I too am looking at the yaesu ft60r and the kenwood thf6a,comments on either one are appreciated.scannerdweeb.
how about thf6a kenwood,any comments
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MarkWestin
Member
Hello,
I used to have the TH-F6A and I really didn't like it that much. I sold it and bought the Yeasu VX-7R. The TH-F6 isn't a terrible radio, but it isn't great either. My complaints probably are more like nit picks, but here they are:
The stock antenna is made from a sticky rubber that you just can't keep clean. The battery has to be charged on the radio, no external charger that I know of was available when I had mine. the case was made of a relatively soft material and got scratched up quite quickly. The keys got scratched and the black coating came off them (they are illuminated) so they didn't look very good at night. The belt clip however is steel and very robust, mounted with two screws. As you might have guessed, I am rather hard on equipment. I'm not Anti Kenwood, I still own a TH-25AT that I bought new in 1988 and it still works great. I also have a Kenwood TS-570DG which is OK but not great, but it was priced right
Hope this helps.
Mark
KA1TIV
I used to have the TH-F6A and I really didn't like it that much. I sold it and bought the Yeasu VX-7R. The TH-F6 isn't a terrible radio, but it isn't great either. My complaints probably are more like nit picks, but here they are:
The stock antenna is made from a sticky rubber that you just can't keep clean. The battery has to be charged on the radio, no external charger that I know of was available when I had mine. the case was made of a relatively soft material and got scratched up quite quickly. The keys got scratched and the black coating came off them (they are illuminated) so they didn't look very good at night. The belt clip however is steel and very robust, mounted with two screws. As you might have guessed, I am rather hard on equipment. I'm not Anti Kenwood, I still own a TH-25AT that I bought new in 1988 and it still works great. I also have a Kenwood TS-570DG which is OK but not great, but it was priced right
Hope this helps.
Mark
KA1TIV
KE5BCP
Analog Man
I own a th-f6 and absolutely love it. I replaced the stock duck with a Comet's SMA24, and haven't looked back. It works great when plugged into an external antenna as well (ie: mag-mount).
The receiver is amazing. With a wire antenna I can get equal reception to my Yacht Boy shortwave receiver.
One of the neatest features to me is the dual VFO. You can have one set for your local repeater, while monitoring another at the same time.
Programming is a snap with the free software from Kenwood's website.
When in a vehicle, I take the battery off and use a cig-lighter dc plug and a speaker mic.
Some informative yahoo groups for this rig can be found at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TH-F6A
-and-
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/THF6A
The receiver is amazing. With a wire antenna I can get equal reception to my Yacht Boy shortwave receiver.
One of the neatest features to me is the dual VFO. You can have one set for your local repeater, while monitoring another at the same time.
Programming is a snap with the free software from Kenwood's website.
When in a vehicle, I take the battery off and use a cig-lighter dc plug and a speaker mic.
Some informative yahoo groups for this rig can be found at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TH-F6A
-and-
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/THF6A
Mick
Member
I have the TH-F6 and it is a terrific radio. Anytime I want to listen to an AM or FM broadcast radio channel, I can do so. Same with TV audio and short-wave. It's got such a wide spread of frqs. It has tone search for DCS and CTCSS. Any frq. can be set up for USB, LSB, CW, FM, WFM, or AM. Also great is being able to see activity on a display up to 5 channels below and above your center frq. It's also an excellent ham radio on 2 meters, 222 MHz, and the 440 MHz bands!
scannerdweeb said:
Hey, thanks for all the info, Glad to here that it is as good as it appears, wish it had the weather alert, but I can carry my scanner for that. thanks for all the help. scannerdweeb.
wesct
Member
w+w manufacturing has a battery and charger combination for about $120.
as for the keypad, kenwood has supplied dealers with replacements for that problem.
the one thing about kenwood is- if there is a recall or problem found with their product, even if its out of warranty, they usually take care of it. i sent out a 5 year old tm-v7a with a display problem and kenwood repaired the display and returned it no charge. yaesu or icom have never done that that i know of.
i have a vx6r thats going back for a deviaton issue that i cant solve by adjusting the firmware. it also has a selectivity problem. my f6 is still going with no problems.
although i like both radios, nothing beat my standard c228a. i am still kicking myself for getting rid of it, but the parts were getting scarce and it was getting old.
wesct
as for the keypad, kenwood has supplied dealers with replacements for that problem.
