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Kenwood TH-D74A/E, Operating Tips

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Kenwood TH-D74A/E Operating Tips Download Page 41

5 D-STAR 

41 

 

5.5 How to Update the Repeater list 

The repeater list can be imported to your TH-D74A/E by using MCP-D74 or a microSD 
memory card. 

Please download the Repeater List file 

"D74_yyyymmdd_E.tsv"

 ("yyyymmdd" is the 

numerical release date) from the following KENWOOD website in advance. 

http://www.kenwood.com/i/products/info/amateur/software_download.html 

 

By using MCP-D74 

5.5.1

1. Connect the TH-D74A/E and the PC via a Micro-USB cable. 

2. Start the MCP-D74. 

3. Read data from the TH-D74A/E. 

4. Click 

[Repeater List]

, 

[Import Repeater List from File...]

, and click 

[OK]

 

 

5. Select the downloaded Repeater List file 

"D74_yyyymmdd_E.tsv"

. 

 

 

Summary of Contents for TH-D74A/E

Page 1: ...1 ...

Page 2: ...hip of copyrights for software including but not limited to the firmware and optional software that may be distributed individually are reserved for JVCKENWOOD Corporation The firmware shall mean the software which can be embedded in KENWOOD product memories for proper operation Any modifying reverse engineering copying reproducing or disclosing on an Internet website of the software is strictly p...

Page 3: ...may still contain typos and expressions that are misleading JVCKENWOOD Corporation is entirely free from any responsibilities arising from any losses or damages caused by such typos or expressions JVCKENWOOD Corporation has the right to change or improve the product specifications etc described in this manual without prior notice JVCKENWOOD Corporation is entirely free from any responsibilities fo...

Page 4: ...data and logs you should create backup data at any time and save it as an external data storage device such as USB memory Treatment of your important data There is always a risk of losing your important data by a transceiver failure occurrence of an unforeseen contingency erroneous operation or faulty behavior of the transceiver The data such as the operating information recorded audio messages co...

Page 5: ...TERNET PROTOCOL VO IP AND D STAR 17 2 14 DIGIPEATER PATH INFORMATION 18 2 15 OTHER APRS INFORMATION RESOURCES 18 2 16 CONTRIBUTION BY KENWOOD TO APRS 19 2 17 LIST OF ICONS THAT CAN BE SET DISPLAYED ON THE TH D74A E 21 3 APRS 22 3 1 APRS FEATURE ON THE TH D74A E 22 3 2 WHAT IS A KISS MODEM 24 3 3 KISS MODE 26 4 ENJOYING D STAR BY DON ARNOLD W6GPS 28 4 1 ENCOUNTER WITH D STAR 28 4 2 ENJOY WITH D STA...

Page 6: ...AUDIO QUALITY 48 6 7 WIDE BAND AND MULTI MODE RECEPTION 48 6 8 MODE 51 6 9 MEMORY CHANNELS 53 6 10 BLUETOOTH 55 6 11 USB USAGE 56 6 12 MICROSD CARD USAGE 57 7 APPENDIX 62 7 1 EXTERIOR VIEWS 62 7 2 TH D74A E SPECIFICATIONS 63 ...

Page 7: ...H D74A E is equipped with a high visibility color transreflective liquid crystal display TFT the first in the industry in a handheld amateur radio as of November 2017 Building on the popularity of the wideband frequency receive feature of the TH F6A F7E the TH D74A E supports DSP processing for CW SSB reception with the added addition of IF bandwidth filtering Features such as APRS and D STAR requ...

Page 8: ...he late 1970s as the AMRAD Amateur Radio Research and development Group was excitedly beginning to experiment with AX 25 packet radio This was before the Internet and as we spent our free time in our shacks we were in fact all socially networked by the AMRAD voice repeater On evenings and weekends someone was working on something or developing something new and sharing the excitement with the othe...

Page 9: ...t dual port HF link onto the 10 149 MHz HF packet frequency we still use today for APRS It was an exciting time but packet radio was being used more and more for connected point to point traffic and then to BBS systems and the real time connectivity between operators was being lost By that time live beacons to announce real time activity and to conduct group chats by UI messaging was not only disa...

