Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Kenwood TR-7400A

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

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Kenwood TR-7400A
Reviews: 27MSRP: 399.00
Description:
Early Synthesized 2 Meter Mobile Rig
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/fm_txvrs/tr7400a.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00274.7
K0CRX Rating: 2019-12-23
Great old radios Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I currently own three of these bullet proof radios. IMHO, they are grand FM transceivers. As to the frequency display - incorrect numbers. blank digits, missing segments. Two of mine suffered from these problems. They were easily corrected by reseating the individual display boards AND cleaning the contacts on the frequency select switches. The switches are not accessible short of some significant disassembly. But, I used "spray and pray" successfully without removing anything. Put the nozzle into the small openings on both top and bottom of the radio, point it toward the switches, and spray. All three radios now work perfectly. Two were, also, off freq by about 15 kc. That was easily remedied by adjusting L3. I'm sure these radios have lots of service left in them!
W3KKO Rating: 2019-09-29
Great 'ol gal Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Picked up a used 7400A off QRZ for $45, great condition. Used mostly for a local traffic net on a no-tone repeater and a little simplex. Audio reports are excellent and received audio is good. Rock solid, weighs a ton, don't drop it on your foot! Dad had one so I get to relive a little of my youth. Now to find a tone unit :-) 73.
KK5R Rating: 2018-05-22
Good workhorse/dependable radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had two of these. I have not used the radio extensively but it is simple and great for someone who may be blind. I am not but the simplicity of operation of the radio is a cry from the past that needs to be heard by people making radios today that have buried menus sometimes that lean heavily toward the tedious.

My reason for this review is more because of one commenter who said the display was erratic and he had to slap the radio sometimes to "awaken" some of the digit elements. My radio last TR-7400A did this slightly and I knew right away that due to age, the contacts on the cable or digit control boards was showing a poor connection, somewhere. I finally removed the top cover and found each digit had its own control board right behind the front panel. Therefore, I rocked each board up slightly, about half-way, and then pushed it back to fully seated position. This only had to be done once for each board. The digits came back on without any lost digit segments. Simple fix.

The radios are showing age but usually such problems are due to contact resistance. Merely unplugging and then plugging back in a connector or device is enough to clear the problem. This is similar to switch contact problems some radios have but because they have easy access from the front panel, it is only necessary to swing the switch back-and-forth a few times and the problem usually goes away — at least for another day. With switches, though, when the contact becomes so noticeable that it is then hard to ignore, there are some sprays available to clear the problem. (Deoxit?) I have used WD-40, though, with great success by using the little tube that comes with the can. Even noisy volume/gain controls can be cleared up with WD-40 which is mostly some oil and beeswax, the beeswax forming a barrier against dust that many times is the culprit. Some may not like using WD-40 but it works!

Thought this might be of help for some radios.
K5EGG Rating: 2013-02-10
Great tinkering radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I own two of these, and have only been a licensed ham since 2009. I purchased my first one off ebay for $9, listed in the CB section, as 'non-working'. The previous user(s) had done some horrible things to this radio, the worst two were butchering a data interface to it, and leaving it in a humid environment (like a junk car interior in southeast Texas) for many years. After a couple hours on a very 'noob' bench, I had this thing working like a charm.

Second unit I got for about $30 off a "poor quality" listing on ebay that received very little attention.

Both units have been absolutely rock solid despite many noob mistakes (TX with no antenna, APRS automatic interface freezing leaving the radio in a TX state for several hours, etc) they keep working.

The best part about this radio is most everything is discrete components, and of the few ICs only a couple are proprietary. With any sort of 'electronic clue' one can keep these radios in a functional state forever.

If you want a modern unit with memories and an adjustable CTCSS generator built in, look elsewhere!
K2SNY Rating: 2011-12-19
Just picked up! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just received my kenwood tr-7400a in the mail today. I bought it off of ebay for $27.00 and it works great!
I am in love with this little old radio!
best $27.00 I ever spent..lol

dawn
kd2bdp
AC8DE Rating: 2009-03-30
Rock Solid Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
When this radio was originally produced in the mid '70's, I was 14 years old. I bought this unit for $20 from a buddy's brother who needed the money and wasn't sure of it state of operation, along with some other equipment. It had been VERY clumisily surgically altered because they lost the 2-pin power connector.

