Kenwood TH-F6 Tri-Band Handheld Transceiver

Dave N9EWO's report....on the TH-F6A

Approx. Serial Number of Tested Sample : 305000xx
Country Of Origin : Radio : Singapore, Battery : Indonesia , Charger : Taiwan
(Note: I do not own a TH-F6 myself , Test sample was borrowed via a local "ham-friend")
Test done with stock antenna only....

A New Kid In Town......

As David Letterman used to say "My Oh My...phone the nabors..wake the kids"....Kenwood has a very high tech amateur handheld transceiver here. More features in comparison to what the Icom IC-T90 or Yaesu VX-5R offer. However it has a bit of mixed differences that might not be pluses for some ??

Indeed it has "Tri-Band Amateur Transmit" FM coverage. This TX coverage is a first for a 3 band talkie. 144 Mhz / 222 Mhz and of course the 440 Mhz ham bands. I think I would rather have 50 Mhz instead of the 222 Mhz. But I guess this will make many very happy. 3 RF output power levels, one at full 5 watts, another at .5 watts (1/2 watt) and a extra low setting at .05 watts (50 mw). These are a still wimpy selections when compared to the Yaesu VX-5 which are at 5W / 2.5W / 1W and .3 watts (much better I think). Total SW receive coverage (not being limited to 16 Mhz as is ont he Yaesu VX-5R).

Receive Coverage / With SSB

The MAIN intrest to me is the receive coverage on this new critter. It covers from .01 to 1300 Mhz (with some gaps for the usual stupid US laws). So we have short wave receive spectrum with no gaps. And to make this even more like a dream...it's ALL MODE RECEIVE..like SSB. Ohh, I must be dreaming (again) in full color with full digital surround sound !! However, as indicated below the SW receiver falls flat !!! So perhaps we have to use the term nightmare with the SW reception side of this HT. The set does indeed have separate LSB and USB selections and with the finest SSB tuning step of 33 hz Certinally better than just a 100 hz step, which would not be fine enough (i.e. : Sony ICF-2010 SSB steps) .

First Impressions

When I first picked up the TH-F6, the first thing that hit me is the fact that the entire case is made of plastic. A very thin die-cast metal heat sink is found in the middle of the sandwich for heat dissipation, but it seems a bit weak, especially if one is planning to use high power in a above average state. It's really going to get hot with any heavy use in high power. However I did not test this one out, but is common sense. You should not be using a high power setting (ie : 5 watts) in excess on a HT anyway. So for most of us this should be of little moment. For people who are planning to rag chew at the 5 watt level, you are going to have a problem here .Radio is solid and looks well constructed. The radio is made in Singapore, the lithium-ion battery comes from "Indonesia", and the wall charger from Taiwan. No part of this set is made in "hi-cost" Japan.

The included rubber antenna has a more of a "rubber" feel than plastic. The radio uses a SMA connector.We have a nice "metal" belt clip included that attaches to the set with screws (NOT TO THE BATTERY..thank goodness), and is painted a black color.

This set is indeed easy to use. I actually put it in operation right away without reading the manual and did quite well. Try and do that with the Yaesu VX-5R..(not in your life time)....You will not find a "triple function" button on the TH-F6A.

Super PTT and Battery Latch

Here is one that Kenwood should be given 5 stars for. The "PTT" button is of a HARD plastic. None of that soft rubber-soft plastic nonsense that has been with us for too many years with the manufactures. These break down, and usually makes the PTT difficult to a royal pain to use. The "PTT" button is a real treat on the TH-F6, very good feel and tactile response. It has a bit of giggle to it, but is not excessive. Good job here Kenwood !!

As some of you "old timers" (hi hi) might remember the old Kenwood TR-2600 from the mid 1980's also used a "hard plastic" PTT. These indeed hold up better than the "rubber-soft plastic" covers. The "rubber-soft plastic" ones should be abandoned totally (are you listening Icom, Vertex-Standard-Yaesu , Alinco !!).

All other keys and buttons are indeed of a "soft plastic". The main keyboard buttons are more flat and we can hope that the lettering on the keys will hold up better than the lousy Yaesu VX-5R's buttons (which can start to wear off only days after use).

