‰  NOW 40 WPM  ‰  
THE MONEY.  THE TH D74A IS A NEW DIRECTION FOR KENWOOD WITH DIGITAL
COMMUNICATIONS.  I HOPE THAT THEY WILL DEVELOP A MATCHING D STAR CAPABLE
MOBILE RADIO AND SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF THEIR TS 2000 HF/VHF/UHF
DESKTOP RADIO THAT INCLUDES D STAR.  A PDF FILE WITH MORE TH D74A PHOTOS
AND SCREEN CAPTURES IS AVAILABLE ONLINE FROM WWW. ARRL. ORG/QST IN DEPTH.
ALSO CHECK OUT ADDITIONAL VIDEOS SHOWING THE TH D74A ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL,
LABOENLIGNE.  CA OR SEARCH FOR VA2PV.  E

SOFTWARE KENWOOD PROVIDES MCP D74 PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE FREE OF CHARGE SEE
FIGURE 2.  THE RADIO USES A STANDARD MICRO USB CABLE THAT YOU CAN FIND IN
ANY ELECTRONIC STORE OR CELL PHONE BOOTH FOR A FEW DOLLARS OR LESS.  IF YOU
HAVE A BLUETOOTH COMPATIBLE PC, YOU DONT EVEN NEED THE MICRO USB CABLE YOU
CAN USE THE VIRTUAL COM PORT.  NOTE THAT THERE ARE NO MAC OS OR LINUX
VERSIONS OF THE SOFTWARE, ONLY WINDOWS.  I HAD THE TH D74A FOR ABOUT A
MONTH, AND WITHIN THAT PERIOD, KENWOOD UP DATED THE FIRMWARE AND THE
REPEATERS LIST TWICE.  I APPRECIATE THAT THEY INCLUDED DETAILS ABOUT WHAT
WAS UPDATED IN EACH RELEASE.  IM NOT SURE IF YOU CAN UPDATE THE FIRMWARE
VIA BLUETOOTH, BUT I WOULD NOT TRY IT, AND I STRONGLY RECOMMEND USING THE
MICRO USB CABLE FOR THIS SPECIFIC APPLICATION.  YOU CAN FIND ALL THE
SOFTWARE, THE FIRMWARE UPDATE, AND A FULL MANUAL ONLINE.  KENWOOD ALSO
PROVIDES, FREE OF CHARGE, THE ARFC D74 PROGRAM FOR CONTROLLING THE TH D74AS
FREQUENCY FROM A PC VIA THE WIRED USB PORT OR BLUETOOTH.  WITH A SMALL
AUDIO CABLE CONNECTED BETWEEN THE SPEAKER OUTPUT OF THE SPEAKER/MIC JACK
AND YOUR PC SOUND CARD LINE IN JACK, YOU CAN ALSO HAVE RECEIVE AUDIO ON
YOUR PC YOU CANT TRANSMIT VIA THIS SOFTWARE.  OPERATING THE TH D74A  ON MY
FIRST DAY WITH THE RADIO, I DIDNT READ THE MANUAL.  I JUST PLAYED WITH IT
FOR A FEW HOURS, AND I COULD DO ALMOST EVERYTHING.  I INTUITIVELY DID D

STAR WITH MY HOTSPOT IN DV MODE, D STAR ON A REPEATER DR MODE, APRS
RECEPTION AND BEACON TRANSMIT, ANALOG FM ON A REPEATER WITH TONE SQUELCH,
RECEIVE HF CW AND SSB, LISTENED TO BROADCAST RADIO, PROGRAMMED MEMORIES,
AND SO ON.  FOR OPERATORS WHO ARE NOT INTO COMPUTERS, THIS RADIO IS A GOOD
CHOICE.  ITS ALSO POSSIBLE TO SAVE AND RESTORE YOUR TRANSCEIVERS
CONFIGURATION ON A MICRO SD CARD NOT INCLUDED.  D STAR THERE ARE TWO D STAR
MODES SEE FIGURE 3 DV DIGITAL VOICE FOR SIMPLEX OR HOTSPOT OPERATIONS AND
DR DIGITAL REPEATER FOR REPEATER OPERATIONS.  WHEN YOU ARE IN DR MODE, YOU
ONLY HAVE ACCESS TO THE REPEATERS LIST SEE BELOW AND CANT SET UP A DIGITAL
SIMPLEX FREQUENCY IN VFO MODE.  TO DO SO, YOU NEED TO SWITCH TO DV MODE.
YOU DO HAVE ACCESS TO DR OR DV IF YOU USE A MEMORY CHANNEL.  D STAR DV AND
DR IS AVAILABLE ON BOTH VFO A AND VFO B, BUT ONLY ONE AT A TIME.  IF YOU
ARE IN DIGITAL ON VFO A, YOU WONT BE ABLE TO SELECT DIGITAL WITH VFO B AND
VICE VERSA.  BY DEFAULT, THE RADIO INCLUDES A D STAR REPEATERS LIST THAT
ALLOWS YOU TO SELECT THE CLOSEST DIGITAL REPEATER FROM YOUR GPS LOCATION
SEE FIGURE 4.  THIS IS VERY USEFUL WHEN YOU TRAVEL, AND YOU CAN THEN EASILY
‰  END OF 40 WPM TEXT  ‰  QST DE W1AW  ƒ