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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
T95MWP Rating: 2005-02-02
Kenwood needs to be shamed Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased radio last week from GigaParts and received on this Monday.Nobady could here me with this radio.So I checked power with power meter and gives 2,5W on High power with 13,8V.Shame on Kenwood when sell radio for over $320 and is pice of garbage.
KD4HTW Rating: 2005-01-30
Disappointed with Kenwood Service Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased my TH-D7a almost 5 years ago. Excited to have a APRS capable HT. Initially the unit worked great and boy did I use it. Almost daily. I am a Professional Communicator and am very familiar with RF Equipment and durability. While I realized this "ain't no Motorola HT", I was shocked that the "toy-like" feel exists on this marvel of a radio. The plastic while durable feels a little flimsy. I have not cracked the plastic BUT I did do damage to the radio that the Kenwood could fix but WON'T. I dropped the radio on the base and the metal heatsink that serves as the clip for battery broke. I figured that "okay this is simple" replace the metal backing of the radio and away I go again...well think again. The only metal part on the radio is NOT available as a replacement or repair item at the factory service center. I even had the regional Kenwood sales manager look into this and even he was not able to help me with this repair. Well. I was ticked, mad and very disappointed with this and eventually got over it. So I plugged in 12Vdc and used it in the office as a "base" until one day when the power output "brick" died about 6 months ago... So.. Here I have a busted 4.5 yr old high tech radio that will cost more than a new one to repair. :(

Would I buy another? Nah...did I love having it? You Betcha !!! it was fun..so I paid $459 and used it for about 4 years..$100bucks per year..not bad..I miss it though...

Mitch KD4HTW
KR3ORY Rating: 2005-01-27
First HT radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I too have had this unit for about five weeks. I chose this HT for the built-in APRS. I'm glad I did. I hooked it up to my Lowrance GM100 GPS and it works great! The manuals are a little confusing (e.g. using Tone vs. using CTCSS.) Based on eHam reviews I also bought a Diamond SRH77CA antenna, carry case, and filtered cigarette cord. Then after a weeks with the it I had to have the PC cord and headset/mic as well. The Kenwood accessories were a bit pricey but I think they were a good investment because I use all of them everyday and they've really enhanced my experience with the HT. For example I hook my desktop PC up and use UI-View32 to digipeat and IGate APRS traffic, not to mention saving a lot of key presses in programming memories. If you're interested in APRS and/or working OSCARS, you'll love the unit (get the case because you're going to want to take it with you Geocaching or whatever), but again be prepared to accessorize $$$ Also, at full power it makes a great hand warmer in these winter months,..;-)
73-s,
KR3ORY
N2ECR Rating: 2005-01-22
No Problems Here Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recieved my D7A(G)in December. While it's only a month old, I haven't had a problem with the tone dropping out with vibration. I too live in NYC and hitting the repeaters is never a problem with the tone enabled. My model is also the G2.0 and the SN starts with 607. I've tried the test the gentleman mentioned earlier, and showed no problems. I'm not saying it's impossible, but so far my model is fine.

I will admit that the battery life isn't that great, but it's only 600mA (stock). I have yet to purchase a higher mA battery. I'm just starting with APRS and was pleased to hit the ISS with just this HT on 5 watts with the stock antenna. It could be a bit more rugged and I keep mine in the case. If the radio guys made a radio that has what we all want, they'd go out of business.

Love the radio.
KD5SRL Rating: 2004-11-02
One Heck of a GREAT HT! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've had this HT for over 6 months now and the only complaint I have is the battery doesn't last as long as expected. The TNC packet will eat up your battery like a monster if you have it on high power. The other and very small complaint is the Sky Command is difficult to figure out and has a glitch that you have to turn off the audio to change frequencies on the TS-2000. All in all, I'd have to say this HT has too many positives to give it less than 5 on the scale. I love mine! From GPS tracking with APRS and APRSPoint to controling my TS-2000 while sitting outside grilling steaks and drinking a cool one with friends. I love this one! I have a TH-F6A that is very small and I wish the TH-D7A(G) had the battery life and petite size but the TH-F6A can't come close to the features of the TH-D7A(G).

