[aprssig] New Kenwood radio?

[Bob Burns K4RXR]

At 08:30 PM 9/18/2006, Alan P. Biddle wrote:
>Well, you can put the control face on either way, which means you 
>can get the speaker on the top or bottom.

The photos I saw on a Japanese ham's web site made it look like a 
plain, dual-band mobile ala, TM-732 or TM-733.

>Also, it will, according to the rep I asked, have a "real" serial 
>port for programming, without needing more than
>a simple cable.

Big deal. The existing TM-D700 has a serial port. It's just pinned 
with the "wrong" gender. A straight-through serial cable with a 
gender changer works on a D700, so this is not an advancement.

>Also, the display will be "de-cluttered" compared to earlier radios.

Not sure what this means. "De-cluttered" to some might be less 
functional to me. I, for one, like the TM-D700 and TM-V708 display 
just the way it is. I suspect that "de-cluttered" means less 
information which would go right along with my first comment about it 
being a plain-jane dual-bander.

As to Bob Bruniga's comments about the radio being vapor-ware, I 
think a new dual-band Kenwood is definitely in our near future. The 
TM-D700 cannot be sold in Europe due to RoHS. The TM-V708 may have 
the same issue, but it's not a contender in many buyers' eyes because 
it cannot be programmed with a computer. This puts it at a 
disadvantage to the similarly-priced and similarly-featured Icom 
IC-2720 and Yaesu FT-8800.

And, to Scott's comments about control heads, yes, every TM-D700 
comes with a control head. But the head cannot be conveniently 
mounted to the RF deck. This complicates radio mounting in a vehicle 
because you now have two things to mount and run cables to, etc. The 
Icom IC-2720 has the same problem, though Icom has the sense to sell 
a bracket which will let you attach the head to the deck.

One more thing, Steve Bragg made a cryptic comment in the HamHUD 
group about Kenwood's new APRS radio having competition when it comes 
out. Well, first of all, I don't think we have any proof that Kenwood 
has a new APRS radio, though they may have a new non-APRS dual-bander 
coming soon. It sure sounds like they are still fishing for design 
ideas for an APRS radio. And, secondly, which manufacturer is going 
to choose to compete in that market after Alinco and Kenwood have had 
the combo-TNC/radio market to themselves all this time?

Bob...