PNWDigital is now supporting this effort officially with our own codeplug as an addition to our Anytone codeplugs. OG7 supports many different radios, so any effort here with our codeplug can be used with many more radios. We are partial to the TYT UV-390 ($100) and the Radioddity GD-77 (for the hardware side, based on quality/cost performance) but if you have a supported radio in your junkbox, it is a simple way to inject new life into that junk box radio.
The project was created by hams for hams and frankly is a better approach to Ham DMR than most firmware and CPS software pairs from the Chinese manufacturers. Somewhat like the Chirp project, both try to support many different manufacturers and their radio models.
PNWDigital is not involved with the flashing of the radio. There is ample help elsewhere and it varies a bit across the various radios. But we do have the Radios/Codeplug IO Group for our members they are welcome to check there. LGR has several radios already flashed (see info at end of page).
So why adopt OpenGD77? Quick reasons are; it is free, it is better overall then most single radio firmware/CPS sets, a single codeplug can be used in many different radios flashed with OG7 and it has a fairly unique and much less complex approach to coding the codeplug. Check out more details on what it is/does and radios supported. This is a starting point: OG7 Forum or if you prefer to see it, then Youtube. Otherwise good, simple introductions we have yet to discover.
So Why Not adopt OpenGD77? Honestly, only the flashing of the radio can be tricky for someone who has not done it before. We suggest you get a flashed radio from LGR or have an experienced ham help you if you have a junk box spare radio. Once you have flashed a radio, the process is rather straight forward. Some radios require both the stock firmware to be available along with the OG7 firmware, so you need to be prepared. The firmware installer is not difficult to use.
OG7 shines for simple DMR programming but less so for Analog. There are zones for channels as one would expect but also “zones” are for Talkgroups known as “Talkgroup Lists”. So every channel is it’s own “zone or list of TG’s”. If you have 300 channels, you must step through each one slowly. In DMR, you step through a TG list. DMR in OG7 is efficient to use and to program while analog is like having no banks in a scanner. Minor issue if you are using the radio primarily for DMR.
Our codeplug currently supports all our repeaters and MMDVM servers, all DMR simplex, analog simplex, APRS, GMRS and 3 FRS channels. More analog will clutter up the codeplug.
If you wish to start out with a TYT UV-390 already flashed with OpenGD77, then LGR sells them for $99 and that includes a hi-cap USB-C battery (not the standard battery). The TYT-MD-9600 mobile is also available.
In development, is a codeplug that will use our database to keep the CSV files current with the newest repeaters, changes or updates and provide the talkgroup list matched to each repeater. This will be similar to our overnight ACB files but simpler as you just import the overnight files into your OG7 flashed radio. The entire process is just a few seconds and no file fiddling needed.
First Published: August 11, 2024 Last Updated: 3 months ago by Mike – NO7RF
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