[aprssig] Status of the TH-D7A

[K7FTP]

I am including the original post from Dayton with the information.  The ARRL 
also had a gentleman blogging and he asked Kenwood about the merger with 
JVC.  They indicated that at this time it they don't see it impacting their 
amateur radio products.

The best intel available says that a Kenwood replacement HT is 8-12 months 
out at least, they don't have internal approval to build yet.

We went ahead and bought two of the D7A(g) radios from AES in Las Vegas.  We 
wanted the integrated display that shows distance and bearing which Kenwood 
supports.  It also kept things common with the Kenwood TM-D700A in our 
Project Jeep.  http://www.commtechreview.net/jeep

The new Yaesu VX-8r radio is about as small as their others - a negative in 
my opinion - and the Bluetooth implementation (which apparently requires an 
extra module) is supposed to only support headsets, not GPS or serial.  The 
price point won't be dramatically lower than the D7A(g), and add in the BT 
module, etc...

Here is the original post.

-----
On thing I find is when it comes to rumors, they really depend on who you
talk with.  Friday morning, I talked with a Kenwood guy about the HT.  It
seems the problem, as with so many rigs, is that parts are drying up,
necessitating a new design.  In the case of the D-7, it is a tiny
transistor.  They have enough for repair, but not enough to continue
production beyond what is in the pipeline.  There is a replacement, 8-12
months at best, and not officially approved for production.

Of course you may hear something completely different on Saturday, and again
something different on Sunday.

Alan
WA4SCA





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stephen H. Smith" <wa8lmf2 at aol.com>
To: "Marty, W7MSO" <marty at soehrman.com>; "TAPR APRS Mailing List" 
<aprssig at lists.tapr.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 1:47 AM
Subject: Re: [aprssig] Status of the TH-D7A


> Marty, W7MSO wrote:
>> Does anybody know the status of the Kenwood TH-D7A?  Although it's still 
>> on
>> the Kenwood website I am seeing words like "discontinued" from other
>> retailers.
>>
>> Marty Soehrman
>> W7MSO
>>
>>
>
> One of the people on this list that was at Dayton reported that Kenwood 
> was discontinuing it because they could no longer get certain 
> semiconductor parts used in the D7.  Apparently they had enough parts on 
> hand to fill current orders but no new ones.  [This inability to continue 
> to get key parts killed the Pocket Tracker a year or two ago.]
>
> Rumor has it that a successor model to the D7 is in the works.......
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Stephen H. Smith    wa8lmf (at) aol.com
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