Newbie with Kenwood NX-320-K2

[fernansn]

Hello Everyone-
Im very new to this and was hoping for any guidance possible. I have just purchased a set of Kenwood NX-320-K2's from an estate sale and am really excited about learning how to use them and get them up and running.The problem is I don't have the cable or software, of the direction on how to start even acquiring those things or what do to with them when I get them. I tried contacting some companies with no help. Not sure if this has been answered in another forum before or not, I searched but no luck, but if anyone can point this newbie in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[buddrousa]

Call your local KENWOOD DEALER. What are licensed to use. Other wise you just bought 2 receivers. Others will chime in.

 

[fernansn]

Thank you so much!

 

[Giddyuptd]

Kenwood dealer will have the software. Evans may chime in a dealer. It's the holiday so expect most to be out till Monday at minimum.

While flea bay may have a cable I highly suggest a dealer oem cable and high speed oem if USB type.

Model number type may help someone identify if you have vhf, uhf etc.

After that it will determine if you're a ham, what service they can be used on, or for rx only what you can monitor in conventional nxdn, analog.

If I'm correct the 320 is the uhf version. 220 is vhf. K2 is the 450-520 split.

 

[kayn1n32008]

While flea bay may have a cable I highly suggest a dealer oem cable and high speed oem if USB type.

Hell no. Buying an OEM cable is a complete waste of money for anything other than the NX5xxxx series. you can buy a perfectly fine, 100% reliable USB cable for the NX-x20 portables for less than half of the cost of a Kenwood OEM cable. $30-$40 shipped to your door will get you a perfectly reliable cable.

Kenwood radios and Kenwood windows FPU is NOT fussy when it comes to cables. USB or serial. As long as the correct driver(USB) is installed, and the correct com port is selected, it WILL work with out issue.

 

[mmckenna]

Evans is on vacation.
Kenwood KPG-141DNK is the programming software. $103.25 is the list price. With a good dealer, you should get a discount off that.
Kenwood KPG-22UM is the USB programming cable. List $158.00. There are after market cables that will work, however buyer beware. Some are crappy copies and will give you issues. Some are OK and work fine.

Since software is copyrighted, the LEGAL place to get it is from a Kenwood dealer. There are other sources, but again, buyer beware. Buying/acquiring software from random internet sites is a good way to either get out of date software that won't be compatible with the firmware version of the radio, or to get creepy and/or crawly things introduced into your computer innards.
Use this site to find your local dealer: COMMUNICATIONS Dealer Locator - KENWOOD USA

Now, as for the radios and using them.

To transmit, you will need a license from whatever country you live in. If you are in the USA, you'll need a valid FCC license. There are NO license free frequencies you can legally use these radios on. Any frequencies that these radios will transmit on requires an FCC license.
The NX-320K2 is the 450-520MHz model. That severely limits what you can do with them.
That is above the US Amateur radio 70CM band, although they may go a bit beyond their limits and work down there, but it's tricky and not for the newcomer.
That frequency range of those radios does cover the GMRS radio service (If you are in the USA), however the radios do not have the necessary FCC Part 95 certification to be legal to use there.
If you are a business, you could get a valid FCC license for your business and use them.
Randomly picking a frequency and thinking you won't cause issues isn't a good way to do this. It's possible to not hear anyone else on those radios, but to still cause harmful interference to other legally licensed users, including law enforcement, EMS, Fire, etc.

If you are in the USA and if you want to follow the rules, there isn't any place you can transmit with those radios unless you get a valid FCC business radio license. Other than that, what you have is some good portable UHF receivers.

 

[03msc]

To add to what the others have said...why did you buy them? I don't mean that rudely, I'm just asking. You say you bought them at an estate sale and that you're excited to get them up and running. For what? Meaning, what is your goal?

 

[kd4efm]

Chiming in,
NX320K2 is 380-470 UHF radios (though they are now End Of Life but parts can be order to a degree)
like others said, need some more details on the your purpose.
Then we can go from there. NXDN is a nice way to go digital, but these are not DMR radios. So take that off the list,
Chime back in, let us know what your direction on use is, then we can assist further.