As DMR is a digital mode that transports digitalized speech, it is possible to transfer other data too. Consequently, there are some other digital services provided with DMR. First, there are text messages similar to the one provided by mobile phones. It is also possible to forward the own GPS position to the APRS network.
With this service, you can transfer short text messages to other participants (like a private call) or to a talk group (like a group call). The latter is rather uncommon and should be avoided. In principle a text messages works like a private call. If the destination is reachable, the text message will be routed to it.
There are also service numbers (free of charge). If messages are sent to them, certain information can be retrieved to forwarded to other networks (e.g. to the DAPNET). In Germany (and other countries) there are:
-
262993 -- GPS and weather
Send help and you will receive a list of commands.
Send wx and you will receive the weather at the location of the repeater you used.
Send wx CITY and you will receive the weather at the specified city.
Send gps and the last GPS position is returned that you have sent to the DMR network.
With gps CALL you can retrieve the last position sent by the specified call.
Send rssi and you will receive a signal report from the repeater.
-
262994 -- Repeater information & pager messages
Send rpt to receive a list of static an dynamic subscribed talk groups at the repeater.
Send CALL MESSAGE to send the given message to the given destination call in the DAPNET.
As mentioned in the previous section, it is possible to report the own position via the DMR network to the APRS network. This position can then be tracked at for example aprs.fi. To do that, a radio with a built-in GPS receiver is required. But not even these devices are expensive anymore. Simple DMR hand-helds with built-in GPS receivers are available for about 120€.
Beside the text message services, it is also possible to transmit the position to the DMR network using a special service number 262999. How the radio is configured to do that, depends heavily on the device being used. qdmr helps with the configuration by providing common means for these settings across all supported radios.