SkyBridge Plus

Overview

The BridgeCom SkyBridge Plus is the turnkey commercial DMR hotspot in this lineup — which BridgeCom describes as a Raspberry Pi 3B (later Pi 4B) with an MMDVM modem board, a 2.4-inch colour screen, a built-in Ethernet port and a black case. It originally shipped with Pi-Star; BridgeCom's current reimaging guide uses the WPSD (W0CHP-PiStar-Dash) image built for the SkyBridge MAX and SkyBridge Plus. The modem-board model and antenna connector (SMA-female or RP-SMA) of the unit documented here are still to be confirmed. It earns the bench slot as the set-and-forget DMR hotspot: pre-configured at the factory, sold as a complete unit with US distributor support and warranty, no soldering and no firmware compile. It is the always-on home-base counterpart to the hand-built DIY WPSD hotspot. This deep dive covers the hardware, the MMDVM mode envelope, the web-managed configuration workflow, network-config backup discipline, and on-air network use. Migrated from the Scanners project as part of the Scanners/Radios restructure Stage 2 Phase 2 (2026-06-16).

Context

The SkyBridge runs the same upstream open-source MMDVM stack (MMDVMHost / DMRGateway / the per-mode gateway family) as any Pi-Star/WPSD derivative, bridging the AnyTone D878's low-power UHF DMR signal to BrandMeister, TGIF, W0CHP, and the FCS/XLX reflector ecosystem over the internet. The appliance tradeoff against the DIY WPSD build is reliability and US-vendor support in exchange for a price premium (~USD 230-280 mid-2026). It connects by Ethernet or Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz only on Pi 3B units; 2.4 and 5 GHz on Pi 4B units), and is run as a simplex hotspot partitioned from the DIY WPSD unit on a different frequency and network.

Deep dive

1. Vol 1 SkyBridge Plus — Vol 1: Introduction & Hardware
2. Vol 2 SkyBridge Plus — Vol 2: Operations
3. Vol 3 SkyBridge Plus — Vol 3: Configuration & Backups
4. Vol 4 SkyBridge Plus — Vol 4: Reference