Tactical Value? [was: VX-8R Symbol/SSID (Was Re: [aprssig] YaesuVX-8R)]

[Gregg Wonderly]

Curt, WE7U wrote:
> On Wed, 21 May 2008, Amateur Radio WB8NUT wrote:
> 
>> That makes perfect sense! Since Kenwood has been the only APRS radio out there
>> for years,
> 
> Nobody remembers Alinco?  I think they've had three radios so far
> which were APRS-capable, maybe more.  No, not message-capable.
> 
> So that makes Alinco, Kenwood, and soon Yaesu in the arena.

I think you don't understand the difference between a radio having an RF modem 
and being cable of injecting and receiving AX.25 vs being able to provide the 
functionalities that include decoding and encoding packets, displaying 
information from those packets etc.  That's what kenwood has, that alinco does not.

Modems are nice, but you have to have something to use the data to make them 
useful to you.  If you hook your modem-equipped radio up to another device then 
you are good to go.  The tiny track and others provide a great oneway capability 
  using such radios.  But the decoding and display is the big win!

And if you want display, and don't like to give your money to kenwood, don't 
like toting a laptop or other "computer", you might go look at the HamHud! 
There are things in the work, including support for D-Star and externally 
attached VGA/NTSC-composite screens.

Gregg Wonderly
W5GGW