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Kenwood radios ?...

Oatmeal

Active Member
Mar 22, 2009
484
78
38
West Virginia..
Why do these radios sound so good when you hear them used on 11m ssb ?..

I talk alot of dx on SSB usually on 38lsb...and some of the guys are running these radios, and these radios seems to have the best sound....
I used to own a Yaesu FT 840, which I used on 11m ssb too....but it just didnt seem to have that punch...
 

I loved my old 440 and 680 on 10 &11 ssb. they sounded excellent on am desipte all those that will tell you otherwise.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Xparent Blue Tapatalk 2
 
Kenwood and TenTec

always had the best sounding radios.And they are one of the best bangs for the buck.There is a ts50 on qrz.com now for sale cheap.Dont need it my self,have many radios,even a ts520 and ts830...73 de n0zna
 
I have a Kenwood TS450 which I only use on Ham bands, never on CB. I have not been on CB since got licensed for Ham in 1976. I agree that Kenwood has good sounding audio, both tx and rx. Kenwood is known for their great sound quality on home entertainment equipment and two-way radio. Several years ago I did own a Yaesu FT840. Stock hand mic was useless, but with a D104, what a difference...made it sound like a Mark V...I was told. Nice rig for the money. Shame they stopped making it. Was a nice rig for the money...no bells and whistles, but easy to operate, receive was good and great sounding transmit audio with a good microphone. I acquired the Kenwood TS450, fell in love with it, and sold the Yaesu to a friend who enjoyed using it and who made lots of good DX contacts and local ragchews with indoor mounted 20m dipole.
Another post asked about difference between a Tempo One and Siltronix 1011. I had both back around 1970. Siltronix was like most Swans, drifted like heck. I am sure the finals were 8950's. The Tempo took 6js6c's as did the FT101's. The gray Tempo One power supply can be modified easily by just changing tap on transformer to supply 800v to plate of tubes and change four 2amp diodes to 2 and a half amp diodes. This will make rig put out 200watts instead of the 125. Safe to do because those tubes are rated at having 990v on plate. Stock they are only getting 600v so with mod they get 800, still under the rated voltage. Tempo did not drift noticeably. Receive was fairly good, as the Yaesu 101's, and with good mic had good transmit audio. Putting on CB, Henry Radio sold them with it in there by just having the right xtal in a 10m spot and some tuning of some coil slugs. Very easy job. Not supposed to use that rig on CB, but many have. My opinion on this is Tempo One much better than Siltronix.
 
The easier method would be using the Kenwood radio removal keys. Since it appears you do not have them, your next best bet is disassembling the dash so you can remove the radio.
 
Why do these radios sound so good when you hear them used on 11m ssb ?..

I talk alot of dx on SSB usually on 38lsb...and some of the guys are running these radios, and these radios seems to have the best sound....
I used to own a Yaesu FT 840, which I used on 11m ssb too....but it just didnt seem to have that punch...

Kenwood!!!!! Great reputation for outstanding audio quality.
 
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I have the TS-2000 and TS-480sat models. Both work great on SSB and I have had reports of excellent sounding over the air audio on SSB. I run the speech processor and transmit equalizer. While the Kenwood supplied hand microphone works just fine with both rigs I prefer to use my old school Astatic Silver Eagle D104 microphone.
While running the speech processor I keep the alc and compression within the limits listed in the radios operating manual.

When running both rigs on AM I have found the over the air audio to be clean and clear. You will not get a low dead key with big swing and super loud audio from these 2 rigs. They were not designed for it and will not go there.
 
The Tempo took 6js6c's as did the FT101's. The gray Tempo One power supply can be modified easily by just changing tap on transformer to supply 800v to plate of tubes and change four 2amp diodes to 2 and a half amp diodes. This will make rig put out 200watts instead of the 125. Safe to do because those tubes are rated at having 990v on plate. Stock they are only getting 600v so with mod they get 800, still under the rated voltage.

Maximum rated voltage is one thing while tube plate dissipation is another matter altogether. Those 6JS6C'c were being run on the ragged edge at 125 watts output let alone 200 watts. They are only a television sweep tube with a plate dissipation rating of 30 watts.

As for the Kenwoods, I always get great reports from my TS-820S........always. (y)
 
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I have been running a TS2000 for a few months now and have been pleased with my audio reports. I run a mc 60 mic and after some reading on line and some on air experimentation with a local on ssb I think it sounds pretty good. I set it to what Heil suggests...uped the mic gain to 60 and usually run the processor off... Heilsound Amateur - All Things Kenwood
 
Just one of the things about most Kenwood radios is that they use a dynamic microphone instead of an electret type. The advantage to that is that the dynamic range is limited, which sound crazy, but it really does help (not 'messing' with ranges that you can't use/hear anyway). Kenwood's audio circuits are as 'old fashioned' as it get's, mostly. That is NOT a disadvantage! It typically means that more things can be done with it than some of the newer tech stuff with a lot less trouble.
One good piece of advice with Kenwood transmitters is a little bit goes a long way! It's usually not necessary to go to extremes, and those extremes will usually 'bite' you anyway.
In most cases, unless there's really something wrong, don't mess with Kenwood transmitters. They are typically set up well to start with, and there's seldom any benefit from any modifications. But it's your radio, do what you want with it...
- 'Doc
 
Depends on the Kenwood. My TS-820S with it's 12BY7 driver and 6146B finals sounds REAL good. :D

My TS-820 and 830 has the same tubes

HMMM So Does the Yaesu FT-102, cept it has three 6146 in the finals.:D

The SWAN 700CX is a whole different rig, those 8950's sure like to make the watt meter dance, and hard to beat the audio of an ALL TUBE RIG matched with the Shure 444D.
 

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