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Reviews For: Kenwood TM-271A

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Base/Mobile (non hand-held)

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Review Summary For : Kenwood TM-271A
Reviews: 97MSRP: 189.95
Description:
2meter mobile
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00974.3
KD7QLU Rating: 2007-01-02
Great radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought a 271A as a Christmas present to myself and installed it in my car. I'm using a Larson mag mount antenna which is mounted upside down inside my trunk for stealth. No problems hitting the repeaters. The radio looks, functions, and sounds great. The forward facing speaker really does the job. For a basic 2 meter radio, at a great price, you can't go wrong.
KI6GWS Rating: 2006-12-12
Solid workhorse Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is a SOLID WORKHORSE. As already mentioned by others, this radio has the feel of a commercial radio, it's hefty for it's size, really, it's a brick, don't let it fall on your toes, you won't even scratch the radio but your toes will be broken!

I bought this as a first radio when I got my ticket and I am not disappointed. I use this radio as a BASE STATION with a Samlex SEC 1223 power supply. It works very well for this very task.

Power. Even at LOW, it's OVERKILL for the machines I'm hitting. I hit Catalina Island's 2m machine on high, that's ALL I've used HIGH for. 10 watts would more than suffice for the machines within 100 Miles from my QTH.

Front firing speaker: I was going to buy a "better" speaker" before I actually used the one that comes with the unit internally, after using it, I abandoned the notion and just use it's front firing speaker. It is clear, and works great.

What others had to say: My QSO's that have rated my TX have always described me as "Loud and clear with full quieting". How can you ask for BETTER?

Programmable: There IS a minor learning curve with the menu system, but once you spend a few moments learning it, you'll navigate through it quickly as I was cranking through the minus in a minimal amount of time. This has been addressed several times.

Price: Not bad at all. Very affordable. A better choice for a first radio over an HT.

Useful add-ons:
1. MJ-88 Modular to 8-pin pic plug.
2. Heil PR20 Mic for that even BETTER transmitting clarity.
3. Maybe a studio boom for that bring it to ya option that allows you to recline in your chair without holding a mic in your hand.
4. A data cable.

I gave this a 4 out of 5, it would be a 5 IF:
1.it had an option for 10 watt output.
2. The mic were just as solid as the radio. Don't get me wrong, there is NOTHING wrong with this mic.

Would I buy it again? Yes, not only that, but I am buying a second one for my car. Same + same = simplicity.


W5KG Rating: 2006-12-05
Good Transceiver Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have my 271 for about 1 1/2 years with no problems.
Not hard to use if you like menu driven rigs.
Only two knolbs on face but it needed three. Squelch!
That is the only reason I did not give it a 5.
Don, W5KG
W0SDI Rating: 2006-12-05
Input power Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I replaced my Kenwood 241 with the 271 because they said it would cost me more to fix the 241 than to purchase the 271. Can you believe that? Anyway, I like the radio except for one thing. It will not transmit when the vehicle is off. The vehicle it is mounted in must be running. I guess the input power requirements must be for when the alternator is running. In otherwords above 13.5 volts. My 241 was not like that. Yes, the 271 is mounted in the same place and same vehicle. I like the simplicity of my old 241 and I wish I had it back. I will have to live with the 271 and run the vehicle when I want to transmit......Gary W0SDI
KE6PID Rating: 2006-12-03
Get this one! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The Kenwood TM-271A transceiver is a one piece (non detachable control panel) radio that would appear to heavily barrow technology and design from Kenwood’s commercial line of equipment. The transceiver has two rotary knobs and five multi-function pushbuttons in the front panel along with a surprisingly good front mounted speaker. The display is large and easy to read with good contrast. The S meter is calibrated so 1 uV equals S-9. The illumination of the display is continuously adjustable but the buttons and mic are not, which will extinguish when minimum brightness is selected. A nice feature is that an “automatic” illumination mode is available that will switch off the display five seconds after the last control was used. The beefy keypad microphone is connected to the rig via an RJ-45 modular jack.

