[Kenwood] Kenwood F6A help and suggestions

Sun, 6 Jul 2003 16:20:01 -0500

John,
Since this rig was a "demo" and had the wrong brand antenna on it, have you
considered the fact that you might have gotten ripped-off by your dealer? If
the rig is having difficulty getting into your local repeater on high power
and hearing it with a Comet antenna, then there's a problem with either the
rig or antenna, but there IS a problem. Just for a comparison, I can get
into our local repeater (a couple of miles away) with my F6A on EL power
(50mw) all day long, all the time and hear repeaters 30 miles away with the
stock antenna. You may have a problem with your SMA connector, given that
you didn't get the original Kenwood antenna (damaged possibly?) and the
antenna you did get was broke, or the PA might be damaged from use with a
bad antenna.

I'm not suprised that you can't hear anything on 6 meters with the Comet.
Just think about what you're asking the rig to do- hear anything with a
1/12th wavelength antenna, with a loading coil in it to boot. I can hear a
few things on 6 meters with my F6A with a 2m quarter-wave antenna, but
that's without the coil in line. Try putting something a bit longer on the
F6A and see  what you hear.

I guess there have been some F6As that have had problems, given what I've
read on eHam.net. But overall, I think the vast majority of owners have been
very happy with them. I know I've been happy with both of mine. I'd say you
got a dog, but I'd be more apt to blame your dealer than Kenwood at this
point, given what you've said. Before you make a permenant judgement about
the TH-F6A, try to get you hands on a new one, if that's possible, or a
least a used one that works properly. Certainly, there is a serious problem
with your "demo" unit.

I hope you can get this problem worked out to your satisfaction, John!

73,
Scott, N9AI

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Geiger" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2003 1:02 PM
Subject: [Kenwood] Kenwood F6A help and suggestions

> 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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