ARRL TravelPlus 2009-2010 Thoughts
KI6ZHD
12/22/2011
I bought a used 2009-2010 version of the ARRL TravelPlus CD and was a bit disappointed though it does have it's uses. Maybe the newer versions have improved BUT:
Pros:
- It's compatible with the Delorme StreetAtlas software so you can import your route into StreetAtlas but it's unclear if it can support any other mapping software
- You can also export your resulting path list of repeaters to ARRL's .tpe format. I know that Kenwood's free radio programming software supports this but I don't know about other radio vendors
- The software does have a complete list of repeaters in the US that you can save that output as say an .html, .csv, etc.
Cons:
- It has a Windows 3.1 style user interface though it does run on XP and Win7 ok
- The maps are very Windows 3.1 like
- Navigation of the software is tough: there isn't an obvious ZOOM, etc
- Once plotting a route, the software by default puts a simple icon on each repeater location with it's details. This can be instantly overwhelming for the Bay Area. You can turn that default "show details" off but that's a bad default
- When looking at each repeater's details on the map, it doesn't include PL, etc.
- The resulting path repeater text list doesn't have any delineation of available repeaters from one Nav point to the next.. it blurs together and you have to manually separate it out
- There isn't any association between the text listing of a specific repeater in the spreadsheet listing to the icon on the map so if you click on one, you don't get the other automatically highlighted
- The front page callsign search is fast but doesn't give you the information you need like the area, frequency, tones, etc. You have run a full report to see that critical information
- The route repeater listing splits repeaters from say IRLP and EchoLink so you have to manually correlate which repeaters have IRLP, etc.
- All help are via different individual PDFs, not the regular Windows online help