In my old car, I had my TM-d700 mounted under the dash, with a puck GPS connected to the battery via a lighter adapter with some powerpoles on the cable. It was fairly easy to remember to unplug the GPS when I was away from the car.

In my new car, I mounted the radio unit in the trunk, along with the same setup for the GPS puck. However, out of site means out of mind, and I have already left the GPS running overnight. Since I don't run this vehicle every day it will eventually kill the battery. The way I've run the power cables doesn't make it simple or easy to put a switch on the dash (and I like the look of a clean dashboard, at least for now).

So I was looking at getting a low voltage disconnect. The only ones I've seen are from Powerwerx, and look fairly expensive. Anyone know of a better option?

Well, not to get too political, but I think fewer lobbyists, no matter if they're for something I believe in or not, are a good thing!

When I was a member I used the past issues online as a resource quite often. But the paper edition was just not worth it. I'd usually flip though the new issue when it came in, but then it would get set aside and forgotten until spring cleaning, when it ended up in the recycling bin.

These days I'm reading everything on a tablet or smartphone. I realize I'm the exception in the ham radio world, but once you get used to having a library and newsstand (and movie player) in an easy to carry package you wonder how you ever got on without it. Now that I don't have to get the paper version (and can have electronic editions on my tablet), I'll join up again.

That is good news then.

http://www.diamondantenna.net/nr770hnmo.html

Some people have complained about quality, but I have 2 NMO mounts that work just fine after years of harsh Colorado winters.

Can you actually tell them you don't want the paper magazine now? That's one of the main reasons I quit renewing my membership. I have no desire for paper anymore.

I realize that they get extra revenue from the print ads, and that's why the mandatory subscription.

Forgot this was about getting APRSdroid working...

I haven't used APRSdroid's speaker output feature, but I know that packet can be very tricky to get working properly without a good hard-wired interface. AFSK really pushes the limits of speakers and microphone diaphragms. And if you are hearing a lot of stations it's also likely you're getting stepped on (or stepping on someone else). Most of the transmit-only beacons have some sort of sensing circuit to make sure the channel is clear prior to transmitting.

Sometime before field day I'm going to build one or two of these interfaces for my tablet and phone:
http://www.wolphi.com/interfaces

There's no reason why they wouldn't work for your application, but again, I don't think APRSdroid has a way to sense when the channel is clear if you're in a very busy area (and if you're using VOX to key your transceiver there will be a significant delay).

If all else fails, email the developer from the Play Store and see if Georg can help out.

Should work just fine. You'll need the older style round power and RS-232 cable to interface it to most TNCs:
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=601

One minor annoyance with the older Garmin units is that in order to display other vehicles it stores them as waypoints. If you actually use the waypoint functions it can be difficult to find your saved waypoints among all the stations it collects over time. That, and (at least in the case of my old Vista+) the first letter of the callsign was cut off, or maybe it truncates the call to a few letters. Is has been a while since I used it for APRS.

Next question: are you able to decode packets? if so are you seeing nearby digipeaters nearby? Disconnect your PC from the Internet and watch the map to get some idea of the local "aloha" circle (area you can hear and communicate with). Also if you have a scanner or other radio, listen to your transmissions and make sure they aren't distorted. If you're using a soundcard for packet a lot of times you'll overdrive the radio input, even when using a dedicated data port or interface. Maybe set up a sched with a friend and troubleshoot that way.

check out http://www.batlabs.com. Lots of good Motorola radio info.

http://wetnet.net/~we7u/GETTING_STARTED_WITH_APRS_07041.pdf

No PL needed. Make sure you have your path set up to route correctly. It should be wide2-2 or wide3-3 if you live out in the sticks. Relay is not generally used anymore. Once you see your packets digipeated, try to reduce the widen-n number to the minimum number of packets necessary to keep from flooding the network.

Are you hearing packet data bursts on 144.39? Also make sure you are in simplex, not split/offset mode (most newer radios will automatically pick the standard offset, but if you have an older model it might not).

I have it, sometimes use it as a check to see if I'm getting to the APRS-IS and for seeing who's around in my local area. There's some support for stand-alone beaconing using audio-output, but it's not a full replacement for a radio like the TH-d72 and a PC, at least the last time I checked out the advanced features.

I was in contact with the author for a while to see if he would be interested in developing a serial bluetooth interface to the TH-d72 and/or TM-d710, but I don't think I was able to get the interface working properly, and besides that the software would crash as soon as I tried it, so I lost interest. May have to dust off the interface and try again...

Overall, a nice program for getting your position to the Internet and a no-radio way to map your surroundings.

Proof of this can be found with magnetic loop antennas. When manually tuning them you get a rough adjustment by listening to the loudness of noise or signal and peaking the S-meter.

It's been a few years, but back when we had a repeater at work, I think the Kenwood radios sounded a little better than then the GE radios, but not as good as the Motorola desktop mics. But there may be factors other than the microphones.

If you have both, why not set up a test and let us know? I doubt the pinouts are the same, so you may have to put on a different connector or make up something first.

If you're just not happy with the sound of the Kenwood mic, you can always get a Heil or other element and swap it in for the factory element.

Another +1 for the D72. Great APRS radio, supports all the latest APRS features. Firmware updates have been frequent and timely. USB interface makes connecting to PCs simple. Even works on Linux machines.

Good point. You may need an in-line attenuator or just keep the volume very low on the radios.