[Xastir] System cost options

[Jason Winningham]

On Jun 26, 2007, at 4:47 PM, Jim Tolbert wrote:

> Is the general consensus  that I should wait until we can afford  
> the Kenwood / GPS unit system or go now with one of the Rino options.

That sort of depends on your situation: is something better than  
nothing?  Sure the Rino FRS doesn't have the range that a 5 watt D7  
has, but if that's all you can afford and you _really_ need something...

Also, you don't have to do either/or.  If your ICP station has an  
APRS rig and a Rino, xastir will happily display data from both  
networks, and I'm pretty sure it can relay the Rino data to the APRS  
network (but not vice-versa).


Another con to the D7 is the poor battery that comes from the  
factory.  Not a show stopper, but pretty disappointing.

I personally would ask for money for the D7 configuration.  If they  
give you less, go from there.  With the amount of money that's  
hemorrhaging from Homeland Security, surely there's some dollars for  
emergency comms somewhere...

-Jason
kg4wsv