Help Corbet pick a new mobile HAM
- Thread starter Corbet
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DaveInDenver
Rising Sun Ham Guru
It's an auction ending in 4 days and not Buy It Now. Starting at $249, zero bids but 13 people watching (43 views in 24 hours). It's going to go for a lot more for sure, will be interesting to see what the competitive market price for these TM-D700 and TM-D710 radios really is.
Yup, I’m watching it if for anything just to see.
rover67
Rising Sun Member
Even though its expensive.... If it goes for less than 5 or 600 bucks it's the same price as a Yaesu but does what you want in a small package right?
Does what I want, on a platform I’m familiar with, at the only risk of longevity, as it’s already an old platform. It would need to be well below the cost of the new 500. There is another 710 with buy it now at $1300. And a third with damaged knobs priced at $640. Definitely a following for this radio that exceeds my personal desires. I’ll watch it and see what happens. But a 500 might be inbound before that auction expires.
FZJ Dave
Locked
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Damn, I didn't know I was sitting on a gold mine with my (2) 710's in my 80 and Tundra!
I am following along in the event I pick up a rig for my kid. I will want a good HAM in it too, but I haven't liked any of the radio's I have used more than the 710. I wish Kenwood hadn't discontinued it.
DaveInDenver
Rising Sun Ham Guru
I'd pay same or a bit more than new FTM-500 price for a TM-D7x0. The feature set aside (they are hand's down #1 integrated APRS radios ever made) reason is that getting parts for Kenwood radios is easier. Yaesu in the post Motorola era is spastic with their models, like a squirrel on crack picking parts.
DanInDenver
Trail Ready
rover67
Rising Sun Member
Corbet might make you a deal 
I could be interested.
Dave, what’s different about the marine application radio? https://www.lambdamarine.com/Kenwood-TM-D710GAK-VHF-UHF-Mobile-Transceiver-p/kw10.00002.htm
DaveInDenver
Rising Sun Ham Guru
It's not a marine radio, the TM-D710 is always an amateur radio AFAIK. A couple of things I do notice.
The distributor is in the United Arab Emirates. Things get shipped all around the world so that's probably a "whatever" as long as they're a real place.
It may be a grey market radio if they're not a legitimate Kenwood dealer. Again, "whatever" as long as it works and you don't need the warranty.
I might be concerned that it's a counterfeit.
The radio has been out of production for I think at least 3 years, maybe more. Where did this is magical stock come from? That's kind of curious.
Another thing is the TM-D710GAK model.
The TM-D710 is the base model, 'G' indicates GPS is installed and 'A' indicates an American (as in North America) model. There's a 'E' model (e.g. TM-D710GE) that would have been the EMEA model, that's the Europe, Middle East, Asia version.
But I can't figure out what the 'K' means, if anything. The only place I found a reference to that full model was on the Kenwood UK website, who I would have thought would have gotten the the TM-D710GE model. I don't know if that is important or not. It might just be the full model number of the radio.
BTW, getting the EMEA version of a radio is a mixed bag. Stock they'll have the wrong band splits and frequency transmits. But the radios themselves are usually the same or at least very closely the same hardware with the differences being in firmware or even just which configuration jumpers are installed. So you can often make a 'E' model into an 'A' model with a soldering iron or in a few cases flashing the NA firmware.
I dunno, a $600 dice roll?
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Pretty good sized roll.
Copyright 2025, how do they have NOS inventory of that old of radio if site built this year?
Links to social media pages don’t goto a corresponding page.
Not feeling very good about risking $600 here. Probably get it back with a credit card dispute but not looking worth the risk.
Copyright 2025, how do they have NOS inventory of that old of radio if site built this year?
Links to social media pages don’t goto a corresponding page.
Not feeling very good about risking $600 here. Probably get it back with a credit card dispute but not looking worth the risk.
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DaveInDenver
Rising Sun Ham Guru
It's not impossible for a clearinghouse to find a few NOS, anything's possible.
The company Lambda Marine I found listed on Iridium's site as a dealer so it's probably above board. Poking around their website has a lot of gear and it seems well done and consistent. It says in a few places they are Icom and Kenwood authorized.
Kenwood UK is the main channel for the Middle East and Lambda is their dealer in the UAE.
kenwoodcommunications.co.uk
I tend to think that's all right. Whether they actually have the TM-D710GAK in stock, I dunno. And they might not ship it you being out of market. They might be bound by Kenwood and exporting them.
The company Lambda Marine I found listed on Iridium's site as a dealer so it's probably above board. Poking around their website has a lot of gear and it seems well done and consistent. It says in a few places they are Icom and Kenwood authorized.
Kenwood UK is the main channel for the Middle East and Lambda is their dealer in the UAE.
Lambda Electronics • Kenwood Comms
Official KENWOOD Communications Business Radio reseller Lambda Electronics covering U.A.E. / Middle East 7 North Africa, contact info. -
kenwoodcommunications.co.uk
I tend to think that's all right. Whether they actually have the TM-D710GAK in stock, I dunno. And they might not ship it you being out of market. They might be bound by Kenwood and exporting them.
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Looks like a UK model number. But does not matter, when you try to add to cart it says out of stock.
kenwoodcommunications.co.uk
Mobiles • TM-D710GAK Features • Kenwood Comms
Kenwood is a leading manufacturers of walkie talkies, NEXEDGE, PMR446 and Ham Radios. We cover all major technologies and protocols: dPMR, DMR, NXDN, ATEX -
kenwoodcommunications.co.uk
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Ebay auction was ended early by seller due to "error" in listing. I suspect he/she was disappointed in the lack of bidding. Have to wait to see if re-listed. It had received 2 bids last time I checked it.
Well the YAESU 500 just went up $30. Probably should have just grabbed it while on sale. Still on sale honestly just not as much sale.
Kenwood TM-D750A, maybe worth waiting for? But that head unit is not going to fit in my desired location.
View: https://youtu.be/2FcCk30af1c?si=sz3WK1Dao59CZVzd
View: https://youtu.be/2FcCk30af1c?si=sz3WK1Dao59CZVzd
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DaveInDenver
Rising Sun Ham Guru
From what I've read the FTM-500 is discontinued now, too. It's no longer listed for sale at Gigaparts, DX Engineering or HRO.
The replacement FTM-510 does not say it can do APRS. Same with the FTM-150 that is supposed to take the spot in the catalog that FTM-200 held.
Kenwood may need to rush that radio to the market, they'll own the segment for built-in APRS. I bet it'll be north of $1,000. I don't see the market for a mobile that costs that much, especially considering it may not fully expose the modem (it'll be similar to a FTM-350/400/500 from the looks of it) so won't quite fill the void left by the TM-D710 for dedicated APRS users. A lot of unknowns still with it, though.
RDub
Trail Ready
Dave, looking at the Yaesu website under files for the FTM-510 there is a separate instruction manual for APRS. The general manual lists APRS in the contents, but defers to the stand alone manual for details. I know nothing about APRS so this may not be meaningful, but I did find those four letters listed in a row in two manuals for that new radio. As usual Yaesu hasn’t done a good job in the description of any of the four new radios. Vague at best.