Page 10: ...es and shares the information worldwide 2 5 APRS IS res the information worldwide In 1997 K4HG Steve Dimse and the Mac WinAPRS Sproul brothers tied APRS to the Internet and the APRS IS system as shown above was born Over the years the network has grown including several Amateur Satellites since 2001 and in 2015 even an APRS channel with global downlink coverage via the Inmarsats called Outernet Se...

Page 11: ... it fully implemented the APRS messaging bulletins and texting capabilities at both 1200 and 9600 baud Over the next 11 years this first KENWOOD APRS radio was the most popular KENWOOD HT ever as APRS brought new life to packet radio In parallel KENWOOD also introduced the fully integrated TM D700A E mobile APRS radio in 2000 These APRS front panel display radios now brought the full APRS local si...

Page 12: ...eal time APRS digital text communications with APRS and handheld Photo sharing using the KENWOOD SSTV handheld the kids of the world were just getting going with texting and Photo sharing then Twitter on every conceivable handheld device or exchanging handheld pictures with the VC H1 Yet the entrenched amateur radio old timers could not see any value to APRS texting and emailing on a keypad As men...

Page 13: ...ver any of the KENWOOD handheld or mobile radios Similarly any such phone with the SSTV application can use the phone to decode the audio and display the SSTV image Thus anyone with a smart phone and a 2 way radio and a radio voice channel can still send images by amateur radio Refer to http aprs org aprn html 2 9 APRS Voice Alert Three things dramatically brought back human connectivity to APRS T...

Page 14: ...his capability by introducing it in all of their APRS radios since 2007 the TM D710A E TH D72A E TM D710GA E and TH D74A E These radios not only automatically include your voice band frequency in every position packet but can also then tune to someone else s frequency by simply selecting the Tune menu as shown below In the image above stations with frequencies embedded in position information pack...

Page 15: ...is visible Also we can see that this radio is in OPERATING range of three voice repeaters that are also identifying themselves as objects on APRS as the locally recommended voice operating channels The TH D74A E on the right has two ham calls two tactical calls and one repeater object It is easy to find these nearby frequencies in the huge station list by first doing a SORT This brings all the num...

Page 16: ... one that shows the location of the HAMFEST and the talk in frequency This bright red APRS symbol stands out smartly on any APRS display including the AvMap GPS display as shown above At first glance this object tells you the most important information Where it is and when The HFEST DDn standardized object name includes the DATE in the DD digits Only the day is shown here it is on the 26th but thi...

Page 17: ...tes the node number frequency tone and other info are available to all APRS operators on their radios as shown above Again a simple press of the Tune function will QSY the radio for instant operation The long term goal of this VoIP and Frequency capability has been to enable APRS to be used for setting up end to end global contacts using only a known callsign The idea was to simply enter a callsig...

Page 18: ...information available to the mobile operator via APRS is nearly unlimited but not if no one is transmitting it Ideally local info is only transmitted direct with no path hops from the local digipeater and no more often than once every 10 minutes to give a chance for a new mobile to get it If the local info has to be digipeated once then it is a longer range and the rate should drop to every 20 If ...

Page 19: ...PRS Network Fundamentals KENWOOD fully implemented the more subtle aspects of the APRS fundamentals that assure optimum network efficiency and channel sharing among all users New TH D74A E supports the decay algorithm proportional pathing and SmartBeaconing These techniques provide good refresh rates for new and local information while minimizing the network impact of old and distant data Objects ...

Page 20: ...lays and features that make this information readily available For example the station list can be sorted to bring Frequency Objects to the top of the list in frequency order Further the radio can tune to these frequencies for quick QSO with a single press of the Tune menu EchoLink IRLP Winlink or D STAR Frequencies The TH D74A E Tune function not only makes rapid QSY to another station operator e...