the one thing about kenwood is- if there is a recall or problem found with their product, even if its out of warranty, they usually take care of it. i sent out a 5 year old tm-v7a with a display problem and kenwood repaired the display and returned it no charge. yaesu or icom have never done that that i know of.
i have a vx6r thats going back for a deviaton issue that i cant solve by adjusting the firmware. it also has a selectivity problem. my f6 is still going with no problems.
although i like both radios, nothing beat my standard c228a. i am still kicking myself for getting rid of it, but the parts were getting scarce and it was getting old.
wesct
rankin6
Member
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Th-f6a
I love mine as well. Things to consider are you looking for 220 mhz or is this a plus? Kenwood is 5 watts on all three bands, the Yaesu does not offer 5 watts for the 220 band on the vx6 are you looking for wideband rx or just am -fm are you using it as a base mobile etc, for me the choice is the Kenwood. Good luck and have fun!
Mike
I love mine as well. Things to consider are you looking for 220 mhz or is this a plus? Kenwood is 5 watts on all three bands, the Yaesu does not offer 5 watts for the 220 band on the vx6 are you looking for wideband rx or just am -fm are you using it as a base mobile etc, for me the choice is the Kenwood. Good luck and have fun!
Mike
Tom_G
Member
Both Pretty good
scannerdweeb,
They are both good radios.
The FT-60 has great audio and is very easy to program.
The TH-F6A has lots of great features, but the one killer for me was the power settings.
The 3 levels are .05, .5, and 5 watts. OK, Who the frig came up with that.
At my location, I could not hit many repeaters with a half a watt, so I had to use high power most of the time. Of course this drains the battery much quicker.
With the Yaesu FT-60, they give you 3 power settings that are usable. (.5, 2, and 5 watts)
scannerdweeb,
They are both good radios.
The FT-60 has great audio and is very easy to program.
The TH-F6A has lots of great features, but the one killer for me was the power settings.
The 3 levels are .05, .5, and 5 watts. OK, Who the frig came up with that.
At my location, I could not hit many repeaters with a half a watt, so I had to use high power most of the time. Of course this drains the battery much quicker.
With the Yaesu FT-60, they give you 3 power settings that are usable. (.5, 2, and 5 watts)
hey guys, thanks for all the great info,I went out and bought the Kenwood Thf6a. didn't take long to figure out the menu and other settings,Using the downloaded software,seems to work fine. I got all the goodies to go with it ,aa case,dc cord,pc cord, smc34 sp/mic,soft case. I love the dual receive function and group linking,the only thing I wish it had is weather alert,maybe kenwood will have an update to upgrade. Again, thanks for all the info,hope I can return the favors sometime. Scannerdweeb.
This is an old thread, but I love my F6 so much that I will bring it back to the top.
I love (almost) everything about mine, RX DC to Daylight, decent alpha tags, great audio, etc.
The only drawback is having to hit enter when manually entering a freq, which is a 10 on the annoying scale, but it gets a 9.99 total rating.
The stock antenna broke on me in short order, and now I use a Diamond SRH320A. There is a 220 machine about 30 miles away that has great coverage down this way, and this antenna works well for that considering it's a portable.
Tom_G, if you look at the logarithmic effect of changes in power output, half power is a very little change and has minimal effect on your received signal quality, so I would think that their thought of .05 .5 and 5 makes more sense than the .5 2 and 5 which the latter has a better eye appeal for those just looking at numbers.
Jason
I love (almost) everything about mine, RX DC to Daylight, decent alpha tags, great audio, etc.
The only drawback is having to hit enter when manually entering a freq, which is a 10 on the annoying scale, but it gets a 9.99 total rating.
The stock antenna broke on me in short order, and now I use a Diamond SRH320A. There is a 220 machine about 30 miles away that has great coverage down this way, and this antenna works well for that considering it's a portable.
Tom_G, if you look at the logarithmic effect of changes in power output, half power is a very little change and has minimal effect on your received signal quality, so I would think that their thought of .05 .5 and 5 makes more sense than the .5 2 and 5 which the latter has a better eye appeal for those just looking at numbers.
Jason
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ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
<sigh> I just got clobbered by a huge car bill, otherwise this would be in my stable - this radio is ALMOST perfect for things like airshows (with headphones, of course). If only it would do 380 Mhz digital trunking - ah well, one can dream...73 Mike
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