Kenwood TS-130.....

[WX2MIG]

Well the TS-820S turned out to be a real dissapointment as far as becoming my first HF rig, but it's doing well on eBay even as a "Tech Special"......

Got a bit in on a TS-130, looks clean, seller claims it's in full working condition, only thing is, it doesn't come with the original mic, but it does come with a Cobra mic wired for it....

There's still approx 5 hours left to go, and I'm high bidder with some room to spare, so I got my fingers crossed that I get it for what I've got riding on it....or less would be even better......

Hopefully being a much newer radio, and also being a solid state rig that hasn't been subjected to smoke for the last 30 years, I'll have better luck and finally get on the HF bands.

The TS-130 certainly has it's limitations, it's SSB & CW only, no AM or FM. It's not general coverage receive, no 60m or 160m band, but they do get the WARC bands. They appear to be very basic and easy to operate, and that's about as much as I know about them, so if anybody can add any advice I'm all ears......

 

[WX2MIG]

Won the auction last night at 9:15 pm, paid right away via PayPal, and already got a UPS shipping comfirmation e-mailed to me this morning.....

Now I just got my fingers crossed that this thing is everything the seller claims.....especially the part about it being in full working condition.....:redface:

if anybody has an opinion on these radios.......I'm still all ears.....

 

[N9RZD]

Won the auction last night at 9:15 pm, paid right away via PayPal, and already got a UPS shipping comfirmation e-mailed to me this morning.....

Now I just got my fingers crossed that this thing is everything the seller claims.....especially the part about it being in full working condition.....:redface:

if anybody has an opinion on these radios.......I'm still all ears.....

Ive had one for close to a year now,
very basic , but bulletproof, good choice for a starter
i had a problem with mine when i first got it ,
very low rx after a keydown, learned it was a dirty tx relay
hooked it to a dummy load , cranked down the rf gain
and triggered the relay 400-500 times , to burnish the contacts

been working fine since ,

although its not a dream rig , i think you'll find it adequate
and you wont have any problems getting rid of it when yur ready
to move up
what did you end up paying for it ???
i got mine for 175 , but it had that weak rx problem
mine also needs about a half hour warmup to get stable on the vfo

i use a deep cycle marine battery , with a schauer battery maintainer
for juice

let me know if i can answer anymore questions for you

BTW , i have the external vfo for that rig if yur interested

and finally , you have never acknowledged my referring you to take
a look at the w5gi mystery wire antenna ???????

73

rich

 

[WX2MIG]

N9RZD.....

Thanks for the reply....

I'll be running my rig from a Samlex SEC-1223 power supply...

I was looking at 2 different TS-130's on eBay, both were going for about the same price when I started bidding, this radio ended at $212.00 + $20.00 flat rate shipping. This one looked and sounded (by description) to be a cleaner radio, the other had no microphone at all, and did spend time in a smoker's home...(1st owner)....the last several years in a used book store. This guy claimed to only use it for CW, and that's why he lost the mic to it.
The radio I'm getting doesn't have the original mic either, but at least it's coming with a Cobra mic wired for it, and will most likely get my D-104 on it in time....

As we both know, the radio has it's limitations, but looking at my overall situation here it'll be plenty of radio. I don't have the room for a 160m antenna, I'll be lucky if I can hang enough wire to get 80m. Not having the 5 channels on 60m is no big loss either, or is general coverage receive since I'm not all that interested in listening to frequencies I can't talk on.....(although I would like to be able to hear what's happening on the SSB Marine frequencies at times).....

you have never acknowledged my referring you to take
a look at the w5gi mystery wire antenna ???????

You're right, I didn't and I appologise for that. I've looked at so many antenna sites lately I don't even remember looking at that one now.
Do you still have the link for that site....???

I'm still hoping to build my own with the wire I have saved, but I'm also still scratching my head trying to figure out how & where I'm going to hang the damn thing. Until I can afford to get an antenna tuner I'll have to pick a band, cut a dipole to work it, and once I do get a tuner then I'll be able to stretch it out to the farthest limits of my property and tune it foe all the bands......

