The TM-D700 is an amazing radio and I have learned many tricks while
using it. I'd like to pass what I have learned along so that
you can get
the most out of your radio.
Mounting Position
The D700 as mounted on my dash. Here it is easy to view while still
keeping the road in my field of view. It is also easy to reach. I haved
it mounted with
Velcro to easily move it to my wife's SUV for when we take trips.
Everyday Use - PM Off and Voice Alert
I have APRS running on Band A (left side) of the D700 and a scan of
frequencies of interest to me on Band B (right side). I have
enabled "Mode 3" for the soft function
buttons which enables less steps to access common APRS functions (more
about this below).
Voice Alert
I
have APRS on 144.39 with CTCSS set to 100Hz for
Voice Alert. Everyone with a
D700 should be using Bob Bruninga's concept called "Voice Alert". On
the A side of the radio, don't just set it to 144.39 and turn the
volume down, go one step further and make it 144.39 with CTCSS of
100Hz and leave the volume up. Since CTCSS is enabled, you won't hear
anything from your speaker since all digi's and home stations transmit
without a PL tone. But, every time you transmit a packet, it will
have an encoded tone of 100Hz so anyone else running the same "Voice
Alert" setup that is within your simplex range will hear your packet
burst which gives them a heads up that another APRS mobile user is
within simplex range! Think of it as an APRS radar detector. You can
then either send them an APRS Message to tell them to go over to
146.52 or you can give a quick voice message on your Band A side (yes,
the APRS side on 144.39) saying just "VoiceAlert - go to 146.52". The
other guy running VoiceAlert will hear you on the A side of their
radio. It is just very important to use 144.39 to set up the contact,
don't linger there and block out the frequency. I have made a couple
of contacts this way while on long trips.
Path Setting
I have my path set to WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1. This follows with the APRS New
Paradigm
(see Help Fix APRS on
the left menu). The WIDE1-1 portion takes advantage of
any home "RELAY" stations that may be available in the area. A standard
high
digi would also respond to WIDE1-1. The WIDE2-1 portion will be picked
up by
high digis in the area and will give your packet an additional hop.
This
will give your mobile a maximum of 2 hops in all directions.
Setting MSG Groups to receive NWS warnings
To receive weather warnings from the NWS, include
"NWS*" in your Message Groups (menu 3-P). I have my Message
Groups set to "ALL,QST,CQ,SKY*,BLN*,NWS*". This enables me to
receive any "CQ" type messages, as well as SkyWarn, APRS Bulletins, and
National Weather Service watches and warnings.
Setting Mode 3 for Function Keys
Don't you just hate having to hold down the F key for 1 second to
access the APRS functions? Well, my friend, there is a better
way! Do yourself a favor and
enable "Mode 3" for the soft function keys. This option can
be changed on menu 1-1-5 (see picture above). There are three
modes for the soft function buttons and Mode 3 allows you to access
common APRS functions with one button press.
ISS Packet Mode - PM3
Wouldn't you like to work other APRS users through the ISS while
mobile? Too difficult to change your path, the frequency,
etc, you say? Make ISS APRS operations easy by storing the
settings it a dedicated PM (Programmable Memory). Here is my
PM3 setup for working the ISS when it is in packet mode.
This is a split operation with APRS Data being received on
Band A (left side) and transmitted on Band B (right side). By
setting this up as a separate PM, your D700 is
ready to operate in this mode with two button presses without affecting
your everyday setup. In this mode, set your SSID to something different
(I use AJ3U-6) so that you can easily find it on FindU. Set your path
(menu 3-B) to ARISS,SGATE,WIDE2-2 (more about why I use this path
below). Set your
beacon rate (menu 3-D) to 0.5, 1, or 2. I also like to set the Message
group (3-P) to "*" so that I see everyone's messages. When
configured this way, operation is basically hands off. You
will
beacon your position at a reasonable rate for a satellite pass, and see
everything that is going on with minimal interaction.
Hint: In your "everyday", PM OFF setup, keep 145.80 as one of
your memory channels
and keep it in your scan list. When you are driving along and all of a
sudden hear packet bursts, it means
that the ISS is overhead! Just switch to your ISS Packet PM and work
other
stations hundreds or thousands of miles away easily! Set up a similar
PM (I
use
PM4) for ISS voice comms. Set it up the same way, but turn off the TNC
and set Band A to 144.99 for the voice uplink. If you hear voice on
145.80, switch to this PM instead and talk to an astronaut or
cosmonaut! When the pass is over, hit PM OFF to go back to
your standard setup.
Enable your D700 as a Mobile SatGate
I have my PM5 set up as what I call my "Mobile SatGate".
Whenever I park my truck, I put the D700 on PM5 instead of
turning it off in order to assist other users with APRS satellite
operations. In this mode, the D700 receives APRS packets
from ISS and PCSAT and digipeats them to 144.39 where
they can be picked up by terrestrial SatGates for delivery to the
APRS-IS. The terrestrial APRS frequency (144.39 in U.S.A.) is
set on Band A (left side). I have enabled CTCSS with a PL of
67Hz, so it will mute the speaker without having to worry about
touching the volume control. I have set this band to "M"edium
power in order not to run my truck's battery down! I set the
beacon rate to 30 minutes for the same reason. I also set the
Dimmer to the lowest level. Side B (right side) is set to the
ISS downlink 145.80. You can set this with either a memory
channel or with the VFO. Set menu 3-I to A:TX B:RX.
UIDIGI is enabled (menu 3-K) which turns the D700 into a
digipeater. (UIDIGI configuration details below).
When the ISS makes a pass overhead, packets are received on
Band B and digipeated over to Band A. This takes care of ISS,
but how can you get it to simultaneously monitor for PCSAT (NO-44) when
it is on 145.825? The trick is to set the Call channel to
145.825 and then hold down the Call button (top left) to enable Call
scan! The D700 scans between 145.80 and 145.825 and it is
a very fast scan so it catches packets from both satellites!
Another
thing you want to do
is set your Message Groups to "*" (menu 3-P) so that
you receive all messages. When you come back to your vehicle,
you will know that a satellite pass has occured because you will see
all of the messages queued from the pass. You can also check
the station list. If the majority of D700 users did this, it
would
dramatically increase the IGate coverage for APRS satellite users and
could free up dedicated SatGate stations to move their monitoring to
other satellites such as the PCSAT2 9.6k downlink.
By setting this as a separate PM, it takes two button pushes
to put the D700 in this mode without affecting your normal everyday
operating PM. When you want to go back to normal operations
it is just two keypresses - PM OFF. Quick and easy.
So put those idle D700's to work!
UIDIGI configuration details for Mobile SatGate
operations: To enable
the D700 as a mobile SatGate,
enable UIDIGI (menu 3-K). UIDIGI digipeating path (menu 3-L)
is set to "SGATE, WIDE, RELAY". As
long as an APRS satellite user includes SGATE as part of their path after
the satellite digi, then they will take advantage of this type of
setup. By checking stations on FindU, I have found that about
50% of
users do this. I have noticed that some use WIDE and RELAY
after the
satellite part of the path, so that is why I also include them.
The
ideal path for an ISS digi user would be "ARISS,SGATE,WIDE2-2".
This
packet would be digi'd by the ISS, then picked up by a D700 SatGate,
and digi'd onto 144.39 with the remaining path of WIDE2-2 which just
about guarantees delivery to an IGate.