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Reviews For: Kenwood TM-V708a Dual-band

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

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Review Summary For : Kenwood TM-V708a Dual-band
Reviews: 25MSRP: 399.95
Description:
Take the APRS/TNC out of a 'D700, and - viola! - you have a TM-V708a!
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00254
N6ZUC Rating: 2012-07-05
Nice rig but some problems. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have 3 of these units.

The positives are it has nice sounding audio, easy to use, true dual band. I like the scanner and the band display. Good rig for the shack.

The negatives are it is heat sensitive. I live in the Las Vegas area and it is unusable as a mobile in the summer when temps are high. It loses transmit audio. All 3 of my units do the same thing. The other negative although not a real big dea is that all units measure 40 watts only as it is supposed to be 50.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N6ZUC on 2006-04-07

I NOW OWN 2 OF THESE RIGS. ONE IN THE SHACK, AND ONE IN A MOBILE. I AM SERIOUSLY THINKING OF REPLACING THE 732 IN MY VAN WITH ONE OF THESE ALSO. I WAS SURPRISED BY THE REVIEWS THAT SAID THEY WERE NOT ABLE TO FIND MUCH INFORMATION ON THIS RIG BEFORE THEY BOUGHT IT, BOUGHT IT ANYWAY, AND THEN COMPLAINED ABOUT WHAT IT WON'T DO. I HAD NO SUCH PROBLEM FINDING THE INFORMATION I NEEDED TO MAKE THE DECISION TO BUY. I LIKE THE BIG DISPLAY, AND ALL THE INFO IT SHOWS. I BRING UP THE CROSS BAND REPEAT AND AM ABLE TO CARRY MY MICRO HANDHELD AROUND THE HOUSE AND YARD. I LIKE THE SCAN FEATURES, AND THE ABILITY TO SCAN FOR TONES AND DIGITAL CODES. AS ONE REVIEWER NOTED THE SPEAKER IS A BIT WEAK, BUT I'VE NEVER FOUND A RIG YET THAT WASN'T IMPROVED WITH AN EXTERNAL SPEAKER. IT WAS STRANGE AT FIRST THAT ALL THE MEMORIES WERE LINEARLY STACKED, AND THAT ANY PROGRAMMED CHANNEL CAN BE SET ON EITHER RECIEVER. I NOW FIND THIS VERY HANDY AS I OFTEN LISTEN IN ON 2 FREQ'S ON THE SAME BAND, AND ALL I HAVE TO DO IS PUSH THE VOLUME KNOB FOR THE CHANNEL I WANT TO TALK ON. LIKE ALL MODERN RIGS, THERE IS A LEARNING CURVE, YOU NEED TO SPEND SOME TIME WITH THE MANUAL, BUT AFTER THAT, YOU WILL FIND THAT IT REALLY IS PRETTY EASY.
YO9IBC Rating: 2010-10-28
Great radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Yaesu FT-1802 I changed to a Kenwood TM-V708A and I can say it's a great station. Very good reception and emission identical. I recommend this station.
W2BLC Rating: 2009-04-28
Basic reliable daul rx Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Had it for over a year - never mobile. Made a good scanner - but not my cuppa. Went back to stand alone 2M rig.

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Earlier 1-star review posted by W2BLC on 2009-03-24

It is obsolete after less then a year and suffered from poor QC. Volume controls are junk.
N6ISL Rating: 2008-09-24
Obsolete scam Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
How does a major manufacturer put out a radio and obsolete it in less than a year. Bought the 708 new and ended up using it for a home based radio. Then the local club opted to replace our repeater and the new unit is narrow band due to conflicts with an adjacent high level machine. Here lies the problem...a releatively brand new radio from a major manufacturer and it won't do narrow band transmit.
W5SEA Rating: 2008-07-05
Really Awesome Mobile!!! A+ Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've been through alot of radios in the past few years of being in Ham Radio, and this one has to be my favorite FM Dual Band Mobile, Great TX/RX Audio, and everyone says it has better audio quality than most of the Yaesus out there, you just can't beat it unless you purchase the TM-D700A that has the TNC, but I did'nt need that. If you're going mobile, this is the one to get, too bad they discontinued it!!!
K1MBR Rating: 2007-06-24
Really enjoy this one! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
A friend of mine just recently got his License (2004 :^P ) and has 2 of these units. One in his house and one in his mobile. I helped him program both radios. Boy did I miss that clone feature some of the older models had. I started setting up my shack in the new home and realized I need a newer dual band for the shack, so I bought a TM-V708a since I liked the features.

