k7rbw wrote: > What I'm currently deliberating in all this is whether I want to tie up my > dual-band radio (however old it might be) to use as an APRS station instead > of a voice station. It seems like it might be more useful to keep the dual > band as a voice rig and just get a $150 2-m mobile to use as the tracker > radio. Then, for the price of a 2-m mobile, I'd have the tracker AND the > dual-band whereas if I use the dual-band for a tracker, I'll have no voice > rig (but $150 extra in my pocket). > > Has anyone else wrestled with this idea? If so, what was the outcome for you? > I wrestled with this and finally decided that a dedicated tracker was the way to go for me. I went with the T2-135 embedded board and bought used Alinco DR-135s to put them in. One unit, clean installation, especially with the Nuvi 350. You'll need to add a dedicated antenna to the mix as well and I threw in an APO-3 (Automatic Power Off) for good measure. I've got two of these up and running as KJ4ERJ-9 and KJ4ERJ-14. If you go this route, make sure you get the v1.2 T2-135 board that has some extra filtering included.
Another advantage of the T2-135 approach is there's no level tuning to do. You drop the board in and it "just works". A negative trade off is that it ONLY works inside an Alinco. An external Tracker2 can be moved, but is subject to level adjustments. Lynn (D) - KJ4ERJ - A happy T2-135 customer! PS. The final report hasn't been posted yet, but we used one of my T2-135/DR-135 combinations at the top of Springer Mountain for the Appalachian Golden Packet attempt. See http://www.aprs.org/hamtrails/springer.html
