Kenwood: Does my D710a need repair or am I an idiot?

[Ayrow]

I love my D710a. But it started doing something this week that I can't figure out how to fix.
I'm not sure if I accidentally activated something on the radio or it needs to be sent into Kenwood for repair.

The A side of the radio will not receive a transmission unless the squelch is turned to the left (counter clockwise) so that the squelch is always "open" and under the threshold.
In other words, you have to have to be hearing constant white noise to hear transmissions from other stations.

However, it still transmits just fine on this channel.
Also, channel B seems to work perfectly, without issue.

Did I activate or hit something wrong, or is the radio in need of repair???
Hopefully, I am just an idiot.


Thanks so much.
K3TOD

 

[N8IAA]

Did you maybe/might have turned on the attenuator? Changed the squelch settings in the menu? That's what I would check first.
HTH,
Larry

 

[chief21]

Some Kenwood TM-D710 and TM-V71 radios will have a well-known issue with the ceramic filters. Perhaps this might be your problem.

There are separate standard and narrow filters for each "side" of the radio. Reportedly, one can confirm this problem by changing the filter selection on the affected "side" from "standard" (FM) to "narrow" (NFM) or vice -versa (menu 102). If the previously reduced signal improves substantially, you have confirmed that the ceramic filters need to be replaced. As a temporary work-around, you could re-save all of your memory channels on the affected side in the opposite mode... NFM vs FM or vice-versa.

According to posts that I have read on other sites, Kenwood will repair the radio at no charge if the serial number falls within a certain range. There has been much past discussion of this issue on the Yahoo TMD710 and TMV71 discussion groups.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ayrow]

Some Kenwood TM-D710 and TM-V71 radios will have a well-known issue with the ceramic filters. Perhaps this might be your problem.

There are separate standard and narrow filters for each "side" of the radio. Reportedly, one can confirm this problem by changing the filter selection on the affected "side" from "standard" (FM) to "narrow" (NFM) or vice -versa (menu 102). If the previously reduced signal improves substantially, you have confirmed that the ceramic filters need to be replaced. As a temporary work-around, you could re-save all of your memory channels on the affected side in the opposite mode... NFM vs FM or vice-versa.

According to posts that I have read on other sites, Kenwood will repair the radio at no charge if the serial number falls within a certain range. There has been much past discussion of this issue on the Yahoo TMD710 and TMV71 discussion groups.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the thorough reply. I will poke around a little bit, but I'm afraid ultimately that I am going to have to send it off to the east coast for repair.
I notice there is a repair facility in VA Beach and also one in New York. Is one better than the other??

 

[chief21]

I believe that there are only two Kenwood repair facilities for amateur radio equipment in the US... California or Virginia. To my knowledge, the NY facility doesn't do ham stuff.

 

[KC4YIN]

I have had excellent results with the repair center in Va. Beach with the same radio with the same problem. I bought a 710 A off a guy on e bay who swore it was working properly. It was deaf on both sides. I sent it to Va. Beach and it was back in about 2weeks and working much better. They had to replace some ceramic filters in the receive section. $75.00 was what it cost if I remember correctly.

 

[ac1ac]

Same problem

I have this same issue but would like to get it corrected. I use the B channel for APRS, so a temporary fix for me was to simply swap APRS to the A channel and use the B channel for voice. I appreciate the responses I found here and look forward to trying to correct my issues.

 

[AK9R]

This is an old thread, but the filter problem certainly exists with some Kenwood mobiles and, depending on how you use your radio, it may take several years for the problem to surface. Your best bet is to contact Kenwood service to see about getting the repair done.

 

[ac1ac]

Thanks, I will likely send them an email to see what is up on the issue.

 

[K5MPH]

Check you encode and decode sittings.......

 

[JStemann]

I have 2 kenwoods, a 710 and a 71, bought at different times, both have had problems with the filters. Fortunately, one of them went out under warranty. I'm going to try my hand at replacing the ones in the other radio myself, since the parts were under $10, if I remember right.

Jeff

 

[vagrant]

Below is some of the message I received from kcc-amateur@kenwoodusa.com regarding the filter issue I had with one of my D710A radios. I had the radio back within a week. I am in California, so I shipped it Ground to the West Coast repair center after receiving additional instructions on how to proceed. The radio was fixed and shipped back to me within a week at no cost. If your serial number fits into that range and exhibits those issues, it may be the filter. Use the email link and advise on your issues and your serial number.

I should note that I have another Kenwood radio with a serial number that falls into that range, but I am not experiencing any problems so I did not send it in.
---
If you have a Kenwood TM-D710A that inhibits a scratchy noise with no
signal present in receive you may have a filter failure.

If your TM-D710A receiver has the symptoms listed above, and your
serial number falls within the ranges listed below please send your
TM-D710A in for warranty repair to one of the service centers listed
below.

The Kenwood TM-D710A serial number range is 903XXXXX ~ 003XXXXX

Your Kenwood TM-D710A does not need to be within its 1 year warranty to be
repaired at no charge.

Kenwood will ONLY replace the failed filter at no charge.

All other repairs would be the responsibility of the Kenwood end
user.
----------

 

[iw1fif]

The european version of the same problem

Hello everybody,

I bought a TM-V71E a month ago and (sigh) it seems to be affected by the same problem; the A side seems to become deaf and the B side still works well.
I've installed the radio in my car and I've parted the front panel from the body with the separation kit.
When the problem started, after two weeks I bought the radio, I thought it was some wrong setting so I made a full reset but it was useless so I contacted the seller; he checked the radio and (as Murphy says) he didn't found anything wrong... in effect it started to works fine again and I figured like an idiot.
Two days after the problem started again.
Three days ago I started a simple check routine and I connected the front panel to the body, yesterday it worked well... but today it's gone again.
Maybe the separation has introduced something wrong..?
When possible I'll made my own connection cables (shielded) and I hope it will works definitively, if not I'll contact again the seller and Kenwood too.
I hope that this little poem could help someone... and sorry for my bad English.

73

Stefano

 

[vagrant]

When the filters go bad, they do not start working well again. I am in agreement with your thoughts on the issue being the bad cable.