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AT-6666 or Kenwood TS-50 ?

ghce

Member
Jan 9, 2011
38
6
18
For general functionality and also readability on receive (the TX is a given) what would you choose?

I already have the Quad 6 but am looking at a TS-50 as an upgrade....or is it?
 

Kenwood's suck for CB style AM.
That said, a TS-50 is a good HF radio.
It depends on what you want to do.
I love my 6666 and I love my HF rigs (I'm a Kenwood fanboy too) but I use them very differently from each other to fulfill whatever is needed at the time.
73' Panic Attack
 
I disagree... a ts 440 or a 450 sound great on am with a d104
They all "can" sound good if you carefully monitor your audio. I have a 870, 850 with DSP100, a 440 and quite a few others. I used to be big with eSSB and back 15 years ago or so I was sorta big on 75 meter AM and enjoyed modifying rice boxes to sound pretty nice on AM but as far as CB is concerned, and this is my opinion, Kenwood's suck on AM.
That Quad 6 is a fine radio too!
 
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My main concerns are the ability to pull ledgability out of the the very hash heavy environment I am working out of, I have an 11KV step down transformer right next to my property and it seems to drag in and re-radiate all sorts of crap from 20 to about 30 MHz.

Had been considering something with a good DSP as some of those seem to clean a lot of the noise up either that or a Kenwood. My R5000 gets reasonable results in my environment and they do make decent receivers for sure.

The AM side doesn't worry me so much as pretty much I just use SSB and if I want to use AM I can always default to my Galaxy radios, my 95T2 cuts through very well on AM and SSB but the receivers whilst sensitive are somewhat noisy.
 
Copy that. I've never worked in that bad of an environment so I really can't comment.
I like radios so if it was me I would buy it if it was fairly priced!
I would also try some station grounding and bonding techniques to see if that helps. If you're a ham it might help to contact the power company. I mentioned being a ham because they might not care much otherwise....heck they might not care anyway but they have helped me in resolving noise issues on two different occasions.
Good luck
 
Had considered that before but I have been a bit lazy, I am certain that the amount of RF radiated would be out side of total allowed EIRP figures but whether they could cure it is a different matter as it's likely that it's being conducted into the power grid by other end users.
 
That era Kenwood's AM was just Double Sideband with a carrier inserted to demodulate it. All low level AM that ran through the SSB filter. They are terrible on AM with no mods. The best you can hope for with no mods is that someone can understand you...those are facts. I love those old Kenwood's though but not for AM and if you like how yours sounds that's all that matters.
I can pick a Kenwood on AM out of the crowd every time!!!
73 Panic Attack
 
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I have had 3 TS-50s in my time on radio all were good on SSB and were OK on AM but my CB was way better on AM then the TS-50 . Also the TS-50 is a very old radio and parts are getting hard to find . Looik at the new anytone 5555N2 its a good radio .
 
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My main concerns are the ability to pull ledgability out of the the very hash heavy environment I am working out of, I have an 11KV step down transformer right next to my property and it seems to drag in and re-radiate all sorts of crap from 20 to about 30 MHz.

Had been considering something with a good DSP as some of those seem to clean a lot of the noise up either that or a Kenwood. My R5000 gets reasonable results in my environment and they do make decent receivers for sure.

The AM side doesn't worry me so much as pretty much I just use SSB and if I want to use AM I can always default to my Galaxy radios, my 95T2 cuts through very well on AM and SSB but the receivers whilst sensitive are somewhat noisy.
Regarding your main concern, the Q6 is the better solution. I have had both and while the TS-50 wins hands down on SSB TX, it is susceptible to hash and noise. The NB is not as good as the one in the Quad 6. Also the "Q" of the coils is much higher in the Q6, which gives greater selectivity. The Q6 is designed to only cover 3+Mhz while the TS-50 has to cover 30Mhz. IMHO, you will hear legible signals on the Q6 that will be covered up by the higher noise floor of the TS-50.
 
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