Well I went to the Down East ham flea market In Halifax yesterday with a few dollars in my pocket and came home with a few less dollars.It was a good turn out with several Kenwoods and Yeasus up for grabs.There were three sellers offering up a Kenwood TS-820 but I spied a very nice looking TS-820S with the matching VFO-820 external VFO and MC-50 microphone for a decent price.The guy admitted up front that the remote VFO did not work as he had plugged it into the radio with the power on and popped something in it.It has a couple FET's and a couple bipolar transistors so my guess is he blew a FET. No big deal to repair.I offered him $50 less than he was asking and walked away with a mint HF rig that I had wanted for nearly 25 years.I have had an Icom IC-735 and now have a Yaesu FT-857 which is nice but I have always wanted a solid state rig with tube driver and finals like the TS-820-850 series.It is a radio that you have to actually operate as opposed to tune and talk.The front panel is prestine with no scratches or dings,the lettering is bright and clear and there are no rub marks on the panel from heavy use.The inside only had a tiny amount of dust and looked as if it had never been opened for cleaning so I think this rig was used VERY little and kept under cover.You can tell when a rig has been dusted out inside because there is always more dust in the corners etc. than elsewhere.It still has the original 12BY7 driver and 2001A finals (equivalent to 6146B's) and they will put out over 125 watts on the top end of 10m and over 150 watts on 80m and 160m. This rig is like new and works lioke a charm.The FT-857 will now stay in the vehicle except for rare occasions,like 6m openings, and I now have a "real" ham rig to play with.I love the looks of the TS-820S.This rig also has the DG-1 digital display option and the narrow CW filter installed.I am in heaven.Now I neede to rearrange the operating desk as this beast takes up a bit more room than the FT-857 did.
