{"id":469,"date":"2014-03-04T12:25:30","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T16:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/?p=469"},"modified":"2014-03-04T12:25:30","modified_gmt":"2014-03-04T16:25:30","slug":"eham-review-of-the-kenwood-ts-990","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/2014\/03\/eham-review-of-the-kenwood-ts-990\/","title":{"rendered":"Eham Review of the Kenwood TS-990"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve had my Kenwood TS-990 for almost a year.\u00a0 I’m still loving this radio and continue to\u00a0greatly enjoy all of its unique features.\u00a0 I’ve used a lot of HF radios over the years, and this has the best receiver I have ever heard, hands down.\u00a0 When I had only been using the radio for a week I wrote a review on eHam.\u00a0 The review is still accurate and relevant, so I thought I would post it here.<\/p>\n

I have had the TS-990 for only a week, and I\u2019m sure this review may be a bit premature; however, I wanted to share my thoughts about this fine transceiver for those who are considering making an investment in one.\u00a0 Although I have had it for a short time, I was able to spend a majority of the first four days I had it delving deeply into its features, so this review comes after quite a bit of operation of the radio.<\/p>\n

For frame of reference, I have owned a number of great HF radios over the past 25 years as a ham.\u00a0 I think any reviewer is influenced by what he or she has previously used.\u00a0 While I have never owned or extensively used an IC-7800, IC-7700, FT-5000 or FT-9000, I have owned and used the IC-7600, FT-2000, FTDX-3000, Flex-3000, Flex-5000A\u00a0(dual receiver version) and many other less expensive HF radios.\u00a0 One of my favorite \u201cradios of the past\u201d if the FT-1000 Mark V Field.\u00a0 I can say with all honesty that the TS-990S\u00a0is by far the best transceiver I have ever owned and operated.\u00a0 It\u2019s simply a great rig.\u00a0 While this review cannot touch upon all aspects of this radio, I will try to cover my experience operating it as much as possible.\u00a0 Please also keep in mind that the review of any radio will depend on the antenna system to some degree.\u00a0 I used only a SteppIR\u00a0vertical and a Pixel RF Pro 1B loop (receive only) while learning to use my new radio.<\/p>\n

Having gotten the preliminaries out of the way, here are my thoughts (I am not a CW OP, so my comments are limited to my experience with SSB on the TS-990):<\/p>\n

Look, Feel and Ergonomics<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This radio gets an \u201cA+\u201d in this category.\u00a0 The front panel layout is logical and the two LED screens are clear and show no signs of pixilation.\u00a0 The meter is as responsive as an analog meter.\u00a0 Moving from control to control is easy and intuitive, and gets easier as you learn the layout.\u00a0 I especially like the touch screen aspect of the main 7 inch LED screen and band scope.\u00a0 I really have no complaints about ease of use of this radio.\u00a0 By the way, this radio is BIG and HEAVY, coming in at just under 60 pounds.\u00a0 The menu system is easy to learn and use and is well laid out.\u00a0 Many of the front panel controls take you to settings screens with a press and hold.\u00a0 The scope and waterfall are crisp and clear.<\/p>\n

