[aprssig] D710 display head software emulator?

[Alex Carver]

> From: Steve Noskowicz 
> Subject: Re: [aprssig] D710 display head software
> emulator?
> --- On Fri, 8/7/09, Fred Eckert <fredeckert at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > Is there a software program available that takes the
> place
> > of the D710 display head? 
> 
> Can't comment on Ten-Tec.
> 
> On the outside chance that the 710 software was a starting
> point for the 700...
> 
> The 700 can be turnrd on and operated from the serial port
> when there is no head connected.  Yes, I know that when
> the head is disconnected from an operating radio it turns
> off, but with no head, the PS command turnes it on and it
> stays on.
>   Then all teh CAT commands work.  I'd start with
> the D700 Cat commands.  If U don't have them, I
> consolidated both on'line versins in one Excel spreadsheet
> with a few refinements not contained in teh others. 
> e-mail me for it.
> .....OOPS....  The 710 serial port is on the head,
> isn't it...

Actually the D710 has two serial ports and not one like the D700 and each one does something different.  Not the brightest idea but we're stuck with it now.

The serial port on the head accesses the TNC which is hiding in the head now instead of in the RF deck like on the D700.  The RF deck serial port communicates with the radio's own processor and gives you access to the CAT functions.

The problem, though, is that running the D710 without a head means it's also running without a TNC (this is where the bad design shows up).  Once you take away the head, the radio becomes a V71A simple dual band radio.

On the D700, you could do CAT and APRS using just one port.  On the D710, you have to have two serial ports on your computer to do both.  Plus, you now have to snake two cables to two different locations.  Having the TNC in the head means that the GPS has to plug in there, too, which means that you now have three cables routed to the head (serial, GPS, and the head-to-radio cable).  Even without the serial cable a mobile installation gets a little messier and more annoying when you need to remove the head.

I can only hope the D720 goes back to the all-in-one RF deck like the D700.