[amsat-bb] Re: more about the TH-D72A for satellites

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Hi Jeff!

> Seems the TH-D72A is pretty much a replica of the TH-D7(A) with some minor
> modifications.

I'm sure that's what Kenwood was looking for, to keep R&D costs for a
new ham HT down, but I think you are getting more than just a minor
upgrade to the TH-D7 with the TH-D72.  Not much change for FM
satellite work, but improvements on the packet side and especially
for APRS.

> One word of caution on spliting the audio at the HT.  DON'T DO IT.
>
> <snip>
>
> What you could possibly do is find and solder a 1/10, 2.5mm, plug to a wire
> then run a couple feet to the splitter so there will be little or no weight
> on the recepticle at the HT.
>
> Figured I'd save others from a headache.

A good suggestion.  This problem may or may not present itself,
depending on how much stress is put on that speaker jack.  I will
probably rig up a short cable like Jeff describes in the near future,
possibly by cannibalizing an old speaker/mic so I can have the
two-plug connector going into the radio, to reduce the stress on the
speaker jack.

Nigel's suggestion of a speaker/mic is one I have thought of, and I
will try it the next time I'm out with the radio.  I have an old Kenwood
SMC-34 speaker/mic, which has a speaker jack on the bottom of the
mic, along with 3 remote-control buttons that can be defined in the
radio and even a volume knob on the face of the mic.  I could put the
radio on my belt, and use the 3 buttons to switch between VFOs
(define one button as A/B) and do my tuning adjustments during a
pass (the other two buttons would be the up and down tuning
buttons), all without having to look at the radio.  This may be a bit
easier than working the buttons on the face of the radio during a pass.
My splitter would go into the jack on the speaker/mic, and from there
audio would go to my earpiece and my recorder.

I'm still poking around with it, including working an SO-50 pass last
night.  So far, so good.  I've put a one-piece Diamond SMA/BNC
adapter on the antenna connector, and have been using only antennas
and coax with BNC connectors.  This adapter almost makes the radio
look like it came with a BNC connector, and now I don't have to fiddle
with the SMA connector.  I did the same thing with my other HTs with
SMA connectors (VX-8GR, TH-F6A), so I would not have to stress
the SMA connector every time I want to change the antenna or coax
going to it.

73!






Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
http://www.wd9ewk.net/