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You can
write your own review of the Kenwood TM-V7A.
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VE3XNB
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Rating: 2/5
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Dec 27, 2011 22:43
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Beginning to suck
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have owned mine for @ 8 years now. It has gotten progressively worse. The lines in the display make it difficult to use. Radio World in Toronto On. had the voice unit on clearout so I bought one. Makes it easier to use. But the programing has become difficult. Will be replacing the unit as soon as I can afford to. Will likely go with something from Yaesu. Have several Yaesu products and am generally happy with them all. My wife VA3BLM is also happier with the Yaesu stuff she owns. I also have an
R-5000 that I have had to have repaired several times now. It too worked great at first but has gotten worse with "the out of lock problem."
Kenwood seems to be sliding down hill quickly.
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N2PLI
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Rating: 3/5
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Sep 1, 2011 21:27
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Just ok
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Hi I had one of these radios about 6 years ago very very hard to program I was never able to figure out how to use the .Display was not to bad a had a later model.It hold ok Intermod rejection.I should have dished out the extra 300 and bought the standard 5900 when it was available..5 years later I found a 5900 in near mint condition.
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AD5KL
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 29, 2011 09:12
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Had 2 of them
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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First one is great, TX audio was strong. Only problem was the display problem after a few years.
Second one has had no issues with display but the TX audio was weak. After reading a bunch of different fixes, I chose the low tech approach. I disassembled the mic so I wouldn't harm the element. I drilled out the hole in front of the element & put it back together again. Worked like a charm.
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W0IW
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Rating: 2/5
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Dec 2, 2009 09:22
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Solid Radio /Worst display in History!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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THERE IS A FIX FOR TM-V7A's HAZY BLUE DIMMING DISPLAYS!!!
I got sick of the display problem with them and I developed a modification to that radios head which allows the display to be clear and bright even in bright sunshine (( Check it out )) ...
I own 3 TM-V7A's..
I have used one of them for almost 7 years now in a cross-banding mode in the house it has worked flawlessly for me (( A +++ )) Except the display on all of them have grown more and more fuzzy and almost impossible to read.... The Others TM-V7A's are in my truck and in my shack.. All have been modded with my TM-V7A's fix, and now I enjoy them even in bright sunlight...
Joe Leto
WØIW
http://www.hamkitt.com
w0iw.com
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W9SAS
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Rating: 4/5
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Nov 7, 2009 17:46
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What K4JF said
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I used my TM-V7A mobile for years (until my vehicle was totalled by a clueless moron who rear-ended me at 40 mph while talking on her cell phone as I was stopped in traffic: no injuries luckily.) Performance-wise, the radio was great on all counts, Rx and Tx. And I never had the display "lines" problems reported by others. It just worked. And worked.
That said, the display is an ergonomic disaster. I could never locate it in my vehicle where I could view it consistently. Changing from normal to reverse video was no help. Via the extra-long extension kit, I finally put it above the rear view mirror in my minivan. Fortunately I had the VS-3 voice synthesizer option installed, which eliminated the need to look at the display much at all during routine operation. That made mobile operation tolerable.
For a fixed installation I'd give this radio a 5, but only a 3 for mobile, hence my overall 4 rating.
73s, Steve (W9SAS)
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K4JF
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Rating: 3/5
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Nov 5, 2009 18:10
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Great rig, poor display
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I used the TM-V7A for years, always mobile in one car. The radio worked great, clear audio, solid crossband work. The display, however, was a pain. It is extremely temperature sensitive. Cold car, have to reset contrast before I could read it. Then reset when the car warmed up. Hot car in summer, same thing. Readjust when the a/c cooled it down. Pain in the tokus!! Plus, if I were wearing polarized sunglasses, the display went blank!! Almost all my station is Kenwood with solid results, but this one has a serious problem with the display. I replaced this with a TM271A. The display works fine, but it isn't remotable, so not as convenient. Therefore I would recommend the TM-271A ONLY for fixed station work, not mobile.
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KE1O
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Rating: 3/5
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Nov 3, 2009 19:38
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My First Ham Radio
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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This was the first radio I bought new. got it from AES had it a few months, worked good, had some display issues. Loved the blue display. but in the end traded it in on a IC-2800. I have found my new love, so don't miss it too much. remote head was small enuff to mount on sun visor though. Overall a good radio, but I wouldn't get another. KE1O out
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N7MYW
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Rating: 4/5
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Jul 3, 2009 12:08
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Delightful!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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After reading the reviews of this radio and some of the problems associated with it, i was reluctant to buy one.So when a used model came up i pondered it and then decided:maybe they were wrong. I paid my money and a few days later here arrives the V7A with a very slight scratch and no booklet. The instructions online were enough for me and the scratch was hardly seen. The screen had not an ounce of problems that I've been reading about ie the white lines,etc. Perhaps this model was a later serial # and won't be affected. After plugging in all the memories,etc i went to work on checking it out.
