[aprssig] Re: TH-D7A

[Chris Kantarjiev]

I've had one for about a week now - I was (and am) very happy
with my Yaesu VX-5R HT, but wanted a more compact package
when working APRS. Here are some initial impressions:

- It's big. And clunky. And heavy. 
- The stock antenna is horrible. I got one of Stephen Gulyas' 
  SMA-BNC adapters and put a small Maldol ducky on it to get
  a great improvement, especially in receive/decode. 
  http://www.wa3hrl.com/smabnc/
  http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamantht/0209.html
- Despite all the hype about the menu system, you still
  need to memorize some unmarked keystrokes to deal with
  memories.
- There is no battery charge indicator, except while transmitting,
  and no low-battery warning. Similarly, there is no indication
  that the battery is being charged when plugged in, nor that
  it is fully charged.

Those are my biggest gripes. All that said, it's got a pretty decent
interface for working APRS. The manual doesn't really explain it
very well - enough to get you started, but not all the details -
and I still haven't figured out what all the beeps and boops
mean when packets are coming in.

So, on balance, I'm glad I spent the money and am enjoying it, but
it will never be the HT that I carry with me all the time. I suspect
that it will end up living in my backpacking kit when the newness has
worn off.

73 de chris K6DBG