[aprssig] Lasting Compatibility of the D700a

[Joel Maslak]

On May 11, 2007, at 10:37 AM, Matt Werner wrote:

> You talk about maintaining on-air-compatibility - that's something the
> Kenwood lacks in some areas BECAUSE of it's lack of updates.  On top
> of that, we're now left with a spec that is catering to a device that
> can't be updated.  We're left with a system that will never evolve
> with the times.


Agreed.  Wouldn't it be great, for instance, if you could set the  
D700 to automatically tune in the voice repeater broadcast by the  
closest digi?  Or configure it as a WIDEN-n digi from the front  
panel?  Beep when another station is within XXX miles, or maybe just  
when the other station is mobile?  Be able to hook up a laptop  
without losing the front panel display for APRS?  Automatically try  
RELAY,WIDE if WIDEN-n doesn't work?  Sort objects by icon (find the  
lead and tail bicycle in a race?).  Fix the message length so that  
you can send full length messages to/from a D700 (one long message is  
*MUCH* better on the network than two short ones)?  Change the  
TXDelay?  Autotune satellites when outside of digi range (it knows  
it's position and could read APRS sat Keps from APRS), with some  
Doppler shift adjustment?  Statistics display (number of packets  
received in the last X, Y, and Z minutes, number of own digipetes  
heard, etc)?  A new user "wizard" to ask the user things like  
callsign, whether they are stationary or mobile (to set path and  
beacon rate), etc - and fix the problem that Kenwood's defaults are  
just plain wrong.  Adaptive beaconing (SmartBeacon, less beacons on  
busy networks, more beacons on sparse networks, proportional pathing,  
etc)  Etc.  Most of these wouldn't break the "consistent" interface  
of the D700.

It's strange but when Xastir doesn't support feature X (ironically,  
it usually does), we hear about how DOSAPRS supports it, but rarely  
does the Kenwood come anywhere close to supporting it.  But this is  
okay, apparently.  They are Kenwood.

I can think of 100 other things that would be nearly trivial to  
implement if the firmware was upgradable which would make the unit  
work much better for us (I'd be glad to sacrifice the code space used  
for the HF remote station stuff, for instance).  In the meantime, I'm  
hoping for the HamHUD V to become available within the next couple  
years.  :)