Digital Voice Mode Connection Software Options
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A quick reference listing and describing the Digital Voice Mode Connection Software Options currently in use in Amateur Radio.
N6JET · ten options · grouped by what each one replaces
A note on how these are grouped
These are not ten choices for the same job. Two are the mainstream packages most hams will meet. One is a box you buy. Two do the work without a Raspberry Pi. Two are for building it yourself. Two need no hotspot at all. And one replaces a single part and leaves the rest alone. The groups below say which is which, so nobody picks the wrong tool for the job in front of them.
The two mainstream packages
The two you are most likely to meet.
P
Pi-Star
by Andy Taylor, MW0MWZ
The original that started it all. A ready-made SD-card image for the Raspberry Pi. Flash it, fill in a web form, and the hotspot works.
💻
Runs on: every Raspberry Pi ever made, plus NanoPi, Odroid and OrangePi
📻
Modes: DMR, D-STAR, YSF/C4FM, P25, NXDN, POCSAG, FM
🔄
Updates: numbered releases you choose to install — latest 4.3.7, May 2026
🔓
Source: public on GitHub, anyone can read the commit history
📖
Documentation: no official manual — a 17-article wiki and the forum
W
WPSD
by Chip Cuccio, W0CHP
A fork of Pi-Star, first released in late 2020, now substantially its own software. Same idea — an SD-card image and a web form — with a heavily reworked dashboard.
💻
Runs on: Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, 3, 4 and 5 — nothing older
📻
Modes: DMR, D-STAR, YSF/C4FM, P25, NXDN, POCSAG
🔄
Updates: automatic every night between 0100 and 0359 local, no action needed
📖
Documentation: a maintained 104-page manual, an FAQ and a troubleshooting guide
✨
Extras: saved profiles, live caller screen, network and mode managers
📦
Shipped pre-installed by ZUMradio, BridgeCom and DVMEGA
Hardware and software all-in-one
No Raspberry Pi, no SD card, no software to install.
S
SharkRF openSPOT
by SharkRF, Estonia
A self-contained hotspot in a small case with its own battery. Nothing to flash and nothing to build — you configure it through its own web page and it runs on its own.
💲
Current model: openSPOT4 Pro, $318.73
📻
Modes: DMR, D-STAR, YSF/C4FM, NXDN, P25, POCSAG, APRS
🔀
Cross-mode: the Pro has hardware transcoding built in
🗄️
Discontinued: openSPOT 1, 2, 3 and the non-Pro openSPOT4
🔒
Closed sourcethe firmware cannot be inspected or modified
No Raspberry Pi needed
Same job, done by something that isn’t a small Linux computer.
B
BlueDV
by David Grootendorst, PA7LIM
Your Windows PC becomes the hotspot. Plug in a DVMega, ThumbDV or DVstick, run the program, and you are on the air. There is an Android version too.
💻
Runs on: Windows, Android, Linux
📻
Modes: DMR, D-STAR, YSF/C4FM
🔌
Needs: a DVMega board, ThumbDV or DVstick 30
✅
Recognised by BrandMeister as a supported hotspot option
🔒
Closed sourcefree to use, but the code is not published
E
esp32_mmdvm_hotspot
by PD2EMC and PD8JO, Netherlands
The whole hotspot runs on a single ESP32 microcontroller — a chip costing a few dollars. No Linux, no SD card, no operating system at all. It serves its own small web page.
✅
Working: DMR network-to-radio, plus POCSAG and DAPNET paging
🚧
UnfinishedDMR radio-to-network still in progress
⛔
Not workingD-STAR, YSF, P25 and NXDN are placeholders only
🔌
Options: wired Ethernet, OLED screen, SD card slot
📄
Licence: free for amateur use, but not an open-source licence
For the tinkerer
You build it yourself. Expect a text editor and a command line.
M
MMDVMHost
by Jonathan Naylor, G4KLX
This is the engine inside both Pi-Star and WPSD. Each of them is a dashboard and an SD-card image wrapped around this program. You can run it on its own without either.
💻
Runs on: Linux and Windows — not tied to the Raspberry Pi
📻
Modes: DMR, D-STAR, YSF/C4FM, P25, NXDN, POCSAG, FM
🚫
No dashboardno web page and no last-heard screen
🔧
No numbered releases, ever — you build whatever is in the repository that day
✅
Very much alive: last change August 2026, bugs still filed and answered
O
OpenDVM
by Kurt Moraw, DJ0ABR, Germany
Describes itself as a modern alternative to Pi-Star for any Debian machine — a PC, a Raspberry Pi, an Odroid. Wraps the same G4KLX software in its own dashboard and graphical configuration tool.
💻
Runs on: any Debian system, including ordinary PCs and virtual machines
📻
Modes: DMR, D-STAR, YSF/C4FM
🔓
Fully open source under GPL-2.0
🗓️
Very newfirst code October 2025, last change December 2025
No hotspot at all
A different problem: getting on a digital mode with no radio and no hotspot.
Mostly this is not a hotspot. It lets you talk on DMR, D-STAR, M17, YSF, P25 or NXDN straight from your phone or computer with no radio at all. It will also drive an MMDVM board directly, and in that mode it works as a hotspot.
💻
Runs on: Linux, Windows, macOS, Android and iOS
📻
Modes: DMR, D-STAR, M17, YSF/C4FM, P25, NXDN
🔌
Needs: an AMBE dongle, or an MMDVM board if used as a hotspot
🔓
Open source, and still developing — last change July 2026
🗓️
History: began as dstar-monitor, became DudeStar, renamed DroidStar in 2021
S
SharkRF M1KE
by SharkRF, Estonia
A handheld with no transmitter in it. It looks and works like a portable radio, but every contact travels over Wi-Fi rather than over the air. SharkRF describe it as “a fully standalone transceiver (not a hotspot)” — there is no hotspot and no radio involved at either end of your setup.
🌐
Networks: DMR including BrandMeister and DMRplus, D-STAR, YSF/C4FM, NXDN, P25, EchoLink, AllStarLink, SVXLink, APRS and POCSAG
📶
No RFit needs Wi-Fi coverage, and provides no radio coverage of its own
🤝
Handy trick: two M1KEs on the same wireless network can talk to each other with no internet connection at all
🔋
Battery: around 30 hours · OLED display · configured through its own web page · two-year warranty
🔒
Closed sourcethe firmware cannot be inspected or modified
Swap out one part, keep Pi-Star
This is not an alternative to Pi-Star. It replaces one piece of the setup and leaves the rest alone.
O
OpenGD77
by Roger Clark, VK3KYY, Australia
Replacement firmware for certain DMR handhelds. In hotspot mode the radio replaces the MMDVM board — it plugs into the Raspberry Pi with the USB programming cable and Pi-Star runs exactly as normal.
📱
Radios: Radioddity GD-77, Baofeng DM-1701, DM-1801, RD-5R
🔬
Why it works: the radio already contains the chip that decodes DMR
⚡
Power: 1 to 5 watts, against roughly 10 to 20 milliwatts from an MMDVM board
🌡️
Default is 1 watt deliberately, to stop the amplifier overheating
📻
DMR onlyno D-STAR, YSF, P25 or NXDN in hotspot mode
🔧
Set-up: Pi-Star’s modem type is set to a ZUMspot setting