BOB>> ... I would tend to rephrase the above sentence ...

What an excellent post, Bob!

YES - The new Kenwood HT with all its capabilities is a value at US$500.

And YES, APRS is much more than spitting out my coordinates every five minutes while driving around town.

But from where I am coming from - advising audiences who have never worked a satellite before that they probably already own the equipment necessary to work them AND showing them how to accomplish it - I'll have trouble getting behind the 'D72a for that specific crowd as a "must-have" device.

I'd like Kenwood to do what Yaesu did with their VX-8R: Offer a separate HT without some of the major (expensive) features, and get true dual-band capability to "us" at a lower price point.

But I'm not running the world ... (grin)

Clint, K6LCS http://www.work-sat.com