[amsat-bb] TNC's for satellite work

[John]

All,

I'm in the process of setting up a simple 'earth station' for satellite work. One facet I am interested in is digital mode. Thus my question: will a Rigblaster Plus work as a TNC, or must I buy a dedicated TNC? My shack is rather small, and I'd rather have one box that would do two things vs. two that do one thing. 

Rig is an Icom 706MKIIG, which has the data port for packet. 

Assuming that the answer to the question I pose in the first paragraph is "no, a rigblaster won't serve as a TNC", are there recommendations for TNC's? From reviewing the literature they all seem to have about the same functionality, so I wonder if the $200 Kantronics unit will give as good service as would the $540 Timewave PK232.

Thanks!

John
KC9IKB