Kenwood: What a Nice Surprise!

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N4GIX

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As some of you may have read, this was my second year as a volunteer at the Dayton Hamvention as a courtesy shuttle golf cart driver. Aside from a couple of hours on Friday morning "shopping and gawking", I spent the rest of Friday, and all of Saturday and Sunday happily shuttling folks around.

I got an email two days ago that a package had been sent via FedEx that would require a signature. I wondered what it might be since I hadn't ordered anything... :confused: Well, it was delivered this afternoon and you could have knocked me over with a feather! :eek:

Apparently I won one of the prize drawings and didn't know that I had. When I signed for the package I noted briefly that the box had JVCKenwood on it...

...it turned out to be a brand spanking new TH-D74 handheld! It is a tri-band radio with D-Star, GPS and APRS. When I checked Amazon.com I learned that the least expensive offered was listed at $585 USD.

Holy Smoke! That's almost precisely what the weekend cost me. :D
 

AK9R

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The prices have been dropping down to around $510. I bought mine for $550.

It's a fantastic radio with a ton of features. You didn't mention that it has full power output on the 222 MHz band, too. Right now, I'm using mine to track some APRS activity. I'm running APRSIS32 on a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet and I'm connected to my TH-D74 using Bluetooth. Works perfectly. On the other band, I'm monitoring a 222 MHz repeater.

Check to make sure you have the latest firmware (1.08) installed.
 

N4GIX

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Thanks, I'll check the firmware version, should I decide to keep it. Are you using the free Kenwood CPS or the RTL CPS?

I don't have any D-Star repeaters within range as far as I know, although I could run it via one of my jumboSPOTS.

You see I already have way too many HTs already. Three dual-band DMR HTs, two UV-5R v2+, a BCH-220, and an XPR7550! :wink:
 

AK9R

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After seeing some Baofengs on a spectrum analyzer, I'd be reluctant to transmit with them.

I haven't spent a lot of time programming mine yet. I've been using the Kenwood MCP-D74 software (CPS is a Motorola term). It's lacking in some features I'd like to have, but it's free.

We still have three D-STAR repeaters in the Indianapolis area. One of them defaults to REF030C which is the wide area reflector and another defaults to REF024B which is the Indiana reflector. There's an Indiana D-STAR net every 1st and 3rd Thursday evening, I believe.
 

N4GIX

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After seeing some Baofengs on a spectrum analyzer, I'd be reluctant to transmit with them.

Luckily for me, I checked both of mine on my RIGOL Spec Analyzer. Both are well within Part 95 and 97 parameters.

This is the first radio I've ever received where I have to fully charge the battery before at least an hour or so to play with it, but the battery had enough charge remaining to at least be pleasantly surprised to note that there are two D-Star repeaters in Chicago that are pre-programed (as are most of them in North America apparently. :wink:
 

pinballwiz86

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Wow! What a great prize. Enjoy your new toy.

Maybe I'll catch you on a D-Star reflector or repeater. Once you got it all figured out, do "callsign routing" and put my callsign in there to make a contact. If you want to try it out. (AD0EC)
 

N4GIX

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I wouldn't expect a cheap chinese spectrum analyzer to be any better than a cheap chinese radio.

At $1300 I wouldn't consider it "cheap" regardless of where it was made. As it happens though, my close friend W9CTO owns a Rohde & Schwarz FPC1500 5kHz-1GHz Spectrum Analyzer with Tracking Generator, and it produces precisely the same results as my Rigol DSA815-TG. :D
 

N4GIX

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Wow! What a great prize. Enjoy your new toy.

Maybe I'll catch you on a D-Star reflector or repeater. Once you got it all figured out, do "callsign routing" and put my callsign in there to make a contact. If you want to try it out. (AD0EC)

It was at least one of the "Major Prizes", two of the "Top Prizes" was an Icom IC-7610 and an IC-7300.

I've copied your information to a note and pinned it to my cork board. I'll certainly give it a try once I've had some time to figure this incredibly complex HT out! :D
 

N4GIX

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Oh, it's far more than just a "walkie-talkie"...

It is a brand new, shiny Kenwood TH-D74 Tri-Band HT!
biggrin.png
Shoot, the thing will also receive AM, FM, SSB and CW. Every thing pretty much from DC to Daylight (okay, a bit of exaggeration).

Rx is from 0.1 - 524 MHz.
Tx is 144 - 148 MHz, 222 - 225 MHz, 410 - 470 MHz

Tx Modes: F3E, F2D, F1D, F7W
Rx Modes: F3E, F2D, F1D, F7W, J3E, A3E, A1A

While it was indeed a very pleasant surprise, having played with it a bit, read the manual, and watched quite a few YouHooTube videos, I'm come to the conclusion that it has several drawbacks, at least from my point of view.


  1. It's way too complicated with over 500 menu options. Its programming software is more complex than any DMR radio I've ever seen, and that includes Motorola.
  2. It's digital mode is D-Star, not DMR. As there are only two D-Star repeaters in Chicago, they are way out of range of an HT in Northwest Indiana.
  3. It is completely useless for GMRS since it will only Rx on those frequencies, Tx is inhibited and cannot be modified, except for the traditional MARS/CAP expansion!
    wacko.png
I first thought I'd sell it, but by the time PayPal and eBay extorted their share of the proceeds, I would probably only net around $400 or so...
unsure.png


For these reasons I've decided to donate this to my local ham radio club to be used as a Grand Prize in a future raffle. At least this way the club will benefit, and we can use the proceeds for our STEM projects to encourage youth in their education, and perhaps interest a few new youngsters into becoming amateur operators.

73 de N4GIX
 

SCPD

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LOL ! My post got deleted.
Heck I still think kenwood should lower the price on this walkie talkie,
$599 is way too much....$400 is more like it.Plus they would sell alot more of them!
Supposedly someplace on the internet theres a mod for DMR on the D74,anyone know if this is fact or fiction?
 

vagrant

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LOL ! My post got deleted.
Heck I still think kenwood should lower the price on this walkie talkie,
$599 is way too much....$400 is more like it.Plus they would sell alot more of them!
Supposedly someplace on the internet theres a mod for DMR on the D74,anyone know if this is fact or fiction?
A used D74A can be had for around $400. As to lowering the price, there are some basic economic factors that guide a company on the price they set. Typically I prefer to pay more for a better radio, and I quite like my D74A.

"Supposedly someplace on the internet..." Wow...It appears one need not speculate on why your last post was deleted.
 

AK9R

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Supposedly someplace on the internet theres a mod for DMR on the D74,anyone know if this is fact or fiction?
Rumors.

There were posts several months ago that a Kenwood USA employee had hinted that maybe the radio could be used for DMR. Those statements were quickly retracted as being purely speculative and not an indication of Kenwood's plans for the radio.

Given that Kenwood sells commercial-grade Part 90-approved radios for DMR, I think it's unlikely that Kenwood would also produce an amateur-grade DMR radio.

But, that's not what this thread is about. N4GIX was the benefactor of a nice windfall. I think we should all be glad that DARA and Kenwood made such a nice prize available and that Bill was the recipient. I also think it's great that Bill, upon deciding that the radio is surplus to his needs, plans to allow his club to raffle off the radio and use the proceeds to promote STEM education.

As Oddball (Donald Sutherland) in Kelly's Heroes said: "Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?"
 

SCPD

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All I said is its too expensive.
I like Kenwood and hoped they make a mobile version of this radio!
$425.00 is fair.Look at the Th-F6 (tribander)that went down in price and that was expensive when it came out...
Before they retired it,it could be had for $350-399.00.
The F-6 and the D74 are very nice radios.
 
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