I bought a new TM-V71a at the Dayton Hamvention to replace my aging TM-733 in the mobile. After working both radios, I found that the TM-V708a is the ideal mobile radio and the TM-V71a was better suited for my shack. On the TM-V708a I love the frequency WITH the alpha display, over switching from one to the other and back. The band scope function is great feature to have as well.

Another friend of mine also bought a TM-V71a since the radio store he bought it from told him the TM-V708 was being discontinued?! You can find his write up in the TM-V71a section, WOW was that one sick radio, "possessed" is more of the word I would use. Well this weekend it went back and you guessed it! It was replaced with a TM-V708a. He's a happy camper now.

What with ALL the information that can be stored and displayed with this radio it REALLY needs a clone or computer programming function! Other than that this one is still a winner for me.

Larry "I'Gor" K1MBR
KI4UGE Rating: 2007-04-05
Love it Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm a new ham and this was my first radio. I love the thing. Its simple to use and the manual is easy to understand. The display is clear and the sound is excellent. My only complaint is so minor as to be ridiculous and that is, I'd like to be able to control the volume from the mic.

Now for a discussion about the primary reason I bought this. I do a lot of hunting in an area with no cell coverage. I often hunt alone. I wanted a unit that was capable of cross band repeating with my HT in an emergency. It took a bit of trail and error, but I've now got it figured out and its remarkable. People can't believe I'm on a HT. Its just crystal clear and makes a huge difference in range.

There are two different ways to set up the cross band. The "simplex" method is a bit of a pain, but it works. The key to that is to make sure you assign a control and TX frequencies (they must be different). It works, but also requires a dual band HT and programming the HT is a lot more complicated. The conventional cross band is much easier and more clear. It takes seconds to set up.

If you're going to get this radio for this purpose, I do have one piece of advice. Turn up the squelch to maximum on both bands. If you don't, it will often not rebroadcst your signals in one direction or the other (or both).

In all, I'm very satisfied with the unit. I don't have anything to compare it to, but as a newbie, its been a short learning curve.
WI2Q Rating: 2007-03-29
Replaced my TM741 tri bander Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Although I only had it for a short time in the mobile this one more than meets the bill for 2 and 440. You can see the frequency and the alpha tags at the same time... very important with 200 memories. I found it to do almost everything my 741 did (except the third band). If it wasn't that I put an ICOM 7000 in the mobile, I would not be selling it... The display is very readable in the mobile. I did find it a little hard to use (mounting wise) in the ham shack.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by WI2Q on 2005-12-04

Without going into great detail, I wanted to point out that this radio does everything my TM741 or TM742 did. I had to get TWO new radios to get three bands in the car, but this one more than fills the bill for 2 and 440. Alpha tags are great cause you can see the frequency AND the alpha tag at the same time. Audio reports are great and it is very easy to program (even if I had to do it over again). 200 memories is more than enough and the extended receive frequencies are a bonus.

I like it alot. It works fine and for the money you won't beat it.
K9YC Rating: 2007-03-09
Excellent Design and Features, Lousy QC Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this radio as a return from HRO in Sunnyvale, at a discount of about 10%, with the assurance that it was new and working fine. It certainly looked new, and parts of it hadn't been unpacked.

I quickly learned why it was returned -- the microprocessor was fouled up in the same manner noted by the previous review. That is, one of the two receivers was VERY loud, while the other had very low audio gain. Both recievers had flaky squelch operation.

I was also unhappy with HRO, and won't do business with them again.
KB9CQZ Rating: 2007-02-10
had problem Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Sent mine back for repair after 6 days. Receive on side "A" was either half that of "b" or non-existant.
Was just learning the menu system and getting it programmed. I did like the radio before the problem. Hopefully the problem gets fixed and does not happen again. Would like to see computer programing option but an live with out.