Battery attaches and holds onto the set properly and uses a good latching system. Battery has no play or slop when attached to the radio and it has a real latch. None of that flexible "plastic" piece stuff that Icom seems to like to use these days (like on a cell phone), which can and does break very easy . Another one that Kenwood did right.

The Display

This is a tiny radio, and of course we are going to have a tiny display and tiny buttons. The buttons you can get used to, and were well laid out to me. The dial lighting and keypad lighting is simply the best I have ever used. The light is perfect and evenly lit, however you will not have the "numbers" in the dark as Kenwood still does not mark (next to them) these on the keys. But this actually make the set easier to use this way, so is really not a drawback.

You have one "bar line" s-meter for both receivers. But I guess for what you need to have displayed it works. The only real down side is the fact that you cannot have the Alpha tags and the frequency displayed at the same time. This is a real down side and one that the VX-5R does better (but of course the Kenwood has dual receive). Kenwood does make it easy to toggle with only one button (no function button needed either to be hit to toggle this).

Speaker Audio / Volume Control

I felt that the speaker audio is very good for such a small radio. You of course are NOT going to get ear shattering audio with full spectrum sound on a set of this size.

It has a very nice clear sharp sound to it, with no motor boating or buzzy sounds. It is certainly an improvement to the Yaesu VX-5R and it's problems with receive audio. However I find the volume control to be a bit of a pain to adjust. It's placement which is under the tuning encoder, is a chore to have to adjust. Here the VX-5R wins for volume control placement. But I do not find this to be a major drawback either. Transmit audio is decent with a good level and is crisp with no hollow sounds, good indeed.

Dual Receive..Not Always Dual, When It Should Be ??

The TH-F6A can indeed receive 2 signals at the same time. But hold the phone again, as most "Dual" receive Handie Talkie's will receive say VHF 2-Meters while transmitting on the 70 cm (440 mhz). Well the TH-F6A simply will NOT do this. The sub receiver mutes. So this makes the dual receive not as much as of a plus as it should be. But I'm sure it comes down to money (as usual).

The Receiver, How Does it do ??

As far as general VHF-UHF and 900 MHz area goes the Kenwood TH-F6A (when compared to the VX-5R), to my ears is a very even performer across the spectrum. And most important it's general sensitivity is a huge improvement over the Yaesu VX-5R. The Kenwood does extremely better in the 800-900 mhz area. A law enforcement agency about 30 miles from me in the 850 mhz area that I cannot even hear with the Yaesu VX-5R (at all), comes in about 80% quieting on the TH-F6A. That's impressive.

The only area in the VHF area that the Yaesu does better to my ears in the 50 MHz area (using the included antenna), that is 6 meters. Not sure if the included antenna had a play here, but the VX-5R wins big here. Low band performance (approx. in the 30~50 MHz area) on the Kenwood to me was not good. You are not going to break any records here. Perhaps a different antenna might help, but did not do any testing here beyond this.

You will find the "A" main receiver to be a bit more sensitive as compared to "B". But is not a major difference. But for max. performance be sure and use "A" for any important ham frequency reception.

SW Reception a BIG disappointment !!!!

An internal "Bar Antenna" which works between .1 to 10.1 MHz is included. Well the only place that I found this to work well was in the AM broadcast area say between .530 and 1.8 MHz. Anywhere else forget it !!! The bar antenna is totally deaf for any SW stations (which can really be expected with a "bar" antenna of this type). So you toggle in the set up mode to toggle the .1 to 10.1 mhz range to the SMA connector, so the entire SW coverage is over to the antenna connector. AND you add a chunk of thin wire say '30 FEET" length, and this you say this should will allow for GOOD shortwave reception ?? You are going to be DEAD WRONG !!!

Yes, signals will be there and perhaps even more tolerable (stronger) during night time listening conditions with this added long wire. But it is still not good news. If I connect it to a nice BIG outdoor ham antenna to it, it does not do half bad (actually OK). But really.......this is a "Hand Held" receiver, and this set must be able to work with portable antenna's not 5 element beams. Let's face it, the sensitivity on the SW part of the spectrum was just downright unacceptable on the tested sample.

