| W4BVD |
Rating:      |
2009-06-27 | |
| The BEST 2 Meter Mono bander! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I've owned 2 of these radios and they are truly amazing! Intermod is non-existent. The sound from the internal speak is nothing short of fantastic. Now the stores are selling these at less than $150! Buy one! Any negatives? One...$80 for the programming cable. Come on Kenwood! |
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| N0VAR |
Rating:      |
2009-06-07 | |
| Super 2 meter mobile rig |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've had this rig almost 2 years now, and it's been a great rig for the car. I have mine mounted in the dash of a 26 year old Corolla that has a few places in the cabin where water leaks in, and have used it in the brutal heat and humidity of the summer months, and I have used it in the very wet and rainy (and sometimes below freezing) winter months, all in an environment that is, at best, marginally better than being straight-up outside and fully in the elements.
There have been minor issues;
I have had to do a complete reset twice after having the data or microprocessor get corrupted somehow, and this meant that I have had to reprogram all of the presets and put the channel memory back in. This last happened 2 days before our local hamfest...I was not pleased about that AT ALL. I was pretty well PO'd.
Plus, this rig's front end is pretty weak to intermod, and that can be a pain if you are in a very active area in town...needs to have better rejection.
Also, I don't like the fact that you can't custom preset the output power level when you are setting up the individual memory channels. You have to go into the menu (while driving...not a good idea), multiple keystrokes and knob turns, to adjust the power level when you need to get to a distant repeater, or to insure a simplex QSO. And, yes, I know you can program a mike button, but come on Kenwood, this is Blues Clues material.
Still, this is a very rugged, fairly reliable mobile rig. The front-firing speaker sounded pretty good when it was new, but I've pretty much blown it out now. I bought an El Cheapo Rat Shack external speaker so that I don't have to listen to the now-distorted and garbled internal speaker anymore. As for programming, I've seen better and I've seen worse. This isn't terrible.
Overall, I've put this rig through the ringer, and I'd buy another if I had to. |
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| deleted_user_20210718 |
Rating:      |
2009-05-10 | |
| S.N.T. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Simple Nice and tough..... you can't go wrong with this RADIO, it's built like a ROCK!!!!
Just wish it had 50 tones instead of 42.
Price $154.95. |
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| KC2ULJ |
Rating:      |
2009-03-01 | |
| great radio |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
The rx and tx are great. Radio is easy to use and the free software from kenwood is easy to navigate. The programming cable on the other hand was expensive so i bought an after market serial to rj45 from ebay. Would buy another. 73
KC2ULJ |
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| K5UPR |
Rating:      |
2009-03-01 | |
| PERFECT 2M and Awesome Power |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| One of the best 2M rigs out there and plenty of power, this was one of the first radio I purchased after getting my ham license, and I never had a problem hitting repeaters even up to 50 miles away. Great, Rugged, Looks Good, and Receives excellent.. Cant Go Wrong on this one!! |
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| KG8Q |
Rating:      |
2009-01-06 | |
| Very solid LMR look and feel |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
The last Kenwood VHF/UHF gear I owned was the tri-band 742a which I loved the concept but hated the bugs so I was a bit reluctant to go the Kenwood route again . My fears were unfounded . This is a nice rig . Probably what I like most is the mike . It has a commercial LMR feel to it. The radio itself has a LMR feel as well .
A couple of things which I had a hard time with was firstly why would you put the heatsink on the bottom of the rig ? It's not really an issue if you gonna use it mobile but what if you want to sit it on a table in the shack ? It's pretty tough to put rubber feet on a heatsink so you would have to use the mobile mounting bracket or some other way to get it up so air could circulate around it . Secondly , as others have stated , it would be nice to have another power level but what the heck , I just leave it on 25 watts which is fine for moble use. Speaking of heatsink , I like that Kenwood chose not to paint the sink , better heat dissipation. Lastly on my gripes list is the transmit audio was low on mine as with the others . On the service monitor , yelling into the mike I barely got 4 KHz of deviation however a quick and painless visit to the service menu and I was able to adjust to get a full 5 kc on normal speech awsome !
On the plus side of things the receiver , for one ,is very sensitive . The audio out of the front speaker is clean and loud and buzz free . The rig is easy to program with out the software . Oh , the power issue is really a non issue . You can adjust the high and low power via the service menu to your liking .
All in all , once I got used to the radio and its minor differences , I've grown to love it . In fact I was so impressed with it I did some deep searching and found the tm-471a 440 MHz version only offered in Asia and bought one those as well .
This is a great 2m rig . |
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| VE3CLQ |
Rating:      |
2008-12-09 | |
| Outstanding!!!! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
This radio is a joy to operate and program. I can add nothing that hasn't already been written it.
But yeah Kenwood, lets get real on the price if the programming cable. |
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| AB0RE |
Rating:      |
2008-07-21 | |
| Reasonable Programming Cable |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
After-market programming cables can be found very inexpensively on eBay. Do a search for "Kenwood Programming Cable TM-271A", making sure to search TITLE and DESCRIPTION and you'll usually find ~30 matching auctions for programming cables starting at ~$11 shipped.