Menu operation requires a little acclamation period to completely understand its operation, once you get the hang of it is extremely easy to use. The 43 items are accessed by pressing the function key then pressing the multi-purpose knob. Rotation will take you through the various selections. Once you find the item you wish to change a second tap on the multi-function knob will allow you to change the parameter, then a third tap will take you back to the menu select mode. Pressing one of the buttons will exit the menu and save the changes. One nice feature of the menu system is the thoughtful arrangement of the menus. Selections that need to be made often, such as PL/CTCSS frequencies are located right at the top of the menu.

VFO and Memory modes are directly accessible through one of the 5 backlit pushbuttons. To save a repeater you first start out in VFO mode and make all the necessary selections, then tap the multi-function knob, by rotating this knob one of 200 memory positions can be dialed up. Memory positions which already have information stored are indicated with a small triangle. Once the memory location is selected a second tap on the multi-function knob will save all the relevant settings. It is possible to enter alpha-numeric labels to these settings, however to do this the number of available memory locations is reduced to 100 entries. When in VFO mode the multi-function knob is used to enter frequency. A tap on the knob will switch to MHz entry mode; a second tap will take you to the KHz mode. Direct frequency entry is also possible through the microphone keypad.

Before I placed this radio in service I put the rig on the bench and connected it to a
service monitor to check it performance. What I found was impressive. . Receive
sensitivity was excellent, as 12 db sinad could be achieved with only .15 uV of signal.
This betters Kenwoods specifications. This radio contains a narrow and wide operating
Mode which effects both transmission deviation and IF bandwidth. Interestingly the radio really is narrow band compliant! Curiously in narrow band mode the
sensitivity isn’t as great requiring .22 uV for 12 dB sinad., which meets Kenwood’s
specifications.



In the transmit side I was able to obtain 66 watts on the high setting and 27 watts on the low setting. The supply was set at 13.8 volts, however changes in voltage did not seem to have too great an effect on output power. Rather than use the familiar power module on the output Kenwood opted to use a discrete transistor heat sinked to the ample pressure cast chassis. This arrangement is both clean and efficient. Face it, most of today’s mobile rigs sound awful, between badly designed speech clippers questionable modulation schemes and way WAY to much mic gain the bands these days are full of blaring distorted signals. The TM-271 isn’t like this. The mic gain is set so that it is a requirement that the microphone be held about 2” from your mouth to obtain proper modulation. The microphone also seems to be noise concealing so incidental background noise isn’t heard in the transmission. The speech clipper clamps the deviation at 4 KHz in wideband mode and 1.9 KHz in narrow band mode. Low pass filtering seems to be a little bit light and some voices may have excessive sibilance splatter-but nothing like some other rigs I have heard lately. Transmit signal was quiet with a respectable signal to noise ratio. At 60% modulation I was able to measure recovered audio distortion at just 2.8%. That’s clean. Once the fundamental test tone was filtered out all that was left was residual noise.

Another area I addressed was frequency stability. In the amateur radio service rigs do not need to meet any stability specifications, however commercial radio equipment is channelized and must meet stringent specifications. Once again the commercial heritage of the TM-271 shines through. I placed the rig in an environmental test chamber set for -20C for 10 hours to allow the Kenwood to cold soak completely. Once powered on the PLL locked and the rig was ready to go. Transmit frequency had increased only 108 Hz, continuing the test the rig was heated to +50 C and allowed to heat soak for 10 hours, under these conditions the transmit frequency decreased 96 Hz. At room temperature the frequency was about 22 Hz low.

On the road the TM-271 is a joy to work. It’s simple and intuitive controls allow quick adjustments. The small front firing speaker sounds great with much more volume than you might expect. The microphone is larger than most with adequate keypad illumination and a very solid and hefty feel. The coiled cord has not caused me any problem so far, but it’s a notch down from what I would expect on a commercial duty rig. The adjustable historisis squelch action is tight with almost no squelch tail and seems to have enough historisis to avoid chopping the signal in marginal signal conditions in the default setting. Although there is no dedicated squelch knob a quick press on the function key followed by a quick press of the REV key will take you right to the squelch control through the multi-function knob. In my case it rarely needs to be re-adjusted.

