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Need a mic I do.
- Thread starter 338_MtRushmore
- Start date
BJ radionut
Supporting Member and 6m addict
4 String: No worse than me calling my radios YAZOO's
or YAHOO's
Actually for many years I ran nothing but Kenwood radios, many models. Then the parent company sold out to basically Panasonic and they quit producing new innovative HF rigs.
The TS-2000 is now 15 year old rig...nice rig for "shack in-a-box"...a little deaf on HF, but very good for VHF/UHF. They really have not done much to improve them since the original design.
The TS-480SAT/HX are really pretty nice set-ups, but they never really made a suitable faceplate mount for base operation, which is a shame as they are a good sounding rig both mobile and base operation.
They are just not very home station oriented IMHO.
The TS-940, 950SD(X) are great rigs. I call those real Kenwood's. However both now contain some parts that are nearly unobtainable. Plus if you look around good tech's to work on them are also scarce.
The TS-450/850/870 series are also good to excellent rigs but unless you find them "cherry" and unmodified, they most likely have had the golden screws put to them and now, I consider untrustworthy for long term operation.
The old TS-520/820-530/830 series are still solid performers! However many newer hams have no idea how to tune the transmitter correctly, and thus get frustrated with them when they fail, or when the tubes soften prematurely.
So just having a little fun...
Hell I even purchased a few I Can Only Monitor radios some time back (actually own 3/...IC-9100...IC-7000...IC-7100)
My FAV radio is still the Yaesu FT-3000D, but still have my 1 owner FT-950 and FT-817 and I picked up a very nice late serial# FT-920 last year at DAYTON HAMFEST.
I however have been thinking of thinning the herd and purchasing either a second FT-3000D or maybe look around for a clean FT-5000D(MP) 200w version,,,but never you know!
All the Best
Gary
or YAHOO'sActually for many years I ran nothing but Kenwood radios, many models. Then the parent company sold out to basically Panasonic and they quit producing new innovative HF rigs.
The TS-2000 is now 15 year old rig...nice rig for "shack in-a-box"...a little deaf on HF, but very good for VHF/UHF. They really have not done much to improve them since the original design.
The TS-480SAT/HX are really pretty nice set-ups, but they never really made a suitable faceplate mount for base operation, which is a shame as they are a good sounding rig both mobile and base operation.
They are just not very home station oriented IMHO.
The TS-940, 950SD(X) are great rigs. I call those real Kenwood's. However both now contain some parts that are nearly unobtainable. Plus if you look around good tech's to work on them are also scarce.
The TS-450/850/870 series are also good to excellent rigs but unless you find them "cherry" and unmodified, they most likely have had the golden screws put to them and now, I consider untrustworthy for long term operation.
The old TS-520/820-530/830 series are still solid performers! However many newer hams have no idea how to tune the transmitter correctly, and thus get frustrated with them when they fail, or when the tubes soften prematurely.
So just having a little fun...
Hell I even purchased a few I Can Only Monitor radios some time back (actually own 3/...IC-9100...IC-7000...IC-7100)
My FAV radio is still the Yaesu FT-3000D, but still have my 1 owner FT-950 and FT-817 and I picked up a very nice late serial# FT-920 last year at DAYTON HAMFEST.
I however have been thinking of thinning the herd and purchasing either a second FT-3000D or maybe look around for a clean FT-5000D(MP) 200w version,,,but never you know!
All the Best
Gary
I just ordered the MFJ mic for now, and I will worry about which desk mic to get later. Now on to trying to decide what antenna to try first, and how to run it on my camper.
Nice explanation!4 String: No worse than me calling my radios YAZOO's
Actually for many years I ran nothing but Kenwood radios, many models. Then the parent company sold out to basically Panasonic and they quit producing new innovative HF rigs.
The TS-2000 is now 15 year old rig...nice rig for "shack in-a-box"...a little deaf on HF, but very good for VHF/UHF. They really have not done much to improve them since the original design.
The TS-480SAT/HX are really pretty nice set-ups, but they never really made a suitable faceplate mount for base operation, which is a shame as they are a good sounding rig both mobile and base operation.
They are just not very home station oriented IMHO.
The TS-940, 950SD(X) are great rigs. I call those real Kenwood's. However both now contain some parts that are nearly unobtainable. Plus if you look around good tech's to work on them are also scarce.
The TS-450/850/870 series are also good to excellent rigs but unless you find them "cherry" and unmodified, they most likely have had the golden screws put to them and now, I consider untrustworthy for long term operation.
The old TS-520/820-530/830 series are still solid performers! However many newer hams have no idea how to tune the transmitter correctly, and thus get frustrated with them when they fail, or when the tubes soften prematurely.
So just having a little fun...
Hell I even purchased a few I Can Only Monitor radios some time back (actually own 3/...IC-9100...IC-7000...IC-7100)
My FAV radio is still the Yaesu FT-3000D, but still have my 1 owner FT-950 and FT-817 and I picked up a very nice late serial# FT-920 last year at DAYTON HAMFEST.
I however have been thinking of thinning the herd and purchasing either a second FT-3000D or maybe look around for a clean FT-5000D(MP) 200w version,,,but never you know!
All the Best
Gary
I do like my 590S. I think this is a fine transceiver but yes it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the newer radios. However, Kenwood has excellent FREE rig control software that is very intuitive and complete where the Icom has to be purchased and is nothing more than basic rig control with no menu settings and other comprehensive settings like the Kenwood software. Yaesu has no proprietary software.
I use my Kenwood software for local control and I also do remote operating since I travel for a living and the Kenwoods software is just like sitting at home controlling the rig.
