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Reviews For: Kenwood TM-V7A

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

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Review Summary For : Kenwood TM-V7A
Reviews: 111MSRP: 719.95
Description:
The dual band mobile with the cool blue display.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.kenwood.net/products/index.cfm?AMA=open&ama_mob=open
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001113.8
PE1RLN Rating: 2001-04-04
Great features! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Okay, there will always be people who do not like this TRX, but I think it was the best thing Kenwood made for V/UHF users after the TH-79 portable. I see them as brothers. Now, what is so amazing about this one?

1. Cool Blue. Yes, it looks very nice (however, amber is better...). Large display is able to give you lots of info.

2. Dualband receive. You can receive 2 freq's at one time. Nice when monitoring your repeater while in QSO.

3. Visual. Now you can see wether there is activity on other freq's without hearing them.

4. 9k6. You can hook it up instantly to a TNC with 9k6.

5. Computer programmable. You can program this thing with you PC. That is very handy for entering the names of the channels. When you go on vacation, just load the other file and you can go!

6. Vehicle mount. I didn't use it myself, but I have seen amateurs with it in the car. The Transceiver mounted near the antenna in the back of the car and the display conveniantly on the dashboard. That looked really cool! It works much better than a complete radio under the dashboard and they won't break into you car.

7. The rest. The rest of the radio is good too. Everything can be set and after a few days you'll learn a lot more of this baby!

My rating? 6/5!
KC0FOP Rating: 2001-03-10
overall a good radio, just not great Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Radio seems to work well. I use a dual band mag mount cushcraft with this radio and both work well together.BUT whatever other good things that I could say about this rig are long forgotten when you can't see the display!!!. Maybe klunkwood could offer a different display head...say, like one you could actually see during daylight hours. save your cash by a g707
KB2VUQ Rating: 2001-02-28
Two Thumbs Up! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Overall a "good" radio.
Not as good as the TMG-707!

VHF receiver= front end overload.
After installing a Par Electronics
VHF intermod filter (notch 152-153mhz)
the reciever was great...intermod free!
Now it's a great radio!

I use it at home for cross-band repeat.
Overall performance is great...but,
you must UNPLUG the microphone in crossband
repeat. The mic audio is live (hot) all
the time.

The alpha-numeric display is laughable,
the alpha tags are just too small.
The display can be reverse polarized
and contrast adjusted though.

The microphone PTT is tough.

Audio (tx/rx) is great (even in crossband).

Makes a great control station (base radio),

***DO NOT PUT THIS RADIO IN A VEHICLE!***

Save $150.00, buy a Kenwood TMG-707
for the car.

Tough but honest.

Best 73,
de
Dennis Volin
KB2VUQ

K5TLG Rating: 2001-01-24
Great radio for base! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Have to agree with others about a poorly written instruction manual. But everything else
about this radio I love. I am using it as a base and love the capability to see both the frequency
in use and and the name given to the frequency at the same time.
VE3MPO Rating: 2001-01-13
Don't buy it Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This radio was easy to operate, had some good features and worked well. However, if you care to see the display, don't buy this radio. The 'cool blue' display must have been schemed up by a half witt. The display is completely washed out by daylight when mobile. It is more visible indoors, but after all, this is a mobile radio and must be judged under such conditions.

I had mine for 6 months and finally sold it to someone at a flee market. Someone who didn't know what he was getting into, I would guess.

The dual receive feature is more than annoying. Both of my existing dual band mobiles (TM-G707 & IC-207) are both one band at a time.

Don't buy a V7A. You'll hate it!
K4JAR Rating: 2000-12-17
Great radio for the shack Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This radio replaced the Icom 207h which is a great radio but I wanted a base radio that would allow me to crossband to my HT while roaming the neighborhood. This radio works great and has a very nice receiver. The display is not an issue in the shack and the color is fine. I wish Kenwood would add the mute feature back again. it would then mute the rec only band while you are transmitting on the other band. I wish they had 4 power settings rather than just 3. I wish the 440 band did the auto offset like the vhf side does - no idea wht Kenwood made them work differently. The hand mike is a bit BIG and the push to talk button is hard to press in and hold.

The radio has many nice features and the audio is very good. The visual scan is neat but would be useless in a car - its pretty tiny to see well and on the desk in front of you makes that much easier than if it was under the dash. All in all, if you want a full duplex 2m/440 radio, you have 3-4 choices and this is a very good choice.

K4JAR
N2OTV Rating: 2000-12-17
Change display color Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Do you know that you can change the display from blue to a white backround, I can see it much beter in the day time drive!!!
P.S. I also changed the Microphone. I am using the
MC-45DM sounds much better than the one that came
with the rig...
WB4DX Rating: 2000-12-08
Great....but......... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Grrreat radio, but one drawback, the blue display belongs in the shack, not the car.
It is really terrible, it is influenced by heat and cold constanly having to adjust the contrast and brightness.

PY2JF Rating: 2000-09-25
The Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Could be the better VHF/UHF radio in my opinion if Kenwood:
1) Change this bad "cool blue" display for the old and comproved high contrast ambar. Forget about see anything in daylight.

2) Put back MUTE option for sub band! Why Kenwood disable it!

3) Everybody complain about the low level and tiny audio from this, not so anatomic, microphone. I tryed use the old one from a TM241A and its much better.

A very complete transceiver, great sensitivity, Visual Scan is a nice feature and CTCSS decoder build in (no expensive optional anymore).

By the way, if the display is a pixel matrix one, why not add in the software a large and bold character when the another band is turned off ?

But is a great choice.
K4OC Rating: 2000-08-30
Lacking features of 742a Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have owned several kenwood tri-band mobiles and regular dual band mobiles over the years. I have owned a TM-V7A for 6 months now.
I like the way the radio looks while at home. I can not however stand the display in a mobile environment. I HAD to mount the radio on passenger side below the glove box. I can NOT see the display during the day. I have changed the settings and the best setting ..... I still have to look at the radio for 3 or more seconds to figure out what the heck I am looking at. The only way to cure this is for me to remote mount the head on the dash pointing directely at me and I can not do that in my company vehicle. Plus the heat from the sunlight is an enemy to it.
A feature I liked very much in other kenwood dual band mobiles is the mute of the other band while you are talking on another. The Va does not have this feature and I found that to be an inconvenience. The speaker is mounted on the top so if you do not have a mobile speaker and mount the radio under the dash...at least the audio is not being directed into the carpet! ALso if used inside...I put rubber feet on the bottom and makes a nice desktop radio as the audio is coming out the top. I still use external speakers though.
In revue....pros:
nice display for LOW LIGHT conditions/home use.
Top mounted speaker.
Single antenna connector..no duplexer needed for single antenna connection.
Separate volume controls for each band.
CTCSS Encode/Decode.

Cons:
VERY VERY hard to read display in bright light conditions.
No auto sub band mute.

The receive is awesome. All kenwood mobiles I have ever owned have awesome receivers.