Questions about getting into Ham and APRS

[Overlandenthusiast]

Congrats on wanting to make the move to improve your communication abilities.
Both of the radios you mention do APRS and do it well, however it appears from my understanding that the Kenwood links with a tablet a bit better than the Yaesu does.
Kenwood gives the user more access to the built in TNC configuration allowing you a bit more flexibility.

To go on record, I use neither radio so I am far from an expert on either of them.
I went with a stand alone radio specifically for APRS leaving my dual band radio for voice only. This is not the most conventional route as it involves a 2nd radio and 2nd antenna.
@brien has a Kenwood so hopefully he will have time to grace us with his knowledge, in the mean time here is a video he did on setting up the Kenwood for APRS, . Hopefully he will put together a video soon about connecting a tablet to the Kenwood D710G... would have come in handy right about now.

This is very helpful information. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Overlandenthusiast]

Congrats on wanting to make the move to improve your communication abilities.
Both of the radios you mention do APRS and do it well, however it appears from my understanding that the Kenwood links with a tablet a bit better than the Yaesu does.
Kenwood gives the user more access to the built in TNC configuration allowing you a bit more flexibility.

To go on record, I use neither radio so I am far from an expert on either of them.
I went with a stand alone radio specifically for APRS leaving my dual band radio for voice only. This is not the most conventional route as it involves a 2nd radio and 2nd antenna.
@brien has a Kenwood so hopefully he will have time to grace us with his knowledge, in the mean time here is a video he did on setting up the Kenwood for APRS, . Hopefully he will put together a video soon about connecting a tablet to the Kenwood D710G... would have come in handy right about now.

I read about the Kenwood TM-710G unit a bit more. If anyone is aware then please help me understand that how is Kenwood TM-710G different from Kenwood TH-D74A, in terms of functionality? Is there something which 710G does and D74A doesn’t?

thanks in advance!

 

[Ubiety]

I read about the Kenwood TM-710G unit a bit more. If anyone is aware then please help me understand that how is Kenwood TM-710G different from Kenwood TH-D74A, in terms of functionality? Is there something which 710G does and D74A doesn’t?

thanks in advance!

They should be roughly the same in terms of functionality, worlds apart in power and form factor. Best recommendation is to compare the manuals side by side. In either case the 710 and 74 are Kenwood‘s latest APRS radios and experience dictates that their core functionality will be very similar.

I don’t own a 710, I do have several gens of their aprs handhelds and a couple d700s. The SW/menus/features are pretty close to the same for Kenwood mobile and ht radios of the same generation. I highly recommend the D74 as an HT, my D700s have taken much abuse and continue to truck along without problem and one has run 24x7 For 15+ years as an igate/digi. IMO you won’t do wrong with Kenwood.

 

[Graeman]

Both the Yaesu and Kenwood APRS radios are great as you can tell by their price tags. I chose the Yaesu FTM400XDR because I like the touch screen and the ease at sending and reading texts messages with it over the Kenwood's (using the old school phone version to type B press the 1 button twice). Yaesu also has a new FTM300 version coming out very soon with BT included. The 400 series you can purchase a BT card and install it yourself or have HRO do it for you during the purchase. I am really looking forward to using it when we go to the San Juans in Colorado this year.

 

[Overlandenthusiast]

They should be roughly the same in terms of functionality, worlds apart in power and form factor. Best recommendation is to compare the manuals side by side. In either case the 710 and 74 are Kenwood‘s latest APRS radios and experience dictates that their core functionality will be very similar.

I don’t own a 710, I do have several gens of their aprs handhelds and a couple d700s. The SW/menus/features are pretty close to the same for Kenwood mobile and ht radios of the same generation. I highly recommend the D74 as an HT, my D700s have taken much abuse and continue to truck along without problem and one has run 24x7 For 15+ years as an igate/digi. IMO you won’t do wrong with Kenwood.

Thank you, that was very helpful.
I like the portability of 74. If the functionality is the same the 74 sounds better.

 

[Ubiety]

Thank you, that was very helpful.
I like the portability of 74. If the functionality is the same the 74 sounds better.

