Arfcom ham hive recommend me a new radio to replace my dead 8900 that got drowned....  

Looked at the 5100 and the 400 both got some plus and minuses. I like the idea of ddigital modes but with the proprietary modes it makes me wonder which will win out.  I'm in southern va so I cover most of va and northern nc if that matters. I do make quite a few long distance cross country trips a year so a band scope or smart load feature would be nice. What say yall?

I'm moving to SE VA here soon, curious what repeater technology is present in the area either Fusion or DSTAR.

Looks like fusion has the edge just in my quick searches . Dstars was all the rage a while back but Ive been out the loop . Loooks to be 2 Dstars repeaters in hampton roads area and only one in richmond ,with fusion having 4 in the hampton roads area and one in chesterfield but a fair spread across the rest of the state .

I asked myself the same question recently and have decided on the Kenwood TM-D710G.  If you don't need APRS or don't want to spend that much, the TM-V71 is very highly regarded around here, though I confess I have owned neither (yet!)  Whatever you choose, make sure it wears a properly fitting life preserver.

As for SE Virginia, I lived there for the first six or seven years of my ham tenure and can say that there are plenty of active analog repeaters in the area, some with very nice coverage.  W4CAR has a nice repeater on one of the City of Chesapeake towers (400'!) that covers nicely.  146.820MHz 162.2 tone.  I do know there was a DStar repeater somewhere in the area ten years ago when I first got licensed, though I couldn't tell you anything more about it since I never used it.  Now it has been four and a half years since I left Norfolk (good riddance!) so take my info with a grain of salt.  If you're going to be closer to Richmond, check out RATS W4RAT.

Has Kentwood bumped its ever loving head ? they want more the 710G which is a updated 708 than the 5100 or the 400 .

I also would recommend the D710(A or G) as well as the stripped down V71A.  It doesn't have fusion or dstar, but both support fldigi, without needing a rigblaster.  All you need is the echolink cable set.  Programming software is free, just need the cables, which one of the echolink cables does this.  The D710 supports APRS, and AX25 packet, and besides doing fully legal crossband repeating, it can work as a digipeater as well.  It can auto ID itself, and has the ability to be remotely controlled.  The yaesu radios may offer their digital modes, but you will find them lacking in other areas that Kenwood excels in.  Menu system IMO is better with Kenwood.  Kenwood has sold the D710 for a number of years now, with the only big change being the built in GPS now on the G model.  Yaesu is on their second all new radio trying to compete with the Kenwood, and that's not counting the 8800.  HRO has the D710G on sale right now.  I have some Yaesus as well as Kenwoods.  All my new mobile radios are Kenwood, not Yaesu.

V71A.

I really like the Kenwood TMV-71A, have 3 of them.

There can be only one.......

I think Im noticing a pattern .......

+1

Im going to give the v71 a hard look but Im on hold right now , took my drowned 8900 apart and i think I can fix it so Im going to try .

V71 Kenwood for the win

I do have a 700 in my car and love it.  I just ordered, for our emcom trailer a 71 for the vvalue.

Emcomm trailer you say???  Let's get a thread with some pics on that!!!

Yes more on the trailer

It is our sheriffs department emergency command trailer.  Has ham u/v/hf, pactor 3.  The new dual band kenwood is to replace a 20 year old kenwood that we had issues with during our local "cascaida rising" earthquake training recently.  

Three uhf trunked XTL5000 dispatch radios, two kenwood TK7180 SAR/interopp radios, three other vhf radios round out the comm equipment.   Three dispatch computers, network, cell phone booster, Pneumatic mast, genset.  We are a poor county and the trailer is pretty a all in one for remote SAR base, on site crime scene investigations, emergency operations.  We literally have only one truck that can pull the trailer any distance and only four folks gtg as drivers.  Our county is bigger than some states and goes from ocean to 5000' mountain passes (10k mountains).

Most of the radio wiring was done by myself with the exception of computer and police services dispatch radio.  I installed all the antennas.  There is no way all of the different radio systems could possibly work at the same time but I do what i'm instructed.  I did put bandpass filters on the ham stuff but there is none on the commercial side.  

Plus 2.  I have two V71As.

Deoxit D5 is what you seek to clean up liquid damaged electronics, to remove corrosion and stop future corrosion. Trust me on this.

https://www.amazon.com/CAIG-DeOxit-Cleaning-Solution-Spray/dp/B0002BBV4G/

Just don't get it into the LCD.

Good stuff!

What does it do to LCD displays?  I have only used it on contacts and jacks.

If you get it on the edge of an LCD panel it wicks between the layers and ends up messing with the actual display, that's what I seem to remember anyway.

Lots of DMR there.

After weighing yall opinions carefully and reading on the Kenwood I put a Kenwood 710 in my shopping cart last Wed night.......  Then didn't place the order.  Thurs I put a ftm-400 in my shopping cart and didn't checkout.........  For 15 minutes then pulled the trigger.




Sorry hive mind, i just couldn't bring myself to pay more for the 710. theres also a few fusion repeaters in the area I travel.  Plus I have yaesus so I'm pretty used them.




So far I like it and Ill write up a review after a bit of run time.