APX7000 Future Enhancements?

[willbird287]

I've had some time to use and experiment with an APX7000. A few things stand out in my mind as lacking in the software/firmware, so I'm wondering if anyone here knows or has heard of any plans for future feature additions to the line?

My biggest issue that I don't like is the backlight brightness not being adjustable for ambient conditions. It's super white, and it literally burns your eyes out at night or in dark locations operating at the same backlight brightness that you use to see during the day. I'm pretty sure this would be an easy addition to the "profiles" settings (which currently only gives you full on, or full off as options). I mean, the backlight already fades up to full brightness...so the radio electronically has control over it's intensity, and even if it didn't they could still invert the color LCD or darken the background color from super white to something a little more easy to look at in the dark.

(and the fact that out of band stopped working after R02 firmware also sucks.)

Any other further additions would also be interesting to know. Any plans for QC-II?

Regardless of these little pet peeves, this is still my favorite radio to date, having two bands in a single radio is indispensable!

--Will

[MSS-Dave]

Brightness of the rear display can be set per profile. I have mine set in 1 profile to dim after 10 seconds (variable) and another to go dark after 5 seconds. I've not played with the top display but mine is on bright after changing modes for 10 seconds then goes dark. There are a couple of settings in the Radio Ergonomics > Display > Advanced tab to look at along with the Ergonomics > Display tab. Far as I can tell the actual intensity can't be set, that would be nice as well as any control of the color or contrast as you suggest. I'm still running 4.00.25 for Host/DSP.

Dave

[Pj]

Same with current CPS/Firmware. Would be nice if you could select the keypad color (red is a nice touch when the battery is low).

(RANT)
I think this radio will end up being the one that many people will complain about due to the cool factor of the displays. In true day to day use, you will most likely end up not usings the M3 display to simply change the channel. The top channel knob and the top display would be more than sufficent. That, coupled with the fact that the main display is hidden from view vs the traditional front of radio display which is always in view...
(/rant)

[rc50won]

Speaking of using the top display....

Which for me is about 95% of the time. I really dislike the slow scrolling on the top display. It would be so nice just to glance and just see the frequency/channel information and not have to wait. So after some fiddling I got the display to be static. Leave the Top Display Name blank in the Zone Channel Assignment Zone tab and in Radio Wide/User Information and Passwords do not enable Radio Alias. No top display scroll!

Marshall

[Squad5]

Marshall, Thanks for that info. Very helpful!