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Kenwood 520.....????

WX2MIG

WX2MIG

Still Alive & Well
Dec 10, 2008
730
5
28
39° 19' 23" N X 74° 36' 30" W
I know nothing about Kenwood amateur radio equipment, and this evening I was offered an old Kenwood 520 for free by an old ham who says it was his first rig, it's been sitting under the bench since he got a new rig, he doesn't know if he still has the mic, but I'm welcome to it, all I have to do is come get it......(y)

The only other information he gave me was that there's no WARC bands, or 60m, other than that it's 160m to 10m, and it worked when he last used it...

Can anyone tell me anything about these radios, are they easy or difficult to use.....?

Solid state or tube......?

Digital frequency read-out, or dial......?

Thanks for anything you can give me here......
 

It's junk.

Box it up and send it to me, I'll pay half of shipping:D.

Seriously, I don't get it.

What part of FREE is troubling you?:confused:
 
Hey N2ITH:

Does it have all of the gear with it? Radio mainframe, external VFO, filters, mic, external speaker, and digi freq counter? If it has all of that, you are in like flint - man! It sure is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick! It's got three tubes in it, so the modulation should sound pretty awesome if I'm not mistaken. I had to pay out nearly a $1000 for my rig so far, and will likely spend another $500 before I am ready. And you are getting it for free? Jump on it man! Score!



Kenwood TS-520
 
Last edited:
Go to Rigpix and download the operator's manual.

Back in the late 1970s/early 80s, when this rig was built, there were no such things as "WARC" bands. That might explain why they're missing from the 520.

Uses three tubes: 12BY7 driver and a pair of 6146s (or the equivalent JA tube), IIRC. I had one of the earliest 520s and really liked it. Replaced it with the 820 a few years later. Sold the 520 for half of what the new 820 cost.
 
Great old radios. Familiarize yourself with the tune up procedure. Download at least that part of the manual and keep it on hand. I loved mine, wish I still had it. I highly doubt it's a complete station like Rob is talking about. Also, find out if the tubes are at full output or if you will have to replace them.
 
Seriously, I don't get it.

What part of FREE is troubling you?
Click to expand...

I have absolutely no problem with "free" 74IN, I just don't know anything about Kenwood's...new or old.....and was hoping to find out as much as I can so when I do get this rig I'll at least have one or two clues about it....

I doubt this is a complete set up with all the accessory items, he told me he's not sure if he's still got the microphone for it, with that I'm assuming it's just the basic transceiver and nothing more.....
 
This was a surprise....

Not only did this gentleman insist on me taking this radio for free, but he misquoted as to the model.....

It's not a TS-520S.....it's a TS-820S.....:w00t:

It needs a lot of TLC, and I'm on my way to a friend's electronics shop where we will be putting it on the bench to see exactly what it needs to work again.
It does power up, but the digital frequency display is not working at this time, the man that gave it to me did say it was going to need all the pots and contacts cleaned up, so we'll see what happens.....

I'll report back when I know more......
 
a quick crappy cell phone photo.....

KwoodTS820S.jpg
 
TS-820 Fix the problem with the display


Here is somthing you can do if your digital display on the kenwood ts-820 is giving you a problem..............


  1. Remove the counter assembly unit from the 820.
  2. Remove both circuit boards from the counter assembly ( upper and lower boards ).
  3. Scrape away the varnish from the corners of the boards where the interconnecting screwes and spacers hold the boards into the case.
  4. Reassemble the counter....
That should take care of the problem..
Click to expand...

Modifications for the Kenwood TS-820
 
Thanks 74IN, but that seems to be only one of it's problems.

Took it too a friends shop and put it on the bench, sprayed and cleaned all the pots & switches, plugged it in, and as noted the digital display is not functioning. We also couldn't get much of anything else to work either. We tooled around with it for a little while but didn't want to commit further damage until we had a better idea of this radio's proper function. Down loaded and printed the operator manual from RigPix.com, left the radio on my buddy's work bench, and brought the manual home and started to read it while eating my dinner. The first thing I realized is there is supposed to be a jumper in the external VFO socket on the back of the rig, this jumper is held in with a protective cap, they weren't there, so this could be one of our major issues.

We did clean off the connection bar that feeds the digital frequency display, but that didn't do anything, I'll have to print out that information and bring it with me tomorrow if we can put some more time into it, we'll also have to make a jumper for that Ext. VFO socket.
I also believe the D-104 may have to be rewired in order to work right with this Kenwood.
We looked at the two power output tubes, and they seem to be working right, although we did not test them.

I've got my fingers crossed and believe this old radio still has some life left in her, it's just going to take some work to get her back into operation.....

I'll keep you all posted.....
 
Unless your friend is experienced with this type of radio, you might want to seriously consider taking or sending it to a professional RF tech with experience working on this sort of rig. This isn't a Galaxy or Connex you are talking about here.

Since you got the rig for free it seems like you can afford to have it gone through properly and restored to like-new operation condition.

I'll bet this guy could get you fixed right up---

Electronic Service Pros.
 
Highlander_821 said:
Unless your friend is experienced with this type of radio, you might want to seriously consider taking or sending it to a professional RF tech with experience working on this sort of rig. This isn't a Galaxy or Connex you are talking about here.

Since you got the rig for free it seems like you can afford to have it gone through properly and restored to like-new operation condition.

I'll bet this guy could get you fixed right up---

Electronic Service Pros.
Click to expand...

My friend has been in the electronics and communications business for many years, his company supplies and repairs the radio systems for most of the area police, fire, ems, and oem dept's in 3 counties, they're certified Motorola tech's, that also sell and repair Midland, Uniden, and Icom products.
He's also kept our clubs 25 year old Kenwood 2m repeater up and running for a long time now, plus he operates and maintains his own 70cm repeater.
This guy has brought old Drake TR-4's and TR-7's back from the dead, I trust him with this Kenwood TS-820S.....;)

However, just in case he can't figure out this radio's problems, I bookmarked that URL......ya never know......:unsure:
 

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