Page 21: ...one DF station Bus Balloon Wreck Obstruction Dish Antenna Railroad Engine Glider Sheriff PC user Home Helicopter Fire SSTV Yagi QTH Aircraft Sunny ATV KENWOOD Large Aircraft Gale Flags BBS Radio Shuttle Tornado APRStt RV Satellite National WX Service Site RACES Van Rover WX Weather Station ARRL Jeep Eyeball Digipeater X Truck Portable Tent Mic E Repeater Triangle Truck 18 wheeler HAM Store QSO Rep...

Page 22: ...ion and moving south eastward at a speed of 70 mph Transmission of Object Item Information New Feature 3 1 2 The TH D74A E supports transmission of object and item information Object information transmission of object and item information Not possess a radio like a hurricane or a marathon runner These objects are characterized by a time stamp they possess Item information like a hurricane or a mar...

Page 23: ...e other station Sending out QSY information in this way by this method easy and very certain way of shifting the other station to the audio communication channel Disclosing D STAR Standby Information with the QSY Feature New Feature 3 1 4 The TH D74A E also allows disclosure of the D STAR standby information using the QSY feature Operating the Tune function of the station that has received the D S...

Page 24: ... position to My Position 1 for example Menu No 401 Registering the Beacon of My Station that is Digipeated in the Station List 3 1 7 For models up to the TH D72A E the beacon of my station that is digipeated is not registered in the APRS station list However it is now registered on the TH D74A E This allows a station to check the APRS information that is being transmitted from an objective viewpoi...

Page 25: ...uring the probability of P persistent CSMA 0 to 255 FFh 128 80h 03 SlotTime For configuring the random number generation time interval of P persistent CSMA Units of 10 ms 0 to 250 FAh 10 0Ah 04 TXtall For configuring the duration for maintaining the transmission state after FCS CRC is transmitted Units of 10 ms 0 to 255 FFh 3 05 FullDuplex For selecting full duplex or half duplex communication 0 H...

Page 26: ...n is illuminated when the TH D74A E is in the KISS mode 2 Meanwhile on the UI View32 open the Comms Setup window from the Setup pull down menu 3 In the Comms Setup window configure the PC terminal requirements of the TH D74A E in UI View32 as follows Baud Rate 9600 bps either one Data Bits 8 Stop Bits 1 Parity None COM Port COM port number on the PC in use that is assigned as the virtual COM port ...

Page 27: ...the built in TNC shifts to the KISS mode The KISS12 or KISS96 icon lights up when the KISS mode of the TH D74A E is turned on While in the KISS mode configurations related to APRS of the TH D74A E unit Menu Nos 500 to 580 will not be applied to the operations For details on the other configurations of the UI View32 please refer to the descriptions in the Help file ...

Page 28: ...pened up a broader more accessible D STAR experience In the first 4 hours on the air with my new KENWOOD TH D74A E I worked 15 new countries that I thought I would never get I find the majority of D STAR activity is with a Hotspot and D STAR Access Point Examples of the Access Point are DV Mega openSPOT and the popular DVAP In the first QSO s I have had with the TH D74A E people remarked about the...

Page 29: ... a local CQ only Chattanooga Area I select the Local CQ And talk local Chattanooga This would be output to the W4PL B module and I would be transmitting to the local area The Gateway CQ in the Destination Select Menu would mean I wanted my signal sent to another repeater like K6VO C module This way I can talk to my California friends Another option is I can input a callsign for the Individual Call...

Page 30: ...r network I have both For my wired network connection I use an openSPOT It is self contained lower power simple D STAR enabled device that is very easy to use So in simple terms I program the openSPOT with VoIP communications a simplex frequency according to Amateur band recommendations for low power simplex operations With this I can talk to my lower power Access Point and tell it what reflectors...

Page 31: ...o my videos at https www youtube com user w6gps There you can see all this in action In all my 40 years as a ham I have had even more excitement using the KENWOOD TH D74A E on the D STAR network I have meet many new hams worldwide without enduring SSB noise For you veteran D STAR users try not to make more things complicated It is easy with the TH D74A E For my new D STAR KENWOOD s TH D74A E users...