One more note on this, The TH-F6A is a bit more sensitive above 10.1 MHz than below (yes proper toggle of the bar antenna has been done !!). Actually quite a bit, go and figure that out !! But still is not good. Just about any $ 20. cheap analog SW set will blow away the TH-F6A on receiving SW signals.

Selectivity On SW Not Half Bad For What It Is

The part I was worried abut , Selectivity on SW receive was a bit better than what I was thinking. Yes, wide..I would guess about perhaps 9 khz or so (again a guess mind you ??) for both AM and SSB/CW modes. But here it was useable. But with the extremely poor sensitivity, do not buy this set to count on for ANY shortwave reception, you will be most disgruntled. Kenwood needs to improve this one. Yes the Yaesu VX-5R is limited to below 16 MHz and no SSB, but it has the edge with sensitivity (if that means anything as it too is pretty deaf, and a much too wide bandwidth filter).

The SSB seemed to be stable enough and worked OK, however it was off a good 150 hz high on our test sample.

Software And Memories

I was able to test the Beta version (v 0.00) of the control software using "Window's 95". It will require the Kenwood cable model PG-4P. It worked well with no problems, either working within the program or uploading to the radio. Worked perfect. I wish Yaesu could have said this with the first versions of the VX-5R software, which was and still continues to have problems.

The channel memories will not store transmit power level. Another one that the Yaesu VX-5R does indeed do. Not a big one here as the TH-F6A only has 3 power levels, which buy the way is another drawback on the Kenwood. A middle power level is needed badly. Yaesu does TX power levels better I think....

A Few Other Points

Big Capacity Li-Ion Battery and other first time feature's for Kenwood. First set for Kenwood that has a Lithium Ion pack, and a nice B-I-G one at that. Try a 7.4 v at 1550 mah. Super-Dooper..eh !! We see ALL of it's jack connections on the right side of the set (yuck, this I still hate on HT's !!!). CTSSS encode and decode, and another first for a Kenwood ...DCS (Digital Coded Squelch) is on the TH-F6A.

I see no drop in charger from Kenwood for the TH-F6 (aftermarket drop in chargers however do, but not tested) . Using the included wall wart charger indicates a 6 hour time period to charge a dead pack. It also indicated in the owners manual is that leaving the pack on the charger after "standby" appears (when done) will shorten the life of the pack...humm ???

I'm sorry that I was unable to do any intermod test on this radio. I live in smaller town , and noticed no problems in this area. Of course in other larger metro area this well may be different ??

A very good HT here and overall improvement over the VX-5R. This is the most interesting HT to enter the market in many years with a number of first's in a "mini" (or even a full) size. Lets hope that others (or even Kenwood) improve SW receive side of the fence on models down the road......this one really stinks with the TH-F6A. The Yaesu VX-5R pars a shade better (but not by much) with SW reception sensitivity.

Dave N9EWO
© 2008 N9EWO

This "jumbo" picture of the TH-F6A shows the display in action, depth of the set and other details.
(Picture via Kenwood, edited by DaveZ)

	A - Band TX / RX	A - Band Guaranteed Range	B - Band (RX only with gaps)
144 Mhz	144-148 / 137-174 Mhz	144 -148 Mhz	.01 -1300 Mhz
220 Mhz	222-225 / 222-260 Mhz	222 -225 Mhz	.01 -1300 Mhz
440 Mhz	430-450 / 410-470 Mhz	435 - 450 Mhz	.01 -1300 Mhz

Modulation: A-Band: FM , B-Band : FM, FM-W, FM-N, AM, SSB, CW

Size/Weight :

With Lithium Battery: W: 2 5/16 x H 3 7/16 x D 1 3/16 inches Weight 8.8 oz's

With 4 "AA" Batteries & Case: W: 2 5/16 x H 3 7/16 x 1 5/16 inches Weight 9.87 oz's

Battery System: Lithium Ion 7.4 Volt, 1550 Mah Capacity

Memory Channels: 400 (plus call and info channels)

RF Power Output: Hi : 5 watts Low: .5 Watts (1/2 watt) Extra Low (EL): .05 Watts (50 mw's)

Optional Accessories :

BT- 13 - 4 AA Drycell Battery Case ( power output : 1.7~2.5 watts max.)

PB- 42L - Extra Li-ion Battery Pack