In the low price mono-band field the Kenwood TM-271 so far for me has proven to be a great radio and a stand out great value. It is well constructed with a die cast sealed chassis, performs better than the rig it replaced (that is also a current production unit) and sounds fantastic both on transmit and receive. So far it has not displayed any annoying quirks or idiosyncrasies. Time will tell. As of this writing the rig has been in use just over 90 days with no problems to report.
W4EV Rating: 2006-11-25
Hard to Beat! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought a TM-271A as my first mobile rig almost three years ago and it has been a rock-solid performer. No issues at all--nice heavy-duty / commercial feel about the rig, loud & clear audio from the front-firing speaker, and 25W on low is more than enough to get most jobs done mobile. I've only had a couple of times where high power was needed when using my 5/8 wave antenna up in the mountains of TN.

I replaced the TM271 with a Yaesu dual-bander in my car, but the TM271 still gets occasional use as a portable "duffel-bag" station if I feel like taking more than a HT when traveling for any period of time.

I could sell this radio today for almost what I paid for it new on sale, but I don't think I could replace it with another top performer for the same money. If you're looking for a basic 2M rig with solid performance, give the TM271 some serious consideration.
N1XQJ Rating: 2006-11-18
No memory Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just installed my NEW TM 271A and I discovered that the VFO button does not work, making it impossible to save a frequency to memory.
Other than that the radio seems fine, but what good is a radio that will not store repeater frequencies.
I am sure Kenwood will repair the radio, but it is disheartening to find a new radio not working properly. Therefore I can not give this rig any more than a one rating. Had the radio had 15 years on it, then I'd feel different, but brand new...!?!
Darn, I should have bought the Icom 8000, but I was talked into the Kenwood by someone that claimed they were a good radio...never again!
KB0CLY Rating: 2006-11-07
good radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got this radio although i am not using it in a mobile situation, but it didnt break my budget either which was good. I like the sound from the front speaker, the rubber knobs are nice, I am told I have full quieting into the local repeater, using with the antenna across the room, magnetic mount on an old computer i don't use or want anymore, and i am actually using this setup in a second floor apartment. I also like the weather alert station
KI6AKR Rating: 2006-05-29
Best sounding "base station" in town! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I was using the TM-271A as a temporary base station to drive a 20 element Yagi. The stock mobile mike just didn't do justice to a set up like that, so Kenwood's MC-60A pre-amplified table microphone was recruited into action - with excellent results.

Desiring to improve modulation quality even more, I added an EQplus and Heil PR-20 professional studio mike to the system and drove the TM-271A for all it was worth. I'm happy to report that the TM-271A took to these additional high-end components like the proverbial duck to water. I had the best sounding "base station" in town!

With 25W at "low" power and 60W at high, the TM-271A made for a decent enough economy FM base station.

73 from KI6AKR
K2ROK Rating: 2006-05-20
High quality in all categories Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Despite the less-expensive offerings from Yaesu (1802) and Icom (2200) after research and thought I chose the Kenwood 271A for a new rig for the vehicle. It had been awhile since I purchased something from Kenwood for the stable and I liked the look of the rig from the start. It offers a balance of style with function and the front-firing speaker is a plus in my installation.

First impressions:

The instruction manual is well-written with no apparent typos or mistakes.

The microphone, although backlit orange, is a rugged piece of equipment. Much more along the lines of a commercial-quality mic than the Yaesu and Icom lightweights.

The transceiver is rugged, yet stylish and has a commercial-feel about it. I like the rubberized knobs.

The display is bright at night, easy to read and in direct sunlight is as sharp and clear to read as any other time.

In use:

Transmit audio reports are "clear, clean and nice."

Receiver is sensitive and suffers from no intermod as of yet.

Speaker audio is bright and clear in the mobile environment.

Scans fast and has plenty of memory (although this is standard across all brands now).

So what would I like better?

Longer power cord -- that stock cord is too short.

Real squelch knob, not two-step process.

Option for 5 watts power level! 60 or 25 is not enough options, especially when parked with engine off. Sometimes you only need a few watts.

Match the mic backlight with the radio display (green) to make it look "complete" -- but this is minor.

Overall -- the 271A is a nice, quality offering from Kenwood that does the job on 2 meters. In reality when it comes down to the Icom 2200, Yaesu 1802 or Kenwood 271A you probably won't go wrong with any of the rigs. The 2200 offers the digital option, which is nice if you're headed in that direction. It really comes down to personal preference in this crowded field and probably price, with which Yaesu and Icom win by 30 to 40 dollars here.

Nice job Kenwood engineering on the 271 though -- I really like the rig!