Re: more about the TH-D72A for satellites
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/
I know that a $500 radio.. is still not cheap,
I would tend to rephrase the above sentence more like this:
...$500 for a dual band full duplex Satelliite radio PLUS a built in 1200 and 9600 baud TNC, PLUS 600 pages of built-in TEXT and DATA information DISPLAY on the nearest 100 ham radio information transmissions, PLUS a text and Email storage of the last 100 text/email messages PLUS text entry keypad for ISS and the many APRS satellites and Email PLUS a built-in GPS... All completelly self-contained is ... Cheap!
Remember, the primary purpose of the APRS Radio was NEVER vehicle tracking. It was to provide the handheld and mobile operator an information CAPTURE and DISPLAY system and a single continent wide data channel for keeping the operator informed of everything going on in ham radio in his immediate area instantly (10 minute refresh). Notice: RECEIVE AND DISPLAY DATA, Not just TX your GPS coordinates that no one cares about.
As a Traveler or Visitor, just turn on the radio, and in 10 minutes you should capture (wherever you are) all of the following information:
1) The frequency, tone and offset of the locally recommended travelers Voice repeater
2) The date and time of the weekly net on that repeater
3) The day of the month of that club's meetings
4) The freq, tone, offset, and node number of Echolink and IRLP nodes
5) Same for Winlink, Wires, and D-Star nodes
6) Any local special meeting notices
7) The location and date of any HAMfests in the area this month
8) Any traffic problems, wrecks, fires or whatever
9) The speed of traffic past locally designated choke points
10) The direction and distance to any AMSATS in view once a minute
11) The up/dnlink freq & DOPPLER of said satellites in view every minute
12) A Schedule of AOS of any other satellities in the next 80 minutes
13) The ability to receive text messages from any other ham on the planet in real time from their APRS, their PC, or their smart phone or blackberry
14) The ability to send text messages and/or Email to any other ham on the planet
15) and oh, by the way, the location of all APRS mobiles nearby.
16) And the current repeater FREQ and TONE they are on!
Oh, and the POSITION, direction and distance to every one of the above from your present location.
The sad truth is that 99% of ham radio operators are only aware of #15 and ignore all the rest. They have been completely misslead about APRS in thinking it is only a vehcile tracking system. Since I don't really care where most other people are most of the time,(#15) then I can fully understand why most of them don't care either. Hence, only the 1% of hams interested in #15 use APRS... And since they are only interestd in #15, they do not make any effort to support the other 16 and the other 99% of hams.
The sad result is that VERY FEW AREAS are actually then putting out all the info #1 through #14 because none of the other 99% of ham radio operators keeps asking them WHERE IS IT?
The APRS radio is supposed to be your real-time front-panel info resource in your hand or in your car. Kenwood gets it. Yaesu gets it. But 99% of hams don't get it.
See about #1,2,3,4,5 and 6: www.aprs.org/localinfo.html See about hamfests: www.aprs.org/hamfest.html See about #8 & #9: www.aprs.org/traffic.html See about #10,#11 and #12: www.aprs.org/astars.html (70% down the page) See about all of the above: www.aprs.org/APRS-tactical.html
Or see the sept 2008 article in QST, "Maximizing the Mobile Motorist Mission.
If you are not seeing this data on any of your eight APRS radios: D7, D700, D710, D72, FTM350, VX8R, VX8DR, VX8GR then get on the air in YOUR area and ask the local APRS Digipeater SYSOPs why not?
And if you really want to see where we have been headed for the last decade, then see: www.aprs.org/avrs.html
Our ultimate goal is global ham-to-ham TEXT and/or VOICE using CALLSIGN only and using ANY radio, ANY wireless device, or any PC. (in addition to providing the INFORMATION resources above.
Bob, WB4APR
participants (2)
-
Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) -
Robert Bruninga