[Kenwood] RE: Rig Rumors/TS-2000 review by an owner.

[mark kenward]

I own one.

It is an "OK" rig.

Sensitivity is good, but in crowded band condx the Blocking and 3rd order 
dynamic range figures aren't the best.

It does not compare with my 850sat in a contest.

But dollar for dollar, a good deal.

Mark, K8VF

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Baker" <k7ddmjb at qwest.net>
To: "Mike Baker K7DD" <k7ddmjb at qwest.net>; "Kenwood at Mailman. Qth. Net" 
<kenwood at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, December 27, 2004 2:38 PM
Subject: [Kenwood] RE: Rig Rumors/TS-2000 review by an owner.


>I have a question.
> What is wrong with the TS-2000 DSP? In your opinion.
> I ask because over a year ago I tested each of several rigs side by side
> over an extended period of time and band conditions and my decision to
> purchase was the TS-2000. Here are my reasons why.
> 1. Band coverage.  160 to 70cm and all modes plus a second built in rig 
> for
> 2m and 70cm fm.  Keep the amount of gear on the desk top to a minimum.
> 2. Primarily a CW op and the filtering down to 50Hz is remarkable. 
> CQWWDXCW
> test weekend and it performed excellent. Just enough blow by to let me 
> know
> of the BIG signal (S9+40) up 2khz while I am doing search and pounce in 
> 300
> to 400Hz bandwidth with fully adjustable offset.
> 3. No pull down menus.  Most all frequently used items are on the front
> panel with a button.
> 4. Built in antenna tuner with 2 antenna positions for HF thru 6 and
> dedicated outputs for 2m and 70Cm.
> 5. Reasonably compact table top design.
> 6. Price. At $1400 New with my discounts and a FREE Heil Gold Line mic it
> was THE best deal around compared to the IC-746Pro which was its closest
> comparison.  Nothing made by any other vendor came close by comparison for
> the price.  Oh sure, I could have bought the IC-756ProII but it was 
> another
> $800 more and didn't give me anything above 6 meters.
>
> Things I didn't like but got use too.
> 1. Style.  Too Art Deco/ Car Stereo appearance. I still prefer a plain 
> flat
> front panel.
> 2. TOO many too small buttons. Better labeling would have been nice but 
> you
> do get accustomed to it after a month or so of use.
> 3. A REAL analog meter.  OK, so I am old fashion. I still like meters.  I
> have gotten accustomed to the digital one.
>
> Things I was hoping for when I first looked at the rig and its specs but
> didn't fully understand until I got to operating it.
> 1. The left hand main dial/band select it all modes all bands. I was 
> hoping
> the second did the same. It is ONLY FM and ONLY 2meters or 70Cm. The only
> time it is dual band receive is in FM mode on either 2m or 70Cm. So much 
> for
> setting the second band on 6 meters and monitoring it while on another 
> band.
> That was my initial hope but disappointment.
> 2. Only 3 memories in the CW keyer and the SSB voice keyer. So 10 to match
> the keypad would have been too expensive? Oh well, that is why I run
> WriteLog anyway.  But it would have been nice. Even better is there would
> have been multi-banks of memories so you could tailor each bank to a
> separate contest format.
>
> End resulting opinion after ownership for about 18 months?
> I still think I made a good decision. My audio reports are excellent, it 
> is
> a fine performer in any mode I have tried and my only regret is that I
> didn't have the extra $500+ to spend on the 23Cm module. Would be nice for
> the UHF rover contest operations to have it all in one box.
> Would I buy another one in todays market with the same money to spend?
> Yep,no question. I still think it is the best bang for the buck.
>
> As Dennis Miller says,"Hey, thats just my opinion, you might think
> differently."
>
> C U on the air.
>
>
> Mike Baker  K7DD
> k7ddmjb at qwest.net
>
>
>
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