YWD//HOTSPOT

LIGHTWEIGHT DMR HOTSPOT STACK · SIMPLEX / DUPLEX · BRANDMEISTER · PI ZERO FIRST

RASPBERRY PI + MMDVM DMR HOTSPOT

Radio-first. Lightweight. Built to stay out of the way.

YWD-Hotspot is a purpose-built DMR hotspot stack for Raspberry Pi systems, with a fast dashboard, BrandMeister control, simplex/duplex support, OLED presentation, diagnostics, calibration, safe updates, and an extensible plugin framework.

DOWNLOADS QUICK INSTALL DOCUMENTATION

PROJECT STATUS · AUG 20 2026

0.1.0 is in release-candidate territory.

The core hotspot stack is at 0.1.0-rc1. Source/runtime work is in good shape; the remaining release gate is final physical acceptance of the new appliance image. Experimental RX Monitor work remains intentionally separate from the release-critical RF path.

SOFTWARERC1

0.1.0-rc1

Current release candidate line with the WebUI, simplex/duplex operation, update safety, diagnostics, plugins, OLED and appliance tooling.

CORE DMRREADY

Release-critical path

Pinned MMDVM-Host + DMRGateway remain the authoritative RF stack. Dashboard and optional services are designed not to take normal DMR operation down with them.

OS IMAGEVALIDATION

Boot acceptance pending

The latest Raspberry Pi appliance image has completed its builder path. Public image downloads stay gated until the image passes the final on-hardware boot check.

RX MONITOREXPERIMENTAL

Optional plugin work

Passive DMR voice monitoring is still experimental and isolated from the normal hotspot release path while hardware validation continues.

CORE STACKaccepted baseline

WEBUI + PLUGINSintegrated

IMAGE BUILDcompleted

BOOT TESTrelease gate

0.1.0promotion

RELEASES + DOWNLOADS

Pick the build that matches what you are doing.

RC source is available now. The prebuilt Raspberry Pi appliance image will appear here after final boot validation instead of shipping a mystery SD-card grenade and hoping for the best.

CURRENT RELEASE CANDIDATE0.1.0-rc1

YWD-Hotspot RC1 source

The complete hotspot source tree for release-candidate testing, including installer, WebUI, services, plugins framework, docs and appliance builder.

CHANNEL RCFORMAT ZIP / GIT

DOWNLOAD SOURCE ZIP VIEW RC BRANCH ↗

APPLIANCE IMAGECOMING SOON

Prebuilt Raspberry Pi OS image

Flash-and-boot YWD-Hotspot image for the supported Raspberry Pi + MMDVM appliance path. Release is intentionally held until the current image passes physical boot acceptance.

TARGET PI / MMDVMSTATE BOOT TEST

BOOT VALIDATION PENDING

DEVELOPMENTDEV

Development source

The current integration line for ongoing work. Useful for developers and testers; not the branch to install when you want boring, predictable radio behavior.

CHANNEL DEVRISK HIGHER

DOWNLOAD DEV ZIP CHANGELOG ↗

CORE STACK

Small Pi. Serious hotspot.

The radio path stays focused on MMDVM-Host and DMRGateway. YWD-Hotspot layers the useful stuff around it without turning a Pi Zero into a tiny data center with feelings.

RF + DMR

Simplex or duplex

Configurable MMDVM HAT mode, duplex-aware frequencies, TS1/TS2 routing, live RX/TX state, Last Heard, BER and RSSI context.

BRANDMEISTER

NETWORKCONNECTED

TALKGROUPSSTATIC + DYNAMIC

CONTROLDROP QSO

Practical BrandMeister controls without burying the useful buttons three menus deep.

APPLIANCE

WEBUIRESPONSIVE

OLEDOPTIONAL

UPDATESSTAGED

Health checks, diagnostics, support bundles, calibration tools, RadioID maintenance, and guarded update workflows.

EXTENSIBILITY

Sandboxed plugins

Optional UI/service packages with explicit install/enable state and a constrained capability model. Experimental RX Monitor work lives here too.

WEB DASHBOARD

The hotspot UI, without the beige appliance energy.

This website intentionally carries the same dark RF-console language as the hotspot dashboard: deep blue-black panels, cyan telemetry, magenta accents, tight monospace typography, and status-first cards.

