Kenwood TM-V71A ?

[W5KVV]

Im looking into getting my first ham radio & im looking at the Kenwood TM-V71A. I need a dual band radio, as alot of the guys in my area talk on 440. Its going to be in my mobile.

Do any of you guys have any expierence with this rig? Im getting mostly good reviews online. Looks like Universal has them for right around $400 with shipping.

I dont mind spending a little more if it's quality stuff. I have used kenwood radios for years at work & never had an issue with them.

Anyone have a suggestion on a 2M/440 radio for a newb ham ? Im all ears.

 

[MTS2000des]

Im looking into getting my first ham radio & im looking at the Kenwood TM-V71A. I need a dual band radio, as alot of the guys in my area talk on 440. Its going to be in my mobile.

Do any of you guys have any expierence with this rig? Im getting mostly good reviews online. Looks like Universal has them for right around $400 with shipping.

I dont mind spending a little more if it's quality stuff. I have used kenwood radios for years at work & never had an issue with them.

Anyone have a suggestion on a 2M/440 radio for a newb ham ? Im all ears.

Hands down the best dual band analog rig on the market. It's Kenwood, it's quality. I bought one last year from HRO and use it as a base/crossband repeater and it stays on 24/7. It shines on crossband, has no annoying squelch tail on crossband, superb audio, and 50 watts on both V and U. Not to mention it's a good looking radio. Doesn't look like some nerd toy, and it comes with a FOR REAL LMR grade microphone. With standard RJ-45 connectors on each end for ease of replacement. The display can be flipped around on the control head for speaker up or down, and the display backlighting can be orange or amber.

Kenwood gives the programming software away, you can buy an aftermarket cable for 25 bucks or less. And at least Kenwood offers FREE firmware updates. The folks at Yaesu don't believe in this concept on the FT8800/8900 as any fixes require a trip to the factory (you know, like the crappy CTCSS/DCS decode on my 8800?)

It's a great radio, solid performance. Built to last. Best dual bander you can buy for (at least for now) under 400 bucks.

 

[W5KVV]

Cool beans. Thanks for the reply MTS2000des. You're right it is a good looking radio. It actually looks like a professional radio, not like a pimped out stereo in a high school kids geo metro.

I had looked into the yaesu rigs, like the FT-2900, but it's only 2M. They're priced right at only $154 bucks. But in order to step up to a 2M/440 radio, The price jumps up to around $300 bucks. For that money, I might as well go with a radio I know has a good record & get the Kenwood with twice the features.

I'll prolly pick one up payday. The wife is gonna be pi$$ed. lol.

 

[AK9R]

I have a Kenwood TM-V71A. It performs well and hasn't given me any problems.

In addition to the previously mentioned attributes, the V71 uses the exact same RF deck as the TM-D710A. Should you want to get into packet or APRS at a later date, you can buy the RC-D710 control head, plug it into you V71, and convert your V71 to a D710. Of course, the V71 does well on packet with an external TNC and it has the standard min-DIN jack for connecting a TNC to discriminator receive audio, transmit audio, and PTT in the radio.

If you are handy with a soldering iron, you can make your own programming cable. Buy a cable with male 8-pin mini-DIN connectors on each end (8-pin mini-DIN was a common connector on earlier Mac computers), cut the cable in half, and solder DB-9 female connectors on the cut ends. The pin-outs are readily available.

 

[mrweather]

I've got one as well. Had mine for over a year and it's been flawless. I like that Kenwood has apparently implemented a proper LMR tone squelch decode, i.e. the speaker goes silent without the annoying squelch tail.

Crossband repeat. Dual receive. Remote controllable. Weather alert. What's not to like?!

 

[W5KVV]

Thanks for the info guys. Looks like im getting one. Payday is Thursday, so now I have to shop around for a good deal. Looks like Universal has it going on.

W9RXR, I can hold my own with a iron, so i'll be giving that a try also.

Thanks guys, lots of good info.

 

[AK9R]

If Thursday is payday, you have timing on your side.

The Dayton Hamvention, arguably the largest hobby radio exposition and flea market in the country, is this weekend. Most of the on-line retailers, including AES, HRO, R&L Electronics, Universal Radio, and The Ham Station, will be at the show. Even if you don't attend, you can sometimes benefit from the "show prices". Call around late Friday to see if your favorite retailers are offering discounted prices on phone-in orders.

