FT-2900R vs. TM-281A

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jk77

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Which of these do you like and which would you advise to get? I looking for a 2-meter radio to use as a base station. I'm troubled that the Kenwood TM-281A doesn't have a true low power setting, but I have read that the Yaesu FT-2900R has problems with overheating so I am completely confused as to which is better for me.
 

WyoDuner

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I have a TM-281A that I use in an off-road vehicle. Like, the 2900R it's a basic no-frills 2 meter radio with 65 watts/25 watts output. I'm happy with my 281A but never had the Yaesu to compare with. I think either will serve you well. Not sure about the 2900R over heating issue - like the 281A it has no fan. If it really concerns you, just use a small 4" fan on your desk to blow over the heatsink areas.

Both radios are so similar it's a tough call but I'm sure they will both work just fine.

Personally, I would go with a dual bander but they cost a lot more so.... Have you considered the Icom 2300H? Little more money but seems a little nice looking. Not sure about cost of programming, cable, etc. though.
 

ShawnInPaso

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I'd prefer the TM-281A as it is rock solid, built to mil spec, and has a very sensitive receiver. Not sure what you mean about the "true power setting" I have a TM271A which has a hi/low power setting and I'm supposing the 281 does too. The high power can be cranked down some if needed.
 

mmckenna

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Personal opinion:
I've owned both Yaesu and Kenwood. I've liked both, I'd be happy with either one.
If I was looking at purchasing a new amateur only radio, I'd probably go with the Kenwood due to the better microphones.
My own personal experience is 2 or 3 failed Yaesu microphones, no failed Kenwood microphones. The Kenwood mics are built much more durable and "hand friendly" for me. I never did like the flimsy feeling Yaesu microphones.
 

AK9R

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Does the Yaesu really have an overheating problem or is that just the perception of some users? In other words, are these radios failing due to overheating?

A fanless transmitter is going to get very warm while transmitting at full power. If the designers accounted for the thermal issues properly, the heat sink will carry the heat away from the output device and try to dissipate the heat into the air. In the process, the heat sink will get very warm to human touch, but it may still be within the operating parameters of the output device.
 

jk77

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Thanks, everyone.

W9BU, you are probably right about the heating problem being a perception, but enough people in the eham reviews talk about it that it makes me think it's a problem. I have not read similar things about the Kenwood. I've also read about problems with the Yaesu microphones before.

The Kenwood would be perfect for me if it had a 5 or 10 watt power setting. It seems inefficient to use 25 watts to talk on my local repeater. But maybe that is just a personal preference of mine. I do like the front-firing speaker and the supposed ease of programming of the Kenwood.

I don't really need a dual bander. I have not seen any that I thought was worth it, especially because there is no 70 centimeter activity in my area. I'd rather use that money to get a better HF rig.
 

mrweather

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I have a TM-282A because I wanted a simple, solid 2m radio. The front-firing speaker was an extra bonus and it puts out lots of audio. The chassis is mostly heat sink so I'm not worried about overheating.

Regarding the mic issue, I have an FT-8900 and while I haven't had any problems with the stock MH-48A microphone I just find the Kenwood MC-59 mic feels more solid and fits my hand better.
 

dsalomon

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I have a FT2900R that is used 24x7 as a WinLink gateway. I've never had any problem with it at all, and it's been in use for about a year. It's not extremely active, but it does get a steady flow of traffic through it. I have it set at full power and it's never overheated. I placed it in a location with plenty of airflow. That's one important thing to do with any radio that uses passive cooling (i.e., big cooling fins vs a fan). The FT2900R is built like a brick.

Sorry, I cannot give you a comparison, as I've never owned the TM-282A. However, I've read and heard good things about it. I have owned several other Kenwoods (base and HT) over the years and have been very happy with them all in terms of their build quality and ruggedness.

I'm curious - why are you looking for a single band radio as a base station? If there no 440 repeater / activity in your area? If you're planning to use like like I do (i.e. a WinLink gateway that will only ever be used on 2 meters), then I get it. Otherwise, why not look for a dual band radio (2m / 70cm)? Feel free to tell me it's none of my business, but I (and the group) might be able to give you better (or at least more :)) recommendations if we knew more about the expected use of what you want to get.

73 - David, AG4F
 

N4KVE

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I have a drawer full of $1 cooling fans for this exact reason. One of my radios is a Kenwood TK-880. Excellent commercial radio that works fine in the ham bands. But since it's a commercial radio, it's used for saying "what's my next call", or "I'm going to lunch", or "10-4", not long winded conversations. It gets hot fast. One small $1 fan behind the heat sink keeps the radio cool.
 

jk77

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I am interested in just a 2 meter radio for a base because there literally is no 70 cm activity in this area. There are some distant repeaters which I could hit, but they are simply sitting there unused as far as I can tell. I never hear anyone on them. Plus, I have HTs for 70 cm work in the field. I've tried bring up someone on the 70 cm repeaters, but it seems no one is monitoring them. A ham friend of mine who has a dual band radio also doesn't find any 70 cm activity.

