Hi Ed!
I'm sure there a lot of us interested in what you find out using the new radio.
Thanks for the encouragement. So far, nobody has told me to keep quiet. ;-) I'm getting more packet and APRS questions in private e-mail, and can't really answer many of them other than the D72 works to transmit my location to an APRS digi network. I'm still a novice with APRS, and haven't done much with packet except to send some data through the ISS digipeater in almost 15 years!
My last ham HT was a TH-D7A, which I reluctantly sold back to the person I bought it from (he was donating it to "doctors without borders"). I used it a little on AO27 and UO18, though I used my FT-817 more. I liked the fact it was packet ready and satellite ready. The TH-D72 with embedded GPS looks like a real winner.
I have two FT-817NDs, and those will definitely continue to be used as a big part of my portable satellite station. A TH-F6A is another recent addition, which can serve as a backup all-mode receiver and an FM (plus maybe CW) transmitter. I wish I would have had a true full-duplex HT for some of the stops I made on my Canada trip a few months ago, where an HT was the only way to get on the birds at certain locations.
BTW for those having cost-phobia the original TH-D7 cost $395. I do not have a HT, now.....maybe? It would be nice for air-travel w/ headset and mag-mount whip.
Thanks for the reminder about that price. I knew it was relatively expensive in its day as a new radio, which was probably why I did not have one way back when.
I know that a $500 radio in 2010 pesos is still not cheap, despite all the extra bells and whistles, so I don't fault anyone for citing cost as a reason to not get one. Maybe more D7s in good condition will hit the used market that can be put on the satellites, as more move up to the D72.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/