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Reviews For: Kenwood TMV71A

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

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Review Summary For : Kenwood TMV71A
Reviews: 106MSRP: 399.00
Description:
The advanced Kenwood TM-V71A dual bander provides sophisticated, high-powered performance on 2 meters and 440 MHz. Power levels are 5/10/50 watts on both bands. The large radio display clearly conveys the status of the radio and can be set to green or amber.
Product is in production
More Info: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kenwood_TMV-71A
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001064.5
W5GIF Rating: 2007-06-20
ALMOST got it Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well it's certainly not the 708 I know and love. It reminds me of a YAESU, very complicated to program with all those menu's! It's just not what I had envisioned when I saw it on the magizine cover.
So it's for sale with the remote mount and programming cable. I'll get another TMV708A. I really wanted the green display, and the 50 watts UHF too,but I need to be able to run/use it going down the road with one hand.
Better luck next time KENWOOD. W5GIF
K8NRA Rating: 2007-06-20
Serious downturn from 733 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Had it about 1 week now...thinking it's going back. Was a gift, but now wishing I could of picked out something better, maybe going another route like my instincts told me.

I've used a number of Kenwood pieces of gear with good luck and I'm glad to see others are fairing better. So far this unit is about ready to get a wooden stake thru it's CPU and sent to the grave. (Sorry, just really frustrated with it and these random functions. This one may be defective.)

So far other than powered up, it appears to have a reasonable receiver (having issues getting it to stay on long enough to compare to my Icom stuff). I've yet to get it programmed without random resets (green display is nice when it sticks though).

The programming software is really sad compared to today's standards of programming. Reading is fine but uploads only generate errors and don't stick. (Yes, tried multiple machines and cables now.) And what's with this resetting to factory default each time you read the memory? Never thought I'd do a factory reset each time I did a download. (Did a Microsoft tech move to the Kenwood factory?...kidding)

Thought it might be related to the power supply so switched to a deep cycle battery but same issues. My Icom gear works fine on the power supply so don't think it had anything to do with it but who knows these days.

Well, glad some folks are happy with it. I'm really just not impressed with it from the functions in the book (can't play with it since the radio will not stay powered on) or how it connects up. Their V708 was a better unit and a lot tougher.

Hope the digital portion and Echolink stuff works since that's it's only real blessing I can see so far.

Best of luck with it. (In case you are wondering, No, it was a gift...I would not of bought it for myself.)

Now where is that hammer and those old tomato stakes???

KF7SN Rating: 2007-06-13
Cross-Band Problem Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Note I have been working on the Cross-band operation on this radio and found
this problem or not a problem. After setting the radio up for cross-
band op and it turning on (By pressing Power & Tone Keys) the radio
will only transmit for only 3 minutes then it stops transmitting. The
TMV71A has a locked time out timer in this mode. See bottom of manual
page 81. (``The Time-Out-time is locked at 3 minutes``). This is to
protect the final transistors or brick power module for over heating
and premature failure.

Now why did Kenwood put in a 10 minute Morse or voice IDer if you can't transmit in
cross-band repeater mode for more then 3 minutes.

Note timer (T-O-T) this is fixed, locked and can`t be changed ever. You can change the T-O-T in normal operation mode but not in Cross-Band op.
N5YSQ Rating: 2007-06-07
Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am very impressed with the new V71a. I purchased this radio for a battery operated dual band in my garage. I replaced a Kenwood 271a which I had used for good while. Local 440 repeater appeared here in town, and wanted a dual band.

I really like the 10 banks of 100 channels. More than enough for my area.

I am NOT SURE about the Antenna, I suspect it has a built in duplexer/diplexer, but it hears fairly good on the dual band antenna I put on it, but does not appear to talk even close to the 271a with a 5/8 wave single band antenna. I might get an outside antenna and try that, but so far, looking for other opinions.
K1MBR Rating: 2007-05-27
Works for me! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I picked up this unit at the Dayton Hamvention to replace an aging TM-733 in my truck. After working with it and programing it, I decided that it would be better served in my ham shack and the TM-V708 that was in the shack went into the truck. Being a new release it's hard to find a lot of the options for it right now. It is very easy to use and setup for me, it seems to be based on the best features from the old TM-733, TM-V7 and TM-V708. I like having a full 50 watts on UHF as well as VHF, I was glad to see that the "Advanced Intercept Point" has been carried over into this unit for intermod problems and a computer programable port is always nice.
N8FZ Rating: 2007-05-22
2 thumbs up!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Finally an affordable dual band with all the features that I was looking for! The dual recieve, 50 watts out on each band, WX alert, and alpha tags were the main selling features for me.

The manual was easy to understand but a little time consuming the first time through. So far no intermod issues but more time is needed on that.

The ability to have the speaker side of the base unit "flip" depending on how you need the speaker is a clever idea.

Overall for my needs, a "5". Good job Kenwood!