What a great radio!! I like the blue or reverse screen and am very happy with the audio and easiness of the menu. This radio is not worth the $700+ it originally sold for but is certainly a good buy at $300 or so.
One does need to read the manual or be inclined to the menu driven radios to appreciate it.
The only marks against it I would say are the microphone plug (give me a REAL mic plug like the 8 pins) and it's placement on the front.
Other than that,I'm very happy.
N7MYW
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KC0NPF
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Rating: 2/5
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Apr 14, 2009 18:11
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Close, but no cigar
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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First off: The display REALLY DOES SUCK THAT BAD. I’m a young’n compared to some of the ham community, (whom I respect and admire.) I have good eyesight, and I’m willing to deal with a display that isn’t perhaps the sharpest. I mounted the rig in my car below eye level, pointed up at my face so that the display is only slightly off-axis, and out of the sunlight for the most part. I CAN’T SAFELY SEE IT while driving during the day, AND EVEN AT NIGHT!.
This is the older unit without the updated display. I got lucky and found one with no lines and figured I would be able to tweak the settings to compensate for the display somehow, but there’s absolutely nothing you can do, I’ve tried almost all the possible combinations. I also suspect the voltage regulation to the display unit is pretty poor. I say this because as the radio's input voltage changes, the display seems to change contrast slowly over time. Its also very heavily affected by temperature, a 10 degree temp swing is enough to make it (more) unreadable. Even as a young’n that might still think he’s partially invincible, I can’t recommend this rig for mobile use, it’s just not safe.
This Kenwood's microphone controls are a joke. I don't know how Icom does it, but their mics are much more useful, albeit crowded. Kenwood just sends DTMF tones down an open mic line, which controls the radio. For some stupid reason you can't save a "Programmable Memory" - i.e. a full setup for the rig including most of its settings - without turning off Microphone Control.. WTHey?? I suppose I did like the ability to power the rig on/off with a button on the microphone, but with all of the other functionality pretty much nonexistant (as opposed to the Icom), the novelty wore off after about 3 seconds.
The rig’s guts are relatively good otherwise. The (A)dvance (I)ntercept (P)oint function is somewhat nice. I don't fully understand what it does, shift the IF's? all I know is that with that enabled, some of the local neighborhood noise that occasionallly breaks the squelch is eliminated.
What I had to do to make this rig somewhat usable included: cleaning out the display, its previous owner had it living in a truck, so the area between the LCD and the plastic cover was very dusty.
I also replaced the fan in the rig. Because I purchased it used, I have no idea whether the fan that was in there was stock or not. Its bearings were totally fried, and it made a nasty 'ticking' noise at random times when it was turning - the rotating fan was brushing up against parts of the magnet assembly inside. A fresh cpu fan and 10 minutes soldering the plug onto it provided me with a new fan. Note: the screw-holes for the stock fan are counter-sunk quite a ways into the fan. This is required to make it sit flush with the fan bracket, and also so the screws reach all the way through. The countersinking required at least a half hour and a drill press.
I’ve had good luck with operating it V/U (full duplex/crossband repeat), V/V, and U/U. are all possible, and quite handy. It’s like having 2 radios in one box. Crossband repeat and its associated remote control functions are AMAZING! I love the fact that I can just leave the rig in remote-standby and if needed, kick it online with the push of a DTMF autodial on my HT. This also means I can disable it at will, save the battery, and keep it from getting too toasty.
In V/V mode, while scanning on the right-hand side of the radio, AM receive doesn't seem to work, I get a carrier, but no audio (and I'll have to do some more tweaking to see if the problem is consistent or intermittent, or the result of operator-error.) Simple solution, just use the left side for scanning, not a big deal.
Overall the rig gets a 2, and that might be a tad generous because I intended to use it mobile. I would NOT trust my life to this rig, its a neat toy but nothing more. For Skywarn and other critical applications, this little rig will be turned off, relegated to APRS, or secondary receive, while the solid ol' IC-2100H does the hard work.
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N4FDG
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 9, 2009 03:49
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New display works great
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've got two of them. On my mobile rig I shelled out the $170.00 for the new display module. It's a piece of cake to install, true plug and play. Works great.
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