First Impressions Of Kenwood TH D74, CQP Cards & I Broke it Already - K6UDA Radio Episode 30

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I just got the new Kenwood TH-D74 Handheld. What do I think so far? After operating the California QSO Party last week I've got a slew of QSL cards. I'll share my results with you. Yeah, I broke it already. Why? because I'm stupid. Thats why.

 

Much better than a QST review...... more like an old 73 mag review.

 

Yea, gotta say, Glad Kenwood is finally releasing a triband D Star HT. Thanks for the review and I like your style. Keep upnthebgood work! 73 NØGB

 

I will watch this with interest. I might buy a TH-D74, but it's gonna depend. The TH-D72 had a built in TNC for packet operations. All you needed to do was hook up your radio with a USB cable to a laptop and you'd be off and running on packet. If the TH-D74 also has this functionality, then I might plunk for one.

 

Bob, thanks for a "real" review! Beautiful HT, BUT < 1hr battery life? That's a BIG take-away, especially
at a $700 price (I already saw one used for $575).

Best radio I have bought lately is the FT-270R (2m only w/136-174rx). Nice amber display, lots of really nice
features, and only $145 new! Batteries last 2-3 days with moderate use, pretty hard to beat. Looks like
Kenwood has a bit more work to do on the TH-D74. Too much stuff in a mini package?

 

Not too often that Kenwood releases a new product that folks find disappointment with. It wouldn't surprise me that this new HT proves to be quite the flaming conundrum from Kenwood. Robert points out nicely the battery issue, something that I'm certain Kenwood absolutely knew but couldn't care less. Who releases an HT with the battery life of a child's toy on Christmas morning? Of course, why did Samsung release the Note 7 knowing darn well there was the possibility that the Note 7 just might set your home and commercial aircraft on fire. But, we all know it's about profits and the manufacturers of...whatever...couldn't give one flying flip.

And, is it likely that Kenwood is paying a hefty royalty to ICOM for incorporating D-STAR into it's products...hence the price tag?

In the end, thank you Robert for the poop on this. There's no sugar coating facts...it's just too often we get less than them.

 

Wow, not much real info there. I'd say if disappointed then return or sell. Many others are very happy.

 

Well, I said I'm reserving final judgment until I learn the radio and give Kenwood some time to work out the bugs. You know v. 1.0 of anything needs fine tuning. Battery life has improved after a few charge cycles.

 

I think I'll wait for the TH-D74a model

I have a F6a and a D7a and they are great radios.

 

I have a D74. No issues with battery life, I get 8 to 10 hours running dual receive GPS and APRS.

It has Bluetooth, so join the 21st century with a nice headset.

I have not successfully completed a d-star QSO. Maybe I am math Barbie, "like, d-star is hard, mmmk!?"

Overall I think the D74 is a great rig.

There a some niche bugs and mmisfeatures but I expected such as a first day buyer. Kenwood is clearly working on it.

 

This IS a TH-D74A. In the world of Kenwood model designations, An (A) suffix means it is intended for sale in the (A)mericas and an (E) model is intended for (E)urope.
Yaesu uses a similar protocol.

Cheers!

 

Icom does not own the intellectual rights to DStar, it's the JARL (Japan Amateur Radio,League) and they've made the protocol freely available. The Ambec encoder/decoder is the only proprietary part that Kenwood pays a royalty for (unless they did a group licensing deal, but they're not saying). So please don't blame the high cost of the '74 on Icom.

 

I don't think the radio is way overpriced. If you price a Yaesu VX-8DR and add the GPS, Speaker mic (to hold the GPS), Bluetooth module you are at $560. Yes, you get one more band that I find useless in an HT, but the GPS is a poor receiver, no Dstar, no SSB receive, no color screen, ect...

I have only had the Kenwood a week and my battery life seems better than the Yaesu or my TH-F6A. Maybe there was a software update that fixed the battery life issue. The GPS acquired my position easily indoors and the radio has impressed me so far.

I think it is really nice to get everything built in. No other radio offers almost all of the receive capabilities of the TH-F6A, the APRS features of the THD-72A, the D-Star of the TH-92AD along with Bluetooth, USB, SD card memory, color screen, easy menu operation. If you look now, they are available everywhere for $650.00

 

If a device has bad battery life, then of course the manufacturer knows about it. Is it important? You better believe it is. They research implications of every facet of a device before releasing it. If the battery life is miserable, then I have to think it was a decision balanced on the only way to get much needed features.
Icom royalties? That's a misinformed statement, but I've heard that a lot.
DSTAR is a standard developed by a group in Japan (JARL) Not related to Icom. Icom just happened to be the only ones using it until recently when (not just Kenwood) other companies started making devices capable of DSTAR.

 

Absolutely correct on the JARL statement.
The AMBE+2 vocoder is used in many DMR/Fusion radios also. Kenwood doesn't own the rights to this either.

At Dayton 2016, when talking to the Kenwood rep, he mentioned it would be the "best sounding DSTAR radio you have ever heard because of the AMBE +2 vocoder chip" - my response was, "you mean it'll sound like DMR does now?" In return, I received a dumb-look and silence.