Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc

Subject: Undocumented Kenwood Features/Games  TM-741/TM-732

Date: 27 Apr 1992 16:19:05 GMT

Lines:114



FUN AND GAMES WITH KENWOODS LATEST DUAL BANDERS



UNDOCUMENTED FEATURES ON THE TM-741A and TM-732A



by Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ





Over the weekend, I took some time to experiment with my Kenwood mobile

rigs and was quite surprised at what I found.



TM-741A



The 741 has three undocumented games built into it which are somewhat

amusing.  There is a "slot machine", a "space invaders" and a "musical

keyboard".



To activate, press and hold the F and MUTE keys while turning on the

power.  The display will come up showing  -1-   -2-   -3-

To activate game 1, press the Band 1 (leftmost) control,  for game 2,

press the Band 2 (middle) control, and for game 3, the Band 3 (rightmost)

control.



Game 1 - "Slot Machine"



To start the wheels rolling, hit the MUTE key.  The display shows

"0   0   0"    Then, press the Band 1, Band 2, and Band 3 keys in

order to stop each of the wheels in turn.  The radio emits a "phaser"

sound when the wheels stop.  I haven't hit the jackpot yet, so I don't

know how it acts when the three numbers match...  Use the VFO key to

cancel the game and return the radio to normal operaton.





Game 2 - "Space Invaders"



Activate game 2 as shown above.  The leftmost display will clear to

all zeros.  The center display is the "target".  The rightmost display

is some sort of shot counter.  Manipulate the lower button row to

play the game.  The rig plays a tune when the game is over.  Scores

advance (with the phaser sound) as the game progresses.  I don't know

much more about it and don't exactly know the object of the game but

I'm sure that someone will figure it out.  Again, the VFO key cancels

the game mode.



Game 3 - "Musical Keyboard"



Activate game 3 as shown above.  The display says "Enjoy Sound Play".

Each of the keyboard controls now plays a distinct tone.  The VFO key

cancels the mode.  There are apparently 15 different tones available.



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It's also worth mentioning that the radio receivers continue to operate

while game playing takes place.  Presumably, one could idle away the

time playing games while sitting by the radio and listening for

important calls...





OTHER TM-741 UNDOCUMENTED FEATURES



DISPLAY TEST



Hold down F and MHZ while turning on power.  This activates the display

test mode where all segments and indicators are lit.  Note the "ACC"

indicator at the lower right.  ACC is not defined in the manual, however

I saw it come on once one night after I started the car with the radio

turned on.  The display lit up ACC and the UHF frequency display showed

some sort of HEX code (a ROM checksum maybe?).  





STRANGE TEST



(WARNING:YOU MAY LOSE SOME SAVED MEMORY DATA)



Hold down the F and MR keys while turning on power.  The radio plays

a wild sequence of tones and the displays go all crazy for several

seconds.  When it's done, everything seems normal except that the

memory contents are reshuffled and some memories are duplicated.

I can only speculate that this might be some sort of factory memory

test...



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UNDOCUMENTED TM-732A FEATURES



CLONE MODE



Hold down the F and MHZ keys while turning on power.  The current

control band will display CLonE.  Pressing CALL initiates the data

transfer, graphically illustrated by a moving S-METER display.  No

RF is transmitted during data transfer, instead it is assumed that

the data is dumped out of the microphone port.  Nothing more is

known about this at this time.





AM DETECTOR CONTROL



The AM Detctor, which automatically comes on below 136 MHz, can be

forced ON at any VHF frequency by pressing the F and MUTE keys

while applying power.  Radio continues to transmit FM but receives

AM.  Changing frequencies or memory channels will cancel the forced

AM mode.  This capability could be useful for listening to the

USAF Thunderbirds which sometimes operate in the 143 MHZ band using AM.





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Well, that's it for now.  Please let us know if you can discover any

of the other undocumented features available on the new rigs.



-fred