Kenwood TK-890

[Extreme]

Anyone with experience/testimonial/opinion on the Kenwood TK-890?

I know the features, i.e. remote mounting, and like what I see, just looking for real-world experience.  

40w might be nice for the remote places I go but have had good luck with range using 25 - 30w mobile units using repeaters from 50+ miles LOS.  Dunno how much an additional 10 - 15w will add to the experience.

[kidphc]

Anyone with experience/testimonial/opinion on the Kenwood TK-890?
I know the features, i.e. remote mounting, and like what I see, just looking for real-world experience.  
40w might be nice for the remote places I go but have had good luck with range using 25 - 30w mobile units using repeaters from 50+ miles LOS.  Dunno how much an additional 10 - 15w will add to the experience.

Could be the difference fromnjust making onto a repeater to full quieting.

Comparing a 30w radio to 60w radio is doubling the power worth about 1db. Hard to say if you will notice. Probably for 90% of the operation no. It's that 10% where you are almost at the noise floor and they can make you out and hear you.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[Extreme]

More features on the 890 than I need but good used UHF Kenwoods are getting scarce on all my sources (880, 8180).2 channel units are out there but no good to me.

Thanks. 

[axorlov]

Can't say anything about 890, but also noticed the scarcity of 880 and 8180 on ebay. Looks like police and fire across US all moved to P25 and the bug dump of old analog radios dried off.

[n4gix]

Maybe time for me to list my 880 and 840 then...

[gortex2]

I have run a 890 (actually 690, 790 and 890) in my old truck when I was in NY for SAR work. They were great radios. All of mine were remote head. Rock solid. I probably would still use them but we switched to MDC identifiers for SAR and didn't want to cobble encoders in them. At one point my 690/890 was dual deck single head.

 

[Extreme]

This sound right for the 890?

Edit:  yup that's it.  Looked it up and found both online.

KPG-44D

Cable KPG-43 $45.00

Edited May 19, 2021 by Extreme
answer my own question

[robertsflyn]

Has anyone put together a repeater out of TK-890’s? I have several but can’t seem to find information on building one.

[Lscott]

Have a look at this site. Has a lot of info on building repeaters.
http://www.repeater-builder.com/rbtip/

[robertsflyn]

Thanks