| W9YP |
Rating:  |
2003-12-24 | |
| Outstanding Hand-Held Radio |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've owned several Kenwood TH-D7A(G) hand-helds over the last three years. These radios are nothing short of excellent for data as well as voice communications. These little radios are workhorses and are very dependable.
But what I like best about them is they facilitate the Sky Command II system with my Kenwood TS-2000(X). With the TH-D7A(G), I can be in my back yard bar-b-queing and chase DX on my TS-2000(X) by using the Sky Commmand II system! My ham friends are amazed that I can do this.
If you're looking for a really good voice/data handheld, you should definitely consider this radio! |
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| N1IG |
Rating: |
2003-12-24 | |
| Great Radio |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I purchased the radio several years ago and had it upgraded to the G version by Kenwood. The radio is very intuitive to use. My 13 y/o son just got his ticket and was able to use the radio without much help from me. The only thing that I would like to see is the ability for it to be used as a digipeater. Aside from that, it's been a great workhorse ad I'd buy another one. |
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| KA1BQJ |
Rating: |
2003-08-17 | |
| Solid HT |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I purchased this radio for my son as a gift when he passed his Tech. exam last week.
This radio offers many interesting features such as APRS, Packet/TNC and SSTV (amoung others) and I figured it would keep him busy for many months to come, learning to how to operate it and about amateur radio as he's only 12.
This is a good HT and has excellent TX & RX audio.
However, the supplied antenna is a poor performer when I tested it's ability to bring up repeaters in Southern New England. I replaced the supplied antenna with a Maldol MH-610, which makes a significant difference. I also find the menus/functions a bit tricky to learn and it does require the owners manual. Something that my TH-F6A (for the most part) does not....hence the "4" rating. In retrospect, I hope it's not too difficult to operate for a new ham.
My external power meter indicates this HT puts out about 6+ watts and build quality is excellent.
Regards,
Tom / ka1bqj@arrl.net
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| CASPER669 |
Rating: |
2003-06-13 | |
| Good HT Overall |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I've had mine for over 2 months now and I must say that it has worked flawlessly for me. It is capable of dual band receive and dual band transmit - only if you are doing packet on one band and phone on the other band. You cannot transmit on both bands via phone (voice). The menu's do require a 'quick glance' at the instruction manual, but in my opinion, that's how it should be. The TNC worked flawlessly! I've used it a few times and each time it worked as described. What I don't like is that it doesn't actually put out 5.5 (6 for 2 meters) watts on battery power. This number is reflecting a 13.8 volt power source. Well, who's going to carry around a small DC converter while using an HT? And even if you did carry one, where would you plug it? (Be nice, kiddies!) I've not had any problems with the paint coming off of the unit. Then again, I might not have owned it long enough for that circumstance to occur. I purchased the black case for it and it does seem a bit below the standards - if there are any. The threading appears to be coming loose in certain areas and I've only had it a few weeks. But that does not take away from my experience with the unit itself. BUY A DIAMOND SRH77CA DUAL BAND ANTENNA!!! The stock antenna is OK, but for the price, Diamond will do you much better!
I must admit, this is my first HT, but not my first radio. Overall, I find this item to be exactly as described, with the exception of the 'over-stated' put-out power. |
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| KC9L |
Rating: |
2002-05-23 | |
| So far, so good. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Bought this at Dayton this year. I was going to get an F6A, but when I saw the price difference between it and the D7 (about 50 bucks) I had to go for the D7's built-in TNC and APRS functions. So far, I'm not disappointed.
For such a complex radio, programming is pretty straightforward. It has a huge 3-line text display which makes it easier as well.
I was able to get up to speed on APRS the night I bought it, and we used the D7 on the APRS network on the trip back. (On the way there, we used a Byonics TinyTrakII, which is an excellent product.)
It's very convenient to run APRS on this HT, especially since you can have VHF on both the A and B VFO. In fact, with the balance control turned all the way to your voice VFO and the beep function for APRS turned off, there's not even much indication that the thing is working!
Interfacing to the Garmin GPS 45 XL was flawless. I used a cable from www.gpscables.biz, and in the past have used Garmin connectors from Purple at www.pfranc.com. Both seem to make high quality cables and connectors.
At Dayton I noticed no intermod problems. My Icom V8 was also bulletproof in this regard, while my friend experienced random squeals from his F6.
There's only 2 negative things I've noticed about the radio so far. First, while it's nice that Kenwood supplies a 9v 600mAh battery with the radio, it makes the HT a bit bulky. I usually use a W&W 6V 900mAh battery with no problems, and it's half the thickness. Still, it would be nice if the D7 was closer in size to the new crop of handhelds (F6A, VX-5, VX-7).
