I got the TS520S it works on Top Band but is restricted to 10 watts. If you
try to turn up the juice more than that,
it might burn the ceramic base, wire wound choke,
that sits in between the 2 B6146 valves
(well it did on mine) I tuned it for top band, wanged up the audio, and a
puff of smoke came out of the finals box.
I read the book, rewound the choke, and asked a few questions. I was advised
that the set was governed some how on top band, as there was a power
restriction on part of the band when the set was built. (Still is on parts)
Mine tunes up a treat on all other frequencies,
its just restricted on 160.

"David 01" wrote in message ...
I've seen some of these (only on the net) and have become interested in
maybe purchasing one in the future.

My question is: which model is the best? Other than the fact that the 520
has no 160m band (I believe this is correct), what are other differences?

Thanks!
David

I guess they listed most of the differences... In theory, the 520S was
the best. The SE was the economy model, and the 520 was the first, and
yes, no 160m. I've had and worked on them all. They all work well, but
to me, the original 520 had the smoothest audio of the ones I tried.
The 530 series was a later digital readout version of this line. The
820 and 830 are also closely related, but each was the top of the line
rig at the time they were built. IE: the 820 was top dog at the time
the 520's were coming out. The 530 looks nearly the same as an 830,
"the 830 came out first", but has a few less toys. The 830 is the best
of the bunch hands down as far as the receiver goodies. Also the 830
has true rf speech compression which is very good. I still have a
TS-830 and VFO-230. Sold the last 520 about three years ago though..It
was a 520 original I bought as a basket case for $100. It had silky
smooth audio after I fixed and re-aligned it. Really clean sounding.
Probably better than the 830 I have. I had a 520SE in the shack at the
same time that I was working on for someone else, and compared the
two. The 520 was definitely cleaner as far as audio quality, but I'm
not sure why...Both were aligned straight up as per manual as well as
could be aligned, "dang near perfect" so it wasn't that. But the older
one was cleaner and smoother sounding to my ears. I had a 520S in the
late 70's when it was nearly new. At that time, it was like a cadillac
compared to the old junk I had been using previous. Really seemed
modern at that time... That shows you how far we've some since the
late 70's...:/ If I were to buy a hybrid kenwood, just to buy a hybrid
kenwood, I'd get a 830. It's the best. "I am biased though..." If not
that, a 530. The reason? You can use the ultra stable VFO-230 with
those two. Won't work with any of the others..But I guess any of them
are ok if you can live with some temp drift. The 520 I had drifted up
and down 40 cycles with the ac cycling off and on...That drives me
nuts...The VF0-230 doesn't budge. It makes the 830 feel like a 930 as
far as stability...:) MK

"David 01" wrote in message ...
I've seen some of these (only on the net) and have become interested in
maybe purchasing one in the future.

My question is: which model is the best? Other than the fact that the 520
has no 160m band (I believe this is correct), what are other differences?

Thanks!
David

I guess they listed most of the differences... In theory, the 520S was
the best. The SE was the economy model, and the 520 was the first, and
yes, no 160m. I've had and worked on them all. They all work well, but
to me, the original 520 had the smoothest audio of the ones I tried.
The 530 series was a later digital readout version of this line. The
820 and 830 are also closely related, but each was the top of the line
rig at the time they were built. IE: the 820 was top dog at the time
the 520's were coming out. The 530 looks nearly the same as an 830,
"the 830 came out first", but has a few less toys. The 830 is the best
of the bunch hands down as far as the receiver goodies. Also the 830
has true rf speech compression which is very good. I still have a
TS-830 and VFO-230. Sold the last 520 about three years ago though..It
was a 520 original I bought as a basket case for $100. It had silky
smooth audio after I fixed and re-aligned it. Really clean sounding.
Probably better than the 830 I have. I had a 520SE in the shack at the
same time that I was working on for someone else, and compared the
two. The 520 was definitely cleaner as far as audio quality, but I'm
not sure why...Both were aligned straight up as per manual as well as
could be aligned, "dang near perfect" so it wasn't that. But the older
one was cleaner and smoother sounding to my ears. I had a 520S in the
late 70's when it was nearly new. At that time, it was like a cadillac
compared to the old junk I had been using previous. Really seemed
modern at that time... That shows you how far we've some since the
late 70's...:/ If I were to buy a hybrid kenwood, just to buy a hybrid
kenwood, I'd get a 830. It's the best. "I am biased though..." If not
that, a 530. The reason? You can use the ultra stable VFO-230 with
those two. Won't work with any of the others..But I guess any of them
are ok if you can live with some temp drift. The 520 I had drifted up
and down 40 cycles with the ac cycling off and on...That drives me
nuts...The VF0-230 doesn't budge. It makes the 830 feel like a 930 as
far as stability...:) MK

