Did some experiments with the ThumbDV or AMBE3000 and an analog radio. Very funny to experiment with. Sound is pretty good if you stay in range.

Working now on experimental DSTAR control via analog DTMF. e.g. (DTMF) B7602 = XRF076 B

I used a DRA818, but it is better to use the DATA port of a radio like Yaesu or ICOM. The DRA818 is a very cheap radio so do not expect high quality sound.

I used:

• https://www.sv1afn.com/dra818.html

Commands DRA818:

AT+DMOSETGROUP=0,145.8000,145.8000,0000,4,0000
AT+SETFILTER=0,0,0
AT+VOLUME=4

• USB soundcard or internal sound card of my PC
• Wouxun analog radio
• CH340 serial TTL ( connected CTS and RTC for controlling the DRA818 ) ( TinyTronics Netherlands ) 

Well… The device gives a lot of white noise.. Nope other radio’s do better than this one.
This version of BlueDV AMBE is not available yet.

The 6 channel USB AMBE transcoder Kickstarter has started!

The 6 channel AMBE  transcoder is an ideal solution for the transcoding between DMR, DSTAR and Fusion.

What does it do.

It transcodes DSTAR to DMR, DMR to DSTAR, DSTAR to Fusion, Fusion to DMR… etc..
So when you are talking on DSTAR you can talk with people on DMR or Fusion on the same reflector. The 6 channel AMBE  transcoder converts the voice between the modes.

Where can I use it for?

The XLX reflector software already supports the AMBE transcoding. You only need an AMBE transcoder  to convert between the digital modes. The AMBE transcoder has to be connected to the XLX reflector. You only need one AMBE transcoder per XLX reflector. Please inform your XLX admin of this Kickstarter project. Or you can help to support the project.

Take a look at the Kickstarter here.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/985312845/6-channel-usb-ambe-transcoder-for-digital-voice-sy

I’ll be there too 🙂