OpenGD77

Hello,

unfortunately the other thread was closed...

The only question that arises is why 446 MHz work perfectly fine with the GD77, but not 149 MHz. 433 MHz is out of question, as it belongs to amateur radio.

The non-removable antenna only concerns 446 MHz. 149 MHz can be used with an external antenna without further problem, as long as it has 0db. But that’s not the question here anyway. All I’d like to know is where exactly does the frequency get blocked? Is it the firmware or the Pi-Star? And why does the license-free 446 MHz work when 149 MHz doesn’t?

73 Rudolf

The MMDVM software, which is the underlying code for Pi-Star, is only licensed for amateur radio use. I suspect any frequency limitations may be due to that and may be in the MMDVM code or in the Pi-Star code.

Neither the MMDVM or the OpenGD77 developers are likely to offer assistance for non-amateur use. Any radio using either software will no longer be legal for commercial use.

The amateur band in some countries is 430-450 so 446 would fall inside that. As far as I am aware 149 is outside the amateurs bands in all countries.

US 70cm allocation is 420 to 450, and most of our repeaters here are in the 440-450 range. (Of course, under 450, 449.995 or whatever stays under 450MHz).

However we also follow guidelines here to keep hotspots within reasonable ranges here. Most areas have a guiding group that coordinates repeater frequency pairs and they also specify simplex channels, digital simplex channels, etc. Best to follow the guidelines to stay out of repeater inputs/outputs, satelites, etc.

But anyway, 149Mhz is what the FCC (yes, I realize you're in Germany, making a parallel here) calls "license by rule" which means they set up the rules and everyone follows them and there's no further license needed. The rule is 1W and a certified radio. GD77 is not, unless you can prove otherwise.