Also, the durability is a bit suspect. This rig feels more like a consumer electronics product (i.e. cellphone or PDA) than a land-mobile radio. I'm used to carrying around a Motorola GP300 or Icom IC-V8, though, so this is a bit of an unfair comparison. I guess I'll have to own the rig longer before I can make a better judgement on this. |
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| KB1HVG |
Rating: |
2002-04-27 | |
| Super Radio |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I recieved my Tech radio license not to long ago.
Then I did much research before purchasing a radio. I focused on radio features that would allow me to do VHF/UHF satellite communications.
Also important, was for it to be a handheld radio and for it to have a built in TNC.
I decided the Kenwood THD7A(G)would best meet my goals. This transceiver included the biult in TNC and required software for APRS operations. The menu system on the Kenwood made it easy to navigate through. Today, I use the radio to work the digipeater onboard the ISS. Using this radio, I have been able to manually input my position, status text and message, to transmit via the ISS.
I must also say that, "I have been very successful getting through with only 5 watts of power."
I recommend that the stock antenna be replaced. The Arrow II antenna would make a nice replacement. Do also purchase a rapid charger; the lifetime of the Kenwood batteries is short.
I am enjoying this radio; If you need to buy one HT this is the one.
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| KG6GOK |
Rating: |
2002-02-02 | |
| Great for digital communications! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
The Kenwood th-d7 is a great rig for digital communications. It has a built in TNC, and you can send APRS with just the rig it self. Of course it would be better to have a GPS connected to it. I use this rig for packet and APRS and I only need ONE wire to operate packet. For APRS I have a GPS so I need two wires. This rig has lots of technology in it! |
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| KB9ZTP |
Rating: |
2001-10-08 | |
| A Delicate Flower |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I am very new to ham radio and was looking for an HT. I was going to get an Icom HT (I think the model was IC-W32A) until I saw an add for the TH-D7A(G), so I decided to wait an extra month to raise the extra $$blingbling$$ for this rig, and it was worth it! At first it was very confusing setting everything up, but then again this was my first radio. After a couple days I felt more confortable with the feel of the rig. The only negitives are that this radio is not rugged enough . The paint isn't coming off, but it is kinda scracted up on the sideds and bottom, and when using APRS I was a little frusterated when I couldn't get the messaging to work. I later figured out that you sometimes have to try more than once when using the digitpeater because the digitpeater(s) somtimes get busy and somtimes they don't recieve the rig's signal because it can't compete with the hams who are operating APRS on 100W with a 50ft towers, and all the people coming home from work so the best time to test your APRS would be after rushour. Be sure to buy a better HT antenna, because the stock antenna is not all that good. I bought a pryme RD-98 and I'm very happy with it. With this rig, and a good antenna you should be able to pick up distant repeaters and talk ligitimate simplex, although due to the radio's low power you are usually not able to hit those distant "frindge reapters." I am very pleased with simplex operation on this radio. You can hit people from 15 miles away if they have a tower and conditions are good, but the average is about 6-9 miles which is pretty good. After having the radio for about a couple months now I'm glad I purchased this rig! |
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| INITZERO |
Rating: |
2001-09-21 | |
| Expensive, Delicate and Totally Awesome |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I finally got my ticket because of APRS. I didn't have a lot of
money to spend but, for sure, I wanted 2M, 440 and packet for
APRS. Also, since I could only afford one radio, it would have
to be an HT so I could use it everywhere.
I looked at a number of combinations involving ultra-cheap
transceivers with cheap TNCs and whatnot. In just about every
reasonable combination, I was near in price to the D7A(g).
Everyone I spoke to loved the D7. So, I bit the bullet and
bought the beast.
It was expensive; about a third more I wanted to pay. I
rationalized it by saying that it was self-contained. I operate
bicycle mobile and it was the best way to keep the package to a
minimum size, weight and number of connections needed.
I haven't regretted spending the extra cash.
Before the D7, I had quite a bit of experience with Motorola
commercial radios (MX, STX, MTX, etc.) but had never so much
as picked up an HT. Let me confess now that I didn't read the
instructions and was leaving on a 2,700-mile road trip two days
after I bought the radio.
While it took me just 15 minutes to get the radio up and running
with my Garmin Legend GPS, it took nearly 300 miles to figure out
most of the radio's features and I was 600 miles into the trip
before I really felt comfortable with the radio. It was much
simpler to use than I had expected. The menus are laid-out well.
