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| Reviews Summary for Kenwood TH-F6A |
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Reviews: 226
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Average rating: 4.3/5
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MSRP: $425.00
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Description: Compact triband H.T. (144/220/440) with dual receive, wideband receiver (Longwave through 1.3 Ghz), SSB/CW rcv. Bar antenna for A.M. broadcast reception. 5 watts all bands.
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More info: http://www.kenwood.net/ama_page.cfm
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You can
write your own review of the Kenwood TH-F6A.
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K3FXR
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Rating: 3/5
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Aug 14, 2008 20:44
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It was great, untill it broke.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Well, I've scanned through all the reviews and I seem to be the only one that has had this problem with the radio.
I was one of the first to own this radio. I was at HRO when the truck pulled in and was the first to buy one.
It worked very well, except for a little bit of intermod, but thats to be expected with a wide band reciever.
The radio sat in a drawer for a couple years as I wasn't "hamming" for a while. Then, one day, I charged it up (8hrs) and when I went to use the radio, the TX was off frequency. . . on all three bands... like WAY off frequency.
Two weeks ago, I shipped it back to Kenwood, East to have it repaired. . . not a hefty amount for the repair ($89.00 plus return shipping). Today I get an email from K-east that it had a bad tcxo and and the part is on back-order. They have to get the part from Japan... LUCKY ME!
I cannot understand how the radio took a dump sitting in a drawer.
It's a shame.... My TH-77A that I purchased in 1990 has been dropped, kicked, bounced down a flight of stairs and still works supurbly.
Guess I just got one with a weak part.
Hmm. Yaesu next?
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WA2QIC
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 8, 2008 23:37
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A Solid HT tri-bander
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Can't remember now how long I've owned the rig, I think I bought it shortly after it was introduced, so I've had it 5-6 years or so. After getting stranded in NYC during the blackout of August 2003, my little HT has since gone where-ever I go, and has held up very well indeed over the years. I am still using the original battery with no signs of fading.
Minor gripes:
I don't care too much for the volume/vfo control. Seems like when I am tuning around or spinning through the memories, I invariably wind up fat-fingering the volume control along for the ride.
As others have mentioned, I wish the audio was better.
I don't like the speaker mic at all, I wish it was bigger, with better sound quality. I don't use it much, and regret wasting money on it.
Other than these minor quibbles, Kenwood hit a home run with this rig & I would recommend it to anyone
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N7AF
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Rating: 4/5
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Jun 5, 2008 08:02
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Good with a few reservations.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I purchased this radio because it covers the 144, 220, & 440 MHz with full power output on all, unlike some of it's "competitors." In fact, I bought a second one and they have both served me well except for the following:
1. Battery charging jack. Everyone seems to have this problem at one time or another and both of mine do. A little cleaning and a drop of contact cleaner clears it up for awhile but it always comes back. Needs improvement.
2. Tinny, high-pitched received audio. Both sound the same. I probably wouldn't have noticed except that my previous HT, a VX-5, had such nice full-sounding receive audio. The TH-F6A's receive audio is adequate, but it could sound better.
3. One of the radios receives some kind of signal that makes 440 MHz reception useless on the B-receiver. It goes away when the antenna is removed and haven't been able to figure out what the cause is. Annoying, but I just don't use the B-receiver on that radio.
On the positive side, they've both been reliable and receive well on the amateur 900 & 1200 MHz bands. And after all these years, neither Yaesu nor Icom have come out with a radio that does what this one does.
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KI4AMD
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Rating: 5/5
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May 15, 2008 09:00
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Meets or exceeds all my expectations!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I purchased the TH-F6 just before I went to Afghanistan in 2004 so that I would have a good radio for amateur radio work, listening to commercial broadcast, and listening to shortwave in one compact package. This radio met and exceeded all of my expectations. It has been within arms reach nearly continuously since the day it arrived in the mail. It has been dropped more times that I can count, and I’ve cycled the battery hundreds of times with no perceptible reduction in performance. The housing is a little beat up, but has proven surprisingly resilient. The front parts of the feet have worn down a little rendering it somewhat less stable when standing up than when I got it. It rides on the handlebars of my bicycle, even when I’m riding in the rain, and has lived up to its “light rain” resistance.
During its deployment to Afghanistan the bottom keys were worn down to the point that the lettering was no longer visible, and I lost the stock antenna (entirely my fault). I went through several after-market tri-band antennas, but found none durable enough for my use and had to purchase a replacement OEM antenna. At the same time I purchased a new keypad, which was not difficult to replace. I’ve also replaced the speaker. (Word of caution: Although it’s normally pretty durable, the speaker is very fragile when removed from the housing.)
