Fw: [Kenwood] 850S

[Ron & Madhavi]

I am happy for you Carlos, that yours has not caused any problems. Like I
said, it is not that ALL 2xxxx radios fail. My comments were guided only by
the failure rate of these which has been ALARMING in that particular
production batch. Why else did Kenwood replace the chips from 6631s to
66312s? A visit to N6TR's page will indicate that this is a problem common
to 2x radios. Further, within a day of my posting this at QTH.COM, I
received 7 mails from Hams with similar problems (all 2xxx series) and two
other gentleman responded to my previous post today. A reputed authorized
Kenwood repairman also once mentioned to me that he would replace the DDS if
they had a bad "date code"

I hope yours lasts many more years Carlos, they are fine radios otherwise. I
am not sure how long more the chips will be available at Pacparts. It might
be a good idea to have 4 of these and a DC board handy in the goodie box!

I am NOT on a crusade to discredit Kenwood or prevent anyone's chances of
obtaining a good re-sale price for a  2xxxx 850. On the other hand, we as
Hams, have an obligation to share such information with our fellow hams. As
for Kenwood, IMHO they should have acknowledged an obvious quality problem.
I shall not shoulder the burden of proving this to anyone. Just search the
web or talk to other users/repairmen.

IF I decide to sell my rig, I would mention that it is a 2xxx with updates.
For now, I have no such intentions.

73,
Ron, 4S7RO



----- Original Message -----
From: "Carlos Avellanet [kf4rrn]" <kf4rrn@cox.net>
To: "Ron & Madhavi" <mchilkuri@kasnet.com>; <kenwood@mailman.qth.net>
Cc: "Tree" <tree@kkn.net>
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2003 2:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Kenwood] 850S


> I beg to differ with you Ron.  I have as my main station radio a 2xxxxx
> serial number TS-850S/AT and have not had a single problem (knock on wood)
> with it and it has the 6631 chips still in it.  This radio has been used
> every single day in almost all bands both SSB and CW everyday for quite
some
> time now.  On the contrary, it has been a very capable and reliable radio.
> I would not have any heart burn on selling or buying a functional 2xxxxx
> radio at any time.
>
> Just my two cents worth,
> Carlos. KF4RRN
>
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