Recent content by mmccurdy

Yep, this is exactly what's going on. It does make sense in retrospect, just something a little unexpected. Would be really nice if the smart beaconing feature were just a *little* smarter such that it waited for the radio to be idle before transmitting, but I can live with it I suppose...

Hoping someone can help me track this down. Over the past couple of days, my new Kenwood TM-D710a saw its first heavy use operating 2m simplex between four vehicles in a caravan. The issue I'm seeing is that on a fairly regular basis (maybe every 3-4 transmissions) I am getting about one...

Kind of a random question: I like the green backlight color of my TM-D710a, but it kind of bugs me that the mic unit's backlight is not adjustable -- it is always a reddish amber color regardless of the head unit setting. Does anyone know if there's a hack for this? I'm envisioning...

Thanks... shortly after posting the above post, I picked up a 710 to use with my Garmin GPSMap 378. It's working out really well for me. I made a cable that connects the Kenwood to the Garmin, and also supplies the GPS with power and also routes the Garmin voice prompts to an external...

I have not tried it personally, but I'm 99% sure the Kenwood will do cross-band repeat. It doesn't show up on the spec sheets, but there is a fairly extensive section on it in the user manual.

I am very new to this whole scene, but I have used both of these radios and I recently went through this decision process myself. My friend and I were both interested in rigs with good APRS support, since we are both into four wheeling and backcountry exploration, and we wanted APRS...

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but does anyone know if this is still true? I have a Garmin GPSMap 378 that I am not willing to part with. I need other functions from that unit (topo maps, etc.) and I'm not really interested in the G5. I'm on the fence between the Kenwood and the Yaesu...

Thanks for putting things back in perspective :) The EPIRB/PLB option should be back on the table -- I had somehow initially discounted the idea due to the up-front cost, but here I am talking about spending $500 on augmentations to a ham rig, which is in the same ballpark. A few guys I...

First off, thanks to everyone for some very well thought-out replies :thumbup: A few additional thoughts (sorry for the monster post): Yeah, I should have mentioned that I'm definitely worried about the increased size and complexity of HF antennas, for exactly the reason you describe. If...

Having just read 60+ posts of general hatred in the "can't use ham to replace cb" thread, I'm a little leery of making this my first post on this board, but here goes nothing.... I'm looking for some advice from folks who have real-world experience with 2m/70cm rigs on extended backcountry...