The Radio Information Board

Hello all,

I'm considering purchasing a TK 278 G off eBay from overseas(Hong Kong) My question is, does this radio's alpha/numeric screen read in english or in another language?? Thanks for the help!!

Regards,
Joe

All the pictures and info about the TK-278 indicate that the LCD just reads out "CH1, CH2, CH3" etc. It doesn't look like it has an alphanumeric display.

The early versions of the TK-270 and TK-370 (non-G) of the US model had exactly the same readout. (No alpha, only CH1, CH2, etc.)

I've found pictures of it on Russian and Japanese sites, and all the key nomenclature appears to be in English, but none of them show an alpha display.


Caveat Emptor

Here are the other issues with buying a gray-market radio:

If it breaks, you'll have no domestic warranty and you would have to send it back to Hong Kong and rely on the dealer over there to get service for it. Even if they had good service and didn't manage to lose the radio, you're talking about months and months of turnaround time. Also, unless the seller is going to program it for you, you would have to find a domestic dealer that had the correct software.

I also doubt that the radio is FCC type accepted.

If it were me, I'd seek out a domestic version of either the TK-270G or TK-272G.

If it is a 128 channel 278g,it does have an alpha display,8 character.
If it is the 16 channel 278g,it is ch1,ch2,etc.no alpha
mod

Thanks much!! I took both pieces of advice and did not buy that radio. I'll keep looking on eBay for one in the USA.

Regards,
Joe

I think you'll save yourself a lot of headaches. Fortunately, for all the Kenwoods that I've seen go out the door, few ever come back for repair. But, if your luck is anything like mine, you'll get the one lemon. Plus, I don't spend any more on Ebay that I could afford to lose, and if somebody in Hong Kong decides to take your money, you have little recourse.

The TK-270G was recently discontinued, with the resulting price coming in at $459.00 (add another $100 for antenna, battery, and charger), and the TK-272G lists for $358 (battery, antenna, rapid rate charger INCLUDED). The 272 is only 32 channels, but it has an alpha display. (And if I remember right, if you programmed the 272 as a 278, it would give you 128 channels Apparently the RAM is in there, but they restricted it to 32 channels in the FPU because of price considerations (didn't want to undercut their higher tier models, no doubt!)