New to Amateur Radio

[gibersop]

Good morning! I am thinking of getting into amateur radio, but I have 1 issue. I have been monitoring my local repeaters, but I am not impressed with the scan on either of my radios. They are very slow and not even close to the public safety radios I am used to. From what I am told this is a common issue with Amateur Radios.

So I was thinking about buying some of the older kenwood stuff (ie tk760g1 tk860g1 tk270g tk370g) but they are not in 2m and 70cm bands. Can these radio be re-banded to the Ham bands? Or can someone recommend a dual band with a good scan function please! I would rather 1 radio and 1 antenna anyway.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

I am not impressed with the scan on either of my radios.

Well for one thing could you tell us what radios you AREN'T impressed with to save someone from making a recommendation for one of the other? Yes, scan function on an amateur radio won't come close to that of a scanner or professional HT. With that said, I recommend the Anytone AT-878UV. Scan function is decent, but again it won't come close to that of an actual scanner radio

 

[dcr_inc]

All of the Kenwoods you listed will go into the ham bands without any issues.

 

[gibersop]

All of the Kenwoods you listed will go into the ham bands without any issues.

Thank you for your reply. I am right across the river from you. Maybe someday soon this summer I will be chatting with on the air!

 

[gibersop]

Well for one thing could you tell us what radios you AREN'T impressed with to save someone from making a recommendation for one of the other? Yes, scan function on an amateur radio won't come close to that of a scanner or professional HT. With that said, I recommend the Anytone AT-878UV. Scan function is decent, but again it won't come close to that of an actual scanner radio

I have 1 a UV5R, which is the better scan of the 2. The other is a TYT TH-UV88. The UV88 is a nice radio and good audio, but very slow scan. Not many scan settings I can find in the programming software. I have talked to some other ham guys who shared most ham radios do not have the best scan.

 

[mass-man]

Just check the specs of the commercial gear that interests you...if the low end is 136mhz for VHF or 420 or so for UHF they will work...without any modifications! The KW radios are easier to program than some...

 

[jaspence]

The CCRs (Chinese radios) tend to be very poor scanners. A scanner or commercial radio that handles ham channels is a much better choice. My favorite for 2 meters is a Thales Racal 25. It has FPP (front panel programming) and exellent sensitivity. Used Racals radios are not expensive, but the batteries are but with proper charging give good service.

 

[mmckenna]

I'd recommend the TK-x180 series. I'm using those both on VHF and UHF.

I have a TK-7180 in my wife's truck. Works great on 2 meters. 512 channels and a better display than the ones you listed.
I'm running a TK-3180 UHF portable at work, and have some ham stuff in it. Again, solid radio and performs well on 70cm.

The TK-7180 (VHF mobile) TK-8180 (UHF mobile), TK-2180 (VHF portable) and TK-3180 (UHF mobile) all use the same KPG-89 programming software. Good radios, and you can find them for a reasonable price on e-Bay.

 

[Cognomen]

Another vote for the Kenwood TK-x180's. I use a 7180, 8180, and 2180 just for analog scanning. They'll work fine for Amateur (get the 403-470 MHz version for UHF). Mobile models with "H" are the high-power versions.

 

[devicelab]

I'd recommend the TK-x180 series. I'm using those both on VHF and UHF. Good radios, and you can find them for a reasonable price on e-Bay.

Yes sir... fantastic radios with excellent audio quality and front-firing speaker. Best part is the price... I found one for just over $90 shipped. The cheaper prices come and go but you can certainly obtain one for a fair price. The programming cable is also not very expensive. Software can be found easily on the interwebs.

The only downside is you would need one for each band -- but nothing wrong with that!

 

[mmckenna]

Best part is the price... I found one for just over $90 shipped.

I think I paid $100 for the TK-7180 I put in my wife's truck. Came pre-loaded with AAR frequencies, was an old BNSF radio.
I put it on the service monitor and realigned it to factory specs, but it was pretty darn close out of the box.
I added a KRK-10 remote head kit so I could tuck the control head in a cubby on the dash board. RF deck is mounted under the rear seat.
Accessories are plentiful and cheap. Easy radio to program, probably one of the easier to understand programming softwares on the market.
Same radio chassis as the TK-5220 and the NX-x00 series radios, so a ton of stuff out there for them.

