VHF/UHF Purgatory

I am in VHF/UHF purgatory at the moment.

My Kenwood TM-D710a seems to have developed a heat-related problem in the power amplifier section.  If I engage in a conversation longer than about 2 minutes the power starts to fall off to the point where I cannot activate the repeater.

The backup is my handheld.  Unfortunately I live in a neighborhood surrounded by 2-story houses, making it tough to hit the repeater.  “Well I’ll just hook u the handheld to my outdoor Diamond X50a dual-band vertical” was my thought.  The handheld uses an SMA connector. I bought an SMA-to-SO239 adapter but I think it’s defective because both transmit and receive are WORSE on the Diamond X50a than the HT’s rubber ducky.

I’ll call Kenwood on Monday and get the process started of sending the 710 in for repair.