Hello,
I have been looking at the Kenwood TK-880 for my vehicle as I've heard nothing but good things about their reliability and their price range, however being new to this I do have some questions.
I was looking to purchasing two or three of these units for use around town as I cover breaking news events along with two other people.
I am unable to find the range/distance that these units are capable of tx/rx and was also wondering if these are self programmable?
Any insight would be a great help
First question would be: What does your license cover? Since you didn't post your location, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you are in the United States?
No point in investing in a radio unless you can legally use it. There are no "license free" radio services that these radios will work on in the US. Anything you do with them will require a license from the FCC. For news stringer type use, you'd have a couple of options:
-Part 90 license. This is the license used for businesses. You'd need to work with a frequency coordinator to find an available frequency. Be aware, that you may not be able to find available UHF frequencies in dense urban areas, so make sure you get the license before buying radios.
-GMRS. You can use this for family as well as business use. The GMRS license will cover ONLY your immediate family. It will not cover friends, neighbors or co-workers. Anyone using the radio that was not directly related to you would need to obtain their own FCC issued GMRS license. The good news is that the licensing is really easy.
-Amateur radio. Not a good choice for business use, as it's specifically forbidden in most cases, but it can be a good resource for talking between friends. Licensing requires taking and passing a technical test. Not hard, but takes some studying.
Once you have the license part out of the way, then the radios will need to be sourced.
The TK-880 is a pretty solid UHF radio. There's a couple of things you need to be aware of other than the licensing issues, though:
The TK-880 comes in different sub-models, so you -
absolutely need to get the correct ones to match what your license allows. Buying random TK-880's off e-Bay will likely lead to disappointment.
If you want these radios to perform well, you really need to make sure they are installed correctly. They need to be powered directly off the vehicle battery, and they need a proper antenna installed. These are not like a CB where you can drop a crappy antenna on your roof and plug into the cigarette lighter.
They also require programming using software, a specific cable, a PC and a good amount of knowledge. It's not easy to program one of these if you don't have experience.
As for communications range, you will not find any reputable dealer, technician or engineer that will promise you a specific range. There are way too many variables involved. The consumer grade FRS/GMRS radios claim specific ranges, but that's not based on any sort of reality, so you can't apply the consumer marketing claims to professional radios.
UHF tends to be line of sight. If the two antennas can see each other, then chances are the radios can communicate. UHF will tend to bounce around a bit, penetrate buildings, etc, but if you have lots of hills between you and the other radios, you likely will have issues.
Throwing RF power (more wattage) at the issue won't necessarily fix it. It's a common misconception that if a certain power level will get you x number of miles, that doubling power will increase the range by two fold. Doesn't work that way. It all has to do with line of sight.
It also has to do with the antennas. The most important thing you can do to get good performance out of your radios is to install antennas properly. No mag mount, no window stick on, no gimmick antennas. For them to work well, you need a purpose built UHF antenna mounted on the highest part of the vehicle. To do that correctly, it involves drilling holes, routing cable, etc. You can get way with mag mounts, but in the long term they can have issues, so doing it right the first time will save you some headaches.
As for programming, they can be set up with the ability to make changes from the front keys, but it's very limited. Initially the radios need to be set up using the programming software to match what your license allows. The front panel programming can do some changes, but you really do need the software to do this right.
