What to do with these Kenwood radios?

[Guest RangerFroggy]

Hey all, I have an interesting question here. I work for my State's Park Service and today while out hitting some yard sales, I came across some radios which we actually use in the park, with the Kenwood TK-880 being the exact same one we have in one of our trucks. I also picked up a beat up TK-360, Tk-360g, and a very nice Tk-370g. I do not know what radio I was using model-wise since  I am transferring and will get another unit soon, but these are a lot nicer/higher up. 

So, I started looking into software, how to program, etc and kinda hit a roadblock. My question is what do you all really do with radios like this? I use mine for work but on my own time I can't really think of what I'd be using them for. At the moment these radios can all communicate with each other though it is clear they need batteries, plus no one has been on any of the 5 channels so I guess they were either privately owned or the entity who owned them has changed channels. 

 

I do see a list of channels from radioreference.com for all sorts of EMS, Law, Etc though that seems kinda sketchy. I have the channel for my old park as well. I thought at first these may be for listening-only like the old police scanner days though I am not sure there either. To be honest I do not really know a ton about radios and channels, and sometimes EMS comes in on my radio and I have to tell them to check their channel (which they apologize for). 

 

I just thought they were cool, and worth the $10 especially since they came with chargers, an old Ipad, and a laserdisc player.

 

 

[axorlov]

TK-880 works very well on GMRS. The "-1" model is actually certified for Part 95. Software is KPG-49D, available on interwebz if you know where to look and on ebay. I have three TK-880H-1, all work without problems on GMRS and ham bands. 256 channels, zones, split tones, narrow- and wide band, monitor when off-hook, operator selected tones, quick scan, and much more.  Very nice.

I do not know anything about TK-360, but TK-360G and TK-370G are Part 95, if it is important to you. 370G is 128 channels, if my info is correct.

[Lscott]

1 hour ago, axorlov said:

TK-880 works very well on GMRS. The "-1" model is actually certified for Part 95. Software is KPG-49D, available on interwebz if you know where to look and on ebay. I have three TK-880H-1, all work without problems on GMRS and ham bands. 256 channels, zones, split tones, narrow- and wide band, monitor when off-hook, operator selected tones, quick scan, and much more.  Very nice.

I do not know anything about TK-360, but TK-360G and TK-370G are Part 95, if it is important to you. 370G is 128 channels, if my info is correct.

The TK-370G will do both wide and narrow band FM. There is a hardware mod, removing a small surface mount resistor/diode along with checking the option in the CPS to enable front panel programming. The mod and programming from the front panel are covered in the service manual. Warning the programming isn’t exactly easy.