Batboard

I have never played with channel steering, but I had an idea i'd like to see if it would work. I was thinking about hooking a KPC-3+(or possibly a Tiny/Open Tracker) to the 2nd DB-25 on the radio and using steering to switch to a mode with the APRS freq. to TX my position then switch back to the current selected channel.

Can it be done and what are the pros/cons? Obviously I wouldn't want it to switch modes while i'm in the middle of a transmission.

Hi Redbeard,

AFAIK, the only way to "channel steer" a Spectra is to use the data buss - there are no lines you could "pull" to do it. The easiest way would be to find a "mobile repeater" and use it's logic to do channel steering (it uses multiple programmed PL decoders to steer channels). Otherwise, you are stuck with decrypting the data "phrases" required to change channels (I think others have done this, but I don't have direct knowledge) and instructing the radio to do it that way (I would think a PIC could handle the job).

73 DE Hartley