Choosing a Successor to the Kenwood TK3301
December 2014
The TK3301 has now been replaced with two alternative radios. This article is to help you choose which one best suits your needs.
Background.
Kenwood have made arguably the best licence-free radios for years. Starting with the TK3101, TK3201 then TK3301. All perform superbly, are reliable and repairable and should be serviceable for many years to come.
All these radio were of similar size and common to most Kenwood radios share the same earpiece socket. The TK3301 and TK3201 were near identical, the later models of the TK3201 even shared the same Lithium-Ion charger and battery as the later TK3301.
December 2014.
Late 2014 Kenwood replaced the TK3301 with two new radios both of which are fully compatible with any of the previous models mentioned above.
So a choice has to be made....which one is best for you needs?
1. TK3501.
Similar price to the TK3301 but much smaller.
Pro's
Smaller
- Lighter
- Smaller
- Uses the same charger as the TK3301
Cons.
- No Voice Annunciation on channel change.
- Smaller battery, shorter battery life. Needs daily charging. Not suitable for shift working.
- No accessory socket lock. Not suitable for heavy earpiece/headset use.
- No VOX
2. TK3401D
This is near identical in size and features to the TK3301 with 16 analogue channels and 16 digital channels. But because it also has 16 digital channels it is significantly more expensive.
In analogue mode it is identical to the TK3301. In digital mode you will need two or more of the TK3401Ds to make any use of the digital features. NOTE: You cannot talk from a digital channel to an analogue channel and vice-versa. The radio has to be either in digital or analogue mode.
In digital mode it has two key advantages:
Digital gives clearer communications in noisy environments or where analogue signal levels are low and noisy. Digital mode with this radio also allows a couple of very basic selective calling features.
Pro's
Near identical to the TK3301 in every regard.
- Shares the same charger as the TK3301
- Voice annunciation
- Digital mode if you can make use of it.
Con's
A little more expensive than the TK3301.
Other Alternatives:
NOTE. If you use earpieces or headsets none all of the radios below use different earpiece connectors so you would need new earpieces for any of these:
If you would like to do more with your radios beyond one-to-all calls consider a Digital Selective Calling radio. A low cost small and lightweight solution is the PD365
If you would prefer a very small and simple, low cost analogue radio the Hytera TC320 might be considered.
If you prefer a small waterproof radio the the IC-F29SR is a good choice.
Conclusion
Of surprise to us is that we have found that because the TK3301 is such a brilliant and reliable radio many of our customers are upgrading to this radio and are happy to pay the extra cost for the TK3401D.
If the features offered by digital radios seem appealing then please get in touch as there are alternative digital radios available with more features that are better suited to certain applications.
Where a smaller radio is preferred and lack of voice annunciation is not an issue the TK3501 is the preferred choice. However there are even smaller radios available as mentioned above, get in touch for advice if you prefer the smallest radio possible.
