPrepper Thanks for the tip. I'd love a setup like this for our neighborhood. Just need to get enough radios cheaply!

[@tonyyy117]

Why not do plugin for atak?

[@TheTechPrepper]

I have debated about using ATAK for the last couple of years for these projects. I may create plug-in if this is successful.

[@mickel1138]

Make it Open Source!

[@TheTechPrepper]

I'd like to, but this particular application needs to be commercial. I need to pay the bills.

[@ronlabe5487]

A suggestion: release a paid beta version. You will make money and can use user comments to make the program better for full release. Trying to make something perfect has killed many good ideas before they reach market. You seem to have a minimum viable product. Stop hating money. Microsoft didnt wait to make the perfect system before release. They released something that kinda worked and improved it as they went. Just my .02

[@TheTechPrepper]

Thanks for the .02 cents. Unfortunately, I have a day job and the support would overwhelm me and likely kill the project. I actually found a couple of organizations that are willing to test an early prototype. It will be easier to deal with just a few customers versus the whole Internet. I hope that it will be enough to bootstrap the business. Thanks again for your insight.

[@ronlabe5487]

@TheTechPrepper I hear ya. The reason I suggested a paid beta and not full release was that only a few people would pay for a buggy pre-release software. But essentially, people would be paying you to test your stuff for free rather than you hiring someone to do it. Get feedback from your early adopters and use their suggestions to help you implement the project in a more efficient manor. I look forward to buying your os.

[@battleborngrafix4640]

This is absolutely amazing, and what I am looking for to use with my group. Will this be a part of Emcomm tools when its released? 73 KK7IWW

[@TheTechPrepper]

Thank you. This will be part of the commercial version of EmComm Tools, not the version targeted at the amateur radio community. I am making two versions of EmComm Tools to address the two markets.

[@EV0L13]

This is awesome!

[@TheTechPrepper]

There's more coming. This is exciting stuff.