On Fri, 26 Mar 2004 01:52:31 -0000, "cabbanis"
wrote:

I got the TS520S it works on Top Band but is restricted to 10 watts. If you
try to turn up the juice more than that,
it might burn the ceramic base, wire wound choke,
that sits in between the 2 B6146 valves
(well it did on mine)

Strange that... I bought a brand new one in New Zealand in 1977 and it
gave 100W output on 160m from the start. Maybe the UK version had the
10W limit factory fitted, I dont know.

I'm surprised you had trouble with the RF choke as I would have
thought the components would have been the same for both power levels,
the power reduction being made by reducing voltages on the PA.

Peter, G3PHO (ex ZL2LA)

On Fri, 26 Mar 2004 01:52:31 -0000, "cabbanis"
wrote:

I got the TS520S it works on Top Band but is restricted to 10 watts. If you
try to turn up the juice more than that,
it might burn the ceramic base, wire wound choke,
that sits in between the 2 B6146 valves
(well it did on mine)

Strange that... I bought a brand new one in New Zealand in 1977 and it
gave 100W output on 160m from the start. Maybe the UK version had the
10W limit factory fitted, I dont know.

I'm surprised you had trouble with the RF choke as I would have
thought the components would have been the same for both power levels,
the power reduction being made by reducing voltages on the PA.

Peter, G3PHO (ex ZL2LA)

Thanks for the info. It's very interesting and informative.

David

"Mark Keith" wrote in message
om...
"David 01" wrote in message
...
I've seen some of these (only on the net) and have become interested in
maybe purchasing one in the future.

My question is: which model is the best? Other than the fact that the
520
has no 160m band (I believe this is correct), what are other
differences?

Thanks!
David

I guess they listed most of the differences... In theory, the 520S was
the best. The SE was the economy model, and the 520 was the first, and
yes, no 160m. I've had and worked on them all. They all work well, but
to me, the original 520 had the smoothest audio of the ones I tried.
The 530 series was a later digital readout version of this line. The
820 and 830 are also closely related, but each was the top of the line
rig at the time they were built. IE: the 820 was top dog at the time
the 520's were coming out. The 530 looks nearly the same as an 830,
"the 830 came out first", but has a few less toys. The 830 is the best
of the bunch hands down as far as the receiver goodies. Also the 830
has true rf speech compression which is very good. I still have a
TS-830 and VFO-230. Sold the last 520 about three years ago though..It
was a 520 original I bought as a basket case for $100. It had silky
smooth audio after I fixed and re-aligned it. Really clean sounding.
Probably better than the 830 I have. I had a 520SE in the shack at the
same time that I was working on for someone else, and compared the
two. The 520 was definitely cleaner as far as audio quality, but I'm
not sure why...Both were aligned straight up as per manual as well as
could be aligned, "dang near perfect" so it wasn't that. But the older
one was cleaner and smoother sounding to my ears. I had a 520S in the
late 70's when it was nearly new. At that time, it was like a cadillac
compared to the old junk I had been using previous. Really seemed
modern at that time... That shows you how far we've some since the
late 70's...:/ If I were to buy a hybrid kenwood, just to buy a hybrid
kenwood, I'd get a 830. It's the best. "I am biased though..." If not
that, a 530. The reason? You can use the ultra stable VFO-230 with
those two. Won't work with any of the others..But I guess any of them
are ok if you can live with some temp drift. The 520 I had drifted up
and down 40 cycles with the ac cycling off and on...That drives me
nuts...The VF0-230 doesn't budge. It makes the 830 feel like a 930 as
far as stability...:) MK

Thanks for the info. It's very interesting and informative.

