So, about 3 weeks ago, on a Tuesday, I placed in good faith an order from a large HAM internet retailer here in the UK for a Kenwood TM-D710GE. A rather large investment into what hopefully was to be a high quality piece of kit, that would last me many many years.
I received a phone call sometime after that same day to advise me that they were in-fact out of stock, at which time I asked if they could perform a wideband mod, and crossband repeat mod. The radios should be at the retailer on the Friday, so I let the order process carry on as I was in no immeadiate rush.
Monday came with no notification of shipment, but it did arrive on the Tusday, after another phone call on Monday afternoon to find out what was happening.
The radio arrived on the Tuesday a week after ordering, however, there was something seriously wrong with the audio quality. The radio had to be on max volume to hear anything. The mylar speaker in the main base unit had been popped from the inside, somehow, either during manufacture, or as part of the modification work.
See this video on what we needed to do to get it working.
Anyway, after some use, it transpired that the cross band repeat mod had not been done. So the retailer arranged collection on the following Monday, took it back, did the mod, and I received it back today. Now bear in mind I had previous conversations with them explaining that the 0 ohm from PAD 0 had to be moved to PAD 2. They needed to get confirmation from Kenwood apparently, that the cross band mod was ok to do, leading me to think, they had not actually done this sort of thing before.
So, it arrived back today, we took the lid off, and the following was seen….. what a BODGE !!!
Frayed wires, no 0 ohm resistor sat there nicely, what a mess. I should have been sent the removed 0 ohm resistor when it was removed, but no. It was probably swept aside in a deluge of solder.
I called and emailed the retailer with pictures, and the upshot of it all is, they are collecting it again and giving a full refund. To their credit, I didn’t have to ask for a refund, they offered it me directly as their only ‘professional option’.
I’ve now ordered from another major retailer, with the same requests for the mods, and I should receive it tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted !
What a nightmare !!!! arggggghhhhhhh
73
Richard,
How appalling, they should hang their heads in shame!
However, their brass necks, will not allow them to.
I guess if you want to take a gamble, go to Las Vegas,
NEVADA.
Will
yeah not very good is it Bill. Shoddy to say the least.
I wouldent do, but If I done a mod like that I would be ashamed to say I did it!
Perhaps you were right they have not done this mod before
Perhaps they have never even done soldering before either looking at the mod
The best thing they did is refund your money!!
Peter
Hi there, the TM-D710GE is a radio that I’m considering for the future. If I did go ahead then I would ask for the cross band repeat mod to be done.. I’m now rather dubious about asking my local radio dealer as it isn’t ML&S
Kind regards
Andy – G7MJV
Salisbury
Hi Andy, yeah, worthwhile mod for sure, and the full coverage mod at the same time. It just involves move a 0ohm surface mount from one set of pads to another.
I wouldn’t let the company outlined by Will above in the replies work on any form of radio, or let them touch anything for that matter with a soldering iron. Bunch of jokers really.
Richie.
MW0LGE
the kenwood tm-d710ge does not have a crossover Band repeater advantage if how we can add this feature, because I’m from Kuwait and I bought kenwood tm-d710ge Upon my return to Kuwait was surprised that Cross Band repeater is not available in this release 🙁 How do I handle this thing to work cross band repeater ?
Hi Ali, move 0ohm jumper from PAD0 to PAD2 (see picture). This will enable ‘wide band’ and X-band repeat. http://ramdor.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Screen-Shot-2015-10-16-at-11.22.40.png