| WA7HJV |
Rating:  |
2007-07-29 | |
| EchoLInk nodes not decoding THD7A DTMF tones |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Greetings to all,
For years I have been using my FT-60R in my airplane to work various EchoLink nodes as I travel here and there. I have never had a problem with the EL nodes decoding my DTMF tones with that radio or any of the other 3 HT's and 2 mobile rigs I own. (various brands)
Recently I purchased a used THD7AG so that I could run APRS and EchoLink simultaneously.
The radio worked great on APRS. Unfortunately, of the 20 or so EL nodes that I use reguarly, not one including my own could decode all of the DTMF tones from the THD7.
Three weeks ago I purchased a brand new THD7AG from HRO thinking that there was a problem with the used one. Same thing. I promptly sent the new radio to Kenwood for alignment thinking that it had a problem. They sent it back stating that no problem was found... meets Kenwood specs, etc.
By this time I am checking around and find that others have the same problem. Their THD7A's are not being decoded by EchoLink nodes. This involves several THD7A's and several EL nodes. While one EL node might decode 5 or six keys from one radio, another node will only decode 3 or 4 and not the same ones.
I am aware that the EL nodes can be tweaked for DTMF twist, etc. Experimenting with my node I found that I could tweak it enough to get all but 4 keys from my new THD7 to decode. The problem here is that the audio input level is very low when I do this and I still don't decode all of the tones. Also, I can't go tweak everybody's node just to work with my radio.
I have looked high and low on the net and have not found anything about this.
Does anyone have any info or insight on this situation.
If not, could someone tell me where I could purchase a small DTMF generator like the one Radio Shack used to sell 25 years ago or so?
Thank you in advance.
Jack WA7HJV |
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| VE2EWQ |
Rating: |
2007-07-18 | |
| TH-D7G |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I am also experiencing a similar problem as W7SAZ. I purchased a PB-39H from Batteries America and initially I was able to transmit at full power but after about 6 months of use the battery does not retain it full charge or it seems. The bar graph hits S9 on initial transmit for approximately 1 second and then drops to S5 and remains there. I have tried to recharge the battery numerous times but with no success. I can only assume that the Batteries America PB39H is a poor design. I definitely enjoy the TH-D7AG when powered adequately. |
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| KQ6EA |
Rating: |
2007-06-25 | |
| Yes, it benefits from aftermarket help |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| As others have said, this is basically a good radio that needs some help. I replaced the NiCad pack with a NiMH battery from The Nicadlady, and the stock antenna with a Diamond SRH77CA. It's a little disappointing to have to spend another $100 on accessories for $400+ radio, but all-in-all I'm satisfied with it. The performance is very good, it has the features I wanted, and it's "Plug-and-Play" with the VC-H1 Visual Communicator for portable SSTV. |
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| KD7ORD |
Rating: |
2007-06-03 | |
| great |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| easy to program great for anyone running aprs. kenwood really has there stuff together on this radio all they need is a bigger battery! |
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| KA9FLX |
Rating: |
2007-05-28 | |
| Less than expected |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
After some debating over this unit for about a month, I finally picked one up at Dayton 2007.
I am admittedly pleased with the integrated TNC and APRS capabilities. However, while it has been less than a week of ownership, I am having mixed feelings about this purchase.
Like everybody it seems, the antenna is less than optimal and should be replaced.
My biggest issues are however related to battery life and operating temperature.
Lets start with the (by today's standards), humongous PB-39 NiCad battery.
No new HT today should even be sold with NiCads anymore for a variety of reasons. But this thing is huge!! And the life expectancy to date in active voice QSO is about 3 hours at best.
I ran tracker mode at Dayton, with auto reports once per hour, no voice, and the battery died in six hours (after a proper 15 hour charge per the manual the night before).
During voice QSO, I do not recommend high power. The radio will get hot enough to literally burn your hand after only about 10 minutes, and that is touching the plastic parts! Removing the battery, I am all but positive I could have fried an egg on the the metal backplate of the tranceiver, it literally could not be touched and I was suprised that the plastic on the battery did not deform or melt.
Granted, this model has been around for some time, and I was sort of hoping to see a replacement from Kenwood at Dayton. As I did not, I chose to go with this radio.
Nevertheless, one would think that after all these years and no replacement, Kenwood might have improved on it just a bit more.