Page 32: ...mmunicator Simultaneous reception of D STAR and HF SSB FM radio mode A packet sent from ISS My position packet digipeated by ISS I have listened to SSB on the ham bands and broadcast stations around the world I have made friends communicating on the Worldwide D STAR network I have even made an APRS contact to the ISS International Space Station I hope I have motivated you to see how much enjoyment...

Page 33: ...not possible until configuration is complete Call up Menu No 610 Select the number to register Callsign and press A B Enter the Callsign Press ENT The Callsign of one s own station is configured 5 2 Communication Using D STAR Difference between the DV and DR Modes 5 2 1 The DV mode is used to carry out simplex communication where two transceivers communicate with each other directly without using ...

Page 34: ... and DR mode Carrying out Simplex Communication 5 2 3 K Type E Type 1 Configure the frequency using the or ENC control 2 Press MODE to switch to the DR mode If the TH D74A E is in the DV mode go to Step 4 3 Switch to the DV mode in the Digital Function Menu 4 In the Digital Function Menu select Select Target The Destination Select screen appears 5 Select Local CQ and press ENT TO is now configured...

Page 35: ...rby repeater from the repeater callsign repeater names or state prefecture names Pressing displays the detailed information of the selected repeater Pressing ENT configures FROM to the selected repeater 6 Configuring the Local CQ TO 7 Press and hold and the Destination Select screen appears 8 Select Local CQ and press ENT TO is now configured as CQCQCQ 5 3 1 2 Checking whether radio signals reach ...

Page 36: ...nal group that corresponds to the repeater to connect to and press ENT The Repeater List appears 4 Select the repeater to connect to Pressing displays the detailed information of the selected repeater Pressing ENT configures TO to the selected repeater Check whether connection to the area repeater configured in TO can be established As with a Local Area Call perform kerchunk to check whether conne...

Page 37: ... reply is possible during reception a Direct Reply icon will appear in the interrupt screen When this icon is displayed pressing PTT enables automatic transmission in the callback configuration Direct Reply icon When both APRS and D STAR are running concurrently the Direct Reply feature functions when the D STAR is the operating band When the details of the APRS Station List are displayed the Call...

Page 38: ... DV Digital Voice node device for connecting a reflector Access Point it is possible to communicate with stations at a remote location We do not provide support for node devices used for reflector connection Reflector Menu on the TH D74A E 5 4 2 By adding a simplex node device s frequency information in the repeater list the Reflector Menu Select can be used as well as a D STAR repeater When addin...

Page 39: ...an be edited as follows to enable access to the node device for reflector connection 1 Read the configurations from the transceiver using the MCP D74 followed by clicking Memory Channel to add a frequency for the node device for reflector connection 2 Click Display Item Y and select the Mode and URCALL checkboxes 3 Set Mode to DV 4 Create multiple memory channels with the same frequency and config...

Page 40: ... back the data edited in the MCP D74 to the transceiver 6 By switching the memory channel instead of the Reflector Menu in the DR mode it is possible to select the command to be sent to the reflector configured in URCALL ...

Page 41: ...mdd is the numerical release date from the following KENWOOD website in advance http www kenwood com i products info amateur software_download html By using MCP D74 5 5 1 1 Connect the TH D74A E and the PC via a Micro USB cable 2 Start the MCP D74 3 Read data from the TH D74A E 4 Click Repeater List Import Repeater List from File and click OK 5 Select the downloaded Repeater List file D74_yyyymmdd...

Page 42: ...nd Canada or TH D74E E type Europe and click OK 7 The D STAR Repeater List which is mainly focused on North America or Europe will be imported to the MCP D74 8 Write data back to the TH D74A E from the MCP D74 Then the TH D74A E s Repeater List will be updated ...

Page 43: ...ceiver to Mass Storage mode 3 Connect the TH D74A E and the PC via a Micro USB cable 4 Copy the downloaded Repeater List file D74_yyyymmdd_E tsv to the microSD card folder KENWOOD TH D74 SETTINGS RPT_LIST 5 Remove the TH D74A E from the PC 6 Access Menu No 812 Import Repeater List only and press ENT 7 Select the copied Repeater List File and press ENT ...

