Part 2: SMSGTE - My radio connects to the Digipeater. Now what?

Hello! 

So. 

As a precursor, this was inspired by my experience trying to set up my DMR Enabled radio to send SMS messages using the SMS Gateway Service. Please know:

  • I am in no way associated with SMSGTE.org (other than a regular user). I just figured I'd document my process to provide another way for those interested to follow.
  • This is using the AnyTone AT-D878UVII Plus, so it IS ABLE to receive messages to the radio. It is my understanding that the previous models do not support Rx APRS. 
  • I do not have any other models of DMR radio, so I currently can't offer any kind of step by step on anything other than the AT-D878UVII - sorry! Not saying that won't change, but it's what I have to offer at the moment.
    • That being said, I'll do my best to make it as broad and specific as possible? (I realize what I just said... lol)

Important Links for this process:

Please view my "Part 1" if you don't already have the TalkGroup setup, or have no idea what a TalkGroup is. This page is done under the assumption that you're 100% ready to connect to SMSGTE and don't need to do any prep on your radio for it.


Second. The first thing you need to do is to setup your Brandmeister account. It's free and allows SMSGTE to help keep things organized.

  1. Go to https://brandmesiter.network/ and click the "register" button in the top menu bar.
  2. Complete the requested information and verify your email address
  3. Go back to https:/brandmeister.network/, login, click on your callsign at the top of the screen and click on SelfCare
  4. On the following screen, set these options:
    1. Brand: Chinese Radio
    2. Language: Your language
    3. APRS Interval: 60 seconds
    4. APRS Callsign: select your callsign (it's ok to not have a suffix on it)
    5. Save

Second and one-half. Now to send a text to SMSGTE from your radio. I know, that doesn't make sense, but I promise it's the first step. If you try to use the registration page to set things up it won't allow you to until your Callsign and DMRID have been recognized on the SMSGTE network. So here's what you do.

  1. Grab your Anytone AT-D878UVII. Make sure that you have your APRS DIGI channel selected (if you were following the previous guide). 
    1. If you didn't follow Part 1, you'll need to setup a TalkGroup  for the DMR APRS number (310999 in the USA) and then attach that as the contact for your local digipeater channel. That's where you'll be sending your messages from.
  2. Now, enter the menu and find SMS and select it.
  3. You'll have a list of options that make me miss the 90s/early 2000s (Remember the Nokia 3310?). This is where you'll send your messages using the T9 format. 
  4. To get us set up for SMSGTE, you're going to select "New Msg" and it will then open up a text field. Type using the keypad the following information (Case matters - please capitalize what I capitalized etc.):
    1. SMSGTE @YOURCELLPHONENUMBERHERE hello
      1. SMSGTE all together, all caps, no spaces.
      2. @YOURCELLPHONENUMBERHERE: so this is going to be the phone number you want to send the message to. Just use your personal cell phone number for now. It should look like @6024568875
      3. Following the number is a random message. I just put "hello". (Please remember, this system is NOT PRIVATE. While it's not necessarily easy for people to openly see your conversations, it's by no means encrypted or "safe". So don't send private info here)
    2. Once the message has been typed out (if you are not familiar with the keypad layout, see the description below) Click the "Confirm" button, select "Send" and then select "Manual Dial". Enter 310999 in the next field and click "Confirm". You will then get a "Sending" popup and hopefully a green checkmark following it.
      1. I know we set up a talkgroup earlier with this exact ID. Technically you're able to use that contact card to send the message, but for some reason it's buggy and doesn't always work. It's just more reliable right now to do the manual entry and be proud of the fact that you learned how to enter a talkgroup. (that's the best I got right now)
    3. Now. You *may* get a response back on your radio. Weirdly it's been hit or miss for me when setting devices up. But you should definitely get a text message on your cell phone shortly after sending the message. Like. surprisingly quickly.
      1. The number that it comes from is private. It's a shared number, so anyone who uses the SMSGTE server gets their messages from the same number you did, but it's all organized based on the callsign listed in the message. Do not share that number with rando's on the internet. There is no reason to. It's ok to share with those that you are messaging, but please keep it to them. You can also respond to that message to send a response to your radio, so keep that number handy. I'll explain that later.
      2. If you get that message, it means you completed step 1 of 3 correctly! Yay!
  5. Now that you've sent a message to the server and it knows who you are based off of the callsign listed in the message you sent, you can associate your cell phone number with your callsign. This is needed for registration purposes. Send a message FROM YOUR RADIO using the steps above, but this time use the text:
    1. SMSGTE #mynumber add YOURNUMBERHERE
      1. YOURNUMBERHERE make sure to put your number, no spaces or characters, after the "add". For example: 6023456789
    2. Once you've sent that, you should get a message back TO YOUR RADIO stating that it was successfully associated with your device.
  6. Once it's been successfully associated with your device, you can now set your password. This is done from your cellphone (the one you registered in step 5 and sent a test message to earlier)
    1. Find the conversation from earlier, and reply to the thread with the following info:
      1. #password set PASSWORD
        1. No need to enter SMSGTE here - it's only needed from your radio out
        2. PASSWORD - this will be your account password. again, make sure it's something that's secure but also not your date of birth or mother's maiden name, etc.
      2. When you send that message, you'll get a response on your phone saying that the password has been associated with your callsign.
  7. Now you can go to the SMSGTE website and finish the registration!
    1. https://smsgte.org/register/
Once you've registered, you can set things like Aliases, shortcuts and see your conversation history. Their website has a great list of "how-to's" for sending using aliases, handling conversations, or even sending your current GPS coordinates from your radio so please check it out!

A few final tips:
  1. Whenever you send FROM the radio, make sure to include SMSGTE at the beginning of the message
  2. Always manually dial 310999
  3. Make sure you are "hitting" the repeater otherwise none of this will work
  4. When sending from a phone, use the special number mentioned above, but start the message with @CALLSIGN so they know who to direct it to
Please consider donating to the people at smsgte.org. The service is free but it still costs them money to support and maintain the server, phone numbers, etc. They explain how to donate on their site.

Thank you!!

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