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Reviews For: Kenwood TM-721A

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

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Review Summary For : Kenwood TM-721A
Reviews: 7MSRP: 199.00
Description:
2 m/70 cm dual band FM mobile transceiver
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0074.9
VE7PDS Rating: 2022-09-16
Still running. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Purchased this radio by accident. By 1991 standards there is not one fault. Still running strong and as ever and the fit and finish looks as beautiful as it was in 1991.
KC4EOG Rating: 2014-08-23
AWESOME Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have you all beat. I purchased my TM-721A in August of 1990. It is still going strong. I paid $700 for it new and I have had a whole ham radio lifetime of enjoyment out of this radio. It has not been treated gently either. It has been in and out of every vehicle I have ever owned...it has been operated for months in heavy salt air environments, and subject to the very hot summers in the car in both Louisiana and North Carolina for decades. Despite this it still goes strong. The 440 receive is off 5 kHz but that is the only issue. I recently made a 350 mile contact with it from NC to New Jersey. What an amazing piece of engineering from Kenwood. See it in action on youtube with the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgHsylP2XbY
KB8NJP Rating: 2012-07-05
The BEST of the BEST. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had my Kenwood TM-721A for over 20 years. I made the MARS/CAP mod. on it, use it for MARS for about 10 years on packet. Now I use it at work for a cross-band repeater. It is the BEST of the BEST. It is made like a TANK. Great job Kenwood!! 73,God Bless de KB8NJP
NV2A Rating: 2008-05-31
Great versatile radio. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My original display went out on mine shortly after I purchased it new. Icom put the same display in it that the 731A has and it was far superior, now I could "easily" read it in the sunlight. Mine was setup for OOB and never gave a burp after the initial display issue. Also used the crossband repeater with great success.

I sold it at a hamfest 8 years ago. Now that I'm getting back into ham radio it was the first radio I went gunning for! Got one on ebay and love it although it's the stupid hard to read color display. :(

KI4DCR Rating: 2007-11-04
5 Stars! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought this unit off Craigslist for $45 practically new in the box. It's my first dual band rig as I've always used Motorola's prior to this. This little rig kicks but! Excellent receive sensitivity,fantastic transmit audio, easy to use functions. Only thing I'd change is more memory channels, but otherwise it's a smoking little rig! I can receive stations on this rig that the Motorola's can't even hear. Another thing I like is the top mounted speaker.You won't go wrong with one of these.
N0AOM Rating: 2005-02-14
In use for 17 YEARS! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I hadn't thought about entering anything on my TM-721, but had to add a note after reading KA4KOE's report.

Been using this rig mobile for 17 years, at least 5 days a week. Had only one problem about 15 years ago when an IF crystal had to be replaced. It has been the least affected by intermod than any other VHF rigs I've owned.

Recently developed an audio intermitent in the original hand mic., but it still works!

Wish they still made this solid a radio.
KA4KOE Rating: 2004-06-14
Nice and Simple Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Owned one of these for a few years. Kenwood had an available LCD module that you could swap out for the existing LED display. Otherwise, the display was impossible to read in daylight.

Mine had a receive failure caused by RF getting into the audio stage. Repaired and put back into service. To be fair the radio was about 15 years old when this happened. I doubt if any of the new stuff out there will hold up as well.

Sold it and replaced with a slightly newer TM-731A. Others report problems with the final transistors, but never experienced it myself. However, it is relatively easy to turn down the power of the final stage somewhat to baby those transistors, which I did.

Programming is intuitive. The manual is not a large tome like the current TM-V7A, which is a nightmare to program in my opinion.

If you have a working one in good condition, it will probably keep working for the next 15 years.

PHILIP