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Reviews For: Kenwood TH-G71A

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

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Review Summary For : Kenwood TH-G71A
Reviews: 117MSRP: Currently $249.50 most places
Description:
Just hold the TH-G71A in your hand and it's immediately clear h
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.kenwood.net/products/index.cfm?AMA=open&ama_hheld=op
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001174.7
WA9OIG Rating: 2001-04-01
OUTSTANDING Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought the TH-G71A because no one had anything bad to say about it. It lives up to its reviews! I use mine everyday, its easy to program and the controls are very easy to remember even after not using certain functions for a while. I have never had any intermod, I checked the receiver sensivity vhf and uhf at least .15 uv for 12db sinad. You can't go wrong!
KC7YCL Rating: 2001-04-01
Best Available Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I like fancy features, but i like good quality even more. This radio doesn't have all the fancy features of the other radios but this radio is a REAL radio. It'll really WORK for you. It's so easy to use, I was pleasantly surprised.

The audio is fantastic. Next time you go shopping for radios, put a couple of them side-by-side and turn the volume all the way up. You'll really see a difference in quality. The G71A's audio never distorts. It's really good on the batteries too.

It's scanning functions are the best I've ever seen. If you want to scan your memories, hold down the MR button. If you want to scan the VFO, hold down the VFO button. Of course, there's a lot of things I wish this radio could do, but honestly, you can't get this kind of quality at this kind of price anywhere else.

The other fancy radios look great in the advertisements with the big long list of features, but I've learned the hard way that just because it has a feature, doesn't mean it works like it's supposed to - you've been warned.

This radio is good for beginners, but it's especially good for people that need a radio that performs well.
KF4TUZ Rating: 2001-03-25
Best Dual Band HT so far! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned mine for over 2 years now. Mil spec, water resistant, with tons of features... but did it stop there?.. Not Quite! I'm really hard on my radios as far as sensitivity, audio clarity of speaker, and battery life. This radio has all 3 and more!. It has the longest battery life of any HT I have seen on the market... or ever had personally. I have run one for almost a WEEK CONSTANTLY before I had to recharge. The sensitivity rivals that of my base rigs on receive, and the power out on high with a Power meter actually shows 6+ watts with a fully charged battery! (not plugged into a power supply.) The back light is one of the best also, and it looks as "cool" as in the ads. I got the vinyl case and 1 other high power battery, and the low power slim line battery. Even on the slim line battery the battery lasts about the same amount of time... just at a lower output level!.. Excellent for ham festing with the low power battery and a stubby. I have been out in extreme weather with this radio... completely drenched, freezing cold, and dropped it a few times on occasion... never had ONE problem at ALL. I currently use it most of the time with a high gain Larsen sma whip... it's like having a small basestation HT. One thing I sorta miss compared to the W32A (junk) and the Alinco G5 was the dual band display and crossband repeat. I hardly listen to both bands at once unless I'm on the base anyway, and I never used crossband repeat on my other HT's except to see if it worked. If there was a holocaust, and I had to take one radio with me, this would definately be IT! Another way you can tell if it's a A++ radio is check on Ebay for ones for sale.. you hardly EVER see one on, because no one wants to sell them, except the retailers... NEW. :)
WB4DX Rating: 2000-12-08
The best available today! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This is the best ht available today, bar none.
For those who operate an ht as mobile, this is the only ht made that I know of that is intermod resistant. So good it can be used as such with only minor problems.
Drawbacks: SMA connector breaks. Rubber PTT button rips off if you brush against someting with it.
Otherwise a great rig. I bought another fearing a closeout of this model as HRO had lowered the price.
I also judge a receiver by how well it receives NOAA weather and this one is HOT!
I have had 3 Yaesu VX5R's in the past and none has come close to this one. (2 were deaf and Yaesu said they couldn't find anything wrong when sent back for repairs!)
The last time I had a receiver this good was on my Icom IC-02at!
KL0QQ Rating: 2000-11-04
So good you forget it's there. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This radio goes everywhere with me. I work construction so it's not babyed. When I run the simplex net this is the radio I use. When I work the sats it's with this one. Oh, by the way, UO-14 will break the squelch (set on 3, with the Kenwood duck) when it's laying on the seat in the truck. I will reach past the mobile to grab it if I have to do something tricky. Like any good tool in my tool pouch it does what I want it to do without having to fiddle with it. Bought one for the XYL reccomend it to all.
I have:
three extra batterys + some extra belt clips
the Kenwood cover
Pryme speaker mic ($10 must have)
car power adaptor
long MFJ duck
little 1/4wave mag mount($15 must have)
MAHA charger
Arrow dual band J pole
built a 3 element simple yagi (cheap and easy to do. http://www.clarc.org/Articles/uhf.htm gives you the instructions) I made the elements 1/8" longer to use on fm and hang the thing on my bedroom wall like modern art, boy howdy does it ever work, I can run 1/2watt and sound like a base rig.
KC8PEN Rating: 2000-10-09
A great first radio! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased my TH-G71A after reading numerous favorable reviews on this and other sites. It was my first radio purchase after earning my license and I wanted a radio of good quality with simple operation at a reasonable price. I am very pleased with this radio! The reception reports I have recieved are excellent and on recieve it displays excellent sensitivity with almost no intermod noted. I added various after-market rubber duck antennas and have found that it works great with the supplied duck in comparison! I would recommend an after-market NiMh battery pack as a better alternative for longer battery life, but thusfar, no minuses to report! At the price, this radio's a classic value!
W1LDD Rating: 2000-08-16
First HT Owned Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I agree with most of the stuff already written here. My only gripes are: having larger hands, it seems uncofortable to hold for long periods, and since doing the MARS/CAP mod, intermodulation can be a pain at times. But, the intermod mostly only occurs when I'm downtown San Diego and there are literally hundreds of transmitters down there between businesses and the Navy. Works great on FRS frequencies (don't tell). Transmit strength was tested as 5W high, 900mW low, and 90mW extra low. With external mag mount, hits repeaters anywhere in the county from a vehicle. Transmits 6W with car adapter.
KG4IKN Rating: 2000-08-15
Excellent Radio Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This is the first handheld I have purchased and did so after reading the reviews here and all of the others. This is an excellent radio and the only drawback i had is i wish it would charge the battery off the radio. I will have to buy the rapid charger.I have all 3 battery packs 9.6,6V, And dry pack and it works great. My brother and his wife are also hams and own these radios and are very impressed with the preformance of it. He has it hooked to a mobile antenna while in the car and it works great. I like the options are many for this radio and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone.
KC2FOR Rating: 2000-06-22
Great first Rig(HT) Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
It was my first radio when I got my ticket back in October. Great sound from an tiny radio and it's menus are easy to understand. This radio gives you a very decent 5 watt top output for distant repeaters. A great radio to learn with that will provide many hours of enjoyment.

One note buy an addition antenna ...I bought the RD-98 from Premier communications. The HT comes with an antenna which makes a Dummy loads look like a beam.
KA0W Rating: 2000-06-21
Great HT Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Excellent little radio. Receiver is very good on Ham VHF and UHF as well as on the NWS frequencies.
I would recommend it to those looking for a well made HT.