You can copy/paste this link into your browser window to have the search done for you automatically: http://tinyurl.com/6fsypv
That being said, I've found the 271 is one of the easier radios to program manually. I love its commercial feel, full sounding receive audio, and the robustness of the radio itself.
Be sure to check out some of the mods websites to see how to add a packet jack to the back of the radio and to learn how to adjust output power via a hidden service menu.
73,
Dan / ab0re
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Earlier 5-star review posted by AB0RE on 2004-04-20
Wow! Kenwood *finally* came out with a new 2M mobile radio. I think the plans must've gotten lost in the development department for the last... err... 7 years? :-) At any rate, I wanted to give the TM-271A a try as I've previously owned the TM-261A. For the purpose of this review, I'll simply compare the two.
The Looks - The 271 looks much nicer than the 261. The display is very pleasant to look at with sufficient backlighting (green). The display has a feature that will allow it to automatically dim during periods of inactivity. The buttons on the radio's face are also backlit. Their secondary functions are listed above the button and require an outside light source to be read in the dark. The layout of the radio reminds me of commercial-grade radios and looks much more heavy-duty than the 261.
The Mic - The microphone on the 271 is a big improvement over the mic used on the 261. It's a bit thicker and much heavier duty. It has a "button-style" knob instead of the hanger tabby deal. It still requires a considerable amount of pressure to key the PTT. And, disappointingly, the backlit keys on the mic do not match the display/key color on the radio's face.
Temp Mgmt - The radio does get warm, especially on the high power setting. Kenwood warns about this in the literature included with the radio. Although the heat sink is larger than that of the TM-261A, the 271 still could have benefited greatly from a fan. An "Extra Low" power setting (5W'ish) would've been nice for local QSOs. Changing the power level is a menu setting and is unable to be performed by the front panel.
Performance - Some other improvements from the TM-261 include a much faster scan speed, memory grouping, weather alert, front firing speaker w/ incredible RX audio, and inclusion of CTCSS. Although not as user-friendly as the TM-261A, the 271 is still easy to use with minimal manual intervention. I found it easier to learn than my IC-V8000, especially in regards to memory grouping. Like the TM-261A, the TM-271 radio seems to do good at rejecting intermod and bogus signals.
Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase. The minor nuisances mentioned above aren't substantial enough for me to reduce the radio's rating. I think there are very few things Kenwood could have done to make this radio better and I'm pleased to see Kenwood finally come out with an updated model. If Kenwood were to make a TM-371 (220) or TM-471 (440) version of this radio, I wouldn't hesitate to purchase it (assuming they could keep the cost under $300ish).
73,
Dan / ab0re |
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| DZRTRAM |
Rating:     |
2008-07-21 | |
| Expensive Cable |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This radio should get a 5. It deserves a 5, but I don't know how to downgrade for the expensive programming cable without giving it a 4. I am so angry at Kenwood for trying to rip me of for the cost of the cable that I will NOT buy one under any circumstances. The reason why? Contrary to what at least one reviewer said, this radio is simplicity itself when it comes to programming. I can manually program as fast as I could set up and fill in the software to download. There is no such thing as a free program. Yes, you download the program for free, but then the Kenwood shysters want blood money for the cable. That PISSES ME OFF!
About the same time I was trying to program this Kenwood I was also trying to program the Icom 208H. The 208H is the hardest, most aggravating, primitive, old school radio to program I've ever seen, even with the software. Well, at least Icom doesn't want to suck the blood out of you for the cable. No comparison, I'd rather manually program the Kenwood that program the Icom with software. |
|
| KB4TPP |
Rating:      |
2008-05-06 | |
| Commercial grade 2m mobile |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I like the 271. It has the feel and form of an LMR radio, and is constructed very similar to a Motorola Pro series (CDM) mobile. It has some of the LOUDEST, clearest audio from the front firing speaker (wish more ham rigs had real audio like this). The included microphone also has a commercial radio feel with a heavy duty replaceable cord. Quality radio. Fairly easy to program...even easier to enter alphanumeric name tags. Performance is rock solid, very resistant to IMD. The only gripes I have are the lack of more power levels, 25 watts seems more like a medium than a low power, but then most of the repeaters around here are deaf anyway LOL. Oddly enough, the USA version lacks the mini-DIN data connector. And no reverse burst, yet to see a ham radio that has it, but it would be nice to get rid of the squelch crash.
One thing the 271 has is the ability to tune both 2.5 and 6.25 channel steps, as well as true 2.5KHz narrowband operation. Nice if you have public service stuff in your area you wish to monitor as only the newer scanners will tune these steps- good thinking Kenwood.
The manual makes reference to a TM-471A for 440. Never seen one, would be nice. Overall it's a winner, and if you need a 2 meter mobile with audio you could actually hear with your windows rolled down on the highway, the 271 can do it. It's a keeper. |
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