Kenwood DH 74A HT
Every now and then a product catches my eye and impresses me with the cosmetics, or its features. If you look on the very back cover of the recent QST magazine you will see a full page ad for this product.
Now I am not a repeater operator, I prefer HF over any frequencies, but if I were I think my interest would be swayed to the Kenwood.
Let’s take a look at what it has to offer, first three bands, 144, 220 and 440. That in it self is a pretty good package, power levels are 5 watts, 2.5 and .5, a word about wattage. There is about a ten db difference in .5 watts and 5 watts, this equates to about an s unit and 3/4 of another one. The difference of 2.5 watts to 5 watts is three DB, a half an s unit. For the most part not detected by your receiver. The idea is to save battery power and indeed you can do this with adjustable power.
The Kenwood offers APRS compliance with packet communications to exchange real time GPS position and information exchanges.
TH 74 also offers at the push of button digital audio, or analog depending on your mode of choice. I did notice the s meter goes no further then S9 for signal comparison, this may prove to be inaccurate, but then again depends on the distance you are from the other station.
I was impressed with the readouts, clear and precise, this unit offers 1000 memories, personally to me this is a little excessive, one has to remember where you placed your memory frequencies. I for one would be constantly scrolling the memory banks, it would be easier for me to just enter the channel I want.
I suppose if in this area we were D-Star equipped as well as some larger cities one could justify the price tag of this unit. Local markets it goes for $649.00, HRO offers it for ten dollars less.
I would suggest waiting a while if you just must have one of these wait for sales, or Kenwood rebates, I am sure they will come. Any new product on the market lowers the price once the sales are reaching expectations. However, I do feel the price tag now is a little steep, if I wanted an HT, or felt I needed one I would go for a more modest priced unit.
Since I am not a repeater user the last HT I had I rarely used and it was a dual bander, finally I sold the unit to another ham who had a use for an HT.. I doubt if I would ever own a DH 74, or another HT of any sort in the future. However, for those of you into repeaters and work three bands this would be ideal. I would not let this unit lay around loose, and I would not trust the belt clip. Keep this one in your pocket, or locked up in your car, I am sure it would be target for thieves.
So be it, if you want one go for it and if not well look at other models, or not have one at all, it is your money and your choice.
