Kenwood TM-D710GE hints, tips and tricks

This radio is not in production anymore.

APRS

The Kenwood TM-D710GE has a GPS built inside the head so you can put an APRS beacon on the air without the wire hassle.
The internal GPS  has to be turned on with the GPS button after which the iGPS icon appears. Here are some hints and tricks that are not in the manual.

• After the GPS searches for satellites, finds a few of them and gets a lock/fix the iGPS icon will start to blink.
  Mostly on other hardware this is shown the opposite way and the icon starts to blink if a fix is needed. So keep in mind, blinking is good as it shows the internal GPS has a lock/fix.

• 
  The internal GPS in the control head of the rig, placed in front of the hand brake, has a very good reception as it even keeps tracking inside my garage outfitted with only a small roof window. Its summer here so the car has no roof.

• Default smart-beaconing settings are good as they are. 
  
  
• In the Netherlands digipeating is not allowed with a normal licence, you need an "unmanned station licence" to do digipeat on air so set all digipeat options to off.

• The rig shows GPS coordinates in minutes or degrees but also shows a very useful Maidenhead locator. After the GPS has a fix and the iGPS icon is blinking press the POS button and the Maidenhead locator is on the bottom line. Navigate trough the pages with the left and right arrow keys.

Here is an actual readout on a google map from my transceiver.

Other hints, tips and tricks

•  If you leave the head in the sun the display will turn black. If it cools down it will turn normal again.

• Note that the problem with the ceramic filter in the 2nd IF stage that is present in older versions of this radio has been solved by Kenwood in this Kenwood TM-D710GE. 

• The transmit frequency range of this radio can be expanded by removing resistor W601 as described here.
  
  
• There are two VFO's in this rig, one on the left and one on the right called A and B.
  VFO A is unable to transmit or receive on 800 to 1300MHz.
  VFO B is unable to transmit or receive on 118 to 136MHz. 
  This feature is important if you want to do APRS and air-band scanning at the same time. To use air-band and APRS simultaneously set B as the data band so that the APRS is on the B side. 
  If you want to do APRS and listen to the 23cm HAM band for a duplex use the A side as data band.
  The range the radio can do on side/VFO A and side/VFO B is:
  
  

  A	118 MHz	118.000 MHz through 135.995 MHz AM+FM
  A	144 MHz	136.000 MHz through 199.995 MHz FM
  A	220 MHz	200.000 MHz through 299.995 MHz FM
  A	300 MHz	300.000 MHz through 399.995 MHz FM
  A	430 MHz	400.000 MHz through 523.995 MHz FM
  B	144 MHz	136.000 MHz through 199.995 MHz FM
  B	220 MHz	200.000 MHz through 299.995 MHz FM
  B	300 MHz	300.000 MHz through 399.995 MHz FM
  B	430 MHz	400.000 MHz through 523.995 MHz FM
  B	800 MHz	800.000 MHz through 1.299.995 MHz FM

  
  
• In the summertime the GMT settings for the rig are +2:00 in the Netherlands.
  In the wintertime the GMT settings for this rigs are +1:00 in the Netherlands.
  
  
• To connect to the TNC you need to make a serial connection with the COM port on the head of the rig, not the pc port on the brick. It is the same cable as the PC port.
  
  
• Even though all brochures of this rig claim it can decode DTMF and can be remote controlled by DTMF it can not decode DTMF at all. On 08/31/18 Kenwood announced that radios with serial numbers B8610001 and up no longer feature DTMF decode capability. (The decoding chip is not in the rig anymore.) This means the TM-D710GE does NOT support remote control with DTMF via a HT or EchoLink functionality. The TM-D710GE is not able to remote control the TS-590S or TS-890S.
  
  
• The Kenwood TM-D710GE does NOT have any repeater function and does not do crossband repeat. (The TM-D710GA does.) However, this can be changed by placing a 0 Ohm resistor/jumper from PAD0 to PAD2 as shown in the picture below.
  
  
  
  
• The Kenwood TM-D710GE does NOT have weather channels or weather channel alert. (The TM-D710GA does.)
  
  
• The TM-D710GE has a TNC build inside that has a mail/message-box option. Other packet radio stations can connect to your TNC with packet radio and leave a message for you.
  
  
• The Tone function only works with transmit. Use CTCSS if you also want to use a Tone for receive. For simple repeaters Tone is good enough but on combined digital repeaters use CTCSS so you do not have to listen to the digital blerps.
  
  
• Send Email over the APRS network by pressing the "MSG" button then "NEW". set EMAIL in the TO field and start the message with the Email address, a space and then the message. (You can not send Email from PC to an APRS station.)
  
  
• Don't forget to check out if there are firmware updates that give extra fun. The latest panel firmware update increases the amount of rigs shown in the APRS list.