As a belated Christmas / Birthday / Father's Day present, my wonderful Wife Tina gifted me with a new Kenwood TH-F6A (handheld Amateur Radio). For some time I've wanted a portable that I could easily take with me to Amateur Radio events, pack up when traveling, and just casually place on my office desk to monitor some of the repeaters in my immediate area (around Redmond, Washington). I haven't been very active in Amateur Radio since my daughter was born, and now that she's well into her teens and Dad is usually an afterthought, I have some time available that I can devote to Amateur Radio again. I bought the TH-F6A over the counter at Ham Radio Outlet (HRO) in Portland, OR from Ron Holscher W7ATX who was fantastically gracious despite the sales process of this particular radio stretching back at least 18 months since I first visited Ron at HRO.
The TH-F6A is fairly "mature" - it was apparently introduced in 2001, which is nice because the bugs are usually worked out (unless they're fundamental enough that they're now "features".
The primary feature that sold me on buying this particular unit was that it is capable of operating on 2 meters (2m - 144-184 MHz), 220 MHz, and 440 MHz US Amateur Radio bands. I'd previously only had single-band portables and that was a disadvantage with the group of Hams that I'm involved with because when we get together at various functions, we use "chat frequencies" that could be on 2m, 220, or 440, and I always seemed to have brought the wrong radio.
In reading the manual, I was delighted to discover that Kenwood engineered into it a Packet Radio mode that not only accommodates 1200 baud (AFSK - Audio Frequency Shift Keying) operation, but also 9600 Baud (FSK - Frequency Shift Keying) - Wow - for me, that's a real bonus!
The TH-F6A can monitor two bands simultaneously, as the display shows. The "A" band is 2m/220/440 only, but the "B" band is a "DC-to-daylight" receiver, accommodating AM, Wide FM, Narrow FM, and SSB modes. That's really cool - it can monitor Marine VHF, Civil Air Patrol, MARS, Coast Guard Auxiliary, television stations, AM and FM broadcast, and much, much more.
Despite its small size, its high-power mode is 5 Watts, but can accommodate reasonable usage times because its rechargable battery is a Lithium-Ion pack.
It has a number of accessories available, but the only ones I bought initially were the 4 AA battery pack and an antenna adapter if I want to use it with an external antenna. I'll likely invest in additional rechargable packs, a speaker/microphone, 12V direct-in cable, a cigarette lighter power adapter, and who knows what else :-)
While there are many, many obscure things that can be programmed, the basics are at least somewhat intuitive. So far, I've mastered setting frequencies via direct keyboard entry, setting CTCSS (subaudible tone on transmit), and a few other things. Next up is starting to set up memory channels so I don't have to constantly refer to the repeater directory.
So far, I've found two things that are mild dislikes:
- The small size. I have big hands, and I would have preferred that this radio be larger - 150% to 200% would be nice, but my main criteria was a 2m/220/440 portable, and this was only one of two that I could buy new over the counter.
- The charging is "dumb" - the radio doesn't regulate the charge times, and the instructions state to keep the charger connected "only until charged" which the instructions state is typically 6.5 hours. We've had technology to "shut off charging" for years now - it's long since perfected so that a (pricey) portable battery like the TH-F6A's doesn't get "cooked" from voltage being applied to it constantly after it's fully charged. But at least the TH-F6A does provide a definitive indication when it's fully charged; most "dumb charge" radios don't give an indication of being charged - you're left to guess.
de N8GNJ
By Steve Stroh
This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged.)
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