[aprssig] Digipeater or cross band repeater?

[Ray McKnight]

Is it necessary for remote control to be enabled in the Kenwood D700 or D7
in order for cross band repeating to work?  The reason I ask is that I have
several TMV-7A's, which is the same family of radio, and there is a well
known problem.  When remote control is enabled, the V7A can exhibit
unexpected and drastic command mode changes seemingly on its own.  It is a
result of the microphone element being "hot" all the time, regardless of the
PTT state.  The mic can pick up PL and/or DTMF tones from the speaker if it
is in close enough proximity and act on those tones as if they had been
received remotely over the air.  Thus, I would absolutely NEVER allow a V7A
to be left unattended while in remote control mode.  It can arbitrarily
change mode, band, frequency, memory channel, etc which places the control
operator in a very bad position.  Kenwood has been aware of this since the
very early days since the radio was released, yet has chosen to ignore the
design fault.  I recently spoke with an owner of a TS-2000 which was also
exhibiting the same problem, so I suspect it is common to many modern
Kenwood's which have remote control ability.  So in my opinion, since it
cannot be relied upon to respond to only commands from the control operator,
it should not be used or at least never left unattended, which in effect
makes it useless, unless you don't care about your license.  I suppose you
could remember to always turn the audio all the way down or unplug the mic,
but you still cannot guarantee that someone else will know the command
sequence and send commands over the air without your knowledge or
permission.

-----Original Message-----
From: aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org [mailto:aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org]
On Behalf Of Ken Kinyon
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 10:42
To: 'TAPR APRS Mailing List'
Subject: [aprssig] Digipeater or cross band repeater?

If I leave my truck at a trail head and go hiking.  What would be the best
method to keep my position known?
As I see it I could set the mobile in the truck to digipeat my signal or I
could set it up as a cross band repeater and beacon to it on 440.  The
radios involved are a TM-D700 and a TH-D7G. Are there any pro's or con's to
either setup?
Thanks and Happy Holidays,
Ken W7TS

-------------------
Kenneth E.  Kinyon
34 Princeton Circle
Longmont, CO 80503-2106
-----------------------
E-mail: W7TS at comcast.net
------------------



_______________________________________________
aprssig mailing list
aprssig at lists.tapr.org
https://lists.tapr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/aprssig