Kenwood TM-D710A

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Mobile dual band VHF/UHF rig

Firmware installed 28-July-2022

  • 2.15 Front panel (August 2020)
  • 2.12 Main (November 2020)
  • 1.02 TNC (May 2011)

History

2024-May Trying to set up a Digirig to connect over Winlink.

2024-Jan-01 wired up UBlox in a box to make it a bit more durable. When positioning is active the "GPS" on the radio head blinks.

2018-Jul-01 Built a new bracket to hold transceiver with speaker pointing forward instead of at the floor. Has a two bolt mount so now easy to pull for bench testing and use out of the car.

2015-Sep-22 Updated to version 2.12 firmware (release Jan 29, 2015) Used Plover running Parallels to do the upgrade. Note 2.13 is available http://www.kenwood.com/i/products/info/amateur/tmd710_panel_update_e.html

2015-Sep-19 Installed GPS in car, didn't have the manual w me so have not been able to test!

2015-Sep-xx Installed base and mic in Yaris, no longer bounces along on the floor behind seats. Radio is under cargo deck. Mic bracket is on center console.

2012-Nov-11 Terminated coax with crimp on PL-259 connector from Fry's

Transceiver goes behind driver seat.

NMO base with RG58U coax Coax is routed from the middle of the roof where I punched a hole to the rear of the car and down the left side c pillar under the trim panels and pops out from under the driver's side rear seat panel.

Routed a 10g pair of wires from the battery through a rubber plug on the firewall near the main ECU. Wire goes through console under carpet and pops out under where the rear seat would be. Seat was removed and stored away in the garage and replaced with a cargo deck.

There are fuses on each wire power and ground at the battery. The wires terminate in an Anderson Powerpole 45A connector.

Digirig and Winlink

On the W7PXL-R Digital Net (Valley Radio Club in Eugene - 8pm Wednesdays) today I got advice to check with the Digirig people and also to check the Winlink Express online help.

Also, to use the cables that Digirig sells; I already bought the ones they build for the TM-D710. The pre-built cables were a selling point for me.

Also to be careful setting up levels, and that Vara will help with that.

Programming

There is a program that I use called CHIRP. (There are Linux and Windows (and Mac) versions.) I can carry the laptop out to the car instead of carrying the mobile to the computer!

I sometimes use the free software downloaded from Kenwood; MCP-2A is for this radio. It's installed on my Windows laptop, Pearl.

I have an RTSystems USB-K5G programming cable. I lost the software for it ages ago but it works with both MCP-2A and CHIRP. Files are in Documents/Radio on Pearl.

Note on firmware upgrades

There are separate updates released for the main unit (2.10 May 2011) and the control head (2.12) and they have to be treated as separate steps. You have to connect your programming cable to the head to update it and to the main unit to update it.

Kenwood upgrade site: http://www.kenwood.com/i/products/info/amateur/tmv71_d710_main_update_e.html

GPS

Control head connections for APRS

I built a cable with a 2.5mm connector on one end and a 3.5mm connector on the other. (I think the cable came with the radio.) I put the UBlox receiver in a plastic enclosure that is velcroed under the rear deck of the car. There's a standard USB connector on the UBlox currently going to the power outlet in the back of the center console.


Connecting main unit and control head

Kenwood provided a cable, but that's in the car now. What do I do when I want to bench test?Yes, I ignored sage advice and used a flat ethernet cable that I got with a Mac. It works fine.

Control Head

  • 3 encoders (2 are dual coaxial units) All three have buttons too.
  • 13 push buttons
  • LCD
  • RJ45 connection to main unit
  • 2.5 mm phone connector for GPS (really? phone for RS232)
  • DIN connector for RS232 (really, how did they choose these connectors?)
  • The main unit contains all of the RF section and the speaker and microphone
  • The head unit is a user interface and also contains the TNC and APRS subsystems.
  • The main unit is shared with another product, the TM-D71 I think.

The new version of the head unit has GPS built in.

Control head wish list

What would I WANT the head unit to look like?

Hardware

  • Daylight readable touch screen, about 5"
  • The usual minimal Android buttons: power and up/down
  • Generic USB ports, probably 4 ports; one is for GPS
  • Bluetooth
    • Support for external bluetooth keyboard makes texting via APRS and PSK31 etc easy
    • Support for Android audio on car stereo (turn by turn directions for example)
    • Detect TX and mute Android audio and car stereo?
    • Since audio is in the main unit, can't pipe audio to a BT headset.
  • Small built in speaker
  • AMPS mounting holes
  • Runs Android 4.4 Kitkat or better, upgradeable. http://bbbandroid.sourceforge.net/

Wish list

If I want to use an external laptop for any reason, I think the best way to connect would be via bluetooth, avoiding extra dangling wires and connectors on the head unit. But this thing is so easy to use that I can't see you'd want to use a laptop for much. Maybe to transfer logs and gps tracks?

It needs a network connection to allow for updates but I am loathe to build wifi into it, so I think plugging in an external WiFi stick as needed suffices.

KISS - no built in GSM no built-in GPS - external USB GPS mouse is cheap and lets you put the antenna where you want it

BeagleBone Black might be good for proof of concept, could be acceptable in finished product because I don't anticipate heavy media usage (playing games and movies not a good idea in car)

  • dual core CPU
  • 1g RAM
  • can run Android
  • has an ethernet port, so you could do updates over a wire.

some available relevant capes

  • NimbeLink Skywire $104 (Digikey) adds cellular+gps+usb but costs too much

Power management

Flint Hills Radio Low Loss PowerGate 25AMP, one input directly wired to car battery, the other wired to the backup battery bank, and output going to the Rigrunner. The PowerGate also charges the battery bank when it's running off the car's electrical system.

Bank of 4 7AH SLA batteries in parallel for back up power. I could use one big battery but I got these batteries for free from a UPS that died young.

Rigrunner 4004 with Powerpole connectors (1 in, 4 out, all fused) and 2 USB outlets

  1. Output to radio
  2. Output to USB hub


Two line LED displays, voltage and amps

120V/200W AC inverter

Alternatives

The Flint Hills option is less expensive than this product Super PWRGate PG40S for $140. It will handle 40A but uses Schottky diodes instead of MOSFets.

I also have this PowerStream battery 10A back up unit http://www.powerstream.com/DC-UPS-1212-10A.htm but the radio calls for 13A so this is too small.

Minibox has several 10A options, too, one is http://www.mini-box.com/picoUPS-120-12V-DC-micro-UPS-battery-backup?sc=8&category=1264 for $35.

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