How to get on the Air - Part II: M17 Hotspots

There are multiple ways to run an M17 hotspot. MMDVM hotspots are the most common type of hardware, but there are other types, including the CC1200 HAT developed by the M17 Foundation.

MMDVM Hotspots

All MMDVM hotspots use the software suite developed primarily by Jonathan Naylor, G4KLX. Most hams use a distribution that combines an operating system, the MMDVM software suite, and a management dashboard. The major distributions are WPSD and Pi-Star. Unfortunately, in July 2025 G4KLX removed M17 from the MMDVM software and WPSD followed suit. Pi-Star V4.2.3_18 still contains M17, although the Pi-Star team has indicated they intend to remove it in the future.

MMDVM with WPSD

The M17 community has responded by creating the WPSD M17 Community Fork a community-maintained fork based on the June 2025 image of WPSD and the last version of WPSD Git repositories before M17 support was removed. Download and installation instructions are available on the wiki page.

MMDVM with MSPOT

N7TAE has created MSPOT an M17-only hotspot (or repeater). Installation instructions are in the Github repo: [1]

CC1200-HAT

The CC1200 is an open hardware hotspot HAT created by the M17 Project. Assembled boards may be ordered from PCBWay with a commission going to the M17 Foundation.

The easiest way to install the required firmware and software for the CC1200 is using DK1MI's installation script: [2]

Manual installation instructions are available here.