Update to my own question - RFLevel can be set to 60 in expert mmdvmhost settings for ~10W, 80 for ~25W and technically ~40 (max) would be 99 as 100 defaults to 1W as pi-star uses this as a default and this would obviously damage higher power radios as the PA duty cycle is going to be much higher when being used as a hotspot. The actual power output depends on calibration of course, but higher power levels are possible with the usual caveats re saturation, damage to the PA, etc. Larger heatsinks and fans may be a requirement for use beyond around 10W depending on how busy the used TGs are and thus how much time it is txing. As always use the lowest power practical - 100mW is more than enough for a home hotspot. My original question was in using this as a public accessible dmr gateway at 5W+ levels. Take care to be a good steward of the bands and ensure your radio is clean and not polluting harmonics, and only use the power needed for your application especially on 2m where spectrum is at a premium. Follow your local bandplan. Original post queried how output power could be increased to take advantage of the md9600 in a public facing task eg serving a town.
Hi there. I am just trying to work out advantages of connecting the pi-star to MD9600 and putting MD9600 into hotspot mode as opposed to just connecting handheld directly to pi-star hotspot? Hope this question makes sense
@@HamTechRadioScannerDrones Thanks for reply. Does it help with coverage around my home having the MD9600 connected to high gain antenna instead of the antenna on the pi-star hotspot? In other words, because the MD9600 has better antenna does it mean I can increase range using my Retevis RT3s handheld to key the hotspot on MD9600? Again hope this makes sense lol
Many thanks for showing nice to see the TYT MD-9600 working well on the GD77 firmware well explained.
Update to my own question - RFLevel can be set to 60 in expert mmdvmhost settings for ~10W, 80 for ~25W and technically ~40 (max) would be 99 as 100 defaults to 1W as pi-star uses this as a default and this would obviously damage higher power radios as the PA duty cycle is going to be much higher when being used as a hotspot. The actual power output depends on calibration of course, but higher power levels are possible with the usual caveats re saturation, damage to the PA, etc. Larger heatsinks and fans may be a requirement for use beyond around 10W depending on how busy the used TGs are and thus how much time it is txing.
As always use the lowest power practical - 100mW is more than enough for a home hotspot. My original question was in using this as a public accessible dmr gateway at 5W+ levels. Take care to be a good steward of the bands and ensure your radio is clean and not polluting harmonics, and only use the power needed for your application especially on 2m where spectrum is at a premium. Follow your local bandplan.
Original post queried how output power could be increased to take advantage of the md9600 in a public facing task eg serving a town.
Wow alot of info .
👍📡
Thanks
Hi there. I am just trying to work out advantages of connecting the pi-star to MD9600 and putting MD9600 into hotspot mode as opposed to just connecting handheld directly to pi-star hotspot?
Hope this question makes sense
I think it's a personal choice I always use a Pistar hotspot .
@@HamTechRadioScannerDrones Thanks for reply. Does it help with coverage around my home having the MD9600 connected to high gain antenna instead of the antenna on the pi-star hotspot? In other words, because the MD9600 has better antenna does it mean I can increase range using my Retevis RT3s handheld to key the hotspot on MD9600? Again hope this makes sense lol
@@Brucysboy increased power output would be one use case