kenwood tk-7150 programming

[KB3KBR]

Hi, all.

I believe I'm about to become the new owner of a couple of 7150's from my fire dept as we've bought newer radios for the trucks and these are sitting in storage gathering dust. My main questions are:

1: Are these current production radios?

2: Is there software still in production? I see it takes the kpg 79d software but all I see are options to buy it can't find a download anywhere like i did with the kpg7

3: Are these radios narrowband capable? I'm guessing no, but without the software to look at and confirm I'm going by what I think the radio shop told us which was no, hence the new radios in the trucks. But looking at the spec sheet is says it is.

4: Has anyone ever used these form amateur radio and how well did they work? I'm assuming they were fine as the spec says 136-174

 

[kayn1n32008]

Pretty sure the TK7150’s are capable of narrowband. I have stuff a lot older that is.


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[mmckenna]

Hi, all.

I believe I'm about to become the new owner of a couple of 7150's from my fire dept as we've bought newer radios for the trucks and these are sitting in storage gathering dust. My main questions are:

1: Are these current production radios?

No, they were discontinued quite a while ago.

2: Is there software still in production? I see it takes the kpg 79d software but all I see are options to buy it can't find a download anywhere like i did with the kpg7

KPG-79 is the correct software. It's not showing on Kenwood dealer tools, so you'll have to go hunting for it.

3: Are these radios narrowband capable? I'm guessing no, but without the software to look at and confirm I'm going by what I think the radio shop told us which was no, hence the new radios in the trucks. But looking at the spec sheet is says it is.

They are narrow band capable.

4: Has anyone ever used these form amateur radio and how well did they work? I'm assuming they were fine as the spec says 136-174

136-174, they'll do wide and narrow FM. Should work just fine for amateur radio use.

 

[MTS2000des]

One thing to watch for on the 7150 (and many other Japanese LMR radios from the early to mid 2000s) are defective Murata filters that will fail and cause poor receive sensitivity. There are two of them, one for narrow and one for wide. If one (or both) are out, your radio will seem pretty deaf even with a proper front end alignment, sensitivity will hover around 1-2uV.

The filters are inexpensive parts to replace, but labor can be an hour as you usually have to tear it down completely to desolder the defective filters and install new ones along with some SMD caps to protect them from the DC voltage that leaks in and causes them to fail. For a while, Kenwood repair depots were quietly replacing them if you sent one in. I'm not sure that is the case as these radios have been OOP for 10+ years now.

 

[KB3KBR]

thanks everyone, now seeing that these do narrow they are still legal for public safety yes?

 

[kayn1n32008]

thanks everyone, now seeing that these do narrow they are still legal for public safety yes?

Yes


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[mmckenna]

thanks everyone, now seeing that these do narrow they are still legal for public safety yes?

Yep, as Kayn said.

What you may be thinking, and correct me if I'm wrong:
"Did the radio vendor screw us over on making us think these radios were no longer legal to use?"

Maybe.

A couple of things:
-Narrowbanding was required as of January 01, 2013, so if your department is just now getting around to going narrow, they are W-A-Y behind. There were some agencies that got temporary waivers, but still…..

-Those radios are old, and since no longer supported, it WAS time to replace them. While still legal with proper programming, there's a certain lifespan to equipment in the public safety field.

-Some chiefs have very selective hearing. He/She may be recalling a conversation for 10 years ago. They may have misunderstood the whole conversation, and any number of other reasons.

-Could have been some misunderstanding about your department adopting digital capable radios to allow interoperability with other agencies.

-Or, the vendor just stuck it to you guys.

-Or, the vendor didn't have ability to reprogram those radios for narrow band.

-Or, someone just wanted new radios and that sounded like a good excuse that the board/city/county would believe.


End result is, your department was likely due for newer radios. You scored a couple of "still good" VHF mobiles that can still be used legally on Part 90 frequencies as well as amateur radio use.

 

[KB3KBR]

Yep, as Kayn said.

What you may be thinking, and correct me if I'm wrong:
"Did the radio vendor screw us over on making us think these radios were no longer legal to use?"

Maybe.

That may be the case as they have left a sour taste in our mouths from mutiple programming issues and telling us our Minitor 5s were no longer serviceable and that they couldn't get parts. We found a shop down south that is actually fixing our 5s for us.

A couple of things:
-Narrowbanding was required as of January 01, 2013, so if your department is just now getting around to going narrow, they are W-A-Y behind. There were some agencies that got temporary waivers, but still…..

