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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
G4EDY Rating: 2005-02-11
Excellent Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought one for base use after a disappointing experience with a Yaesu. TM271 has superb audio quality and is easy and relaxing to listen to. The menu and control system is a breeze. Build quality looks first class and I really appreciate the heatsink cooling, complete silence! no fan noise!
The Yaesu that I tried suffered from a lot of pager intermod, something I had never experienced with my TM-255, the TM271E is much better but still has one or two problem frequencies. I have installed a DCI 2m bandpass filter and eliminated the problem.
Personaly, I would happily trade Airband coverage for a proper helical resonator front end but the marketing guys at Kenwood would probably disagree!!
I can highly recommend this set.
P.S how can I reduce the Low power setting to say 10W instead of 25?
W0CIA Rating: 2005-01-28
Great Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Kenwood TM-271A

Our radio club bought one TM-271A two-meter radio to install in our Law Enforcement Center (LEC) on Jan 7th, 2005. I down loaded the programming software from the Kenwood web site and then ordered the programming cable. The down load of freq Info (39 Channels) to the radio with the software worked great. Two weeks later when I went to the LEC and I was turning the channel control, dialing through all the channels and I noticed that half the channels were gone. Example: CH-1 to 9 then it skipped over to CH-20 then to Ch 32, the freq info was gone and so was the Channel number. I re-loaded the 39 channels from the computer and so far it has held. Has anybody had this problem? I looked at the manual to see if I could dump the freq info and the channel number, because I thought one of our members got carried way with button pushing and I could not fine any way to do this. There is a way to “Delete” a channel, but the channel number stays on the display. WØCIA
WD9HOT Rating: 2005-01-06
Power Issue Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased this rig based on reviews on this site. Also, I agree that that one more lower power level would be desireable. So, upon recieving my rig from HRO, I immediatly sent it to my nearest authorized service center for power adjustments, 5 Watts low,25 Watts high. Was expecting standard labor charges,Nope, Was treated as regular warranty work,How cool is that?
N3IJW Rating: 2004-12-22
Excellent Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This is probably the best monoband rig I have used apart from my V8000 - both rigs have their strengths and I would have a difficult time choosing between them.

And now I will simply mirror the sentiments of most of the other reviewers.

The 271 has the best hand mike available on a "ham" branded mobile radio today. The Icom HM-133V is more versatile, but also more complex, and feels flimsy compared to the Motorola-like hand mike supplied with the 271.

Build quality is on par with that of the V8000, though I give the nod to Icom in the appearance department. The 271 is shorter, but slightly wider, than the V8000. Both radios are about the same depth. No cooling fan on the 271 though, so that slimmer profile won't help you install it in a tight spot without having heat problems.

The Icom has a better (larger) display, and a squelch knob right up front, the Kenwood requires fiddling around in the menus to tweak the squelch. Not a big deal as it doesn't get adjusted often.

Intermod resistance is very good, a nearby pager site that demolishes my scanners doesn't even break the squelch on the Kenwood (or Icom, for that matter).

Both radios put out more than enough power to do the job. A third, "Actually Low" power level on the Kenwood would be nice, say 5 watts.

Both radios are very simple to program once you grasp the fundamentals. I give the nod to Kenwood here for the larger front panel buttons that are easier to locate and press while dodging cars on the interstate.

The menu system annoys me a bit because it doesn't seem to be in a logical (or alphabetical) sequence. Between that and some of the funky acronyms used to denote menu functions (ENC = tuning control lock, of course!), you'll probably want to photocopy that section of the manual and keep it handy.

Things I'd like to see on a "revised" model:

* The dot-matrix display from the TK-7150/8150 commercial rigs
* A third, lower power level
* A mini-din data port for packet/aprs operation

Overall, an excellent value and I would certainly buy the 271 again.

Oh, to KC2MWA - There are two tone modes, one is xmit only (TONE), the other is xmit/recv (CTCSS).
KD5NMI Rating: 2004-12-08
Excellent 2m rig! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I noticed the prior Review stated it took him 10 minutes to adjust the Squelch ... Duhh ... just push 2 buttons; F then REV, and turn the knob, can't get any simpler!

REVIEW
I get good audio reports, received is excellent, programming is "very" simple.

Many great features:
* Weather Alert (works fantastic)
* Prioriy Channel (REAL Prioity, like a Scanner)
* CTCSS and Tone SCAN
* Alpha Numeric Display
* 100 or 200 channels
* much much more

CONS
Need at least one more power setting (say 10 watts). Mine does 70 watts on High, 25 watts on Low!

IMPROVEMENT?
How about a DUALBAND Kenwood with the Weather Alert and TRUE Priority??
N4SJW Rating: 2004-12-01
Low deviation Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Yet another radio with very low deviation and no apparent way to adjust. I have to shout into the microphone for anyone to hear me. Also, took me abt 10 minutes first time I turned it on to adjust the squelch. This is too complex a radio to use as a mobile.
KG0WX Rating: 2004-11-23
Super hot RX! Easy to work on Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I tried this against several other rigs with a base signal some 60 miles away. The other rigs were an HTX 242 and a FT 2500 & a FT-212. This rig beat them all hand down in all categories. Sensitivity, Selectivity, rx speaker audio quality & mic performance.

www.mods.dk has the MARS/CAP mod - it's easy. Alignment is done via software menu items. To get into this mode you have to short 2 pads on the PC board while turning the rig on. You can adjust everything in this mode! I turned my low power down from 32 watts to 5 watts but left everything else stock.

Just like in the QST reviews & elsewhere, the rig puts out more than advertised on high power. Mine puts out 68 watts. Sure does get the heatsink hot when you rag chew on high power, though but the manual warns about this. I *may* install a 5" muffin fan to help with this.

Contact me at kg0wx@yahoo.com & I'll send you the alignment .pdf file. You can get the users manual online easy or I can send it to you.

As another user reported, you can not set each memory with power settings. Same goes for alpha tags - if you want only one memory to show it's alpha tag - all memories that have a tag will show it.

I fixed the power function by reprogramming the "A" key on the mic from "call" to "power level". Now I simply go to the memory/vfo freq I want and hit the "A" button to quickly set TX power to either High or Low poewer. I also reprogrammed "D" to "frequency enter" mode.

One more thing - that front firing speaker is the cat's meow! Loud and beutifull sounding - no external speaker for this rig!

Ken KG0WX

WD9IWC Rating: 2004-10-04
FANTASTIC Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Had the rig now for a week and here are the first impressions. Easy to program from the easily understandable manual. Great sound from the front fireing speaker. Good reports from everyone. Display excellent in all lighting situations, easy to see. No intermod from anything in the Chicago area and we have a LOT of activity. Lighting on the mike enables the keys to be seen quite easily in all lighting situations also. Thoughtfully programed right from the factory. Will save the 5 rating till I have used it for awhile but I would be surprised if anything goes wrong. So far its what I expected and why I always buy kenwood.
KC2MWA Rating: 2004-08-18
Good Transceiver Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The only problem I have with this radio is the CTCSS. If a repeater doesn't transmit a PL code and CTCSS is turned on you can't hear it. It would be nice to be able to turn it off on receive. There are two local repeaters I can't use because of this.
KC0SFT Rating: 2004-08-14
Good Radio For Price Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This radio compares very close to my Icom V8000. I would rate the Icom a notch higher because of the squelch control and receive clarity. When talking on nearby repeater the Kenwood overloads on receive, where the Icom does not, even without turning on the att. Programming is about the same level of difficulty. Each radio has plus and minuses. Both radios are to me good quality, though I would trade the Kenwood for another V8000.