Receiver<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This radio has a great receiver.\u00a0 There are many ways to tweak what you hear.\u00a0 I have had no problem pulling in weak stations.\u00a0 I have also had no problem eliminating interference from those stations that are strong and close by.\u00a0 I could spend pages describing the different ways to tweak the receiver, but here is a list of highlights:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Noise Reduction \u2013 the two adjustable settings are very effective and work well.<\/li>\n
  2. Receive EQ \u2013 What can I say?\u00a0 An 18 band EQ provides many options for tailoring the received audio.\u00a0 There are numerous presets here, or you can configure one of three user configurations to your liking.<\/li>\n
  3. Auto and Manual Notch \u2013 Very effective and work well.<\/li>\n
  4. BEF \u2013 I have only played with this a little, but it works as the manual states.\u00a0 I hope others will provide more about this feature.<\/li>\n
  5. RX Filter \u2013 The three customizable filers have numerous combinations to allow the user to adjust the filtering to their liking, depending on operating conditions.\u00a0 This allows great customization for user preference.\u00a0 The roofing filters do a very good job.\u00a0 The passband settings are variable and can be saved within the RX Filter settings.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Transmit Audio Settings<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    Like the receiver, the transmit audio settings can be customized in almost limitless ways.\u00a0 Here are the highlights (By the way, I use a Heil Classic with this radio):<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \u00a0TX Filtering \u2013 You can use as much or as little bandwidth as you want to start the process of tailoring the audio.\u00a0 The range here is 10 through 4000 Hz, which is very broad, indeed.<\/li>\n
    2. TX EQ \u2013 Just like on the receive side; the rig has an 18 band TX EQ that can be customized in many ways to tailor your TX audio.\u00a0 There are numerous presets and several user customizable settings.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The Mic gain and Processor settings are also widely customizable, such that any user of this radio can configure the transmit audio without the need for any outboard audio equipment.\u00a0 As mentioned above, I use the Heil Classic mic.\u00a0 With the proc\u00a0on, the TX EQ \u201cconventional\u201d setting and TX filtering set at 200 on the low end\u00a0and 2900 on the high end, I have received some very good audio reports.<\/p>\n

      By the way, you can observe receive and transmit audio on the built in audio scope.<\/p>\n

      Computer Interfacing<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      With this radio, you have three ways to simultaneously interface with a computer:\u00a0 COM (DB9), USB and LAN (Ethernet).\u00a0 I have all three running \u2013 the DB9\u00a0with my SteppIR\u00a0controller, the USB for my logging program and the LAN to control the radio with the ARCP-990 software that is free from Kenwood.\u00a0 This software is particularly nice as it provides a \u201cclickable\u201d band scope feature.\u00a0 The radio has native full remote operation from a distant computer with the Kenwood software.<\/p>\n

      Other Features<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

      With this radio, you can decode and transmit PSK, RTTY\u00a0and CW on the internal screen.\u00a0 You can attach a USB keyboard to one of three USB ports for operation of digital modes.\u00a0 You can also plug a USB memory stick into one of the front USB ports to backup\u00a0all of your radio settings.\u00a0 The radio has digital video output (DVI) that I have used to output to a DVI monitor.\u00a0 The result is a high definition\u00a0view of the radio\u2019s main screen on the monitor in front of me.\u00a0 This is very nice when using the radio for PSK\u00a0or RTTY.<\/p>\n

      This radio also has a complete and independent second receiver, which the documentation says is a TS-590.\u00a0 The second receiver works well and has all of the same customization available as the main receiver.<\/p>\n

      The radio has four antenna inputs and an input and output for a dedicated receive antenna.<\/p>\n

      There are many more features, too numerous to list here.<\/p>\n

      Things I Don\u2019t Like So Far<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      No radio is perfect.\u00a0 There are a few things I don\u2019t like so far.\u00a0 The manual suffers from poor translation into English and could use improvement.\u00a0 While I love having the separate receive antenna input, it is an \u201call or nothing\u201d proposition.\u00a0 In other words, if the receive antenna is selected, you must use it on all bands and in the sub receiver.\u00a0 I hope Kenwood will fix this with the next firmware update. \u00a0I would like to see a few more customizable PF keys on the front panel, but Kenwood does have a schematic in the manual to allow you to build an outboard keypad for the PF keys.\u00a0 For now, these are my main issues.<\/p>\n

      All in all, this is a great radio \u2013 the best I\u2019ve ever owned.\u00a0 From my perspective, Kenwood has raised the bar with their new flagship entry.\u00a0 To me, it has been money well spent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      \"AB4BJ_TS990_MAY2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I’ve had my Kenwood TS-990 for almost a year.\u00a0 I’m still loving this radio and continue to\u00a0greatly enjoy all of its unique features.\u00a0 I’ve used a lot of HF radios over the years, and this has the best receiver I have ever heard, hands down.\u00a0 When I had only been using the radio for a … Continue reading Eham Review of the Kenwood TS-990<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"powered_cache_disable_cache":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pDldz-7z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":470,"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions\/470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ab4bj.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}