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Reviews For: Kenwood TH-D7A(G)

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Hand-held

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Review Summary For : Kenwood TH-D7A(G)
Reviews: 62MSRP: 459
Description:
Dual band VHF/UHF hand held transceiver.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.kenwood.net/products/index.cfm?AMA=open&ama_hheld=open&radio=TH-D7AG&selection=Amateur&ID=80
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00624.3
N1UMJ Rating: 2021-03-07
good work horse radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I always wanted one of these but never could afford it. I finally got one for a great price much better than the seller stated which is always a plus and with satellites, sky command for my ts-2000, all the various stuff this radio can do it does it great. I put an after market antenna on it, have after market batteries for it and I have a collection of hand helds and seldom leave home without one, this is is a good one. It's simple to use, nice solid feel, good sound, a great quality radio as Kenwood is known for. I have most Kenwood dual band hand helds, might as well look for the rest I like them all. My hand held radios are not for show they do get used and carried bumped and all, it's n ice to know I don't have to worry about it when that happens.
YU2SRB Rating: 2020-02-07
Great TX/RX! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This walkie is almost 20 years old and it is just like new.
Great quality buttons and details. Construction is not rugged as Yaesu, but you feel premium feeling anyway.
It looks avantgarde even today.
I am often using mine with Alinco ELH-24B 2m linear amplifier set 0.5w IN and I get about 20w OUT,connect my 7 el.yagi and get simplex of between 150-200km (antenna is about 50 m on roof of building).
Using battery pack with Eneloop Pro batteries min.2500mAh and get 5W on VHF on full power when out. Highly reccomended rig.

Best 73s
YU2SRB
VK3ZAZ Rating: 2016-11-22
Brilliant Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
After the earlier model with seperate GPS always getting tangled up and needing two cig power leads I settled on this model and if you check on aprs fi under Vk3zaz-11 sparrow mobile the pics tell the story, it tracks accurately as distinct from the yaesu vk 8 gr which has a useless gps and was a waste of money see Vk3zaz-7 track for comparison.
N3NJ Rating: 2015-02-03
Excellent!!!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Buy it!

----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by N3NJ on 2015-02-03

Simply a must have if you own a TS2000 and enjoy Skycommand. The stock antenna is junk unless you're using rig on extra low power. Very versatile radio. Bummer it has been discontinued. Get the software. I could not imagine life without this radio. Had mine for almost 10 years and it still works like new.I did need to purchase a new aftermarket battery. I will trade up to the D72 once I'm convinced that it (the D72) will outperform the D7. If you can find one of these GRAB IT! FYI there are some bugs in the Skycommand mode but it's still fun to use. If you know of any Skycommand secrets PLEASE LET ME KNOW! 73 good luck if you're lucky enough to get one of these rigs.
N7KFD Rating: 2014-04-06
2 Improvements - Great Radio Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I owned one of these a few years ago but sold it. I recently picked up a new one for $200 and it's worked out great. I replaced the stock antenna with a Diamond SRH701 and found a 7.4V Lithium Ion battery for it. With 7.4V the radio only puts out 3 watts max but as a test I setup the APRS and let it run, 24 hours later the radio was still running!! Plus the new battery weighs less than the radio does! I was lucky and found one that had been well taken care of and it looks brand new. With today's battery technology I would definitely recommend picking up one of these radios if you get find one in good shape. It's to bad they didn't have Lithium batteries when this first came out, it would have scored much higher reviews.
KF5DEY Rating: 2009-11-04
Works fine. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am having a hard time hitting repeaters...so I will have to agree that the range is very limited...but how much range can you get out of a 5w HT with a short antenna?

I got the cable to use the software for programming...it is a lifesaver.

If I really need range out of this, I will get the BD35 amp and a big antenna...

On a related note...does anyone know of a leather case for this radio?
NT9M Rating: 2009-05-30
Still unique Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Though discontinued, the D7A(G) still offers a unique feature set that no one else even approaches. I've had mine for a few years, but only recently began using SkyCommand on a regular basis with my TS2000. They make a great pair. The only nit to pick is the speaker does not produce the same quality audio as my TH-G71A, no doubt due to a size limitation, as they've certainly managed to pack a lot into this HT. Remedied with a quality speaker/mike add-on. I'm anxious to see what Kenwood will do to top this one when they come out with the new model next year. Sure hope the same accessories will work with the new one!
ZS5J Rating: 2009-05-30
Great but change the display Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a great h/held radio, works very well, and intuitive. One thing I would like Kenwood to bring out in their new HT next year, is a color LCD display. The technology is there and has been for a decade - thanks to cheap cellular phones, it would be easy and cheap to use a good color display. I find with color LCD, it is easier to read in all types of light, and, more information can be put on the display, than currently on h/helds. Come Kenwood, you would sell heaps of them, if you had a good color display - none of the other manufacturers have ventured there yet.

Otherwise, I have no complaints. My stock battery died, so I imported a very high spec battery from a battery manufacturer in the USA, now my battery lasts for days.

73
John, ZS5J
KSAVES2 Rating: 2009-05-29
Dated but still holds it own Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This radio is a tracking solution rather than just a glorified tracker. Yaesu missed the mark with the VX-8R. Hold on to yer hats though as Kenwood is planning on a replacement in 2010.
It will be dual band I've been told. Make sure
if you are interested you write to KW and tell them the features you'd like to see. I mentioned it has to have the functionality of the ol' D7 or they might as well not go through
the motions. The TNC needs to be accessible and the radio still needs to be interfaceable to
a serial handheld GPS. Kurt KC9LDH
former_K4PDQ Rating: 2008-10-13
Glad I got it when I did Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I had been looking at the TH-D7 HT to Sky Command my Kenwood TS-2000 for several years, then I began to see they were not being listed on major distributor's web sites, so I suspected they had been discontinued. About that time, a local ham was helping liquidate a SK inventory and had one almost new in the box for a very good price, so I grabbed it. I haven't used it a lot yet, but did set it up to do the Sky Command and that is about as neat as an HT can get. Sorry they no longer make this unit and it does seem that Kenwood is not making much effort to bring out new gear now...just hope they don't leave the ham arena for good.