 

[W5KVV]

Great Thanks for the heads-up. I WILL be making some phone calls. I love calling a number & getting a human rather than a machine. I cant bargain with the machine!

Hopefully I will get lucky. A penny saved is a penny earned.

 

[N4KVE]

I like to give Universal my business when I need to call. They don't care if you need a $5 connector or a $1000 radio. They treat you the same either way. Also if you order a couple of items & they're out of stock on 1 item, when they get it & send it to you, they eat the shipping on the backordered item. Good people. GARY N4KVE

 

[W5KVV]

Update 5-19-11

Ok, so i've made my mind up on the Kenwood unit. It looks like it has everything I need & more, it's priced right & I like the good reviews.

What do you guys think about the programming software? Do I need to get it when I order the radio? Do I HAVE to get the sofware to program the radio? I dont mind punching a keypad.

This will be my first programmable radio, other than the BCT-8& everything I need it to do can be done with the keypad.

Your thoughts...?

 

[mrweather]

You don't need the programming software (which is free) and the programming cable (which is not) to program the radio. I did it manually myself.

Yes, it's tedious but it works.

 

[Skypilot007]

These are nice rigs and simple to use. You made the right choice. I liked mine so much I bought another for a temporary base setup. The only pitfall to the rig is the internal speaker. Plug into a decent external speaker for really good kenwood audio.

 

[W5KVV]

Ok, thanks guys. Lots of good info. I didnt realize the software was free. I guess I'll go ahead & get a cable just in case, or make my own like W9RXR mentioned.

Skypilot007, you mentioned the speaker. Im going to be putting the radio in a jotto type console, so I plan on running a external speaker. The way I understand it, the unit has two jacks, one for the 2M side & one for the 440 side. This lets you listen to both sides of the radio, each side has a dedicated speaker. Is that correct?

Thanks guys.

 

[AK9R]

Not quite correct on the speaker.

If you plug an external speaker into the SP1 jack, both A and B bands will be heard through the external speaker. If you plug an external speaker into the SP2 jack, the B band will be heard through the external speaker, but the A band will still come through the internal speaker. Or, if you can plug an external speaker into the SP1 jack and another external speaker into the SP2 jack, the A band will be heard from SP1 and the B band will be heard from SP2. Also, Menu 002 can reverse these jack assignments.

There's a chart in the manual that explains all this.

 

[W5KVV]

Ok, good deal. Thanks for the heads up. I plan on running 2 external speakers on it, so that works out great for me.

Looks im going to be reading the manual front to back.

 

[W5KVV]

Anyone know anything about this version of the TM-V71A with the fancy display?? I think it's a Japanese market version, due to the fact all the websites I found this particuliar version on were in what appeared to be in the Japanese language. (forgive my ignorance of foreign languages). Looks pretty slick, & I bet it would be hella easy to read at night or in low light situations.

 

[N4KVE]

Anyone know anything about this version of the TM-V71A with the fancy display?? I think it's a Japanese market version, due to the fact all the websites I found this particuliar version on were in what appeared to be in the Japanese language. (forgive my ignorance of foreign languages). Looks pretty slick, & I bet it would be hella easy to read at night or in low light situations.

Kenwood has done this before. In the late '80's they made a dualbander model 721. It looked like the lower radio. Many hams complained the screen was difficult to see in the bright sunlight, so Kenwood came out with an upgrade control head, which looked like the upper radio. It was about $50, a great deal. It was so popular, that their next radio the 731 also looked like the upper radio, & every model since. I guess part of the world prefers the look of the lower radio, while elsewhere the upper look is preferred. The lower screen would be hard to read in direct sunlight. GARY N4KVE

 

[AK9R]

Low-cost alternative to PG-5G programming cable

It's been reported in other TM-V71/TM-D710 support groups that the following cable works as a programming cable in lieu of the Kenwood PG-5G. The pin-outs seem to be correct.

MINI DIN8 M to DB9F 6FT. CABLE PART#70810

For $7.00, it's cheaper than what it would cost to build your own.

 

[W5KVV]

Awsome. Thanks for the link. Im still waiting on the radio to get here from Universal, so im gonna go ahead & order the cable & get it on its way as well.

Thanks,
10-2

 

[brndnstffrd]

Sorry to revive a dead thread, but does anyone know anything about that other control head in the picture? I just ordered one of these radios from universal and am waiting for it to come in, and im sue i should at least use the radio before i go changing stuff but i just like the look of the bottom one better.