I’m involved with Appalachian search and rescue and have done the extended transmit modification on this radio which makes it available for EMERGENCY use on most of the SAR frequencies in the 150MHz band and it is also capable of transmitting (although not FCC type accepted) on the 450MHz Public Safety Pool band that my employer uses. Once modified, the transmit range covers most of the common VHF and UHF public service and FRS/GMRS frequencies (on which this radio is highly illegal, so make sure you have a good emergency before transmitting on these).
This radio also has a “TX inhibit function,” that’s menu selectable, and comes in very handy to prevent accidentally transmitting on my local police department’s frequencies while scanning. Because of the extended transmit modification, I keep this function active most of the time.
My favorite feature is the dual independent receive. I’m a NASCAR fan and use this radio as a scanner at races where I can monitor broadcast commentary on 454MHz or the local commercial radio frequency while simultaneously scanning for driver to pit communication. The battery is strong enough to last through programming before the race, and at least one 600 mile event pushing 100% receive from one receiver and scanning ~20% receive on the other. The receivers will truly receive 2 separate frequencies simultaneously—superimposing the audio from both. Relative audio is controllable with a rough balance control (only 5 steps are available: Mute A/Full B, Partial A/Full B, Full A/Full B, Full A/Partial B, Full A/Mute B). Only one receiver is “wide-band” multi-mode, but the other one covers plenty in the public service and ham bands.
The audio-out jack is the less-common 1/16” variety, so you can’t plug in standard earphones, but adapters are readily available.
Of course a receiver is no better than its antenna. The stock rubber-duck antenna is not designed for frequencies outside the three supported ham bands, so if you’re interested in listening on frequencies significantly different from those bands you will need a suitable antenna. I’ve used a random wire, random loop, and 30m dipole with acceptable results. The radio has an internal antenna, that is only available at frequencies below 10MHz and really only useful below 2MHz for signals that aren’t strong. The internal antenna can be turned on and off from a menu option, so if you’re having trouble receiving broadcast AM check your menu settings for “bar antenna.”
Another particularly nice feature is the “beat shift.” This shifts the frequency of some internal oscillator(s) in the radio—effectively moving the internal interference sources to different frequencies in case they happen to interfere with something you’re trying to monitor. I find this especially useful when I’m listening to my favorite AM talk station on 710KHz in temperatures around 20°F. As the radio gets cold, I start to hear an annoying squeal that is quickly remedied by turning the beat shift on. Back indoors, when the radio warms up, the squeal drifts back to 710KHz and I have to turn the beat shift back off.
When an external cord is connected to this radio it will not operate on the batteries, which is a common feature in a most HT’s I’ve worked with before. On a few occasions I’ve experienced a problem where the radio seems to “think” it has a cord plugged in, but no plug is present. I’ve been able to remedy the problem by plugging in, wiggling, and unplugging the external power cord. This problem has been very infrequent (occurring less than 5 times since I got the radio) and it has been about 6 months since the last occurrence.
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KF6KDA
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 11, 2008 14:04
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Does it all and for a long time too !
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've had my F6A since they were first introduced. I'm on my 3rd with the other two dying horrible deaths. One left on the roof of the car, and the 2nd decided it wanted to go for a swim in our spa. Not fitting deaths for such a fine HT. Kenwood in their forethought actually gave us 3 bands WE CAN ACTUALLY USE! How many of you (us) actually use 6 meters on an HT. I have no clue as to why they would even include that band on an HT. I like listening to some of the major SW broadcasters while on long trips and even dropping in an ear on the local 10m net while tooling around town.
The TX side of the HT is just as wonderful. I use all 3 bands and never not once has the F6A balked.
Some have complained that the front end is a little weak and I tend to agree. Because it is so wide banded on the RX, there are bound to be some compromises and that is one of them.
Overall, IMO, this is the ONLY HT worth a hill of beans available today. It does it all and with EXCELLENT battery life too boot. Buy one while you still can!!!
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KI6DKC
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 11, 2008 13:49
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Lots of Features in Small Package
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've had this radio for a couple years now and am very pleased. This was my first HT and I decided to get one that can do a lot. It has many great features, most of which I do not use, but the manual makes it easy to figure everything out.
There are several things that I specifically like and a couple things I dislike about this radio.
I really like: The compact size, ease of use, three band transmit, multi-band recieve, and it lasts a long time on a good charge.
