[Kenwood] Re: Kenwood V7A

[Gary Danaher]

Here's my experience. Firstly, it is a good running radio for what it 
does. I can listen to two different frequencies at the same time, and 
that could be a 2 meter repeater and a 70 centimeter repeater. I can 
also track an offending input signal into our club repeater and not have 
to touch the dial as I drive along and do my DFing. Now the bad--the 
display. Yes, it is hard to see in the daylight. Also now at night. My 
first display began to die with the vertical lines. The display panel 
was somehow glued to the circuit board that drove it and the conductive 
attachment was coming loose. I could take it apart, press in a spot and 
get it to work again. Board was Revision A. It was out of warranty so I 
sprang and got a replacement on my dime. It was now Revision B if I 
recall, and it worked just fine but about 2 years later it began to do 
the same thing. I'm in Texas and maybe the summer heat was too much for 
it. I caught a rep at a hamfest and he told me to get in touch with him 
afterward and he would take care of me. He did, having me send the head 
to the repair center where they installed yet another display. This one 
I believe is Revision C or D. It looks much different than the original, 
even right out of the box. I'd say it is milky, less focussed. Also, 
again in the car and at night or in daylight, I have to tweak the 
contrast constantly. It will come on and be readable, and then fade away 
to a blue haze. Or it will start off in a blue haze, I'll tweak it to 
see, sometimes guessing at the buttons (they're memorized well by now), 
until and contrast is good enough to read. Wish there was a way to get 
the original display to work and not fail, because this last display, 
though not developing vertical line failures, is maybe the worst of the 
bunch in readability.

Gary
AB5RM