Never messed with DMR. I’ll give it a look. I bought just for ruggedness of gear & basic point to point comms.
It’s amazing that there’s always new stuff to explore under the banner of #hamradio
Discussion
I would look at the opengd77 project and pick a radio off their support list as a first try it out radio. The CPS is easiest by a mile. The programming and CPS is the biggest hurdle for someone used to FM.
If you are looking at Hotspots, buy cheap. Bridgecom prices are just markup and marketing for the same device as the cheap ones on Amazon.
Appreciate it mate, might hear you on the air someday