Kenwood gear

Although my entry into amateur radio was in the period of the tube rigs, solid state was creeping in. My first predominently solid state rig was from Kenwood, the TS-820S. This I bought new from Sere-Rose (the predecesser to MAE in Memphis), for about $700. The radio served well. I added a TV-502 2 meter transverter, which enabled me to become very active using SSB on that band. I ran the transverter into a 2X4CX250 "Plumbers Special" amplifier running 600 watts out.

A little later on I did some trading with my brother and obtained a TS-660 that he bought from K5YY. This rig covered the four bands from 15 through 6 meters. This rig was used a while and passed to W4HHK eventually. It was not a very common radio.

I had two Kenwood handhelds, the TH-21AT and the TH-75A. Both traded off and replaced with ICOM units.

I traded in some used ICOM gear on a new TR-751A all mode 2 meter rig from MAE. I used this mobile for a while.

Conclusion: Despite their obvious popularity among other amateurs, you can see from my short list that Kenwood gear never attained favored status at my station. It is hard to say exactly why. None of the equipment gave me significant problems. Perhaps it is just that ICOM always seemed to me to be more "cutting edge", althought Kenwood has also managed to innovate in a lot of areas too.

N4MW Kenwood Page