If I find a better battery for this little rig it will be a 5+. If you have a TS-2000 and want to have fun controling it... go for this one.

Best of 73s,
KD5SRL
KC0NDR Rating: 2004-08-08
Good Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The only thing that I do Not like is that if you are running APRS on A you only can hear 70cm on B. I wish you could run all frequencies on both A & B. Every thing esle about the radio works great. If anybody knows how to get all freQuencies on B e-mail me at rayden@centurytel.net.
KB3ING Rating: 2004-07-19
Amazing radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This radio is simply amazing. I purchased it for a portable packet radio system, and it works perfectly. The APRS functionality is also great. It is very neat to see APRS data scroll by on the display without any additional hardware. One of the greatest features of this radio is its ability to listen to two freqs at the same time, which is very nice for packet. I can monitor the repeater on band a, and run packet on band b. I can even set the audio balance so that I don't 'hear' the packet radio, just the voice. Absolutely amazing... The configuration is also not too bad. It's menu system is fairly intuitive and easy to use. There are only 2 things about this radio that I wish were different. It doesn't have any receive capabilities other than 118 MHz aircraft frequencies, 2M, and 70 CM. It would be real nice to have WX band, and public service. Second, the only way to measure battery life is to check the S-meter when you transmit. It would be nice to see a voltage meter, or just a battery meter. Neither of these things really does much to diminish the quality of the radio though... I would buy this again without a second thought.
WB8NUT Rating: 2004-06-13
GREAT APRS/General Usage Handheld Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This may have a "defect" with the tone encoder on the 70cm side of the radio, but it apparently can't be too big of a problem. The radio has been out for years and this has just become an issue? Giving the radio a "1" is very unfair because it works so well in every other respect.

I got the A/G model recently because of the APRS functionality. This thing is a dream radio on APRS (and not to mention 2 and 440 voice and regular packet). Why don't we see more APRS handhelds?

Anyway, for those wanting to get into APRS, you need just this radio, a GPS receiver and a cable to connect the two. Nice small package. This radio is a lot of fun and I would strongly suggest that anyone who needs a great handheld, and who wants ARPS/Packet also built in, this is the radio to get!
AB4YE Rating: 2004-06-13
Best HT on the market Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had an original D7A since 1999 I believe. Old firmware. It performs flawlessly, on APRS, Dx Cluster, and regular packet. I have had no reason to upgrade my firmware. I recently purchased a mirage B-24-G handi docking booster, and the NMIH/NICAD pack for the rig. I've had the thing running on a 4-pack of 2300milli amp nicads for 2 days now, sending out a beacon every 5 minutes, unsquelched. The 600 milliamp supplied pack will last approx 9 hours doing this.

This is a great product, and I believe I paid 499.00 for mine when it came out. They are now down to about 325. Get one. No need for a GPS unit.

The folks who designed this thing earned their money.
NW2M Rating: 2004-05-18
Best HT ever! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had my D7A(g) for several years now. Great HT! It has all of the 2M and 440 repeater support that you could ever want (extended rx and aircraft band too). I love the built-in APRS features. I put the APRS functionality on VFO A and then use VFO B for any 2M or 440 repeater that I want. The system sends out my position every 3 mins (programmable) and you can completely mute the APRS audio. You could spend hours going over all of the benefits of APRS, DX cluster spot, and text messaging... It is all built-in. As such, expect to spend time going thru the manuals- one for the basic HT and one for the APRS functions.

The stock battery does deplete quickly if you are not careful. If you are running both VFOs and the APRS internal TNC and transmitting position, the battery goes quick. However, if you only run one VFO, have the TNC off, and set the battery saver to 1.0 seconds, than you can go most of the day on a single charge.

The computer and GPS interfaces are also easy to use. I you want to use the D7A as a digipeater, you enable the "packet" mode and connect it to a laptop to perform all of the control. The HT provides the transmitter/receiver and TNC functions. Both 1200 and 9600 baud rates are supported. There is a TX Delay function so you can use the HT with an external amplifier so you can account for an extra 100 ms of relay/contact closure.

Kenwood really had their heads screwed on straight with this one. And with the 2004 Dayton Hamvention prices of $299, they are very affordable too. 73, Al