Page 44: ...K 9 The Repeater List which is mainly focused on North America when selected Data for TH D74A or Europe when selected Data for TH D74E will be imported from the microSD card to the TH D74A E 10 Press A B OK to restart the TH D74A E Then the TH D74A E s Repeater List will be updated ...

Page 45: ...ime interval configured in Backlight Timer has elapsed Menu No 900 Shorten the time interval configured in the Backlight Timer Menu No 901 Reduce the brightness of the backlight LCD Brightness Menu No 902 Utilize the Battery Saver feature 6 1 4 The Battery Saver feature turns the receiver circuit on and off intermittently when no signal is received and no key is pressed for an interval of five 5 s...

Page 46: ...or Voice Alert is referred to as voice alert frequency Audio is from the speaker only when signals with the matched CTCSS coincides with the voice alert frequency are received For example when calling a party to arrange a meeting time and place it would be necessary to press the PTT key repeatedly as the caller would not know whether the signals have reached the receiver successfully With the Voic...

Page 47: ... card may also be recognized on a Linux OS the file size cannot be displayed correctly 6 5 Adjustment of RX Audio Quality Different users have different sound quality preferences The TH D74A E comes with an Audio Equalizer feature that allows users to adjust the sound quality according to their preference DSP audio sound processing 6 5 1 The DSP digital signal processor on the TH D74A E ensures th...

Page 48: ...zer to analog FM digital D STAR or both Menu No 911 Frequency Band kHz Variable Range dB 0 4 9 0 3 0 8 9 0 3 1 6 9 0 3 3 2 9 0 3 6 7 Wide band and Multi mode Reception The TH D74A E is capable of receiving signals between the bandwidths of 0 1 MHz to 523 995 MHz Although a wide bandwidth range has already been achieved on the predecessor model TH F6A F7E many enhancements have been made and new fe...

Page 49: ...INE Mode ON LSB 4 0 7 0 AM 7 0 7 3 LSB 7 3 10 1 AM 10 1 10 15 CW 10 15 14 0 AM 14 0 14 35 USB 14 35 18 068 AM 18 068 18 168 USB 18 168 21 0 AM 21 0 21 45 USB 21 45 24 89 AM 24 89 24 99 USB 24 99 28 0 AM 28 0 29 7 USB 50 MHz 29 7 51 25 FM 51 54 10 54 76 5 FM Radio 76 108 100 WFM 118 MHz 108 136 12 5 AM 144 MHz 136 144 5 FM 144 148 148 174 VHF 174 216 50 FM 220 300 MHz 216 220 12 5 AM 220 225 20 AM ...

Page 50: ... 15 CW 10 15 14 0 AM 14 0 14 35 USB 14 35 18 068 AM 18 068 18 168 USB 18 168 21 0 AM 21 0 21 45 USB 21 45 24 89 AM 24 89 24 99 USB 24 99 28 0 AM 28 0 29 7 USB 50 MHz 29 7 51 5 FM 51 54 10 54 76 5 FM Radio 76 108 50 WFM 118 MHz 108 136 12 5 AM 144 MHz 136 144 5 FM 144 146 12 5 146 174 5 VHF 174 230 50 FM 220 300 MHz 230 410 12 5 AM 430 MHz 410 430 12 5 FM 430 440 25 440 470 12 5 UHF 470 524 50 FM T...

Page 51: ...detection in the CW mode as LSB or USB CW reverse can be selected from Normal Reverse USB is chosen in the Normal mode and LSB in the Reverse mode Menu No 171 AM 6 8 3 In the AM mode the high cut frequency can be adjusted in the receiving filter configuration A high cut frequency can be selected from 3 0 kHz 4 5 kHz 6 0 kHz 7 5 kHz The low cut frequency is fixed at 200 Hz Changing the high cut fre...

