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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
VA3HVM Rating: 2004-12-13
NICE!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Very different compared to yeasu and icom of which I've had many. Wanted to try something different. The screen is a real change and I like it. Menus took a little getting used to but a couple of 20 minutes and I think I have the hang of it. Dual recieve and crossband are nice features. The mic is a little big but now I'm getting used to the feel it fits nice in my hand. We'll see how it holds up.
K8MHZ Rating: 2004-11-29
Secret feature Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This rig is great so far but I have noticed an intermittent problem with the audio on the left band. It has only happened twice so far. I have had the radio for about a month. I bought it for cross banding and it works great, with just a couple quirks. (You have to wait until repeater drops out to transmit on full cross band).

The coolest thing about the rig is not in the manual. The rig can be operated by remote control from another rig. You can change channels, work the VFO and more. Here is where I found the info: http://www.qsl.net/kc7kc/tmv7armt.htm
Other than the above, I really like the radio and am glad I got it.
KA4KOE Rating: 2004-05-31
Headache Inducing Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Played around with one of these babies for a couple of hours this weekend at a friends house who just bought one. I WAS thinking about getting one. My initial impressions are as follows:

1. The display is absolutely the worst I have ever seen on any radio....I'm not talking about reliability. I'm talking about READABILITY. This thing is just poorly thought out. Period. It must be a nightmare to read on the road and IN sunshine.

2. Initial programming experience is not intuitive. The radio fails the out of box and use test all of us talk about.

I am sad to say that none of the top of line offerings in a dual band transceiver impress me. Looks like we're going to have to go and find a decent used one.
N3RXS Rating: 2004-03-10
N3RXS Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I am writing a followup review of this radio. As I said before I have two of them, one I bought new in 1998 and one I bought used at a fest in 2003. The new one has never developed the "white lines" that so many others have run into with 1998 models. I have had them both mobile, base, cross-banded, etc. The used one I had to send back to Kenwood after a year, but in Kenwood's defense I believe the radio was a bit abused when I bought it. It apparently blew a diode or something, so it was only getting half the juice piped into it and the mic failed after 6-7 fixes. I sent it back to Kenwood and they fixed everything, which cost me $100.00, but since I got the used one for $200 to begin with and it came with the sep kit and the voice chip I am not complaining too much other than I think they tech fee is a bit steep. The parts to fix both my radio and mic came up to like 6.75 the rest was labor. Still in my opinion, this is an excellent radio and I plan to keep both of mine and be buried with them.
73s

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N3RXS on 2003-02-23

I love this radio, I have two of them and no problems as long as the display is set up correctly. I just purchased the second one this weekend at a HAM Fest, and it had a minor glich with one of the S-meter bars staying lite all the time in the middle. I did a memory reset and it went away, now I just have to find my copy of the software so I can clone the data from my first one to the second.
N3ZBJ Rating: 2004-02-06
V7A Vertical lines Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned my TM-V7A since they came out (3-4 years?) Mine developed the vertical line problem at about one year old. It's getting worse now and I contacted Kenwood about it and was told if I can prove I am the original owner to send it in and they will fix it.

Sending it in 2/9/04 i'll let you guys know what happens.

Steve
W5ZZQ Rating: 2004-01-06
Love this radio Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have to give it a 5 - but I do have a problem with the mute or lack of it. Would be great if it had it. The radio is excellent and no display problems with mine - as of yet. Would recommend to anyone.....Larry

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Earlier 5-star review posted by W5ZZQ on 2003-07-26

Just purchased the radio. Very, very easy to program. Had it on the air all ready to go in no time. Love all the features. One thing that is not in the manual - does the radio have a mute function for the sub-band? Can't find it anywhere. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
N9TRZ Rating: 2004-01-04
Radio seems to be ok if I look beyone the sub-band not muting. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this radio for around 2 years now and use it as a base unit, I needed another dual bander for my vehicle so I moved my TM-733 from base duty to mobile duty. From the start I was unhappy about the sub-band not muting upon RX or TX on the primary! Wish I had another TM-733, I'd ditch this one in a hurry. I haven't experienced any of the display quirks others have but that my be due to it being inside all of the time.
W4BCE Rating: 2003-12-19
Bad display Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this unit for two years. The display exibited vertile white lines after 18 months and became totally unusable after 20 months. Kenwood states that they do not sell the control head as a replacement part. I returned the control head to the dealer (HRO) and they shipped it to Kenwood for repair. I stated that the radio was NOT in warrentee. Kenwood offered to fix the radio at no cost if I would probvide the serial number of the main unit. Do to the installation I would have to remove the passengers seat from the auto to get at the serial number. THIS I WILL NOT DO!! Repair cost is said to be in excess of $200 which is just about what it would cost to remove and reinstall the seat. In short the TM-V7A is a pretty good radio HOWEVER FACTORY SUPPORT IS DISMAL and the over all experience is certain to raise your blood pressure!! THIS WAS MY FIRST AND LAST KENWOOD RADIO!
VE3XYD Rating: 2003-12-10
nice idea bad design Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Great radio, nice features but very bad design. Weak plastic, bad audio. I do not recommend for mobile use. Audio is annoying after working on V7A while driving for few hours. In the sunny day, hard to read display. During cloudy or night the display is awsome. Plastic type or material used to build front face and knobs, bad! Weak and very frigale. Kenwood did not use LEDs for band select. A little tiny leds beside band knobs, BAD IDEA! While night driving hard to find the dam knobs!

For base station, not bad radio, good for packet. Looks cool. I will sell the radio sooner or later. Just looking around what is avaible.

ciao
73s
ON4NY Rating: 2003-10-12
Display problem Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this radio for about 2 years. I bought the radio new. The radio has always been in my shack and was not subject to cold or heat. A vertical line started to appear on the display and it started out as one thin vertical line in the middle which would come and go. More lines started to appear after a while and today it is difficult to read info's on the display. I have noticed that this problem seems to be common on the TM-V7. The repairing cost is high, although this display problem appears to be the result of a design defect. This is a strong negative point on this otherwise nice dual band radio.