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Kenwood announces the end of the TS-590S

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by KJ4RYP, Oct 1, 2014.

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  1. KJ4RYP

    KJ4RYP Ham Member QRZ Page

    Kenwood announced to its dealers today that TS-590S production has ceased. The $200 instant rebate remains in effect through December 31, but we anticipate being sold out of our remaining stock before the end of October.

    Often considered the best value for a sub $1,500 HF rig, the TS-590S had some big shoes to fill as the successor to the great TS-570 but quickly made its own reputation as a top-of-the-line receiver at an entry level price. Up until last week, the TS-590S sat at number 12 on SEI’s list of receivers (ranked by third-order dynamic range narrow spaced), above radios costing 8 to 10 times the 590’s current price point of just $1,249 and free shipping at GigaParts.
     
  2. W6RZ

    W6RZ Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

  3. W7ARX

    W7ARX Guest

    Too bad they could not have just done a firmware change so indicates to me, some re-design (overshoot ring a bell), etc. Wonder what price range? Anticipate it to be higher, around $2K if I were to guess, and existing 590's will drop in price on the used market now much like the FT-950's did when they stopped making them and went with the FT-1200. Hope Rob does a test on it so we can compare numbers....
     
  4. WN2C

    WN2C Ham Member QRZ Page

    Making it better! Too bad they can't make the ts 2k better. What is really suprising is that they are still making the 2k.

    Rick WN2C
     
  5. NU4R

    NU4R XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    I've had noting but bad luck with Kenwood service.(Quite dismal in fact) And the once stellar ham radio store in Orlando Florida was absolutely pathetic in my last experience of a flawed TS-480HX. (And I bought TWO at the time)

    Over my past 30 years as a ham, my experience was one could usually expect whatever product Kenwood released it would be trouble free. When our once ARES group in the Central Florida area began to experience TNC failures on our PSAT D-700's with zero help from the aforementioned and considering my own failures over the years, we went elsewhere for our amateur and marine mobile needs.

    Nice plug for Giga-Parts though! But, I wonder what QRZ's OTHER ham radio retailers/advertisers think OF the plug?
     
  6. K9ASE

    K9ASE XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    I have the same problem with Kenwood service and will probably never buy one of there rigs new again for that reason. I loved the receiver on my brand new TS-590. But,it had a low power output issue no matter how the processor,gain and EQ were set. When I sent the rig in to have the ALC update done they never looked at the other issue and told me, "I needed to read the instruction manual".
     
  7. AB7MC

    AB7MC Ham Member QRZ Page

    same thing here


    My first IC-7600 delivered to me by AES las Vegas last april 2014 was also a low power issue. Delivered to me by Wednesday afternoon, by 6:00 PM early in the evening I put it in the double box and return it the following Day. I can only get 30 watts talk power on dummy load and AES is insisting that I am using a wrong microphone. after a week I went to HRO Oakland, Ca. and Nick told me to return it immedialtely if I experience the same problem. By just using the stock hand mic, I immediately get 70 watts without reading the manual. Since then I do not buy anymore at AES

    73 de,

    Reynaldo
     
  8. K4IIE

    K4IIE Ham Member QRZ Page

    Have owned Kenwoods for 20 years.TS850 for 5 years,TS870 for 12 and TS590 for 3.Have never had a problem.Always received excellent audio reports.All very easy to use and receivers were oustanding.The 590 is the best of them all and compares to a superb Yaesu FT1000D in every aspect.Louis Hernandez,K4IIE Augusta,GA.
     
  9. KG0MN

    KG0MN Ham Member QRZ Page

    Makes you wonder if Kenwood released this radio since the 590S sales were so dismal due to the problems of the low output and the ALC spike. Even though Kenwood did finally admit to these problems, I have heard numerous people say that they would not buy the 590S (new or used) solely for this reason.
     
  10. W7ARX

    W7ARX Guest

    Supposedly, they offer a free fix for the ALC overshoot problem (that they knew about early on) and with a software update in Jan 2015, wonder what else they will be addressing with that release that would make it similar to the SG version...very nice radio...
     
  11. WB8DD

    WB8DD Ham Member QRZ Page

    I applaud Kenwood for offering a firmware upgrade to present 590S owners which will add some of the new features to the previous model. Unlike Yaesu and the FT-450 series. In that case, Yaesu could have offered a firmware upgrade to add narrow filters to the FT-450/FT-450AT models. But no, have to buy an entire new radio. Good job Kenwood.

    To those who do not want to buy Kenwoods - then don't. No one cares.

    Every manufacturer makes their share of mistakes. Generally, it seems that SDR radios have "not quite" lived up to the promise. Some manufacturers are very pro-active firmware updates, while others are not. Those radios become obsolete just as fast as non-SDR equipment. Buyers need to do research before purchase.
    73,
    dennis
     
  12. K9ASE

    K9ASE XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    That's exactly what I'm thinking. Because I loved the receiver so much in the 590, I may wait til any bugs are worked out of the SG and buy one used.
     
  13. KN4RA

    KN4RA Ham Member QRZ Page

    I plan on a purchase before the year is out. Odds are in favor of the 590S. I ain't skeered.:cool:
     
  14. W9CW

    W9CW Ham Member QRZ Page

    It's not "supposedly," Kenwood does offer a free fix for the ALC overshoot problem - absolutely free, except for the owner's shipping cost to the Kenwood Service Center - for all TS-590s, either within warranty or out of warranty. I shipped one of my TS-590s to Kenwood Service Center East in Va Beach, VA in June, and it was returned within 10 days. Aesthetic condition as shipped (perfect), no more ALC overshoot, complete realignment, and a minimum of 100W out on all bands.

    The most significant update with the upcoming TS-590SG is a hardware redesign of the 1st LO, which reduces phase noise/composite transmitter noise, and improves 2kHz spacing 3rd order dynamic range. From a Kenwood release: "revised the circuitry around 1st Mixer which improves C/N characteristic of 1st LO." This should be interesting, as this was the point of contention and major carp from those in other camps who panned the 590 as being a transmitter noise generator in field day or multi-multi operations.

    The 2.0 firmware release offers all firmware updates as included in the production TS-590SG, except for those which are used with new hardware and hardware revisions, such as CW decoding on the LCD display.

    According to the Kenwood Japan website, the TS-590SG MSRP, converting from Yen to $, is going to be $2K, but who knows what the street price will be. The typical amateur manufacturer to dealer margin, without any quantity purchase discounts, etc., is 25%. We will just have to wait to see what the street price will be, but I imagine it will be higher than the original 590S price point.
     
  15. VA3MWL

    VA3MWL Ham Member QRZ Page

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