Hey,

I'm fairly new to the whole ham arena, but a project I'm working on has
necessitated the use of some ham hardware. I'm looking to build a
portable ground station of sorts for talking with amateur satellites.
Specifically, an amateur satellite that will be operating at 437 Mhz at
1200 baud. Basically, I'd like a mobile version of what's in the lab
at my university (antenna on the roof, radio + TNC indoors).

I've been looking at some portable devices that fulfill these
requirements (like the Kenwood THD7A(G) or Kenwood TM-D700). But,
after talking to some people and reading some things on the web, I've
come across literature that say that devices such as these, with
build-in TNC's, aren't nearly as reliable as a radio hooked up to a
laptop doing the TNC in software. Is this true? Are there any general
issues that portable units with built-in TNC's have that I should be
aware before I buy one?

The other option I have is to buy a radio and use a laptop to simulate
the TNC in software. Does anyone have any experience with these
portable units versus a laptop functioning as the TNC and hooked up to
a radio?

Thanks and any advice would be much appreciated.