Kenwood TH-D72 APRS Settings

Posted in APRS

The KENWOOD TH-D72 handheld offers many APRS functions in a small unit. Here are recommended settings for APRS. Important settings for a good working APRS network are in BOLD. (2016/05/29)

menu command # command setting   comment
11 Battery 110 Battery Saver 0.03sec Important! With other settings the chance is high to miss incoming packets because your radio is sleeping.
30 Basic Set 300 My Callsign LX4E-7 Change to your callsign. Use SSID -7 to identify a human portable message capable station.
    301 Beacon Type APRS We want to do APRS with the radio.
    302 APRS Lock ON Set this to on after having the right APRS frequency (144.800 for Europe).
31 Int. TNC1 310 Data Band A-Band APRS will function on the A-Band
    311 Data Speed 1200 bps APRS data will be sent and received at 1200 baud
32 Int. TNC2 320 DCD Sense D or RxD Band  
    321 TX delay 150 ms  
33 COM Port       settings are irrelevant for standard APRS
34 Waypoint       settings are irrelevant for standard APRS
35 PC Port       settings are irrelevant for standard APRS
36 My Position       Enter your position. This position will be sent, when the internal GPS is switched off and BCON is pressed.
37 Beacon Info 370 Speed ON Your speed is sent in position reports. Set to OFF if you drive excessively fast.
    371 Altitude ON Your altitude is sent in position reports.
    372 Pos. Ambiguity OFF There is no reason to put errors in your position report.
38 Comment 381 Position Comment Enroute Choose a comment describing your current activity. Don't use EMERGENCY! unless there is a real emergency!
39 Status Text 390 Rate OFF Don't use a status text to keep your packets short. Use one if there is a special reason.
3A QSY (FREQ) 3A0 QSY in status OFF Set to ON if you want to tell others on which VOICE frequency you are working on the B-Band.
    3A1 Tone/Narrow OFF  
    3A2 Shift/Offset OFF  
3B Pkt.Filter 3B0 Position Limit OFF Set to ON if you want to limit data you receive
    3B1 Filter type   An ASTERIX (*) should be seen for all the options. Delete the ASTERIX with MHZ for the type of stations you do not want to display.
3C Icon 3C0   Person Choose an appropriate icon four your current activity. Don't use fancy icons when there is no special need to do so. e.g. only use the train icon when you are actually on a train.
3D TX Beacon 3D0 Method SmartBeaconing  
    3D1 Initial Interval 5 min  
3E Algorithm 3E0 Decay Algorithm OFF Doesn't make sense to set it to ON for low power portable.
    3E1 Prop. Pathing OFF Doesn't make sense to set it to ON for low power portable.
3F SmartBcon1 3F0 Low/High Speed 3 - 50 km/h  
    3F1 Slow Rate 15 min When not moving you will TX a postition report every 15 minutes.
    3F2 Fast Rate 90 sec When moving above 50 km/h you will TX a postion report every 90 seconds
3G SmartBcon2 3G0 Turn Angle 28 deg  
    3G1 Turn Slope 24(10deg/speed)  
    3G2 Turn Time 30 sec When taking turns, send a position report at most every 30 seconds.
3H PacketPath 3H0 Type *New-N  
    3H1 WIDE1-1 On  
    3H2 Total Hops 3  
3I Network 3I0 *APRS    
3J WX Station       settings are irrelevant for standard APRS
3K Digipeat 3K0 Digipeat(MyCall) OFF Only use your radio as a digipeater when there is a special reason to do so.
3L UIcheck       settings are irrelevant for standard APRS
3M UIdigipeat 3M0 UIdigi On Your radio acts as a fill-in digi.
    3M1 Aliases WIDE1-1 Configure your radio as fill-in digi for nearby mobile or portable stations.
3N UIflood       settings are irrelevant for standard APRS
3O UItrace       Can be configured if you want a full digi.
3P User Phrase       settings are irrelevant for standard APRS
3Q Auto-Reply 3Q0 Reply OFF Your radio shouldn't reply to messages automatically. Read your messages and reply to them!
    3Q1 Reply To *  
3R Reply MSG 3R0 Text -  
3S Group Filter 3S0 Message ALL,QST,CQ,KWD  
    3S1 Bulletin (BLN)   Set up a filter for your special bulletins.
3T Sound 3T0 RX Beep Mine  
    3T1 TX Beep OFF  
    3T2 Special Call    
3U Display 3U0 Display Area Entire Always Switch to something different if you don't like it.
    3U1 Interrupt Time 5 sec  
    3U2 Cursor Control Followed  
3V Units 1 3V0 Speed, Distance km/h, km  
    3V1 Altitude, Rain m, mm  
    3V2 Temperature °C  
3W Units 2 3W0 Position dd°mm,mm'  
    3W1 Grid Format Maidenhead Grid Quite useful.
3X NAVITRA GP       settings are irrelevant for standard APRS
3Y NAVITRA MS       settings are irrelevant for standard APRS

Keep in mind that transmitting an excessive number of position or status reports (e.g. a report every 15 or 30 seconds for a fixed station), is an enormous load for the capacity of the APRS network and might lessen the pleasure of others. Please check your settings!

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