We narrowbanded around 2012, I believe.

-Those radios are old, and since no longer supported, it WAS time to replace them. While still legal with proper programming, there's a certain lifespan to equipment in the public safety field.

-Some chiefs have very selective hearing. He/She may be recalling a conversation for 10 years ago. They may have misunderstood the whole conversation, and any number of other reasons.

-Could have been some misunderstanding about your department adopting digital capable radios to allow interoperability with other agencies.

-Or, the vendor just stuck it to you guys.

We have no digital in our area except the new P25 ph2 statewide system and the 700 air-ground system. The radios we replaced them with I don't believe will do digital. However i do know we just bought 2 new nx- something or other in our heavy rescue. I'd have to look next time I'm up to get a model number.

-Or, the vendor didn't have ability to reprogram those radios for narrow band.

-Or, someone just wanted new radios and that sounded like a good excuse that the board/city/county would believe.

I know for certain that wasn't the case as there were alot of compliants about even having to go narrow.

End result is, your department was likely due for newer radios. You scored a couple of "still good" VHF mobiles that can still be used legally on Part 90 frequencies as well as amateur radio use.

So if I'm understanding correctly we still have a couple of good radios that MIGHT not be needed gotten rid as they are still good and could be issued to members for their vehicles but might have problems down the road?

 

[mmckenna]

We have no digital in our area except the new P25 ph2 statewide system and the 700 air-ground system. The radios we replaced them with I don't believe will do digital. However i do know we just bought 2 new nx- something or other in our heavy rescue. I'd have to look next time I'm up to get a model number.

The Kenwood NX- models are digital.
Which modes they use will depend on the exact model.
Most NX-### radios are NXDN (aka IDAS/NexEdge) and analog.
NX-3### radios are analog, NXDN or DMR
NX-5### radios will do analog, NXDN, DMR and/or P25 phase 1 and Phase 2.

So if I'm understanding correctly we still have a couple of good radios that MIGHT not be needed gotten rid as they are still good and could be issued to members for their vehicles but might have problems down the road?

Yes.

However, based on their age, it would be a good idea to get them looked at and made sure they are still in alignment if they are going to be reused for any mission critical work. Radios can drift out of alignment, as well as the filter issues noted above. Making sure they are still up to snuff would be a good idea.

 

[KB3KBR]

The Kenwood NX- models are digital.
Which modes they use will depend on the exact model.
Most NX-### radios are NXDN (aka IDAS/NexEdge) and analog.
NX-3### radios are analog, NXDN or DMR
NX-5### radios will do analog, NXDN, DMR and/or P25 phase 1 and Phase 2.

Hmm, now I'm really gonna take a good look at them as we have no NXDN, or DMR around here for public safety. Wondering if they bought them at the rumor of jumping on the statewide system with our county.

Yes.

However, based on their age, it would be a good idea to get them looked at and made sure they are still in alignment if they are going to be reused for any mission critical work. Radios can drift out of alignment, as well as the filter issues noted above. Making sure they are still up to snuff would be a good idea.

thanks for the info!

 

[mmckenna]

Hmm, now I'm really gonna take a good look at them as we have no NXDN, or DMR around here for public safety. Wondering if they bought them at the rumor of jumping on the statewide system with our county.

If they are NX-5000's, then that would make sense. Actually, a pretty good radio for interoperability since it'll do P25 as well as the others.
And stackable RF decks, up to 3, and up to 2 control heads.
And a lot more affordable than the "other" guys.

 

[KB3KBR]

If they are NX-5000's, then that would make sense. Actually, a pretty good radio for interoperability since it'll do P25 as well as the others.
And stackable RF decks, up to 3, and up to 2 control heads.
And a lot more affordable than the "other" guys.

I know we bought 1 VHF & 1 UHF each. They did not stack the rf decks together just mounted one radio on top of the other.

 

[KB3KBR]

Update tonight, I was able to bring home 3 tk-730s and an 830 , all with control heads. At this point I don't think I'm going to be able to get the 7150 as we still have a few in the trucks so i'm guessing its a spare.

Now i just have to figure out what I did to the 830 and 730 combo I found. Hopefully i didn't blow it up as i had 2 heads connected to the 730 where i should have had the 830 and was wondering why the other head wouldn't come on. Pressed the power button on it and it died. Now the head on the 730 won't light up either.

Any ideas?

 

[mmckenna]

I don't have service manuals for the TK-x30's, so no idea. Probably popped a fuse in the RF deck for the power that feeds to the control head.