RF BM WIFITEMP 39°C

STATUSCONTROLSETTINGSCALIBRATEDIAGNOSTICS

LIVE DMR RF ACTIVITY

KJ6YWD TG 3196104 · TS2

BRANDMEISTER

StateCONNECTED

Master3103

Dynamic3196104

ModeDUPLEX

LAST HEARD

NOWRF → NETKJ6YWDTG 3196104BER 0.8% 2mNET → RFKE0CGBTG 3196104TS2

DESIGN TARGET

Pi Zero first, not Pi Zero eventually.

The original Raspberry Pi Zero W remains a performance target. Expensive presentation work belongs in the browser, while the Pi handles radio duties and small trusted state.

Raspberry Pi Zero WRaspberry Pi OS LiteMMDVM_HS / JumboSpotSSD1306 OLEDBrandMeister DMR

HARDWARE SUPPORT

Built around cheap hardware that actually does the job.

The acceptance baseline stays intentionally narrow and practical. Other hardware may work, but the project optimizes first for the original Pi Zero W class of appliance and MMDVM_HS/JumboSpot-style boards.

PRIMARY COMPUTE TARGET

Raspberry Pi Zero W / Zero WH

Original Pi Zero W remains the performance budget. Lightweight services and browser-side presentation are deliberate design choices, not an accident.

PRIMARYARM 32-BITWI-FI

MODEM HAT

MMDVM_HS / JumboSpot style

Simplex and duplex configurations are supported, including duplex-aware RX/TX frequencies and time-slot routing. Canonical serial path is /dev/serial0 at 115200 baud.

SIMPLEXDUPLEXTS1 / TS2

OPTIONAL DISPLAY

SSD1306-compatible OLED

128×64 I²C OLED support is optional. The display renderer is outside the RF-critical path so a dead display should remain exactly that: a dead display, not a dead hotspot.

128×64I²C0x3C DEFAULT

COMPATIBILITY AT A GLANCE

HARDWARE / SERVICESTATUSNOTES

Raspberry Pi Zero W / Zero WHPRIMARYMain performance and appliance target

Other Raspberry Pi modelsLIKELYMay work; not the primary acceptance baseline

Raspberry Pi OS Lite 32-bit / Raspbian 13PRIMARYCurrent documented OS target

MMDVM_HS / JumboSpot simplexSUPPORTEDSingle RF frequency operation

MMDVM_HS / JumboSpot duplexSUPPORTEDSeparate RX/TX + TS1/TS2 routing

BrandMeister DMRSUPPORTEDPrimary DMR network integration

INSTALL + UPDATE

Choose boring and repeatable over clever.

Install from GitHub today, use the exact RC branch for release-candidate testing, or update an existing managed install with the built-in staged updater.

NORMAL GIT INSTALL

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y git
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/merberg-ai/ywd-hotspot.git
cd ywd-hotspot
sudo ./INSTALL.sh

FULL INSTALL GUIDE ↗

EXACT 0.1.0 RC1 TEST LINE

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y git
cd ~
git clone --branch dev-release-0.1.0 \
  https://github.com/merberg-ai/ywd-hotspot.git
cd ywd-hotspot
sudo ./INSTALL.sh

Use this when you specifically want the current release-candidate branch.

UPDATE AN EXISTING INSTALL

sudo ywd-hotspotctl update --check
sudo ywd-hotspotctl update --dry-run
sudo ywd-hotspotctl update

UPDATE + ROLLBACK GUIDE ↗

BEFORE YOU KEY UP

Use a supported Raspberry Pi + MMDVM HAT setup.
Configure callsign, DMR ID, RF mode/frequencies, and BrandMeister credentials.
Run calibration if your modem needs RX/TX offset tuning.
Keep the built-in hotspot dashboard on a trusted LAN; do not directly expose its control port to the public Internet.

DOCUMENTATION SHORTCUTS

INSTALLFresh installation and first setup CALIBRATIONRX/TX offset workflow UPGRADINGManaged updates and rollback behavior PLUGINSPlugin model and safety boundaries BUILDINGSource and appliance-image builds

YWD-HOTSPOT

Connect. Communicate. Anywhere.

Source, documentation, issues, releases, and ongoing development live on GitHub.

OPEN GITHUB ↗