[amsat-bb] Tutorial on Working APRS Contacts on Kenwood TM-D710

[John Brier]

That's what I thought Patrick. IIRC you actually have to go into the menu
to change it. I thought Bob knew another way or I was missing something.

If the menu is the only way to change the status message that is not a
realistic way to make a QSO with the TH-D72 and similar radios.

73, John Brier KG4AKV

On Sat, Apr 13, 2019, 11:31 Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) via AMSAT-BB <
amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:

> Hi John!
>
> Have you tried editing the status text field on an APRS-ready
> HT or mobile radio? Lots of keypresses to make the change. It
> would be easier for someone using software like UISS to type
> a few characters in that field. For someone with a TH-D72, you
> could end up with 20 to almost 40 keypresses to change a call
> sign in a status text field. It is similar for those using a
> mobile radio like a TM-D710G, where you press buttons on the
> microphone's DTMF keypad to make those changes. It is much
> easier for the users of the APRS-ready transceivers to pull a
> call sign from a listing, and in a few keypresses send a
> message to that call sign, instead of editing the status text
> to do the same thing.
>
> I know of one west-coast station that uses the status text to
> make contacts with other stations. I don't think that station
> is using a radio like a TM-D710G to work the passes. For the
> rest of us with the APRS-ready transceivers, we use the messages
> back and forth. We can see when a station sends a message to
> another station, and can quickly make calls with messages
> compared to the longer time needed to edit a status text field
> to do the same thing.
>
> Unfortunately, the Kenwood and Yaesu APRS-ready transceivers
> faithfully implement APRS, where UISS deviates from it slightly
> for messaging. UISS allows the user to disable the use of ACK
> packets when sending messages. UISS will send an ACK packet, if
> an incoming message requests it, but at least those users have
> the option of not using ACKs on their own messages to others.
> Now if the APRS standard provided a way for ACKs to be optional,
> and Kenwood and Yaesu implemented this change (i.e., a menu
> option where the ACK requirement for outgoing messages could be
> disabled)... I wonder who could propose changes to APRS...  :-)
>
> 73!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
> http://www.wd9ewk.net/
> Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 13, 2019 at 2:26 PM John Brier via AMSAT-BB <
> amsat-bb at amsat.org>
> wrote:
>
> > Thanks for explaining Bob. I wasn't clear on just how much "heavier" APRS
> > packets were.
> >
> > It would definitely take a concerted effort to get people to use STATUS
> > messages more.
> >
> > 73, John Brier KG4AKV
> >
> >
> >
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