WoAD with a Kenwood TM-D710

[Randy]

I don't know if anyone had tested this before, but I haven't seen this
documented, so I thought I'd pass this along for what it's worth.

Given the ease of setting up WoAD to run from my tablet to my TH-D72,
and since I believe that Kenwood uses the same TNC in it's mobiles, I
thought I'd try it with my TM-D710A.

I created a session in WoAD using settings of: Protocol>Packet; TNC
Type>USB (KISS); TNC Configuration>Kenwood TH-D72(A Band)(1200).  All
other settings default.

Put the radio into PACKET12 Mode.

I connected the two using a Kenwood PG-5G cable (used to connect to a PC
for programming or to run APRS clients etc.), hooked to a Serial-USB
converter cable, hooked to an OTG adapter.

The PG-5G is connected to the radio using the TNC port on the BACK of
the Control Head (Very important!  In the APRS world many people get
frustrated by connecting to the port on the radio body, which is used
for programming the radio.)

The OTG is connected to the tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8" 2019).  The
tablet picked it right up and the radio connected at once.

As I played with it over the course of several test messages it seemed
to hang up a couple of times.  Disconnecting/reconnecting the tablet,
restarting WoAD or recycling the TNC seemed to fix the issue. I did not
play enough to verify what, if any of these was the primary fix.

At any rate, for what it's worth.  I hope someone else finds this useful

73

Randy KA0AZS



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[Daniel Hallmark]

I have a TM-V71A (no built-in TNC) and hoping to be able to get a D710GA before they all disappear (both models now discontinued).

My understanding is the back of the radio has both an 8-pin PC port for programming and a 6-pin Data port for use with an external TNC. The same ports are available on the V71A and that is how I hook up my Mobilinkd TNC3 through the data port.

I believe the port on the control head of the 710GA gives data access to the built-in AX.25 TNC.  This is a full TNC and not a KISS TNC like the Mobilinkd. So I believe the setting and config in the App may need to be different depending on whether you use an external (outside the radio) TNC through the data port on the body, or the internal (built-in) TNC in the control head. 

If you connect to the control head that is a full TNC and not a KISS TNC, but I don't know if that affects the settings you would need to use in App

I could be mistaken but that is my understanding of the layout. Hope it helps with the issues you were having.

Daniel (AE4ON)

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[Randy]

Daniel,

Thanks for the input.

You are correct on the ports, although the Kenwood manual lists the Data port on the radio body as being used for Echo Link with no mention of an external TNC. That makes sense as it kind of defeats the purpose of buying a D710 in the first place IMHO. As I have had no interest in Echo Link,I have basically ignored that port entirely.

You are correct that the port on the control head is the way to access the internal TNC.  Neither of the ports on the body will do so.  I have tested and verified that not only on my TM-D710A, but the TM-D710G my EMA office has in their portable ham radio station. The manual does state that "Not all functions available via conventional TNC’s are supported by the TNC built in this transceiver.", but does not describe which functions are not supported.

Since WoAD only has KISS or Audio TNC types, (unless I'm missing something in the Session settings) and the KISS mode worked on the Hts, I went with that. The only other option would be changing the USB device manufacturer to Generic and I'm not sure what that would do.

I have successfully used Winlink Express (with the radio in Packet mode) which has a specific setting for the D710, but have no idea how they implemented talking with the TNC.  The same for the primary software I used with the radio on Public Service Events (APRSIS32) which is written to work with the radio in APRS mode.

In either case, it's working well enough now for an impromptu Winlink session.   I'll have to play with it some more.

Thanks again for some food for thought.

73

Randy KA0AZS

On 5/8/2021 17:01, Daniel Hallmark wrote:

I have a TM-V71A (no built-in TNC) and hoping to be able to get a D710GA before they all disappear (both models now discontinued).

My understanding is the back of the radio has both an 8-pin PC port for programming and a 6-pin Data port for use with an external TNC. The same ports are available on the V71A and that is how I hook up my Mobilinkd TNC3 through the data port.

I believe the port on the control head of the 710GA gives data access to the built-in AX.25 TNC.  This is a full TNC and not a KISS TNC like the Mobilinkd. So I believe the setting and config in the App may need to be different depending on whether you use an external (outside the radio) TNC through the data port on the body, or the internal (built-in) TNC in the control head. 

If you connect to the control head that is a full TNC and not a KISS TNC, but I don't know if that affects the settings you would need to use in App

I could be mistaken but that is my understanding of the layout. Hope it helps with the issues you were having.

Daniel (AE4ON)

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