Ok, so you have a Yaesu digital radio and a hotspot, and want to talk on XLX485.
This tutorial is for cheapo Pi-Star hotspots, but it should work for other hotspots as well.
First of all, you want to have your hotspot configured for YSF and YSF2DMR (this last part is so you can still access DMR talkgroups, which is always fun)
Then, you setup the DMR portion of the configuration, with your callsign, your DMR ID (that you get from radioid.net), your hotspot frequency, etc.
If you are configuring for the first time, click Apply Changes, if you have this already configured, do not touch anything and skip to YSF Configuration.
In here, you select your YSF Startup Host, I select none but you can select whatever Host you want You can select XLX485 if all you want is to join the fine folks that hang out in there, or if you want to say hi to Ronnie as he's always there
. Then select your DMR Master, which should be the closest one to you, your hotspot security (this is the password you set up in brandmeister.network), and the DMR TG that you would like to connect to when using the bridge to DMR. It is important to remember that when using the YSF2DMR bridge, you will always connect to the DMR TG set up in here, so if you want to join other TGs, you'll have to come back and change the DMR TG. Now Apply Changes and your hotspot should be ready to be used with YSF and YSF2DMR.
Now, on your radio you go to your hotspot frequency, make sure it is transmitting digital, and if it is a handheld radio, press F then AMS, this will connect to the hotspot and you will be able to control it from the radio. You should see a message that says CONNECTED on your screen. Now turn your knob until you see E* and select the reflector, which in this case will be 00485 (this is the reflector for XLX485), press AMS, after you see the CONNECTED message, you'll be ready to talk. If you want to disconnect, just long press the Band button when nobody is talking and you should see a DISCONNECTED message, and you'll be disconnected from the reflector. To get out of the digital menu, long press the MODE button.
If you have a mobile radio, it is a little bit different. Go to your hotspot frequency, make sure you're transmitting digital and long press the DX button, if it worked, you should see a Connected message and see the digital menu. In here, long press the pound (#) key on your mic and then input the reflector that you want to use, in our case 00485, press the pound (#) key again, and it will connect to the reflector. To disconnect, long press the star (*) key. To get out of the digital menu, long press the DX button on the face of your radio.
It could happen that your radios won't connect to the hotspot, in my particular case, it is because at first, and for some unknown reason, the hotspot drops packages and is not able to receive the commands from the radio. If this happens, I only push the PTT for a couple of seconds, and try to connect again. On my hotspot dashboard I can see that my initial attempt had a BER of around 20%, but after pressing the PTT it goes back to normal (around 0.3) and everything works as intended.
This works on my FT-70D and my FTM-300D. This should work on other Yaesu radios as well, but I know that Yaesu menus can be tricky, so I hope that this at least gives some pointers on where to go and what to do.
Hopefully this is useful. Sorry for the wall of text.
73 de KM4S - Diego
This tutorial is for cheapo Pi-Star hotspots, but it should work for other hotspots as well.
First of all, you want to have your hotspot configured for YSF and YSF2DMR (this last part is so you can still access DMR talkgroups, which is always fun)
Then, you setup the DMR portion of the configuration, with your callsign, your DMR ID (that you get from radioid.net), your hotspot frequency, etc.
If you are configuring for the first time, click Apply Changes, if you have this already configured, do not touch anything and skip to YSF Configuration.
In here, you select your YSF Startup Host, I select none but you can select whatever Host you want You can select XLX485 if all you want is to join the fine folks that hang out in there, or if you want to say hi to Ronnie as he's always there
. Then select your DMR Master, which should be the closest one to you, your hotspot security (this is the password you set up in brandmeister.network), and the DMR TG that you would like to connect to when using the bridge to DMR. It is important to remember that when using the YSF2DMR bridge, you will always connect to the DMR TG set up in here, so if you want to join other TGs, you'll have to come back and change the DMR TG. Now Apply Changes and your hotspot should be ready to be used with YSF and YSF2DMR.Now, on your radio you go to your hotspot frequency, make sure it is transmitting digital, and if it is a handheld radio, press F then AMS, this will connect to the hotspot and you will be able to control it from the radio. You should see a message that says CONNECTED on your screen. Now turn your knob until you see E* and select the reflector, which in this case will be 00485 (this is the reflector for XLX485), press AMS, after you see the CONNECTED message, you'll be ready to talk. If you want to disconnect, just long press the Band button when nobody is talking and you should see a DISCONNECTED message, and you'll be disconnected from the reflector. To get out of the digital menu, long press the MODE button.
If you have a mobile radio, it is a little bit different. Go to your hotspot frequency, make sure you're transmitting digital and long press the DX button, if it worked, you should see a Connected message and see the digital menu. In here, long press the pound (#) key on your mic and then input the reflector that you want to use, in our case 00485, press the pound (#) key again, and it will connect to the reflector. To disconnect, long press the star (*) key. To get out of the digital menu, long press the DX button on the face of your radio.
It could happen that your radios won't connect to the hotspot, in my particular case, it is because at first, and for some unknown reason, the hotspot drops packages and is not able to receive the commands from the radio. If this happens, I only push the PTT for a couple of seconds, and try to connect again. On my hotspot dashboard I can see that my initial attempt had a BER of around 20%, but after pressing the PTT it goes back to normal (around 0.3) and everything works as intended.
This works on my FT-70D and my FTM-300D. This should work on other Yaesu radios as well, but I know that Yaesu menus can be tricky, so I hope that this at least gives some pointers on where to go and what to do.
Hopefully this is useful. Sorry for the wall of text.
73 de KM4S - Diego
