The Kenwood TM-D700A is an excellent radio for APRS, but comes from an era before it was feasible to embed a real GPS in everything. Kenwood eventually moved to integrating GPSes in their D710GA, which makes them extremely convenient turnkey APRS rigs. This kit will give the same treatment to your beloved D700A!

This kit replaces the back cover of your control head, and includes an adapter board and GPS integrated inside. The adapter board converts the control head to use a regular 8-pin modular cable (any off-the-shelf ethernet cable will work) instead of the original 4-pin "telephone" cable. The GPS data is routed on the extra pins back to a splitter box located near the transceiver itself, which breaks it back out into the original head cable and a 2.5mm cable for the GPS data.

Here is what is included in the kit:

• Replacement back cover with a high-performance GPS module and adapter board
• Splitter box and enclosure
• Short jumpers for the control head and GPS data, and wiring for inside the new back cover
• Assembly instructions
• Optional: A black off-the-shelf ethernet cable for connection between the head and splitter

This mod is fully reversible if you don't like it, and makes no permanent modifications to your device. It does require you to remove the rear cover of the control head and reassemble it with the replacement.

NOTES:

1. The new back cover does not provide the same mounting slot as the original radio. Instead, it provides embedded 1/4-20 hardware for a stud mount (like a camera tripod) which interfaces easily to many other systems, such as RAM Mounts. The new cover also increases the thickness of the head over the original factory size (although it is about the same as the successor radio, the TM-D710).
2. The GPS module will remain powered all the time, using less than 50mA. This provides a quick time-to-fix but may drain a battery if left for an extended period of time. Disconnecting the head cable will eliminate the draw for extended storage.