First Connection

Configure the connection

Open Settings (the gear icon) and switch to the Connection tab. Under PROFILES, click + Add profile to start a new profile. (The form below the list expands.)

Fill in the Identity fields:

Under Server, pick a protocol — BrandMeister or Others:

BrandMeister (Rewind):

• The master picker drops down with the active masters fetched live from BrandMeister’s API at startup. Pick the one closest to you. If yours isn’t listed, choose Custom server… and type the hostname and port (default 54006) manually.

Others (Homebrew):

• The server picker drops down with the curated entries: ADN Portugal (2681), FreeDMR United Kingdom, TGIF Network. Pick one to fill in the host + port + hash format automatically.
• Custom server… opens host/port fields plus a hash format toggle (Raw vs Hex ASCII). Most Homebrew networks use Raw; flip to Hex ASCII only if auth keeps failing.

Click Save. The new profile appears in the list. Click its radio button to make it active.

Pick your starting talkgroup

VoxDMR doesn’t have a “default talkgroup” field on the settings page. Whatever talkgroup is selected when the app saves config becomes the one it joins next time.

For your first BrandMeister connection, type 9990 into the search field on the main window and click the Parrot result. Parrot echoes your audio back so you can confirm the round trip works. (Most Homebrew networks have their own echo — TGIF’s is 9990 too; FreeDMR’s is 9990.)

Connect

Click Connect in the Connection tab (or the connect button in the main window footer). The status indicator walks through these states:

1. Disconnected — nothing happening yet.
2. Connecting… — handshake with the server.
3. Authenticating… — VoxDMR is presenting your DMR ID + password (+ callsign on Homebrew).
4. Connected — auth accepted; subscribing to the selected talkgroup.
5. Ready — talkgroup subscribed; you can transmit and receive.

If you stop at Authenticating… and drop back to Disconnected, the password (or hash format, on Homebrew) is wrong. See Troubleshooting.

Make your first transmission

With 9990 (Parrot) as your active talkgroup:

1. Hold Spacebar (the default PTT key).
2. The bottom bar shows TX HH:MM:SS and the TX meter goes live.
3. Speak a short test phrase — “Testing, this is your callsign, parrot test”.
4. Release Spacebar.
5. After about a second, Parrot replays your audio back to you.

If you hear yourself, you’re on the air. If not, see Troubleshooting.

Configure the connection

Tap the Connection tab in the bottom navigation. Under Identity, tap the row (it’ll say Not configured if this is your first run).

That opens the Profiles screen. Tap + Add profile at the bottom.

Fill in the Identity fields in the modal that appears:

Under Server, tap the segmented control to pick BrandMeister or Others.

BrandMeister: tap the server row to open the BrandMeister servers bottom sheet. Search by country or hostname, tap a master to select it. Port is 54006 and you don’t need to change it.

Others: tap the server row to open the Servers bottom sheet listing TGIF, FreeDMR, ADN Portugal. Tap one to select it — host, port, and hash format are filled in. You can override host/port/hash format manually after.

Tap Save. The new profile appears in the list. Tap its radio to make it active.

Connect

Back on the Connection tab, tap Connect. The hero card walks through the same states as on desktop (Connecting → Authenticating → Connected → Ready).

Pick a talkgroup

Switch to the PTT tab (bottom-left). Tap the TG badge in the AppBar (top right of the screen — it’ll say No TG if none is selected). The talkgroup picker opens as a bottom sheet:

• Type a numeric ID (try 9990). Two cards appear: Use 9990 as talkgroup and Use 9990 as private call. Tap the talkgroup card.
• Or search by name: type “parrot” to find it from the BrandMeister CSV. Tap the result.

The sheet closes and the TG badge in the AppBar updates to TG 9990.

Make your first transmission

Press and hold the big red TX button at the bottom of the PTT screen. Hint text below says Hold to transmit (or Tap to transmit in toggle mode). The TX meter goes live, the elapsed timer ticks, and the button turns brighter red.

Release. After about a second, Parrot replays your audio back through the speaker (or whichever audio output you’re using).

If you can’t hear yourself, see Troubleshooting.

If you’ve bound a hardware key (volume button, headset button, BT remote) in Settings, you can use that instead of the on-screen button. See PTT Modes.