[Kenwood] Kenwood F6A help and suggestions

[John Geiger]

Well the Kenwood F6A HT which I purchased finally came
thursday.  Some of you might have seen my earlier
posting concerning the problem with the antenna that
was included (it was an Icom antenna which broke).  I
spoke to the dealer, and they are going to send me
another antenna, will discuss final details with them
monday.

Now here is my problem and source of frustration:  I
did have a comet dual band HT antenna laying around
which I can use on the F6A.  It is the 17 inch long
one, can't remember the model number right now. 
Anyway, overall performance so far with this setup has
been disappointing.  I was hoping to use the F6A to
receive 6 meter SSB, but it seems pretty deaf, at
least with this antenna.  I did finally hear one of
the locals, but had to walk outside to copy him.  Even
2 meter performance isn't great.  The local repeater
comes in scratchy quite a bit, and I have to be on
high power to make it from inside the house, which
kills the battery.  The F6A replaced an Icom T2H 2
meter HT, and to be honest, the T2H (which cost me $80
new) outperformed the F6A on 2 meters. I could run it
on low power most of the time from inside (1 watt). So
I have a $300 HT that will not receive 6 meters the
way in which I was hoping it would, and will not
perform on 2 meters like my old one would.  Running it
on high power will require buying another battery
(another $40) because of the long recharging time.  

Any other antenna suggestions for this HT?  What
antennas seem to work good on 2 meters?  I realize
that part of the problem is that I live in a house
with steel siding, but that can't be all of it.  I am
starting to wonder if I should just send the F6A back
and tell them to refund my money.  Don't get me wrong,
I like alot of the features it has, like the AM/FM
broadcast receive, the dual receive, picking up TV
stations, to name a few.  However, if it isn't going
to TRANSMIT well on 2 meters, I really have to wonder
if it is worth it.

Any suggestions would be welcome and helpful.

73s John NE0P


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