One bridge. Seven networks. No radio left out.
The Doghouse Network ties AllStarLink, EchoLink, YSF, D-STAR, M17, and two DMR talkgroups together, so operators on completely different systems can hear — and talk to — each other.
Streams live audio from the whole bridged network on Broadcastify — no radio, app, or license required. Just press play.
Any licensed amateur can connect and get on the air within the privileges of their license — Technician, General, or Extra — however you're set up: hotspot, mobile app, computer, or radio. If it's within what your license allows, there's a place for you here. No membership to request, no dues, nothing to sign up for — see how to connect below.
Not licensed yet, or just curious what ham radio actually sounds like? You don't need a license to listen — tune in live anytime on Broadcastify, no radio, app, or account required.
One courtesy we ask: connecting as an individual — a hotspot, mobile app, or radio — is welcome anytime, and you're welcome to stay connected for as long as you like, as long as a valid callsign or valid DMR ID is used. Looking to link in a permanent repeater or another standing network connection? Please reach out first so we can get it set up right — see the contact info below.
Live callsigns and nodes connected across AllStarLink, EchoLink, YSF, D-STAR, M17, TGIF, and HamUnited — same station shown once, no matter how many ways it's connected.
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Physical repeaters permanently linked into the network, shown live. Have a repeater you'd like to link in? See the contact info below.
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Doghouse got its start around 2017 as a learning tool — a place to experiment on the air without making somebody mad. That's still the point of it. A good ham doesn't just use radio; a good ham helps push it forward — tries the new mode, builds the odd bridge, breaks something in a low-stakes way and learns why. M17 is about as good an example of that spirit as amateur radio has produced right now, which is why it gets its own space here instead of just a card in the grid above.
Every other digital voice mode bridged here — DMR, D-STAR, YSF — encodes your voice with AMBE, a proprietary codec licensed from a single company. You can use it, but you can't see how it works, and you need their chip to build anything new around it. M17 uses Codec 2 instead — free, open-source, published for anyone to read, modify, or build hardware around. One Polish ham, Wojciech Kaczmarski (SP5WWP), started the project in 2019 — he named it after his club's street address, Mokotowska 17 — specifically to bring back a freedom that commercial digital modes had quietly taken away: the freedom to open the hood.
A $20 RTL-SDR dongle and free software (SDR++, SDRangel, or even a browser via OpenWebRX) will decode M17 off the air. No license, no transmitter, no purchase beyond a dongle you may already own from another hobby.
DroidStar (already in the Connect section below) is a pure software client — phone or PC, no hardware, straight into M17-DHN over the internet. This is genuinely how most people's first M17 contact happens today.
The OpenRTX project writes open firmware for several existing budget DMR handhelds, adding M17 capability to a radio you may already own instead of buying a new one.
Hotspot software (mspot) and reflector software (mrefd — what M17-DHN itself runs) are both open source. Standing one up is a genuine weekend project, not a purchase.
As of 2024 there's finally a dedicated commercial option too — Connect Systems' CS7000-M17 — the first off-the-shelf M17 handheld. Good to know it exists; not required to get started.
Doghouse is meant to be a welcoming, comfortable place to try something new — swap between modes and talk to each other without buying a radio for every one of them. Old friends and new ones ragchew here regardless of what radio put them on the air. If you're testing a new build, there's almost always somebody around on another mode to tell you how you sound, answer a question, or try to help you out — before that build ever needs to work perfectly on a busy repeater. Come to test. Ask questions. Teach what you know, or just come learn.
M17-DHN is already live and already has people on it — see Connect below for the exact host details, or the M17 Dashboard to see who's on right now.
A DMR hotspot, a YSF radio, and an EchoLink app can all be in the same conversation — no extra hardware required to reach the others.
Active National Weather Service watches and warnings for Titusville & Brevard County, FL announce automatically, across every bridged network.
A short, routine announcement plays every hour — handy background awareness while you're working the bands.
"Let's meet at the Doghouse" is a simple way to guarantee two operators on different modes can actually hear each other.
A ham license is only required to transmit — anyone can listen live on Broadcastify, no license, radio, or account required. Great for family, newcomers curious about ham radio, or anyone who just wants to hear what's on the air.
Prefer to read it all in one place? 📖 Open the full User Guide — every section on this page, plus etiquette and a glossary, in one document.
TGIF and HamUnited are separate, independently-run DMR networks — both happen to carry talkgroup 36940 into this bridge, but joining one doesn't automatically join the other.
These DTMF commands are specific to AllStarLink — they have no effect on DMR (TGIF, HamUnited), YSF, or EchoLink. Sent on your own radio while keyed up on your own AllStarLink node, to reach node 54218.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| *354218 | Connect to node 54218 (full two-way) |
| *254218 | Connect, monitor only |
| *154218 | Disconnect from node 54218 |
| *A9 | One-time parrot — check your own audio |
⚠️ A valid, licensed amateur radio callsign must be used as your connecting gateway/hotspot identity (Pi-Star, OpenSpot, or similar) to use this network. Connections not complying are subject to muting and/or blocking.