BridgeComSystems SkyBridge Max User manual

SkyBridge Max
Quick Start Guide

Dear Amateur Radio Operator,
Welcome to the BridgeCom Community! We are so lucky
to have a customer like you!
Join our BridgeCom Facebook group to be part of an
active community with over 15,000 members that love to
answer technical questions:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/BridgeComSystems
We want you to be successful, so we are including our
SkyBridge course in BridgeCom University for FREE!
https://www.bridgecomuniversity.com/
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Account Registration and Setup
Before you begin, you will need:
1. A DMR ID
a. Register for one at https://www.radioid.net/
2. A BrandMeister account
a. Register for one at: https://brandmeister.network/
b. The account type should be: Personal User
Account
c. Under “Anti Spam” the answer to the question,
“What is the wavelength of the UHF band in
centimeters?” is: 70
d. After registering with BrandMeister, you will
receive an initial confirmation email within a few
minutes. Be sure to check your spam folder if
you haven’t received anything in your inbox.
e. You must click the link in the email to begin
the registering process.
f. It takes a certain amount of time for
BrandMeister staff to approve your newly
created account. Once it has been approved, you
will receive an additional email indicating that
your account is active.
g. Once your BrandMeister account is active, log in
to it, and in the upper right corner of the screen,
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click on your callsign. This will open a menu,
and next, click SelfCare.
h. Scroll down to the section labeled Hotspot
Security and type in a simple alphanumeric
string that you will easily remember. Then click
the Save Password button. A popup will appear
to confirm the setting of this password. You will
need this password later when setting up your
SkyBridge, so be sure to remember it.
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Note: You may also use other DMR networks with your
SkyBridge after registering with them. However, we do
not currently offer direct support on this.
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Initial Setup
1. Screw the included antenna into your SkyBridge
and plug one end of the provided Ethernet cable
into the RJ-45 port on the side. Plug the other
end into your network switch/router. The
SkyBridge needs an active network connection
with internet access to fully boot.
2. Plug the power brick into the wall, plug the large
end of the USB-C cable into the power brick,
and plug the small end of the cable into your
SkyBridge. After displaying a brief splash
image, your SkyBridge will display
initializing… for several seconds.
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3. The screen on your SkyBridge will now populate
with information. Note the IP address displayed
in the upper-left corner. On a computer or
smartphone connected to the same local network
as the SkyBridge, type this number into your
internet browser.
4. You will be directed to the dashboard page as
shown below. Click Configuration.
5. You will likely be prompted for a username and
password. Enter pi-star as the username and
raspberry as the password.
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6. If entered correctly, you will be directed to the
configuration page. It is recommended to run an
update before configuring. Do this by clicking
Update at the top of the screen. You will be
taken to a page with a console output window
that will automatically perform the update. Wait
until the text indicates that updates are finished.
Scroll to the top of the page and click
Configuration.
7. Many of the settings have been pre configured as
part of the stock SkyBridge setup and do not
need to be adjusted. However, there are settings
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that need to be configured for each individual.
Enter the following:
Under General Configuration:
a. Node Callsign: Your callsign
b. DMR/CCS7 ID: Your DMR ID
c. Radio Frequency: If using a different
frequency, set to the simplex frequency you
are using
Under Location and Hotspot Info Settings:
d. Town and Country are self-explanatory.
Latitude: A positive value indicates North,
and a negative value indicates South.
Longitude: A positive value indicates East,
and a negative value indicates West.
e. URL: By default, this is set to your QRZ
page. If desired, you can change this to an
alternate webpage.
Under MMDVMHost Configuration:
f. DMR Mode is turned on by default. If you
are not using your hotspot for DMR, turn
this off.
g. Turn on the other digital modes that you will
be using. We do not offer direct support on
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setting up other digital modes, but there are
great resources on the internet that provide
guidance on doing this.
Under DMR Configuration:
h. For normal use with DMR, DMR Master
should be set to DMRGateway.
i. BrandMeister Master should be set to the
following:
●Western US:
BM_3103_United_States
●Central US:
BM_3102_United_States
●Eastern US:
BM_3104_United_States
●Other locations: Set this to a server
to the closest geographic location
to you. You can find the location of
the servers on the BrandMeister
website.
j. BM Hotspot Security: Set this to the
password that you set in step 2h in the
Account Registration and Setup section of
this quickstart guide.
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