David

"Mark Keith" wrote in message
om...
"David 01" wrote in message
...
I've seen some of these (only on the net) and have become interested in
maybe purchasing one in the future.

My question is: which model is the best? Other than the fact that the
520
has no 160m band (I believe this is correct), what are other
differences?

Thanks!
David

I guess they listed most of the differences... In theory, the 520S was
the best. The SE was the economy model, and the 520 was the first, and
yes, no 160m. I've had and worked on them all. They all work well, but
to me, the original 520 had the smoothest audio of the ones I tried.
The 530 series was a later digital readout version of this line. The
820 and 830 are also closely related, but each was the top of the line
rig at the time they were built. IE: the 820 was top dog at the time
the 520's were coming out. The 530 looks nearly the same as an 830,
"the 830 came out first", but has a few less toys. The 830 is the best
of the bunch hands down as far as the receiver goodies. Also the 830
has true rf speech compression which is very good. I still have a
TS-830 and VFO-230. Sold the last 520 about three years ago though..It
was a 520 original I bought as a basket case for $100. It had silky
smooth audio after I fixed and re-aligned it. Really clean sounding.
Probably better than the 830 I have. I had a 520SE in the shack at the
same time that I was working on for someone else, and compared the
two. The 520 was definitely cleaner as far as audio quality, but I'm
not sure why...Both were aligned straight up as per manual as well as
could be aligned, "dang near perfect" so it wasn't that. But the older
one was cleaner and smoother sounding to my ears. I had a 520S in the
late 70's when it was nearly new. At that time, it was like a cadillac
compared to the old junk I had been using previous. Really seemed
modern at that time... That shows you how far we've some since the
late 70's...:/ If I were to buy a hybrid kenwood, just to buy a hybrid
kenwood, I'd get a 830. It's the best. "I am biased though..." If not
that, a 530. The reason? You can use the ultra stable VFO-230 with
those two. Won't work with any of the others..But I guess any of them
are ok if you can live with some temp drift. The 520 I had drifted up
and down 40 cycles with the ac cycling off and on...That drives me
nuts...The VF0-230 doesn't budge. It makes the 830 feel like a 930 as
far as stability...:) MK

"David 01" wrote in message ...
Thanks for the info. It's very interesting and informative.

David

I like the old radios...:) All those older hybrid kenwoods will go
down as some of the best ham rigs ever made. Real reliable workhorses,
and the audio quality was real good. I mentioned the audio on the
original 520... I've heard stories that when they first designed the
520, and maybe some of the other first kenwoods, they actually
borrowed the same audio engineers that designed the high end stereo
stuff to design the audio circuits on those radios. May explain why I
thought that first model sounded so good. They may have "dumbed" it
down a bit on later versions due to circuit changes...Who
knows...Kenwood has made a lot of good radios. The 430 is another
reliable workhorse that will enter the same museum...:) Of course, it
was one of the first all solid state. "The 180 was the first I think".
The 930 and 940 were super radios in my opinion. But some had some
problems that show up in later years, that is hard to fix without
parts. The 930 had a common problem with the power supply solder
joints, or something along that line...Cliff could probably better
fill you in on those...But when a 930 or 940 is working right, it's
hard to beat for an all around radio. A friend of mine had a 930 when
it was fairly new. It always worked perfectly then of course...I
always thought it was one of the best all around radios I ever used.
The 940 good too. Better in theory, but either is good. Like Cliff
mentioned, many of the older radios use parts that are getting hard to
get. Luckily, for the hybrids , it's mainly the relays, etc..There are
mods you can do to extend the life of them. I've got a nice icom 730
that is collecting dust, because I can't find one lousy 9 pin
transformer for the display board. I'll have to raid a junker some day
to fix it...The IC-730 was one of icoms better 1980's radios...:)
Really solid. The 735 was good too. I bought a 706mk2g to replace the
730 after I couldn't get the part...So far after three years, it's
been good. Knock on wood...But I'll fix the 730 some day. ...Great
easy to use mobile rig...Mines got the desirable passband tuning
filter in it. The 730 has a quad conversion receiver, believe it or
not...It's pretty good. MK

"David 01" wrote in message ...
Thanks for the info. It's very interesting and informative.

