Looking for info on a Kenwood TM-471 UHF Transceiver

[iamjimmy86]

I'm looking for a UHF mobile to set up as a base radio and stumbled across this website offering them for sale:

KENWOOD Kenwood TM-271/TM-471 Vehicle-mounted Mobile Radio 60W Two way radio VHF/UHF Car Radio transceiver CTCSS & DCS with DTMF MIC Brand of Radio KENWOOD

Has anyone ever purchased anything from this website? Is it legit or probably a scam? I like the looks of the Kenwood radios and would like to buy one but I am a little hesitant. Any info or opinions will be considered and will be very helpful.

Thanks,
James

 

[MarkWestin]

Procede with extreme caution. I know nothing about the Web Site that your link goes to, but The TM-471 is not a current model and was never imported into the USA (also probably not the Canadian) Market. Where is the Seller? If you have to send back your radio halfway around the world if it breaks down You will be out the money.

Mark

 

[ShawnInPaso]

Funny thing, I just looked at that 471 the other night on that same website. I've seen the website before, but have not purchased anything from them. If they truly use PayPal, which it seems, that would be the way to go to protect yourself.

The 446 shop appears to be in China, thus the discounted equipment. You might check to see if they're on ebay, in which case you'd find some customer reviews.

 

[AK9R]

It could be an Asian-market radio that Kenwood never intended to sell in the U.S. I would not buy it unless it has a legitimate FCC ID number and a U.S. warranty.

 

[cmjonesinc]

I've bought from them once before and didn't have any issues. However I do know from experience if you're sending a radio back to China you'd probably end up spending just about as much as you paid for the equipment. What kind of setup are you trying to do? Do you need multiple channels programmed in or do you need a amateur type radio where you can change frequencies without programming? If you're only needing a few channels there are a lot of used yaesu's, icoms, motos, or even kenwoods out there that you can get local support with. I had one kenwood handheld once that was a funny non north american version and it was a super pain to find software for. Or if you're just looking for a cheaper non big name brand uhf radio I've heard good things about the TYT TH9000D.

 

[N4KVE]

Not sold in the NA market, so Kenwood USA will not do warranty work on it should it break. The 271 which was sold here was a good radio, so I'm sure it's a fine radio too, but will not be supported here.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

For whatever reason, the North American business units of Yaesu, Kenwood and Icom choose not to sell single band UHF radios and instead mark us up to dual band radios.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[N4KVE]

Years ago when Yaesu sold the 2400, a single band VHF radio, there was no UHF version. I complained to Yaesu, but it fell on deaf ears. A year later, in a European Yaesu catalog, I saw a model 7400 which was the UHF version. I again complained to Yaesu, & I guess others did too, because it was announced the 7400 would be sold in the US, but it took another 6 months until the 7400 finally was available for sale here, & I immediately bought 2 of them. I still have the 1st one I bought, & a better amateur 440 radio hasn't been made. But today it seems that it's either VHF, or dual band radios are sold here in the US. Even today Yaesu makes a VHF FT1900 VHF, & a FT1907 UHF radio, but the 1907 is not imported into the US.