Aside from the expense, I'm a bit disappointed with the feel of
the D7 in comparison to the Motorola equipment I'm used to
working with. I can take an MX, STX or HT750 and fling it across
the room into a cement wall and it will still be fully-functional.
Most of the time there isn't even cosmetic damage. I'm afraid to
toss my D7 into the back seat of my car for fear I'll lose a knob
or scratch the display. In Kenwood's defense, I haven't found a
piece of amateur gear yet (for any price) that is as rugged as
Motorola hardware.
As a side note, if you do get the D7, G71A or any of Kenwood's
recent radios, make sure to pick up a copy of WA3HRL's Link700
software (http://www.wa3hrl.com/). It will assist in programming
and operating your radio. Link700 is a far better piece of
software than Kenwood's own offering (which is $60) and it's
free for the time being. (Once it's out of beta, it'll probably
cost a few bucks but I bet it will still be less expensive and
better performing than Kenwood's.)
The D7 is not for everyone. There are many less expensive
dual-band HTs out there (the Kenwood TH-G71A is great performer
and feels solid) but if you want APRS or a TNC inside your HT,
this is the only way to go.
Matt (k4mls) |
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| KB1GRS |
Rating: |
2001-09-15 | |
| Good radio, if you make use of packet |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
The radio works well for voice work.
It probably works well for packet work, if there's actual meaningful amounts of packet traffic in your area. From Somerville, MA (a suburb close to Boston), I can't reliably contact K1UGM using the supplied antenna (the nearest large PBBS), although once or twice conditions have been such that I've been able to connect. I've also been able to watch a bit of APRS traffic with the monitor feature. (It appears to be the case that the problem contacting K1UGM is often that I cannot hear K1UGM, regardless of whether 5W output is adaquate for K1UGM to hear me.)
This radio has some minor quirks; for example, recieving the non-ham frequencies next to the 2m ham band only works on the A reciever; the B reciever can only recieve the ham frequencies when it's set to the 2m band. I found this by experimenting when trying to listen to the NOAA weather broadcast for the first time, not by finding mention of it in the manual.
Also, the 1-9,*,0,# digits are labeled to the left of the keys, and the A,B,C,D digits are labeled to the right. When someone barrowed my radio to attempt to use an autopatch, he was initially confused by this.
My overall impression of the user interface is that it makes sense once you learn to use it, but it's not entirely intuitive initially. (On the other hand, I use emacs all the time, so it's not like I object to things that have a steep learning curve but that work well once you learn them.)
It is slightly annoying that to use headphones or an external speaker, you in practice end up needing to get a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adaptor, at least if you live in a world like I do where speakers and headphones use 3.5mm jacks. The internal speaker works OK for moderate volumes, but I find myself always plugging it into an external speaker at home or in my truck, because the audio is much better that way.
The built-in TNC will not act as a digipeater. That's probably reasonable on some level, given the low power (5W, vs 25W or 50W for a typical digipeater using a mobile radio) and the possibility that the radio may have problems dealing with the sort of duty cycle a digipeater has, but it contradicts one book I have seen which asserts that *all* TNCs will digipeat.
You can charge batteries with the supplied wall wart, in theory, but that requires leaving your radio turned off for 16 hours while you wait for the batteries to charge. I don't really consider that a reasonable option. So I bought a Maha C-777 charger. Also, with this radio you really can't tell when the battery is going to die until the radio starts rebooting itself as a result of insufficient voltage, so you end up really wanting a second battery pack.
Street price to have a useful setup with this radio appears to be $400 for the radio, $50 for a second battery, $50 for a charger, and $50 for the data cable, which comes out to $550.
I also found, as a result of calling HRO and happeing to talk to a knowlegeable person rather than just ordering through their website, that Maha makes a battery pack for this radio $57 that has somewhere vaguely in the ballpark of 50% more storage capacity than the $55 Kenwood battery pack, and the Maha battery pack is NiMH whereas the Kenwood is NiCD, so the Maha pack should avoid problems with the memory effect. So I bought the Maha pack, believing it to be a *much* better value.
If you don't need packet support, the new TH-F6A is probably a much better choice than this radio. From what information I've been able to find (though I don't actually own a TH-F6A, so I can't say from experience), it appears that you can reasonably charge the battery attached to the TH-F6A while using the radio, and I believe the TH-F6A has a more useful indicator of battery life, so you might be happy with a single battery on a TH-F6A. (On the other hand, if you do find yourself needing a standalone charger for the TH-F6A, you'll need to get the Maha-C777 Plus instead of the Maha-C777.) And the street price of the basic TH-F6A package is $10 less than the TH-D7A(G), and the TH-F6A transmits on one more band and has a much wider recieve coverage. |
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