Future APRS radios displayed on FTM350

[JandG]

Hi all,
New to this group and have been reading reviews and replies with great interest.
I have 2 Kenwoods TM-D710s and they have been working fine for quite some time.
Yesterday, the Kenwood website had a firmware upgrade on it for the 710 which I installed without issues. The update was mainly to incorporate the new Yaesu FTM350 so that it will display the radio model correctly on the display of the 710.

Just wondering how the FTM350 is going to handle this in the future with new radios coming onto the market. Because the firmware cannot be upgraded by the end-user it would mean you have to send your radio back to Yaesu for an upgrade in order to display radio model correctly.

Any insight on this would be appreciated as I am a potential buyer,

Regards,
Gerard
VK2JNG

 

[W5LZ]

Gerard,
I'm afraid you lost me. What do you mean about the '710 not displaying the Yaesu FTM350 radio model number correctly? I have two radios that 'do' APRS and neither of them display a radio model number, so, I have to be misunderstanding what that might be.
- 'Doc

 

[JandG]

Ok, What I meant was this:

When a tm-D700 beacons and this is received by a TM-D710 then the 710 shows that the beacon originated from the 700.

Also, when a 710 beacons then another 710 receiving this beacon will show that it originated from a 710.

Further when a Yaesu VR-8 HT beacons, it will show on a 710 that it originated from a VR-8.


So, having said that, Kenwood have just provided free of charge new firmware for the 710 which will allow a beacon originating from a Yaesu FTM350 to be displayed on the 710 including the fact that it originated from a FTM350. So, on the 710 we will be able to see that that beacon came from a FTM350.


The point now is that if the firmware in the FTM350 is not user upgradable then it will be a problem in the future when other radios come on the market with APRS capabilities. This is mainly due to the fact that we don't know what the future model numbers are going to be.

Note that it will not be a problem for the Kenwood TM-D710 because Kenwood has been providing user upgradable firmware to include new models.


Hope this makes sense,

Gerard
VK2JNG

 

[W5LZ]

Okay, I see what you mean. I can say that with the '700, the radio model isn't a fixed listing, it can be changed to several things such as, 'fixed', 'mobile', 'Mic-E', or some other 'comment' that you would rather have. It is limited in the number of characters available for any custom message/comment in the model's place. Not having a '710 I can't say anything about how/what it can/can't do. Also, never heard a FTM350 in the area so no idea what it would show up as on the 700's display. I do know my '700 hasn't had any firmware upgrade, and that the radio's model name/number for received stations isn't a 'hardwired'/firmware thingy, it's received in the stations information packet. The TM-D710 wasn't around when this thing was manufactured and I see it displayed quite often. Oh well...
Thanks for explaining.
- 'Doc

 

[ke7vvt]

Interesting JandG. I didn't know that, thanks.

 

[Moleculo]

This is a problem with not allowing the radios to have the firmware updated by the end user community. For example, my VX-8 does not know about the FTM-350 model, so when the 350 beacons, it just shows up as model "Yaesu" on the VX-8 screen. It's a minor annoyance, but it's still one that could have been addressed by giving us the ability to do firmware updates on our own.

 

[KD8KSX]

I'm new to APRS... why is this important, or is it just a neat 'nice to know' feature? I'm trying to draw a parallel to computers, which probably doesn't apply well. Does it make any difference to know that I'm writing this post with a Dell D830, but when I post from home it's on an iMac? Just curious if I'm missing some important APRS feature/useage; not trying to be a smart alec.

B

 

[Moleculo]

It's not really important at all. It's just one of those "bling" things. The only reason I can possibly imagine it would be important is if you wanted to know if the other station was using an HT with lower power.

 

[Happy_Hamer]

Moleculo is correct, the actual model being noted on the APRS screen has no real advantage.

The great point of this thread I think JandG is trying to point out though is the user upgradable firmware on the Kenwood.

That firmware upgrade indeed is a HUGE ADVANTAGE over the Yaesu. I have owned several different radios including ICOM, Kenwood and Yaesu. The only model to my knowledge, that has been user upgradable has been the Kenwoods. I have owned the TS-2000, D-700, D-710, TH-F6A, TS-480HX, TS-50S and TH-D7AG