Kenwood TKR-750 or Vertex/Standard VXR-7000 for ham use?

railtrailbiker · Post by **railtrailbiker** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 4:58 pm

If you couldn't afford a new or used Motorola 2-meter repeater, would you choose a Kenwood TKR-750 or Vertex/Standard VXR-7000?

Both priced about the same, with very similar features; which one is the better overall performer though?

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 6:56 pm

Kenwood TKR-750. I've got one in service as the primary RACES repeater (it's the only countywide coverage repeater... so they jackjaw on it... ALL the fracking time). Anyway, they Just Work.

The Vertex unit is ugly... also, it doesn't look like it has the DTMF remote control features (control aux i/o ports, activate/deactivate front panel buttons (like repeater disable), etc.)

Beware, the 750 is only 25 watts continuous duty... personally, I run mine at 5 watts as an exciter to a big-smoke PA (5 in, 150 out).

d119 · Post by **d119** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:15 pm

I concur. The TKR-750 (Get the K2 version for Amateur use, it's the 136-150MHz split) is a ROCK SOLID machine. 25w all day long.

If you want to buy one let me know, I've got one still in the box that has less than 10 hours of run time on it.

nmfire10 · Post by **nmfire10** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:55 am

Ditto. Kenwood's repeaters kick arse.

jim · Post by **jim** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 4:38 pm

I'd take a Kenwood over the GR1225 POS any day.
The Kennies work really well.

kg4ciu · Post by **kg4ciu** » Mon May 29, 2006 2:04 pm

I got the VXR for our club its a work horse.
50 watts out 100% duty cycle
mutli tone
built in Power supply

can be had brand new for 1200 with 3yr warranty

K4RXR · Post by **K4RXR** » Wed May 31, 2006 1:47 pm

I see a couple of you guys bragging on the Kenwood TKR-750 for ham use. What about the TKR-850 in the ham bands (447 in, 442 out)? A local Kenwood shop said it couldn't be done.

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Wed May 31, 2006 2:21 pm

K4RXR wrote:I see a couple of you guys bragging on the Kenwood TKR-750 for ham use. What about the TKR-850 in the ham bands (447 in, 442 out)? A local Kenwood shop said it couldn't be done.

That's funny... there's one on the air in Dallas on 442.400 out/447.400 in. It's a regular TKR-850K... nothing special about it. Sounds like you need a shop with a clue.

Make absolutely certain that you have the repeater tuned before you even think of putting it on the air. The TKR-x50 series has a real front end/preselector in it... if you don't tune it for your specific frequencies, your sensitivity will suck.

mike m · Post by **mike m** » Wed May 31, 2006 3:31 pm

Same here on the kwd repeaters.

The local KWD dealer here in Northern AZ. has been building TKR850's into old micor cabinets and selling them to the hammy clubs down in Phoenix.

So far the orders are coming in for more as the word spreads on how great they are.

Our local S.O. search and rescue will most likely be junking a POS 1225 rptr in the not so distant future in place of a kenwood TKR750. The POS 1225 hasn't worked for the last 3 years.

Mike

K4RXR · Post by **K4RXR** » Wed May 31, 2006 3:44 pm

tvsjr wrote:Make absolutely certain that you have the repeater tuned before you even think of putting it on the air. The TKR-x50 series has a real front end/preselector in it... if you don't tune it for your specific frequencies, your sensitivity will suck.

Yeah, and that may be the issue. The shop probably doesn't want to deal with going through the tuning process to get the receiver down to the ham band or just doesn't want to deal with hams. Thanks for the good reports.

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Wed May 31, 2006 3:46 pm

K4RXR wrote:
tvsjr wrote:Make absolutely certain that you have the repeater tuned before you even think of putting it on the air. The TKR-x50 series has a real front end/preselector in it... if you don't tune it for your specific frequencies, your sensitivity will suck.
Yeah, and that may be the issue. The shop probably doesn't want to deal with going through the tuning process to get the receiver down to the ham band.

They better be tuning them, regardless if it's ham or commercial. The preselector is narrow... like a few hundred Khz narrow. You're supposed to go through to complete alignment procedure whenever the radio is reprogrammed.

If they aren't tuning them at all, well, they're blithering idiots.

N3IVK · Post by **N3IVK** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:24 am

I have a better idea....

Why not Google search a discussion forum for the off brand equipment and make your postings there ?

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:06 am

N3IVK wrote:I have a better idea....

Why not Google search a discussion forum for the off brand equipment and make your postings there ?

I have an even better idea... why don't you not dredge up posts that are TWO MONTHS old merely to post a :o? In short, FOAD.

kb0nly · Post by **kb0nly** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:24 am

VXR repeater hands down.. That's what one of our local repeaters is.

Anyway, old post, but since it was brought back to life i couldn't help but post my opinion.

Post by **wavetar** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 1:14 pm

As I posted in the other thread N3IVK, dredging up a 2-month old post specifically to tell someone what to post/not post adds no value and can only be seen as antagonistic. Please do not do this. You can use the "report post" feature to bring a post to a moderator/administrator's attention. If we feel it requires further action, we will take it.

I'm leaving these threads intact as a visual warning of something which we won't tolerate on the board. Any further posts such as this will be removed & the offenders dealt with.

Todd

jistabout · Post by **jistabout** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 12:57 pm

I have a friend who owns/operates 7 ham repeaters in the local area. He recently was evaluating both the TKR-750 and the VXR-7000 to replace one of his machines.

After about a month of research, he finally chose the VXR-7000, and added a Zetron controller to it so he could have remote-programming capability of some operating parameters.

He was very close to choosing the Kenwood because it has more remote features, is rackable, etc. but then chose the Yaesu because he wanted frequency-agility without retuning because he wanted this new machine to be a drop-in replacement for any of his repeaters on a moment's notice. He built his own rack-mount kit for it and it works great.

Anyway, I realize that this thread is kinda old but I hope this helps in case you haven't decided yet.