So again, while I like the Packet features of this radio and reports of voice quality have all been excellent, I must still rate this radio as simply OK. To tell the truth, we need a rating between OK and needs help for this radio.
Sadly. this seems to be one of those monopoly nitch radios where there is no competition, hence I don't think Kenwood is motivated to make any serious improvements.
If you really need/desire a built in TNC/APRS, then buy this radio. If you don't, I would suggest you look elsewhere, because other than those nitch features, this radio is poor at best.
While I will most likely keep the radio, I am less than impressed with it. |
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| N0FPE |
Rating: |
2007-03-10 | |
| So So |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Lots of kewl features. Works well. Stock antenna is just as expected, bad. But the worst part of this radio is the crappy battery life. even with the extended life battery it still sucks. when there are radios on the market that get DAYS of listening and 8-10 hours operating time on a single 1400ma battery the kenwood falls on its face.
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| W7CNK |
Rating: |
2007-03-10 | |
| OK Hand Held |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I will echo other posts about the supplied antenna, rather inefficient. I replaced mine with a Diamond SRH77CA. And yes, the battery pack is leak. The menu system is straight forward and easy to use. The APRS and TNC functions work very well. On the other hand the Sky Command function reminds me of an old computer program called PC Anywhere. It was developed for remote computer control over phone lines, very slow, cumbersome and featureless, save your money. |
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| AC9Y |
Rating: |
2007-01-05 | |
| I like it, works as expected |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I purchased a TH-D7AG for APRS with a local Search and Rescue team. Now I don’t need a TNC (TinyTrak). One less thing hanging on me in the woods! The receive function of other APRS stations is nice too, but I’m not sure how often I’ll use that.
I also have a TS-2000 and was interested in Sky Command, which is now legal. I was able to get it up and running without much trouble. Now I can listen to CW on 160m while in my garage doing something else. But I’m not sure it’s real practical since the audio transmit (to the TH-D7AG from the TS-2000) on 2m goes for only 10 min before you must re-enable it. I assume that’s to protect the TS-2000 from the 100% duty cycle transmit to deliver the audio. The system sends your call in Morse then starts the audio transmission to the TH-D7AG. Of course, 10 minutes is the limit until your station must ID again anyway.
I was a bit confused at first when programming memory locations. I have a RadioShack HT, an Icom W32A, and other HTs, but this one is a bit different. The nice thing is the commonality between some of the key functions on the TH-D7AG and the TS-2000.
I like the radio a lot. The battery could last longer, and the supplied antenna does seem to be somewhat of a dummy load.
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| K9CHP |
Rating: |
2006-08-24 | |
| Excellent radio for satellite work |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I got the TH-D7AG mainly for satellite work as I wanted a good full duplex radio. Prior to that I had used a Yaesu VX-7 and a Yaesu VX-2 neither in full duplex mode as they can't do it. The results speak for themselves: I have almost more contacts in the three weeks since I've got the TH-D7AG than in the six months prior to that! Now to the flaws. The OEM battery is not great and I got a much better one with a good charger from batteriesamerica.com; the rubber duckie is just that but I already had enough SMA antennas in my collection so it was not a problem; tuning the radio for satellite work requires to tune the sub-band for Doppler (I use memories) and return to the main band for Tx capability. With the Yaesus I could program split memories and just switch from one memory to another without having to switch banks. So there was a short learning curve here. But my signal is strong and good and I've managed to make distant contact quite easily, even on low passes that I had to ignore before I had the Kenwood.
Working in full duplex, you will need earphones or an external speaker to avoid feedback, but that is the same with any full duplex operation with any radio capable of it and even with two separate radios. |
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| KF5OK |
Rating: |
2006-07-19 | |
| Real Good But |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Don’t get me wrong the radio is a keeper if it fits your needs. If I could give it a 4.5 I would but Kenwood made some serious omissions with this rig. NiCad battery! And a Dummy load of an OE antenna. So count on adding another 80-90 bucks to the cost for a good battery and antenna to make a really good portable. I knew this before I purchased it. Also there is no Charge indicator. That really PO’d me.
If you don’t want APRS, Sky Command, TNC and want a really good rugged/usable HT out of the box I can only say vx-7r witch I have. If you don’t need the weather resistance/ruggedness of the vx get the th-f6 Kenwood witch I have also.
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