[amsat-bb] Re: GPS for dx-expedition

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Hi Bob!

> The Kenwood D7 APRS HT and D700 and D710 mobiles display
> gridsquare directly (assuming a GPS is plugged into it.  The new
> D72 coming out in the next month or so has the GPS built in,
> making for a trivial package to carry.
>
> I had assumed that the Yaesu VX-8R, DR, and GR APRS HT's also
> read out directly the grid square?  But your next sentence seems
> to imply otherwise..  Hummh...
>
><snip>

Unfortunately, Yaesu did not choose to provide a grid-square
display on the GPS for any of the VX-8 handhelds.  I have not
seen the FTM-350 with its optional GPS, to see if it is any
different than the VX-8 radios.  The displays for the VX-8R I
previously had and my current VX-8GR shows the latitude
and longitude, speed, altitude, time, a compass heading, and
how many GPS satellites are being used to determine your
location.  It would have been nice to have the grid show up on
the display (possibly by a turn of the VFO knob, similar to
how you bring the time up on the GPS display of the VX-8GR),
but I'm Ok with what I get on the VX-8GR display.  For its
intended purpose, the VX-8GR is perfect as is.  I can use my
Garmin GPS to figure out where the grid boundaries are.

73!





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