[Kenwood] LIFE OF A 800 or 900 series KENWOOD TS-950,850,940

[WA2JJH at aol.com]

THEY ARE GREAT RIGS.....BUT THEY HAVE QC PROBLEMS.
I AM TOSSING IN MY TOWEL TOO
I have had 2 TS-850's work awile then they slowly die of mulptiple problems.
Both my Kenwoods were bought used. They work great then die.

I am going back to my Drake TR-7/R7A combo. Drakes appreciate in value.
Saw a Drake R7A bring $1600! It cost $1495 NEW!  

  Kenwood you make the best looing rigs. Kenwood Audio is an ART. Your RF 
speech procs make some people feel like you QROed to 1kw.

I cannot service Kenwoods. Drakes are simpler. NO darn PROMS are some other
SMT do hicky go south.  Boards that go in and out easy. Lots of Drake 
support.
Drake got out of Ham Radio in 1983.

So it is Drake and Ten Tec for me for now on. I am building a duplicate RF 
speech proc the TS-850 has. It will go into the Drakes. Different IF freq, but 
my TS-850 proc will sound good in  TR-7!

  I have owned just about every Kenwood since the TS-520.  I will try to 
duplicate the analog twin PBT in the TS-850 too!