I hadn't even gotten into philosophy yet... but I totally get what you're saying.

Right now I have no brand loyalty as I'm not yet an OM in this hobby.  I've got Alinco, Kenwood, Yaesu, Elecraft, PotatoFeng and some kitbashed radios laying around here... so far I'm not overly impressed with any of them because they all appear to have been made decades ago when features were never used and could be buried in a horrible menu system.

I really do just want to know what 2m radio has a Din6 plug on it that is "compatible" (which you did answer).

My inner OM is getting frustrated at the near impossibility of finding a list of radios that have a nearly 50 year old feature... I mean I'm really looking for compatibility with a 1200baud modem spec from the late 70s???  in 2019. (APRS interface)

On Fri, May 24, 2019 at 10:17 AM Basil Gunn <basil@...> wrote:

Steve,
I know you think you asked a technical question but I believe it is more
philosophical. I am interested in other replies, however, I really like my
Kenwood TM-V71a. It has a mDin6 connector for data and a mDin8 connector
for rig control & is well supported by people that make decent cables. I
use 3 of them in my shack setup and one in my truck. There are other
models from Kenwood based on the TM-V71a that have APRS & digital voice
functionality but I'm more interested in using the RPi for that so I
just want a solid radio that is easy to use without those add-on
features and supports 1200 baud/9600 baud packet.

The philosophical part goes like this:
There are two kinds of people in the world, those that drive Fords & the
those that drive Chevys. There is no changing each of their
minds. Similarly there are 3 Kinds of hams those that like iCom, Fujitsu
or Kenwood. I suppose there is a forth category those that like the
Chinese brands but I haven't seen any with mDin6 data connectors.

You can spend some/all your time & look at feature comparisons & specs
and end up with either a Ford or a Chevy but I prefer a Toyota. Which
ever radio you choose I am sure it will serve you well. Let us know
which one you choose and your criteria for choosing it.

BTW the Kenwood TM-V71a is a dual band 2M/440 radio that supports 9600
baud packet.

/Basil N7NIX

Steve McGrane <temporarilyoffline@...> writes:

> Is there a list of known compatible (or at least community aware working)
> radios?
> My FT-891 is working fine on the HF side of things (should be back any day
> now) and I'm working on my TM-281, but I'm flying blind creating an
> interface cable and hoping for the best.
>
> Last night I spent a bit of time looking for a 2m radio with a data
> connector (really hoping to find one with a useful DIN-6 connector
> already).  But as you know the people that make and sell radios have never
> once tried to buy one and their websites are just "lovely".
> Callum does a better job explaining it than I do:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KfbOXc6OU8
> What I would love to see is a list of radios side by side with features and
> a set of useful filter check boxes to narrow down the array of choices.
> Similar to my missive above:  "Show me all 2m capable radios with a data
> port"