David

I like the old radios...:) All those older hybrid kenwoods will go
down as some of the best ham rigs ever made. Real reliable workhorses,
and the audio quality was real good. I mentioned the audio on the
original 520... I've heard stories that when they first designed the
520, and maybe some of the other first kenwoods, they actually
borrowed the same audio engineers that designed the high end stereo
stuff to design the audio circuits on those radios. May explain why I
thought that first model sounded so good. They may have "dumbed" it
down a bit on later versions due to circuit changes...Who
knows...Kenwood has made a lot of good radios. The 430 is another
reliable workhorse that will enter the same museum...:) Of course, it
was one of the first all solid state. "The 180 was the first I think".
The 930 and 940 were super radios in my opinion. But some had some
problems that show up in later years, that is hard to fix without
parts. The 930 had a common problem with the power supply solder
joints, or something along that line...Cliff could probably better
fill you in on those...But when a 930 or 940 is working right, it's
hard to beat for an all around radio. A friend of mine had a 930 when
it was fairly new. It always worked perfectly then of course...I
always thought it was one of the best all around radios I ever used.
The 940 good too. Better in theory, but either is good. Like Cliff
mentioned, many of the older radios use parts that are getting hard to
get. Luckily, for the hybrids , it's mainly the relays, etc..There are
mods you can do to extend the life of them. I've got a nice icom 730
that is collecting dust, because I can't find one lousy 9 pin
transformer for the display board. I'll have to raid a junker some day
to fix it...The IC-730 was one of icoms better 1980's radios...:)
Really solid. The 735 was good too. I bought a 706mk2g to replace the
730 after I couldn't get the part...So far after three years, it's
been good. Knock on wood...But I'll fix the 730 some day. ...Great
easy to use mobile rig...Mines got the desirable passband tuning
filter in it. The 730 has a quad conversion receiver, believe it or
not...It's pretty good. MK

I think I'd like the old hf's. Hopefully I can pick up some oldies this
spring or summer to play with.

Good luck on the repairs.

Thanks,
David

"Mark Keith" wrote in message
om...
"David 01" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the info. It's very interesting and informative.

David

I like the old radios...:) All those older hybrid kenwoods will go
down as some of the best ham rigs ever made. Real reliable workhorses,
and the audio quality was real good. I mentioned the audio on the
original 520... I've heard stories that when they first designed the
520, and maybe some of the other first kenwoods, they actually
borrowed the same audio engineers that designed the high end stereo
stuff to design the audio circuits on those radios. May explain why I
thought that first model sounded so good. They may have "dumbed" it
down a bit on later versions due to circuit changes...Who
knows...Kenwood has made a lot of good radios. The 430 is another
reliable workhorse that will enter the same museum...:) Of course, it
was one of the first all solid state. "The 180 was the first I think".
The 930 and 940 were super radios in my opinion. But some had some
problems that show up in later years, that is hard to fix without
parts. The 930 had a common problem with the power supply solder
joints, or something along that line...Cliff could probably better
fill you in on those...But when a 930 or 940 is working right, it's
hard to beat for an all around radio. A friend of mine had a 930 when
it was fairly new. It always worked perfectly then of course...I
always thought it was one of the best all around radios I ever used.
The 940 good too. Better in theory, but either is good. Like Cliff
mentioned, many of the older radios use parts that are getting hard to
get. Luckily, for the hybrids , it's mainly the relays, etc..There are
mods you can do to extend the life of them. I've got a nice icom 730
that is collecting dust, because I can't find one lousy 9 pin
transformer for the display board. I'll have to raid a junker some day
to fix it...The IC-730 was one of icoms better 1980's radios...:)
Really solid. The 735 was good too. I bought a 706mk2g to replace the
730 after I couldn't get the part...So far after three years, it's
been good. Knock on wood...But I'll fix the 730 some day. ...Great
easy to use mobile rig...Mines got the desirable passband tuning
filter in it. The 730 has a quad conversion receiver, believe it or
not...It's pretty good. MK