What I dislike: The stock antenna is pretty terrible. It has terrible reception and I found it difficult to transmit over a great distance with it. Found significant improvement when I added a Diamond SRH320A tri band antenna but it is about double the length which makes it a bit unwealdy hanging on my belt. The other thing I do not like about this radio is that the antenna attaches to the radio with a SMA instead of a BNC fitting. I like to use my HT with other antennas on occassion and it is a pain to have to use the SMA to BNC adapter and then the BNC to PL259. If Kenwood had used BNC I would not nearly have minded as much that it came with a crummy antenna.
I have used this radio as an HT, as my primary rig from inside the house, and even mobile with a Larson 5/8 wave antenna on my truck prior to finally getting another radio just for mobile work. Even running almost exclusively at the 5 watt max I had plenty of power to get through a very lenghthy QSO. I left the thing in my truck once for over a month without using it and turned it on and still had plenty of charge left in it. It took nearly three months of sitting in the car not being used before the battery was dead. I would recommend the optional speaker mike and car/cigar charger cord. The speaker mike makes it much easier to use the unit as a mobile in a vehicle or at a base station where you have an external antenna hooked to it with Coax.
In conclusion, I love this little radio and have not regretted the purchase. I take it with me all the time on business trips and vacation because of it's great size. My ham buddies all drool over it when they see it. It is pricey but for what you are getting it is a pretty reasonable radio.
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YO3HJV
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Rating: 3/5
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Apr 7, 2008 12:57
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Decent trip radio
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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The F7 have capabilities for transmitting only on 2 m band and 70 cm band (the USA version can transmit on 1.25 m band).
Is a robust radio despite it's dimensions.
I like the loud volume but I don't like the PTT press button... Feels cheap plastic thing! Bad, bad, bad.
Another annoying thing is the APO function... It's like the entire engineering board from Kenwood suffered a subit brain attack and the APO was left to be done by some genitor! The APO stops the radio only if two conditions occur:
a. The radio keys are not touched in the preset time range, and
b. no signal is received in the preset time range.
This is real STUPID! Everytime I left the radio on FM broadcast station and I go to sleep, when I wake up I found the radio working, of course! This makes me mad because I like to always have my main portable radio with a charged battery...
Is still a decent radio for travel and trips.
Adrian
yo3hjv
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WA0RJ
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 4, 2008 19:59
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I like it!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I like this HT. I've had it for two days and having a great time with it. I love being able to listen to a classical music station and be in a QSO at the same time. Works great on 2 meters and 220. I have not tried 440. Yes the buttons are small, but so is the radio. The menu will take some getting used to, but I'm already learning and I got the programing cable as well. The menus are not as extensive as my FT-897D, so I'll be OK.
If you want a small 3 band HT, give this one a look.
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KC9KOW
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 1, 2008 21:14
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Awesome!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I used a friend's TH-F6A for a small period of time and witnessed many others in the group use it, and it is a great radio!
For those who are blind, it is a highly accessible HT with great value. The battery seems to hold up without trouble and appears to hold a charge well.
After having my limited experience with it, and watching others use it without any problems...you bet I will buy one, and then recommend it to others!
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W6JAK
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Rating: 5/5
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Feb 10, 2008 22:13
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Easy to use and rugged
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I've had this great ht for a couple of weeks now, and was going to wait a while longer to write a review but something happened today that impressed me too much to wait longer.
First of all, this HT is easy to use. Most functions are accessible via key control and the menu is intuitive and easy to navigate. At first, the little menu selection knob was strange, but it quickly became very handy for navigating the menu and also for changing frequencies/memory channels.
The tri-band capability is great with 5 full watts on all three bands. It's my first 220 capable rig, providing access to many more repeaters in the area.
OK. What happened today was that I was helping out at the local emergency operations center performing antenna tests, and as I was climbing a ladder the TH-F6A slipped off my belt and fell 15 ft to a dead drop on solid concrete. Another ham picked it up (still in one piece) and brought up to me on the roof. It was still on and fully functional! The only damage was the corner of the battery case was scuffed and there was some slight scuff marks on the LCD window. Kenwood's claim to MIL-STD-810 compliance is undoubtedly true.
I'm looking forward to using this HT for satellite work, coupled to an Arrow antenna. Having CW/SSB receive capability is a real plus for this activity.
It's my third HT following an Alinco DJ-160T and Yaesu VX-2R, both also good HTs. The Kenwood design is showing its age with only 400 memory channels as compared to the VX-2's 1000, but it still more than enough for my needs.
This is a great HT and recommend it to anyone. I will be more careful next time climbing ladders. No need for further shock testing since it is a keeper.
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