First Connection

Get on a DMR talkgroup and make your first transmission.

This page assumes you’ve already finished Installation, VoxDMR is running, the firmware setup is done, and the main UI is visible.

VoxDMR speaks two protocols, and the connection setup depends on which network you want to join:

BrandMeister uses the Rewind protocol. Master directory is fetched live; you just pick a master.
TGIF, FreeDMR, ADN.systems, and similar MMDVM-based networks use the Homebrew (MMDVM_HBP) protocol. There’s no central master directory, so VoxDMR ships a searchable directory of community servers (from the Pi-Star host list) plus a Custom server option for anything not listed.

You don’t pick one or the other once and for all — VoxDMR supports multiple profiles, each with its own protocol, server, and credentials. Add as many as you like; switch with a tap.

What you need

DMR ID (numeric). Issued by radioid.net. BrandMeister (Rewind) profiles cap the ID at 7 digits; Others (Homebrew) profiles accept any length.
A password for the network you’re joining (see Installation → Requirements for what each network expects).
Callsign (optional, but Homebrew networks usually want one for identification).

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:

Field	What to enter
Label	A short name for this profile (“Home”, “Mobile BM”, “TGIF”, etc.).
DMR ID	Your 7-digit ID from radioid.net.
Password	Your hotspot security password for this network.
Callsign	Optional. Used by Homebrew networks.

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 as a searchable directory of community servers. Search for your network, pick it, and the host, port, and login settings fill in automatically. See Server Profiles for the full directory walk-through.
Custom server… opens host/port fields. The login hash format lives under the Advanced disclosure and defaults to Auto (recommended) — it figures out the right format on its own, so you rarely need to touch it.

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:

Disconnected — nothing happening yet.
Connecting… — handshake with the server.
Authenticating… — VoxDMR is presenting your DMR ID + password (+ callsign on Homebrew).
Connected — auth accepted; subscribing to the selected talkgroup.
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:

Hold Spacebar (the default PTT key).
The bottom bar shows TX HH:MM:SS and the TX meter goes live.
Speak a short test phrase — “Testing, this is your callsign, parrot test”.
Release Spacebar.
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:

Field	What to enter
Label	A short name for this profile.
DMR ID	Your 7-digit ID.
Password	Your network password.
Callsign	Optional. Homebrew networks usually want one.

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 — a searchable directory of community servers. Search for your network and tap it; host, port, and login settings fill in. You can override them manually after. The hash format lives under Advanced options and defaults to Auto (recommended).

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.

Receiving audio

While you’re connected, any traffic on your active talkgroup plays through your output device automatically. The call card (desktop bottom bar / Android PTT screen) shows the active transmission’s:

Source ID — the transmitting station’s DMR ID.
Callsign (when registered).
Talker alias — live name string sent over the air, when supported.
Group ID — which talkgroup the traffic is on.

When the transmission ends, the card flips back to Idle.

VoxDMR always monitors your own DMR ID alongside the selected talkgroup, so a private call addressed to you comes through even while you’re listening to a group. Nothing to enable.

Switching talkgroups

The talkgroup picker (left panel on desktop, bottom sheet on Android) lets you change which talkgroup you’re listening to. Type a search, tap/click a result, and the subscription updates immediately. See Talkgroups for the full picker walk-through, including favorites, the activity indicator, and per-profile aliases.

Want to watch several talkgroups at once instead of just one? See scanning.

Some popular talkgroups to try once Parrot works:

ID	Name	Activity
91	Worldwide	Always busy
92	Europe	Regional
235	UK	National
268	Portugal	National
269	Switzerland	National
9990	Parrot	Echo test (your audio only)

Talkgroup numbers are network-specific. The list above is BrandMeister; TGIF and FreeDMR have their own numbering. Names are loaded from the BrandMeister CSV bundled with VoxDMR — on Homebrew networks, the picker shows the IDs but not the names unless you’ve assigned a custom alias.

Once it works

Open Settings → Connection (or the Session card on Android) and tick Auto-connect. From then on, VoxDMR connects on launch with no extra clicks.

VoxDMR also keeps you connected after a drop or network switch on its own — see Auto-reconnect. It’s on by default.

Next steps

Server Profiles — keep multiple network configs side by side and switch with a tap.
Talkgroups — favorites, the activity indicator, per-profile aliases.
PTT Modes — push-to-talk vs toggle, rebinding the PTT key, hardware buttons on Android.
Audio Settings — pick devices, adjust gain.