I should also point out that I am a casual ham who basically does local nets and maybe a chat once a week so that coupled with what I mentioned above is the reason why I'm interested in only a 2 meter radio.
 

mmckenna

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I am interested in just a 2 meter radio for a base because there literally is no 70 cm activity in this area. There are some distant repeaters which I could hit, but they are simply sitting there unused as far as I can tell. I never hear anyone on them. Plus, I have HTs for 70 cm work in the field. I've tried bring up someone on the 70 cm repeaters, but it seems no one is monitoring them. A ham friend of mine who has a dual band radio also doesn't find any 70 cm activity.

I should also point out that I am a casual ham who basically does local nets and maybe a chat once a week so that coupled with what I mentioned above is the reason why I'm interested in only a 2 meter radio.


I'm in the same boat.
Many years ago I got rid of all my "amateur" only radios and kept the part 90 radios since it allowed a single radio for work and amateur use. I'm also a "casual" ham, and really only get on the radio 1 or 2 times a month. A single VHF radio solves my needs. There are some 70cm repeaters around here but the "open" ones are dead quite and the rest are private/closed.
I took my last UHF radio out about 2 years ago and installed the work 800MHz radio in it's place. Much more useful to me.
I sold off my last dual band radio about 5 years ago.
 

902

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Which of these do you like and which would you advise to get? I looking for a 2-meter radio to use as a base station. I'm troubled that the Kenwood TM-281A doesn't have a true low power setting, but I have read that the Yaesu FT-2900R has problems with overheating so I am completely confused as to which is better for me.

We're casual hams, too. All 6 of us in the household, and we tend to just talk to each other to coordinate our activities rather than go to the ham club repeater and look for idle chit-chat. I looked at both the Kenwood and Yaesu radios for my family's vehicles. For us, the most important thing is SIMPLICITY, followed by current technology, and then price. I want to program the radio with a PC, limit what the keypad does, and just have volume and channel knobs. I want to minimize the possibility of getting lost in the radio by people who don't want to be diddling with the settings while they're driving. In other words, it's got to "look like" an LMR radio. That ruled out the Boofongs and similar cheap Chinese radios, and also the radios that had many buttons and extensive sub-menus.

The TM-281A does this for me. It's also much less than $200, shipped. If you shop around, sometimes significantly less. Now that I have the software and programming cable, adding radios for my son's and daughter's cars are not a big deal. It's also small and can fit in more modern cars, but has a decent internal speaker.

Caveat - the one I have had a motorboating noise in transmit. The cause was RF getting into the microphone. If that happens to you, you can: 1) send it back because it's not supposed to work that way, 2) snap a ferrite core on the cable, or 3) change the mic. Since I wanted simplicity, I pulled the DTMF mic out (we don't use DTMF, it's just more stuff to go wrong) and replaced it with a KMC-27B land mobile radio mic from my TM-6110 6 meter radio. It's a 100% compatible pin-out and a big, beefy mic that reminds me of the real Motorola days (heavy metal radios), but that's NOT the mic that ships with the TM-281A.

The radio also does a nice job of receiving VHF outside of the 2 meter band and is completely narrowband programmable on the 7.5 kHz channel centers (using 2.5 kHz channelization). We use Maxrad 3 dB mobile antennas, and our simplex range is good for our needs if we're out of my repeater's footprint. So, I don't regret buying the TM-281A. I've got other Icom stuff and would have been just as comfortable buying that if it were dumbed down some more for me.

I wish the TM-481A was widely available here for the same price range. I would have preferred to keep everyone on my 440 MSF, but I also have a 2 meter Bridgecom repeater that seems to do better with coverage, but has desense issues that I need to address. At some point, I will be putting in 440 radios, but they will probably be a Motorola digital product, preferably P25, but I might consider DMR if the price is right (I think DMR is okay, but I'm not in love with it like a lot of people seem to be).
 

jk77

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What do you guys think of the fact that the Kenwood is "narrow band FM ready"? What will this give me in practice? The reason I'm asking is because I'm leaning towards the Yaesu FT-2900R except that it is not narrow band FM ready.
 

mmckenna

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What do you guys think of the fact that the Kenwood is "narrow band FM ready"? What will this give me in practice? The reason I'm asking is because I'm leaning towards the Yaesu FT-2900R except that it is not narrow band FM ready.

Probably not really needed on the amateur bands, but I suspect as time goes on it'll be needed. As more modern analog commercial gear gets retired, we'll probably start seeing a few narrow band FM repeaters. Probably a ways off though.

If you plan on using it as a receiver outside the amateur bands, it might be something you'll want.
 

cmdrwill

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The Kenwood IS a much better radio. One of the few amateur radios based on Kenwood's commercial line.
 

N4KVE

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The Kenwood IS a much better radio. One of the few amateur radios based on Kenwood's commercial line.
Exactly true. Sometimes the vendor borrows a radio chassis from their commercial line, to introduce in their ham radio line. Yaesu did this years ago with their FT2400/2500. Great radio that never got intermod. Kenwood did the same thing here.
 

AK9R

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I'm pretty sure you are referring to the Kenwood TM-281A, so I've changed the thread title to reflect that.
 
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