Different beasts though. I have the D74 for portability and it rocks (it receives some HF/short band as well!). I drive with the D700 because a mobile is way more convenient to use while driving and is more powerful and has a better antenna (in my setup). While driving I want to grab for one thing while keeping eyes on the road - the mic that rests in my lap. Grabbing an HT with attached antenna and power cords and buttons to be pressed everywhere is more of a pain IMO. Make sure to get one of those external mics for the D74 to make driving easier.

You won't go wrong with the D74, but read the manuals and do your research beforehand. Get the (optional) cigarette lighter charger, external antenna, and handheld mic and it will be awesome. Kenwood warns against charging AND using at same time with the included AC charger, no such restriction with the cig lighter charger. Definitely a very good toy with lots of potential.

 

[Ubiety]

Both the Yaesu and Kenwood APRS radios are great as you can tell by their price tags. I chose the Yaesu FTM400XDR because I like the touch screen and the ease at sending and reading texts messages with it over the Kenwood's (using the old school phone version to type B press the 1 button twice). Yaesu also has a new FTM300 version coming out very soon with BT included. The 400 series you can purchase a BT card and install it yourself or have HRO do it for you during the purchase. I am really looking forward to using it when we go to the San Juans in Colorado this year.

Is the 300 APRS capable? Totally agree that the 400 has a beautiful and more workable display and I have my eye on them. Hoping Kenwood notices and follows suit :) I am working to get all APRS interaction away from the radio and onto the iPad so being able to get as close to the TNC as possible is important for me.

 

[Overlandenthusiast]

Different beasts though. I have the D74 for portability and it rocks (it receives some HF/short band as well!). I drive with the D700 because a mobile is way more convenient to use while driving and is more powerful and has a better antenna (in my setup). While driving I want to grab for one thing while keeping eyes on the road - the mic that rests in my lap. Grabbing an HT with attached antenna and power cords and buttons to be pressed everywhere is more of a pain IMO. Make sure to get one of those external mics for the D74 to make driving easier.

You won't go wrong with the D74, but read the manuals and do your research beforehand. Get the (optional) cigarette lighter charger, external antenna, and handheld mic and it will be awesome. Kenwood warns against charging AND using at same time with the included AC charger, no such restriction with the cig lighter charger. Definitely a very good toy with lots of potential.

Thank you!

 

[LEXIRNR]

I just got a Yaesu FT3DR handheld this weekend and it’s another great option for digital and does APRS out of the box.

 

[rgallant]

I run a older Kenwood 710 with out the built in TNC and an old handheld Garmin Etrex for GPS. It works very well for APRS. My APRS usage is for the wife's piece of mind, she can at least at some point during the day check my location. It is hard in BC with all the mountains, but I can generally hit a repeater with APRS ability at some point.

I run a 4.5 foot antenna when I can, attached to the edge roof rack facing out board it works very well. Here is a picture of my Hi-tech mount, it may need adjustment now that I have a RTT up there. It may look a tad tacky but it has done well over the last 10 years both on my r50 Pathfinder and the Disco.

My dash, the radio head unit is low down on an Ashtray, Left to right Phone for monitoring the DIsco temp etc, Garmin GPS with off road maps
, Garmin Etrex for APRS

 

[M Rose]

Is the 300 APRS capable? Totally agree that the 400 has a beautiful and more workable display and I have my eye on them. Hoping Kenwood notices and follows suit :) I am working to get all APRS interaction away from the radio and onto the iPad so being able to get as close to the TNC as possible is important for me.

Yes it is

 

[1airbourne]

You can use an APRS radio system and add a GPS positioner module attach to your Radio.Here are some sites to help you on getting GPS on your APRS.

Byonics - APRS

www.byonics.com

Microsat APRS Voyager + GPS-RS232

APRS Tracker/TNC With 7W Transceiver With External GPS Antenna

www.hamradio.com

APRS: Automatic Packet Reporting System

www.aprs.org

APRSdroid - APRS for Android

aprsdroid.org

Mobilinkd – Highly mobile packet radio

www.mobilinkd.com

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