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Reviews For: Kenwood TH-F6A

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

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Review Summary For : Kenwood TH-F6A
Reviews: 249MSRP: 425.00
Description:
Compact triband H.T. (144/220/440) with dual receive, wideband receiver (Longwave through 1.3 Ghz), SSB/CW rcv. Bar antenna for A.M. broadcast reception. 5 watts all bands.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.kenwood.net/ama_page.cfm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
002494.3
K4PDM Rating: 2006-06-01
Still the one! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I dropped my first TH-F6A and it broke, as the PTT button landed squarely (and with great force) on a big rock out in the woods. I finally bought a second one, and my opinion is still the same--excellent! I handled the Yaesu and ICOM offerings, and although the Yaesus felt more rugged, the Kenwood felt better to my hand--YMMV. Of course, the others don't offer so much receive frequency range or all-mode reception. Although I don't listen often to SSB or CW on the TH-F6A, I'm glad to be able to. I really thought the VX-7R or VX-6R would come home with me instead, but after handling them at R&L and giving the features a lot of thought, the Kenwood is still the one!
KI4OUQ Rating: 2006-05-20
Great little HT Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've had the TH-F6A now just a little over a month
and let me tell you this little radio is not only
fun and easy to use but I get great reports of
it's sharp sound. I own a 18 wheeler so I travel
more then most. I'm seating here at home in my
living room and I'm able to hit a repeater 15 air
miles away, not bad for a little HT.
Very happy I went with Kenwood, on by the way my
other radio is a Kenwood TM-D700A hooked up to a
GPS, it to is a very nice rig.

Clear Skies & 73
K8DXX Rating: 2006-05-13
Very Good Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Won't add a whole lot to the superlatives mentioned by others. A few cool accessories are:
- Miracle Antenna: attaches to the SMA antenna connector and tunes a whip or piece of wire for acceptable reception on HF. On a recent trip to the UK, I was able to hear US hams on 20 and Europe on 80 and 40 (SSB/CW), from our hotel room.
- Aftermarket 1800 Ma/H LIon batteries are available for under $50 from various sources. The factory battery is very good. The $50 spare is a 'nice to have.'

Very satisfied.
PY1YB Rating: 2006-03-25
Very good Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It´s a very good radio but the antenna....is the worst I ever see.. It works satisfactory on 144/440 but on 220....so bad. Try to use a COMET HT224 or DIAMOND SRH320A and it will the best HT you ever see
KF4HZU Rating: 2006-03-25
Almost perfection... Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
No I don't work for Kenwood or anything, but my review may sound like it :) Today I've been a ham for 10 years, and this will be my first eHam review.

If you couldn't guess, I love my TH-F6A. If I had the money, I'd buy a few spares so I never need to buy another rig. I doubt Kenwood will decide to re-release this as a newer model with the few gripes fixed, but if they did I'd be very happy.

For starters, as others have said, it is very easy to use. I broke out the manual after I programmed it to see what I missed out on. If I remember right, the only feature I didn't figure out was how to turn on the attenuator (but I rarely use it).

The HF receive is very good compaired to my DX-398 receiver. It also works fine on long wave (LW). The internal bar antenna is for AM and LW only, no idea why they have it go all the way up to 10mhz, but it is easy to enable/disable.

I also have the programming cable, and I use a software package called link700 which works great! I have a TM-G707 in the car and having its memories match my HT (including alpha tags) is very nice. Since they have similar controls, it is soo easy to transition between them without thinking.

So, my pros and cons lists....

PROs:
* HF/VHF/UHF SSB receive, works great for PSK-31
* Easy to read display (good backlight too)
* Dual-receive (everyone knows this)
* Logical TX power levels
* Bar antenna for good AM & LW reception
* Strong SMA mount, better then most SMA HTs
* Volume and tuning knobs are big enough for easy use, but not too big where they'll get bumped
* All main adjustments are accessible with one hand
* Menu is easy to understand (no cryptic titles, no sub-menus)
* Excellent sound at all volume levels
* TX audio is also excellent
* Strong metal belt clip
* Best PTT key I've ever used on an HT
* Very similar controls as the TM-G707
* Actually puts out 5W on all 3 bands when using the Li-Ion battery, and not just when its fully charged
* Built-in VOX that works! Just need two of these HTs, two audio cables, and you have a repeater :)