 

[krokus]

Kenwood does make ham gear too, which has decent scan rates. The more recent models have the programming software on Kenwood's website. Their performance will be much better than the CCR performance.

 

[mmckenna]

Their performance will be much better than the CCR performance.

Truer words have never been spoken.

 

[DeoVindice]

I'd recommend the TK-x180 series. I'm using those both on VHF and UHF.

I have a TK-7180 in my wife's truck. Works great on 2 meters. 512 channels and a better display than the ones you listed.
I'm running a TK-3180 UHF portable at work, and have some ham stuff in it. Again, solid radio and performs well on 70cm.

The TK-7180 (VHF mobile) TK-8180 (UHF mobile), TK-2180 (VHF portable) and TK-3180 (UHF mobile) all use the same KPG-89 programming software. Good radios, and you can find them for a reasonable price on e-Bay.

This deserves another vote of affirmation. These have a channel capacity of 250 channels per zone, making it possible to program in a "virtual VFO" for amateur use. My main LMR radios are EFJ P25 units, but the TK-x180s have some advantages for analog amateur use. I've thought about sticking a TK-7180 with a KRK-10 in my truck to supplement my 5300ES.

 

[WB9YBM]

I am not impressed with the scan on either of my radios. They are very slow and not even close to the public safety radios I am used to. From what I am told this is a common issue with Amateur Radios.

So I was thinking about buying some of the older kenwood stuff (ie tk760g1 tk860g1 tk270g tk370g) but they are not in 2m and 70cm bands. Can these radio be re-banded to the Ham bands?

Yes, there's definitely a difference in how radios scan--scanners are more inclined to cover a lot of ground (like 100+ channels) efficiently, while in ham radio applications manufacturers realize most ops have just a handful of their favorite repeaters. Short of re-programming the radios' software, I'm not sure if there's an easy fix. What annoys me with the ham band radios is they'll stop on a conversation just long enough fore the op to hit the "pause" button while scanners will stop for the duration of the squelch being open. (I'd like to see someone address that issue!)

As for re-banding radios, anything's possible. In recent years it's just a matter of changing the programming; it was a bit more difficult in older radios where new reference crystals needed to be sourced & installed, and everything re-tuned. So before you buy an older commercial band radio to re-purpose, you might want to check which method's required to re-tune it..

 

[captaincab]

Definitely add me to the x180 fan list I use a 3180 for public safety use but mainly scanning now as I am not active due to medical issues I also used 7180s for years in the cab business on a local ltr trucked system awesome radios can’t kill them and trust me taxicab radios take a beating. I used the bigger microphone off the older tk780 as I like that full microphone feeling but awesome radios either way. And the high power versions really get some distance with a good antenna.

 

[MTS2000des]

Kenwood's lowest end subscriber gear is MILES above the walkie-talkie on chip trash of a Baoturd or CCR, which are all based on the same low rent garbage RDA1846/1847 consumer electronic level SOC design. Selectivity, audio quality and scan are just the beginnings. Transmitters is actually on frequency and not radiating spurs. Even a 25 year old classic Kenwood like a TK-250/350 is fine for ham radio use and you won't be getting desense from LED lights or wireless routers, your transmit audio will be loud and clear not muffled like the typical Baoturd is, and you'll be able to scan all 32 channels in a few seconds with true priority monitor, proper CTCSS/DCS decode. And those 25 year old Kenwoods will still be here in another 10-20 years.

 

[DeoVindice]

Kenwood's lowest end subscriber gear is MILES above the walkie-talkie on chip trash of a Baoturd or CCR, which are all based on the same low rent garbage RDA1846/1847 consumer electronic level SOC design. Selectivity, audio quality and scan are just the beginnings. Transmitters is actually on frequency and not radiating spurs. Even a 25 year old classic Kenwood like a TK-250/350 is fine for ham radio use and you won't be getting desense from LED lights or wireless routers, your transmit audio will be loud and clear not muffled like the typical Baoturd is, and you'll be able to scan all 32 channels in a few seconds with true priority monitor, proper CTCSS/DCS decode. And those 25 year old Kenwoods will still be here in another 10-20 years.

Couldn't have said it better myself!