I took to refubishing the radio right away, as I could tell it was really solid just by weight alone. I found a power connector and and took to reversing the ugly "modification" power conenctor job. It also looked like it had been stored on the bottom of a dung heap, had evidence of some water being in it and reeked of 30 years of smoking... BADLY! Even a smoker would have been offended. After a full dissassembly, going through some solder, a full can of contact cleaner to clean its guts, replacing the indicator bulb with a LED and resistor and spending about 2 hours giving it a clean with a half box of Q-Tips, the old girl looked pretty darn good. A bit scratchdd on top and bottom, but the face still looked pretty good. I put power to her in my shack and she fired right up, so off to my my local repeater I went. The sound quality reports I got from my friends was nothing short of perfect. Everyone was in disbelief that I only paid $20 for this old radio. So with all that abuse and lack of care, this radio still worked perfectly. Again, what does that say about the build quality of it? I only have one segment of one of the 7-segment LED's out of the front, and even then only intermittently, which is amazing considering this is the known weak link of this radio. Perhaps I'll get back in there one of these days and hard wire it to fix the issue, when I get a wild hair. I might even add the Com-Spec tone card to it with a proper modification to hit the local repeater that use tone. I must admit, I do like this old radio and intend to keep using it as my primary 2M rig in my shack.
W2KG Rating: 2008-12-06
Excellent rig! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought one of these when they were new in '78 and later sold it to buy some other toy. I suspect that if I'd kept it, it would still be ticking along. Nevertheless over the years I've bought two of these used and they're still cooking just fine. No need to echo what others have said about ruggedness, etc. The great beauty of this rig in my opinion is its SIMPLICITY! Of course, in '78 we thought it was real complex! I would recommend it to anyone who hates those bloody menus on the new rigs. Just invest in a little Communications Specialists TE-32 tone box and you can go anywhere with this rig. I might even buy a third one by the time I'm done, if I can talk the XYL into letting me get a pickup to go along with rest of my "fleet".
KC9MLL Rating: 2008-06-01
Solid as a rock! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Kenwood made a great radio when they designed this one!

I am a relatively NEW HAM, and I borrowed this rig from my sister.
It was originally owned by our mother. (SK)
Anyways, it runs great! Only thing I had to do with it, was replace one Diode and Clean the mike. It was nasty, and mom was a smoker.

The DOWN SIDE: The Tone Board was an after market installation , and it can only be set to one tone at a time by flipping dip switches on it's board.

Really a rock solid rig, and would definately be worth hunting one of these up at your next HAMFEST! Makes a Great every day rig, and a Solid backup!

Kenwood Keep up the great work!!
N7TRZ Rating: 2008-04-15
A venerable battleship Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned three of these over the years. I've sold one to a new ham that had display troubles, since the selection method needs no display to determine what frequency you're on. I've also given one away to a blind ham, since the selection method also allows click counting and has positive stops at the zeroes. If you are unsighted, or working in the dark and "get lost", all you have to do is spin the knobs to zero and re-count the clicks. This arrangement is also great in a vehicle. No need to look away from the road to QSY.

The last 7400 I bought was an estate find several years ago that was positively pristine. I ended up paying $100 for it, but that was before the IC-2200 could be had for $160. No scratches, chips, scrapes or outages. This is my keeper.

The display on these is the weak link in that there are numerous plug-in connections involved. The 7400s with more use I've owned both had some problems in this regard. I've found a film of silicone grease on the contacts to keep the air away from them can keep them working a long time, but the contacts seem to lose tension after a few years and this makes them finicky. Replacements can still be found in the appropriate catalogs or online.

The robustness of this radio is otherwise outstanding. I completed the effect by ditching the stock mic to emergency duty and wired up a vintage Shure unit to replace it. You could use either as a weapon now and still rely on this radio to be in working order.

The heatsink is massive and long winded QSOs barely warm it during the warmer months. All devices in the amp section appear to be discrete so no worries about blowing a hybrid.

I personally don't find a compelling need to tone this radio in my area. Not many machines require it, and the receive is so interference free I don't bother worrying about tone squelch. My later rigs all have CTCSS if I need it.

Should two meters be narrow banded, it appears this radio could be entirely refiltered with little effort. Communication Specialists carry many possible replacements.

I do plan on passing this rig down to my kids or grand kids. A true classic right up there with the FT-101 and the Memorizer.
N4EDX Rating: 2008-03-10
Awesome Old Rig ! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I found one at the Charlotte Hamfest this past weekend.. missing a power cord and mic, fixed up both with a new cord and an old MC-43 hand sqezer
.Fired right up ! noticed the meter lamp has burned out, 20 minutes later I that fixed.. I love this thing, the weight, size and build reflect the old quality not seen today.
32 years old and sounds and receives better than the new stuff.
73's
N4EDX
Ed