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[KD9FRQ]

What are some of the other TNCs are being used for APRS?

I would like to test one or two since I am not getting the Mobilnkd unit to work as I had hoped.  I know I am probably missing
a detail in the setup but after searching the support documents, I do not what it would be.

I would prefer a unit that would use my cell phone to provide access and display if at all possible.

[NA4IT]

Since you are using your cell phone, and probably BlueTooth, the only other TNC I know of is the TNC-X with the BlueTooth adapter.

[KM6JGU]

I bought a cloning cable for Kenwood/Baofeng and made an audio cable from it to connect Android phone and Baofeng UV-B5. APRSDroid can do an AFSK via the simple audio cable. This setup works, but it is not convenient - too many wires. I later got Yaesu FT1XD for the hikes, and compared two setups. Result: not much difference in received and heard packets, if any. Though, APRSDroid is much more useful if you are sending messages, messages are pain on Yaesu. APRSDroid with GPS drains the phone battery real quick - 3 hours and that's it, while FT1XD have more than half battery after 5 hours. So, for my usage phone+TNC+radio does not really work. I can see when that kind of setup would be more useful in a car or ATV. In the areas without cell coverage I now use FT1XD and phone or tablet in airplane mode for maps. That combination is good for 2 day hikes, provided you do not chat too much on the radio or carry second battery.
I'm curious, what's wrong with Mobilinkd? What are you trying to do?

[KD9FRQ]

I'm curious, what's wrong with Mobilinkd? What are you trying to do?

I am not getting man Inbound packets to properly translate.

It may be the lack of a close Xmit station.  That is why I wanted to try other options. It could also be spurious signals causing the bad packets.  In just listening to 144.390 locally, the squelch breaks and no real signal it heard on several occasions.

I created the Raspberry Pi and Xastir setup today since I already had the Pi and TNC-Pi for an EMCOMM RMS Gateway (see pigate.net).  I purchased another sd card and loaded the OS and program on it.  I will try going mobile this week to see if I get any better results.

I really want to purchase a Yaesu FTM-400XDR.

[KM6JGU]

I'm sure you did it, but just in case, make sure you have good audio level and squelch disabled. APSDroid and other AFSK software will happily listen to static all day, but if slow squelch is not allowing it to hear the first bit, the whole packet will not be decoded. During my experiments, I put second radio on 144.39 and listened to packets by ear, while adjusting the output volume on the radio. APRSDroid can decode in the wide range of volumes, but very loud and very quiet lead to missed packets. 

[KD9FRQ]

Following up.....

The locals think this is more due to lack of infrastructure.  Only one gateway in the area. But only a few of us are trying to use APRS.