CONs:
* Stock battery can't be charged seperate from the radio
* Seperate speaker/mic jacks (good), but reversed from the norm (bad!)
* Definetly gets very hot if you TX on high power when running from a power supply, even worse if you charge the battery at the same time
* Keypad may need replacement in a few years of normal use, due to the small buttons bumping up against things when carried on belt/pocket
* The 33hz fine frequency step for HF is glitchey (read: useless), but the others work just fine and 100hz is all I ever use/need
* Can't do inter-band split (for sat work), must use the dual receive function (TX on A, RX on B, for example)
* Battery meter is a function, not always on the display
* A/B receive balance control could use more levels

Almost all of the cons above can be worked around easily. I think the only one that bothers me is the reversed sp/mic jacks. I can't just take a standard audio cable and connect up the receive audio to a PC for digital decoding, but add a standard adaptor and it all works :)

I doubt I'll buy another HT anytime soon, even from Kenwood, unless its a band other then 2m, 1.25m or 70cm. When I was at the last Orlando HamFest I saw a lot of hams walking around with this radio! Buy it new if you can, since older ones may not work as nice. I've recommended it to everyone I know, and now I recommend it to all of you!
W9DG Rating: 2005-10-29
Well Thought Out Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have owned many Kenwood products and switched many to try other brands. Kenwood has always been an excellent performer at a good price. I am very surprised by the better than Average Kenwood product. In fact in my opinion, it is a superior product.

I have bought Yaesu because of reviews and apparent functionality and Icoms because of durability and sound quality. It does appear that Kenwood sometimes suffers from the "bad out of the box" syndrome on occasion like with my TS850SAT and TM732A among others. Both were cold solder joints.

I currently own a Yaesu VX-1R HT and a Kenwood TH-79A HT. I have owned Icom HT's as well. I purchased this almost new, Kenwood TH-F6A and received a few days ago. It is unbelivable.

I will list the PRO's then the CON's below, as I view them:

PRO's:
Dual VFO, (can program in either vfo)
Tone, DCS and CTSS scanning function
multiple ways to switch band and enter info
Easy to use, can be figured out without manual
Less than expected intermod/interference on rcv
Direct entry of frequencies is wonderful
Menu features easy to understand and use
Excellent layout of levels of access to functions
Memory layouts allowing linkage of groups in accross all bands/frequencies
Easy ID/TAG changes on a memory
Lockout or bypass for top knob while keypad is locked
Ability to view/use items in either vfo easily
Battery life is excellent compared with any HT
Band indicator lights make it clear which is active
Menu joystick is wonderful for navigation
Resets are seperated and easy
Durability is quite good, belt clip is excellent
Different modes, ssb, am, fm, Nfm, cw are wonderful
Way too many more to mention


CON's:
poor antenna - however am buying the Diamond
No drop in charger, however I have the W&W battery and charger system with drop-in, (solves problem)
Can only program out of 2m, 440 and 220 bands on VFO B
Faceplate seems easy to scratch and soft case seems to be overkill
Volume knob (ring) is a little hard to access
Buttons are a little small, but I think it is a feature
PTT better than on my TH-79A
Unit cannot cross-band repeat like my TH-79A, so I will keep that rig too, (while in the store or building I can leve my 79A in the car and remote to a repeater)
Doesn't appear to have a bypass or skip function while scanning (to block out one or more freq's in a range) This would be nice for a busy channel you would want to skip
Can't figure out how to link more than one set of frequency groups. I want to link the first 150, and probably the last 100.
Cannot enter a Q or Z from the keypad, must use dial
Slightly cumbersome to change the step when requiring 12.5 or 6.25 khz steps

Summary -

Intermod is much better than expected. Those that mention it must realize it is a compact HT, and it typically suffers less intermod than other HT's.

Small Buttons could be a challenge, but its not really too bad considering the size and ease of use.

Battery charging in a drop in charger can be accomplished with the W&W system.

Functionality is excellent, Durability is excellent, Ease of use is excellent, Power output is excellent, Battery life is excellent

Kenwood has outdone themselves with this little powerhouse!