My 590 also has 2 data ports (USB and DB9) which is nice because I have 2 ports to run some of my digital modes software and I now have a pan adapter using SDR play and SDRUNO software simultaneously. The SDRUNO software's pan adapter waterfall is far better than any built in the rig type because I have a 22" LCD monitor and mouse click waterfall rig control capability.I expanded my computer control by now using a virtual port software so now I have unlimited virtual ports and I can run HRD, Kenwood software, and SDRUno and anything else all at the same time.
I have some screenshots of my SDR and Kenwood in my gallery if you would like to look.
So yes these Kenwoods (except the 990) don't have the modern LCD display and waterfalls but IMHO better pan adapters can be added easily and very cheaply along with Kenwoods rig control software and a solid performer and great Kenwood audio make it one of the better buys out there.
As for clean transmitter signals, the Kenwood 590 ranks right up there to being nearly identical clean compared to the Elecraft K3. Surprisingly, the Yaseu 5000 and the Icom 7600 among others are some of the dirtier radio's out there.
Check out this link that is a published report of many modern transceivers from the big 3 ,Elecraft, Flex, and Ten Tec to see how clean and dirty some of these radio's are.
73
http://audiosystemsgroup.com/TXNoise.pdf
Great Sounding Homebrew Microphone For About 10 Bucks.
http://www.w1aex.com/mic/mic.html
http://www.w1aex.com/mic/mic.html
I know what you mean about them Icoms, I have a R-70 here that receives great but is pretty much worthless for transmitting.
Maybe it would get out better if I sent it out to be Fine Tuned.
I have never owned a Kenwood HF rig but I will say that the Yaesu 's I Have had do hear better then the ICOM 706 I have. Only Kenwood I owned, outside of audio gear, was a TR-9000 2 meter all mode.
Those Rat Shack el cheapo elements do have a good sound. I've got a couple around here that I've messed around with over the years.
Thats correct, and why I asked..... see below
It depends on th S/N 601XXXX thru 708XXXX,.... and you don't clip a diode, you change 3 caps in the ALC.
The "MARS: mod is clipping D130.
I've never played on a 940, but hear that they are pretty great. I have an FTdx-3000, and love the receive on it. Also has rx out, so I run a panadapter from an RSP-1. Really a cool setup. Still, I love to listen to my old tube rigs... a pair of Drake C line "twins", Kenwood TS-520, and TS-830. The 830 is probably my favorite, but the 520 has a sweet receive, too. Will probably throw a MC-50 on the Kenwood since it is such a good match.
I have a mic that came with my 520, and it is basically a cb mic that comes with the "Superstar" logo. Doesn't sound worth a darn on the rig, which surprised me. Hope your MFJ mic sounds good on our 940!
73,
Brett
I have a mic that came with my 520, and it is basically a cb mic that comes with the "Superstar" logo. Doesn't sound worth a darn on the rig, which surprised me. Hope your MFJ mic sounds good on our 940!
73,
Brett
The 940 showed up today with a little damage. The fan housing was bent enough that it hit the fan and it wouldn't spin. The tuner acts like it tunes, but then clicks and it seems to go into bypass. I wont have a mic for another week. Will the xtreme 2018 mic work with this kenwood? I have a new 8 pin cord that I bought for my optima that I could wire up. I just really need to figure out what damage there might be. Thanks guys
Too bad your radio got some damage. Maybe re-bend the fan housing or just take it off if it won't collect too much dust.
The tuner could be bad or possibly your antenna is too far out of range for it tune. Most built in tuners on HF rigs won't tune an antenna higher than a 3.1 SWR.
As for mics, you just need to get the mic wiring for your Xtreme 2018 and compare it to the your Kenwood. Be sure to look at the Kenwood diagram carefully to determine what side is pins 1-4 and pins 8-5. Most likely you only need to wire pins 1, 2, and 7.
Here is the 8 pin Kenwood wiring for your radio and other Kenwood models
KENWOOD-TS-50-60-140-430-440-450-570-660-670-780-930-430-670-711 TS-811-850-870-930-940-950-440-701-790-680-690-TS-2000
TR-3200-7900-7950-50-751-851
TM-201A-201B-401A-TM401B-211-221-231-241-321-331-3530-421-431-441-521-531-541
TM-621-631-701-721-731-2530-2550-2570
TW4000-4100
PIN1 MIC
PIN2 PTT
PIN3 DOWN
PIN4 UP
PIN5 + 8VOLT Some models ( 10 Ma )
PIN6 (N/C Some models )
PIN7 MIC GROUND.
PIN8 GROUND ( STBY )
The tuner could be bad or possibly your antenna is too far out of range for it tune. Most built in tuners on HF rigs won't tune an antenna higher than a 3.1 SWR.
As for mics, you just need to get the mic wiring for your Xtreme 2018 and compare it to the your Kenwood. Be sure to look at the Kenwood diagram carefully to determine what side is pins 1-4 and pins 8-5. Most likely you only need to wire pins 1, 2, and 7.
Here is the 8 pin Kenwood wiring for your radio and other Kenwood models
KENWOOD-TS-50-60-140-430-440-450-570-660-670-780-930-430-670-711 TS-811-850-870-930-940-950-440-701-790-680-690-TS-2000
TR-3200-7900-7950-50-751-851
TM-201A-201B-401A-TM401B-211-221-231-241-321-331-3530-421-431-441-521-531-541
TM-621-631-701-721-731-2530-2550-2570
TW4000-4100
PIN1 MIC
PIN2 PTT
PIN3 DOWN
PIN4 UP
PIN5 + 8VOLT Some models ( 10 Ma )
PIN6 (N/C Some models )
PIN7 MIC GROUND.
PIN8 GROUND ( STBY )
Oh wow, I'm an idiot. I was trying to verify the tuner was working by using an external meter. I cant believe I did that .
.