A supplementary service, not an emergency warning system
Do not rely on VKDMR for personal safety or assume that silence means an area is safe. Coverage, radio settings, location accuracy and upstream services affect delivery. Always use the issuing agency's official warnings, emergency broadcasters and emergency services for current information.
80 km
The default selection distance from the affected area. An event spanning several areas can reach multiple repeaters and devices.
Hourly reminders
Warnings repeat every 60 minutes by default. Material updates can trigger a new announcement; official cancellations are announced once.
Three ways to listen
Repeater announcements are attempted first, followed by Emergency-enabled POC handsets, then located personal hotspots.
Where the warnings come from
The first supported sources are the NSW Rural Fire Service and the Bureau of Meteorology. The service has a modular design so additional official sources can be added later.
NSW Rural Fire Service
Official incident warnings, with Watch and Act and Emergency Warning selected by default. An incident needs a usable affected location before it can be relayed.
See official RFS warnings →Bureau of Meteorology
Supported higher-severity weather warnings, including severe weather, tropical cyclones, tsunami and major flooding, where valid warning areas are available.
See official BOM warnings →How you receive an announcement
Listen on the local call-channel timeslot
Connected repeaters with a known location qualify when they are within the alert area. The default delivery is DMR All Call 16777215 on the call-channel timeslot, currently TS2 on VKDMR. The announcement identifies the repeater by its callsign. You still need to be listening to that repeater's frequency and timeslot, and your radio must accept All Call. Reception depends on the radio and its programming; an announcement does not cross to the other timeslot.
Enable Emergency reception and location reporting
A connected POC handset can receive an Emergency-tagged announcement regardless of its selected talkgroup when its own reported position is within the affected area. Enable the client's Emergency receive option and keep location reporting enabled. Positions must be fresh; the default maximum age is 15 minutes. Each handset is selected independently, even when two devices share a Radio ID. A handset currently transmitting is not interrupted. The announcement identifies itself as IPSC3; normal listening resumes afterwards.
Keep your hotspot's location correct
After repeaters and POC, connected personal MMDVM hotspots within the same distance can receive the announcement. Selection uses the hotspot's reported latitude and longitude, or the centre of a valid Maidenhead locator if coordinates are unavailable. Unknown locations do not qualify. Simplex hotspots use TS2; duplex hotspots use the call-channel timeslot. Your radio must be listening on the hotspot's frequency and accept the configured All Call. The spoken identity is that hotspot's configured callsign, and scan settings or dynamic talkgroup camps are not changed.
For DMR, selection uses the repeater or hotspot location, not the individual handheld's GPS position. You may hear an announcement from a site you are listening to even if you are farther from the incident. POC selection uses the individual handset's reported location.
This is [local repeater or hotspot callsign] with a public alert from the NSW Rural Fire Service. The following warning was issued...
The bracketed text is replaced with the configured callsign of the actual repeater or hotspot carrying the announcement; it is not a fixed station callsign. The message names the issuing agency, gives the warning and its instructions, and directs listeners to the official source. POC only begins with This is IPSC3. Test messages explicitly identify themselves as tests.
Updates and cancellations
- Active warnings repeat hourly by default, measured per successful delivery.
- A material change to a warning can trigger an updated announcement.
- An official cancellation is announced once to previously notified connected recipients, then reminders stop.
- An expired warning, an unavailable feed or a missing announcement is not an all clear.
Designed for local delivery
Alerts are sent directly to the selected local endpoints, not flooded across every talkgroup or trunk. Busy endpoints defer and retry rather than deliberately interrupting an existing transmission.
Warning feeds, location checks and speech preparation run outside the normal voice-packet handlers. Unknown locations and stale or unusable warning data are held rather than guessed.
Service status and further information
Automatic broadcasts are enabled on VKDMR from 27 October 2026. New eligible warnings and material updates are relayed to nearby repeaters, Emergency-enabled POC handsets and located hotspots. Existing warnings present when the service is enabled are not replayed in a startup flood. Delivery remains subject to warning severity, valid locations, feed freshness and radio availability. Any separately announced test is explicitly identified as a test and does not indicate an actual hazard.
RFS information: © State of New South Wales (NSW Rural Fire Service). Bureau of Meteorology warning information: Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology. Refer to the issuing agencies for complete, current warnings.