Values are estimates from recent comparable sales — condition, accessories, and included extras vary. Always compare before buying.
Selling your Kenwood TH-D74A? Run its Rig Check → Answer the questions a sharp buyer will ask and get a condition report for your listing — a fully answered report lets a truly nice radio demand a good price.
Median sold price per month, trailing 1 months. Roughly flat over the period.
Based on classifieds listings marked SOLD — asking prices sellers marked as sold, not confirmed sale prices. Refreshed daily from our deal-scan comp checks.
| Date sold | Item | Price | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual sold records for this model are still being compiled — the fair-value estimate above is based on 4 recent sales. | |||
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The TH-D74A was Kenwood's flagship handheld -- a tri-band HT (2m, 1.25m/220, and 70cm at 5 watts) that packed in more features than anything else in its size: D-STAR digital voice, full APRS with a built-in GPS and TNC, Bluetooth, a color screen you can actually read in daylight, and a wideband multimode receiver that covers everything from 0.1 to 524 MHz including SSB and CW on HF. For a digital-APRS enthusiast who wants one radio that does it all -- voice, packet, D-STAR, and SWL on the side -- there has never been a more complete handheld. Owners consistently call it the "Swiss Army knife HT," and the praise is earned: excellent audio, a color display that stays readable in direct sunlight, a menu system owners find far more intuitive than its Icom competitors, and four power steps (5W / 2W / 0.5W / 50 mW) so you can sip battery when you're near a repeater or hotspot. The built-in voice guidance also made it a favorite among blind and sight-impaired hams -- one of the best accessibility stories in any HT. Two caveats for bargain hunters. First, Kenwood killed the D74 early -- production stopped in December 2020 when the AKM chip factory fire wiped out a key component, and the TH-D75A successor didn't arrive until 2023 -- so the used market is the only game in town and genuine parts are a question mark. Second, battery life is the radio's real weakness: with GPS and APRS beaconing on, owners report it eats batteries for lunch, so factor in a spare KNB-75L and budget accordingly. What to watch out for when buying used: the battery latch is fragile -- one eHam reviewer had the battery fall off when the clip snapped on its own. Check that the pack seats firmly and test it holding the radio by the battery. There are scattered reports of D74s that power on only to the Kenwood logo and reboot, or simply die -- if buying used, power it on from a cold start, transmit on each band, and exercise the GPS/APRS before money changes hands. The radio did NOT ship with a drop-in charger -- only a wall charger -- so don't let a missing dock surprise you. If you're buying it for FM satellites, know it can't do full-duplex transmit-and-receive at once. Kenwood's free MCP-D74 memory software runs on Windows; Mac/Linux owners program via the microSD card instead.
Power off the transceiver, then press and hold [F] + Power ON until the reset screen appears. Select the reset type you want -- VFO Reset, Partial Reset, or Full Reset -- press [A/B] to set it, and press [A/B] again to confirm.
Treat a boot-looping D74 as a repair project, not a quick fix, and price it accordingly. The likely culprit is a hardware fault, not the battery: owners describe units that won't power on or charge, believed to be a failed diode or chip. Kenwood will usually repair radios for several years after discontinuation as long as parts are available -- but with the D74 discontinued since December 2020, call first and confirm they still service it and have parts.
Yes -- use a personal digital hotspot. Multiple owners run their D74A on D-STAR through a home hotspot and were working the world their first evening. One practical point: be sure you have D-Star repeaters in your area or expect to buy a hotspot (another $100 or so). The radio's extra-low 50 mW power setting is made for exactly this -- it pairs perfectly with a hotspot a few feet away and dramatically extends battery life.
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