The one antenna that keeps grabbing my attention right now is the OCF "Windom Type" from BuxComm with a 4:1 balun, they claim several bands without a tuner......
802134LP Low-Power version of the world famous 80213680 thru 2 meters without an antenna tuner. Assembled & Tested [802134LP] - $89.95 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce

I just don't know if or how I'll be able to get 134' of wire and a balun up and supported with the feed relatively close to my garage / shack, and not have it touching any tree branches......

 

[N9RZD]

W5GI Website - Mystery Antenna

if you've got room for an 80 mtr dipole , then you've got room for this

one more time , its a phased collinear
not just your everyday wire dipole

and it promises (and delivers ) pretty good performance on the
bands it says , with out a tuner

but a tuner helps , and would be the icing on the cake !

every antenna is a compromise , or a choice ,

ive had really good luck with this combination
and i think , if you can squeeze it in , you'll not be disappointed

i agree , your d-104 will do it much more justice than a stock
cobra mike , but that wont slow you down now !
and i 'll just bet your itching to make that first 20 meter contact
and start collecting your cards !

that ps will serve you fine , till the power goes out :blush:
i figure i can run my rig on intermediate duty for about
a week ,in that instance
before i'd need to take my batts out to the car
for a good 45 minute charge each with a set of jumper cables :tongue:


you can buy these antennas already assembled
for about 65 bucks (if memory serves)

or if your resourceful, you can build one for about half
or even less if you have any or all of the material

hint! if your going to build one , let me know !!!!
i have some good tips for you , i wont go into here
unless you tell me your going to !

let us know when you are ready to fire er up
and we'll work something as far as a sched goes

new jersey to indiana should be no problem on 80 mtrs
just about any night !!!!!

73

 

[WX2MIG]

I bookmarked it this time......

After taking several measurements around my property, I've decided to go with a 40 / 20 meter dipole arrangement....(see post in antenna section).....for starters. Once I get an antenna tuner I'll stretch as much wire as I can get away with and hopefully get enough up to make the 80m bands, but for the time being it looks like the best I'll do is 40 and 20, and with a switch of the coax....10m too......

I skimmed over that W5GI thingie, and that has potential, I'll need to study it further and do some more scrounging for materials.....

 

[N9RZD]

I bookmarked it this time......


I skimmed over that W5GI thingie, and that has potential, I'll need to study it further and do some more scrounging for materials.....

Thingie ???? lol

its just about 101 feet from end to end once its built

if i remember correctly , you'd have this if you went corner to corner ??

but the feed point would be right over the swimming pool ?

anyway , your the one who will decide ,

just wanted to make sure you knew about this option

73

 

[WX2MIG]

It's here......

The big brown truck stopped at my house today, and dropped off my Kenwood TS-130......

So far everything seems to work, haven't transmitted yet since I have no way of checking my SWR's on HF, but will try it on 40m real soon.....

 

[WX2MIG]

I spent some time today trying to figure out the wiring between my D-104, and this Kenwood TS-130, as I've stated before, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, and this task well proved that point......:blush:

It took 4 tries to get the combination of 4 wires soldered on that plug right, but once I got it, it worked great.
Had to turn off the speech processor, and turn the mic gain all the way down on the 104, them key down and slowly bring up the gain until the ALC meter topped out without going into the red. Then I made 2 contacts in up state New York that gave me 5 X 9 reports with outstanding audio, then I made contact with a station in West Virginia with the same signal and audio report, finally had a nice long rag chew with a station in Tennessee, again with a great signal report....so I guess I got it set up right......

I've realized my HAM radio dream.....a basic and simple to operate HF rig with a classic D-104 microphone.......

 

[Highlander_821]

Excellent! Sounds like you have it playing nice!

 

[mechanic]

Your setup looks fine there! I have an old beat-up TS120 that was given to me. Evey thing higher than 15 meter was dead, it lacks 30,17 es 12 meters bands. A good tech friend of mine went through it and got it back to tip top shape! Still it looks bad with it's wrinkle back paint job!

73 Rod