KENWOOD
My first Kenwood was the TS-480SAT. I bought it after having blown up my Drake TR7. The TS480’s design is a little odd, at least if it is used as a base station: a black box plus a separate control head. It does not look very impressive in the shack, but I bought it because I had become almost addicted to PSK31. I also took the positive reviews on eham.net into account. Options I included were the TCXO and two extra filters, one for SSB and the other for CW.
One of the features of the TS-480 is that it can be controlled from a PC, locally or even remotely via LAN or the internet. It comes with free software to accomplish that. But Ham Radio Deluxe can do that, too, and I was glad to see that HRD author Peter Halpin had used the TS-480 for modeling his program. HRD indeed supports the TS-480 completely, all functions of the TS-480 can be accessed by HRD. Since I had started using MixW for PSK31 with my previous rig, the Drake TR7, I continued using MixW with my TS480 as I had become used to it. HRD plus PSK31 is fine, but I find MixW somewhat easier to use. A PSK31 QSO is a matter of a few key clicks.
The remote head is not needed if one controls the TS480 from the computer, as I often do. I keep it on my desk anyway. I have installed the main unit and the PSU in a closet just behind the wall of my shack with the cables running trough the wall. This makes the shack more quiet, since the fans of the PSU and the TS-480 come on during a lengthy PSK-31 QSO and make a somewhat irritating noise.
The TS-480 is a fine rig, but I still wanted an older rig with real buttons to turn, the glow of real light bulbs and the feel of something sturdy, made of metal. So I bought a another Kenwood, the TS-520. It was in rather bad shape, but this was a challenge to me rather than a problem. I cleaned it entirely, put some oil and grease where needed, replaced the entire VFO of which the gear box was worn out, put new final tubes in it and bought a matching Kenwood mike to go with it, plus the AT200 antenna tuner and the matching speaker.
The old TS520 worked like a charm, and sometimes I believed that in some aspects it was even better than the TS-480. With the TS-480 I sometimes was not heard in the US, but a few moments later with the TS-520 I was. The TS-520 gave me many pleasant hours. I now really got the hang of Kenwood and I bought another boat anchor, the TS-820.
Kenwood TS-520
Kenwood AT-200 antenna tuner
Kenwood SP-520 speaker
Kenwood TS-820
Kenwood SP-820 speaker
Kenwood TS-820 with mike MC-60
Speaking of boat anchors ..... I thought the TS-520 was heavy, but the TS-820 outperformed it also in this aspect. The TS-820 with its digital frequency readout made a big difference to the somewhat uncertain analog tuning of the TS-520. I was no longer reported “slightly off frequency” which had alway frustrated me (and others). With three Kenwoods, the small room I had occupied for the hobby now started to look as a real shack.
The “ All Kenwood” shack in 2008, with at the left the TS-520 (bottom) and the TS-820 (top). At the right is the Kenwood TS-480SAT of which only the control head is visible. The TS-480 is used for PSK and the other rigs for voice QSO’s.
One of the problems that we hams encounter is that of boredom; we easily get bored with a rig. After having explored it in depth we want to play with another one, a better one or a nicer one, but at least a different one. Me too, so I bought a Kenwood TS-130. Another problem we hams face is that of finance. The hobby alway seems to run out of control, financially speaking, and it is generally the XYL telling us that. So in order to restore peace again in our household I sold the TS-820.
The TS-130V is a QRP rig, producing 10 Watts. I bought it with its matching power supply. The rig had been modified buy one of its previous owner as to work on CB. I returned it to its original state and further gave it a thorough check up and a realignment. It then worked like a jiffy. I was very pleased with this cute little rig, but I found it missed the punch , certainly for DX. So... I sold it.
Kenwood TS-130V
The “ All Kenwood” shack in 2009, with at the left the TS-520 , in the middle the TS-480 and at the right the TS-130. Still, the TS-480 is used for PSK and the other rigs for voice QSO’s.
And then came the TS-440. Not too old and not too modern either, it seemed an ideal mix of both. This rig was in good shape when I received it. It had the computer interface installed, so it could be controlled from the PC via Ham Radio Deluxe. I liked the full size knobs and buttons and the fact that I did not have to tune the PA. I decided to get rid of my tube rigs and sold the TS-520.
After a few months I decided that knob turning was not my favorite pastime and I thought that I should go build my own rigs, QRP-rigs to be precise, for budgetary and complexity reasons. So I sold the TS-440S and bought a BitX20 from Doug Hendricks and two MKARS80’s from Steve Drury, plus some measuring and test equipment and tools. With a summer holiday and a long cold winter ahead of me I had plenty of time to put the kits together and find out if I could possibly improve them. This became another chapter in my ham life.
I even became so enthousiastic about QRP-rigs (for me they brought back the adventure to radio amateurism) that I finally sold my remaining Kenwood TS-480SAT in order to generate funds for my QRP-activities. Please read the MKARS pages!
The Kenwood TS-440S was still in good shape
No key bounce, no display problems
I replaced the S-meter signal lamp for a LED