Thanks for the heads up cls and ksaves2
The Yaesu was local which made it seem like a good choice especially since I got scammed on my last internet transaction ,, BUT I have all Kenwood gear here save a VX7r so I ordered a TH D72
Thanks again
Chris
Yes, cls raises a very valid concern but I've come to the conclusion that two small devices connected by a wire or Bluetooth is manageable.
Laptop monitoring for a base station is o.k. but its purpose should only be to record flight parameters in realtime for later use. Even that is
arguable because once a rocket is found, the data can be downloaded from the onboard electronics anyways.
It's very hard to triapse out to a recovery site with a radio receiver connected to a laptop and a portable solution should be the "go to" to actually
pickup the downed rocket for a variety of reasons.
The D72a is a very nice unit that can be used for other tasks in Ham radio. I use one wired to a Garmin 60Cs and it was the only game in town
7 years ago (or the D7A series was used back then). Yes, there were unlicensed 900Mhz options then but the costs were just as pricey as APRS.
The observation cls makes about dedicated telemetry systems is the wave of the future especially since the costs are finally coming down.
Altus Metrum devices are very capable but have a premium price that is deserved. The EggTimer Rocketry devices albeit are kits are very economical options with quite a feature list. The major advantage to GPS is precision in the vast majorities of recovery. One at least has a valid last fix of where to go to try to pick up a new signal. RDF? If one doesn't have a good line when the rocket goes out of range, nor a good general idea of the direction, they are out of luck. Plus now good RDF equipment costs as much if not more then the newer GPS solutions.
I want to find the rocket, get back and do more flying. More time spent looking for rockets is less time flying. If one lives in a geographically and weather handicapped area, it's important be to able to fly when conditions are good 'cause you might not be able to get at it again for awhile.
I don't take as dim a view as cls on APRS. Sure, the earlier Beeline GPS trackers could be a drag. Especially the ones with a G-switch. Jiggle the rocket just right and the thing started recording the positions to memory which likely ran out before the stupid thing was launched!
The newer units have a larger memory capability. Other complaints are "It's too hard to program!" Yeah it takes a bit of a knack to get them to connect but it's not that bad. I do see quite a few "flying house" icons tracking other folks Beeline GPS trackers. Means they just want to find the danged thing and not interested in programming or downloading .kml (position files). Nothing wrong with that!
Oh, one comment on the VX-8GR for users who have them already. $GPWPL words (NMEA waypoint data) is available at a data out jack.
So, a cable can be used to connect to a Garmin 60Cs, 60CsX or a 78Cs GPS mapping unit. It's the same cable used with Kenwood D7's and D72's. The one really big plus with APRS used in this manner is one can "tell" the Garmin unit to "navigate to" the rocket waypoint and the device can be scrolled to an HSI (horizontal situation indicator) that gives a datum line to follow to get to the rocket along with info like how much time it is going to take you at your walking pace to get to the rocket or the last known fix! Sure one could input the information by hand
but ya hafta' make sure you gots your units correct! With the wired connection the Garmin gets the information automatically and will track the rocket in realtime. I "lock" the rocket in the Garmin while it's on the pad. Once valid packets start streaming in, the Garmin maintains the navigation lock auto-magically. Nothing else to input or screw up. When doing manual waypoints, type one number wrong or get the units wrong and one will be off to "Outer Mongolia". Not the kind of Nav error you want to make if you are trying to find your rocket.
ONE MORE APRS CAUTION: Beware about anyone selling a used Kenwood D7A or D7A(g). You might think you are getting a bargain.
You might not. I have two old D7A(g) rigs that served me well for a couple of years but are no longer any good. The oscillator ages and the receive frequencies are off in both units especially on the 70cm side. It's like 4khz off. They will read Beeline packets at 1/2 block but not any farther than that. It's best to by a newer rig than something that old. The TNC's in the D7's also die and they are not replaceable anymore. The chip went out of production. Kurt