Kenwood TM-281A 144MHz FM Transceiver

Analyzed on

392Total Reviews

Two-Way Radios

B

Company Review Grade:

Kenwood

644 Total Products

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Kenwood TM-281A 144MHz FM Transceiver

Analyzed on

Sold by Kenwood

D

Fakespot review grade

D

This analysis is outdated. Please reanalyze.

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Pros & Cons

Update Pros and Cons

The AI used to provide these results are constantly improving. These results might change.

Pros

The included dtmf microphone is a good size. It is of a fairly conventional and attractive shape, not some ugly deformed-alien blob. The audio which i receive is loud and clear. The microphone feels nice and solid.

The ptt button is big and stout and requires a deliberate effort to press. The * are large enough for normal fingers to press easily. I like a beep feedback when i press a button to confirm it was pressed.

Used as mobile with 5/8 wave mag mounted nagoya antenna. Excellently hits repeaters out to 50 miles. Output to coaxial attic antenna able to hit repeaters well kn0s a. Often finds it blasting me after i forget i cranked up the volume.

I also have a kenwood tm 281a that i bought back in 1989 and it is in mint condition - still working as if new. That's my only complaint i can think of, other than that it's fine. Thanks for the update.

They work prefectly every time. Care in handling is the best preventative here. Great product as expected.

Cons

The labels/numbers on the * are very tiny and difficult to read. Although the price was very reasonable there are much better choices out there.

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Highlights

The AI used to provide these results are constantly improving. These results might change.

Quality

Build quality is excellent, it's a solidly-built radio (kenwood makes a commercial model which looks almost identical).

Receive and transmit quality are excellent and i love the microphone.

(with any radio, the actual output power will vary with the supply voltageand the exact antenna impedance.

I havn't been on ham radio for almost 20 years but with the stay home due to corona virus, i started to get bored with the inte... Read More

Price

From amazon warehouse and the price was so low i practically stole it.

The cost of the radio makes up for it though.

Packaging/appearance

It's made very solid but the knobs on the front feel cheap and wobbly.

You could tell it had been opened at one time, but everything was still in the rappers and packaging and i could not tell that ... Read More

I haven't tested the 65 watt setting yet, because i still only have it plugged into the cigarette lighter receptacle.

Competitiveness

95summary:damn rugged, military spec'ed, 2m(144mhz) radio with plenty of features for an entry level radio.

I have one in my car and one in my wife's car for three years without any issue.

I think the only real liability with this mic is that, like so many others,it has a fragile rj-45 connector crimped onto the (s... Read More

Overview

How are reviewers describing this item?
radio, good, great, easy and mobile.

Our engine has detected that the listing/variation has anomalous review count history. Please review the historical review count graph.

Our engine has profiled the reviewer patterns and has determined that there is high deception involved.

Our engine has analyzed and discovered that 59.0% of the reviews are reliable.

This product had a total of 392 reviews as of our last analysis date on Apr 4 2024.