Wishes -
I wished they included the drop in charger, with space for a spare battery. I wish they included a better antenna, but cannot complain. I wish they included the programming cable and car adapter/charger all in the package. I wish they included a spare battery. It would be nice to sell a complete solution that would fit almost everyones needs.

Note: I purchased this on Ebay, probably used 10 hours and in mint condition for $319 plus shipping and added a $37 antenna and will buy the car adapter and programming cable when I find a good price. Figure $425 to $525 for everything the way you'd like it.

WD9IWC Rating: 2005-10-13
THE BEST! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have NOT had any problems with it at all near a computer or anything else. Has more than done the job for me over the past year. I have no complaints at all. Takes a lickin and keeps on...........If there are any design flaws,I have not found any.Kudos to Kenwood.........

----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by WD9IWC on 2004-09-28

Update,three weeks now and still NO problems.I was all wet about the battery. I have used the rig every day now and have only recharged the battery ONCE. NO COMPLAINTS. Everyone should have one. Will report back later.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by WD9IWC on 2004-09-08

Took a BIG chance here. Just got a used one on ebay for a reasonable price two weeks ago. First impressions are fantastic. Easy to program, audio great for such a small speaker. Standard battery lasts about four days with intermittent use back and forth to work and on two nets per week. Have always had Kenwood, see NO reason to change now. I love this radio! Will review again later to see if this lasts.
N4SJW Rating: 2005-10-13
Thought I would like it but didn't Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Main reason I bought the F6A was dual vfo receive (I had a W31 that gave up the ghost). As it turns out, no real way to adjust separate audio just a balance slide that doesn't work well. Also, even with full quieting signals, there is a loud audio hiss - apparently this is a known problem due to quality control issues in aligning the radio during manufacture. The most glaring problem is that this is yet one more DC to daylight HT that has no front end and folds up near any computer or RF. If is was a $200 radio like my other HT (FT60) I'd probably live with it, at $300+ . . .
K0LEJ Rating: 2005-10-13
Great little HT Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had the Kenwood TH-F6A for two years and have been very pleased with it. I purchased it because it has 220MHz coverage at 5W, can receive SSB (with an appropriate antenna), has an internal antenna, and is a dual receive radio. I also liked the size of the radio, and the button/navigation system.

On the Amateur VHF/UHF bands the radio does very well. Even the stock antenna works well for me. In fact, I have tried a variety of after-market antennas and keep coming back to the stock antenna. The feature I like the best is the dual receive -- it comes in very handy when monitoring the two Skywarn repeaters in this area.

A feature I was not sure I would like is the plastic casing. The other radio I was considering, the Yaesu VX-7R, had a metal case that I perceived as more rugged. In talking with friends who have the VX-7R, however, I found that they all complain that the case gets pretty warm. The Kenwood's plastic case, while getting warm, does not get as hot as the VX-7R. The down side I suppose is the case is not as efficient at dissipating the heat.

There is one negative thing with the radio, and that is the LONG time it takes to charge the battery. A full recharge takes 8 hours.

I use the TH-F6A weekly, and it's been a fantastic rig -- I highly recommend it!

73
Larry
K0LEJ
KG4ZUD Rating: 2005-09-22
Awesome little radio. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a wonderful little unit. I have had mine for over two years, and I love it. The wide-band receive is very nice, as is the ability to receive SSB. I also love the dual receivers. I can listen to broadcast radion on the "B" tuner, and a local repeater on "A". Kenwood also gives the programming software away for free! All that you need is level-shifter that converts RS-232 levels to TTL.

*WARTS*
The unit is not perfect, but that is to be exptected from a unit this size. The biggest problem is that the SSB filters are quite wide. This would be a problem on crowded bands. I would also like a "slow scan" mode where the scanning happens slowly, and turns off the receiver between channels. This would allow the unit to scan multple channels, and still not consume too much battery life.

In reply to W5MJL, what do you expect? This unit does quite well on shortwave, IF YOU ATTACH THE RIGHT ANTENNA! If you attach a 20 foot wire to the center conductor of the SMA jack you will find that the shortwave bands open up. The included ducky is not intended for HF operation.