Page 52: ...unication is finished in this state and no signal is received on band A or band B for a time interval specified in the menu the display returns to the FM radio broadcast reception screen Menu No 701 The frequency range of FM radio is from 76 0 MHz to 107 9 MHz which supports reception of supplementary FM wide FM broadcasts FM Radio mode The FM Radio icon lights up when the FM Radio mode is turned ...

Page 53: ... Registered Name 0 to 99 Group 0 GRP 0 AMA 144 100 to 199 Group 1 GRP 1 AMA 430 200 to 299 Group 2 GRP 2 D STAR 300 to 399 Group 3 GRP 3 400 to 499 Group 4 GRP 4 500 to 599 Group 5 GRP 5 Aviation radio 600 to 699 Group 6 GRP 6 AM radio 700 to 799 Group 7 GRP 7 800 to 899 Group 8 GRP 8 900 to 999 Group 9 GRP 9 Pressing the MR key switches to the Memory Channel mode and activates the All Groups stat...

Page 54: ...tered in group link Program Scan Memory 6 9 3 There are 50 sets 100 channels of program scan memories for specifying the scan range Each program scan memory comprises a set of two 2 channels each corresponding to the lower and upper frequency limits respectively For example to scan between the range of 145 500 to 145 900 MHz register 145 500 MHz to channel number L49 and 145 900 MHz to U49 When th...

Page 55: ...ooth device is connected do so using the volume control of the headset The sensitivity of the microphone can be adjusted in Menu No 112 Note Audio sound cannot be output from the USB or SP port when a Bluetooth headset is connected HFP Hands Free Profile is not supported SPP Serial Port Profile By pairing the TH D74A E with a PC and assigning a virtual serial port it is possible to carry out seria...

Page 56: ...ay select any one of the options The abovementioned USB feature on the TH D74A E enables data loading and writing by the MCP D74 at a much faster speed Than over Bluetooth USB Audio 6 11 2 The USB Audio feature on the TH D74A E supports only audio output The output format supported is 48 kHz 16 bit and monaural audio USB Audio outputs the same audio sound as the speaker output The output level of ...

Page 57: ...icroSD and microSDHC standards It supports microSDHC cards with a capacity of up 32 GB The following types of information can be recorded to a microSD card Type Description Maximum No of Files File Format Transmitted Received Audio Recording Records the communication of data transmitted and received 255 wav 16 kHz 16 bit monaural GPS Tracking Log Records the GPS tracking data 255 nme QSO Log Recor...

Page 58: ...4 The TH D74A E allows users to register the positional information of their favorite locations in the Position Memory The Position Memory feature stores information including the latitude longitude altitude time of registration name and icon Up to 100 sets of information can be stored in the Position Memory All contents except the time of registration can also be edited You can copy information o...

Page 59: ...ist Details Screen Example Items that are moved when registering information from a station list to the Position Memory list Station List Position Memory List Callsign Position Name Radio Station Icon Icon same as APRS Latitude Latitude Longitude Longitude Altitude Altitude Time Received Time of Registration Status Text Weather Data Transmission Power Antenna Height Antenna Gain Position Comment P...

Page 60: ... Items that are copied when registering information from the Position Memory to My Position Position Memory List My Position Position Name Name Icon same as APRS Latitude Latitude Longitude Longitude Altitude Altitude Time of Registration Example Items that are copied when registering information from the Position Memory to Object Position Memory List Object Position Name Name Icon same as APRS Ic...

Page 61: ...tion to copy to Select My Position or APRS Object as the destination and press the A B key Select one of the options from My Position 1 to My Position 5 or Object 1 to Object 3 and press the A B key to copy the information Note Copying positional information to APRS Object is available from the firmware Version 1 06 or later The latest firmware can be downloaded from the following KENWOOD website ...

Page 62: ...7 Appendix 62 7 Appendix 7 1 Exterior views The pictures below are the TH D74A and TH D74E The TH D74A is equipped with a Triband Antenna 144 220 430 MHz band ...

Page 63: ...7 Appendix 63 7 2 TH D74A E Specifications ...

Page 64: ...TH D74A E Operating Tips December 1 2017 Copyright 2017 JVCKENWOOD Corporation All Rights Reserved ...

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