Ontario Science Centre Demonstrates Ham Radio Digitally Remastered

It’s the same ham radio your grandfather used to use, but now digitally remastered and on display at the Ontario Science Centre!

On January 27th, the Ontario Science Centre Amateur Radio Station, which operates under the call sign VE3OSC, made it’s first contact using Digital Mobile Radio, commonly known as DMR. Jean Moffett, VE3WAD, who is a long time volunteer operator at the VE3OSC station, made the station’s first DMR contact with Bill Barber, NE1B, of Hudson, NH, using her newly acquired DMR radio and the VA3XPR digital DMR repeater. “I just love this new mode of ham radio communications” exclaimed Jean about using DMR. “It’s so much fun talking to people all over the world and they sound so crystal clear using DMR” she added. Jean, who enjoys demonstrating the capabilities of amateur radio to youth visitors to the station, will now be able to provide demonstrations using DMR, exemplifying the evolution of amateur radio from its early beginnings.

DMR, which is a published standard for digital voice communications utilizing TDMA technology, enables amateur radio operators to communicate with one another, both locally and around the world, using the Motorola Amateur Radio Club’s (MARC) World Wide network, commonly known as the DMR-MARC network. Access to DMR was launched in downtown Toronto in December 2012 using the VA3XPR digital DMR repeater and has been met with a great deal of interest an enthusiasm from the local amateur radio community.

For more information about digital voice communications using DMR, please check out the VA3XPR digital DMR repeater page.