New Kenwood TS 990

The Icom IC-7700 and IC-7800 have switch-mode power supplies.

 

Erik and I both do and have done that

 

what will be interesting to me is, if this new 'cadillac' 'catch up to yaesu' unit is actually made by Kenwood in Japan or, as I suspect, a cobbled together bunch of stuff from Taiwan and China. It just strikes me as a unit that is a knee jerk marketing effort to cover for the lack of a competative line of hf gear compared to Icom and Yaesu. 200W? How useless is that?...but Yaesu has one so...

We will see. In this economy, the market for $2,500+ radios is surely limited. KW is really stepping out on a cliff with this one. It sure is pretty though.

Oh well, its not on my radar.

73, Ted, K7TRK

 

im sorry theres no radio out there that can justify a 10k price tag much less a 6k price tag.....regardless of whats on it...

 

Maybe used to be that way, but now all I hear (if the job doesn't go to China or India) is
can you buy IP to do that and have it ready in 90 days.
I've wrote so much assembly I can do it in my sleep, which is now the only time customers
want me to do write assembly is when I'm home sleeping. Us hardware and software guys
may be rare, but once you turn 50 they sure don't seem to be very interested in if you are
rare or not.
On the radio front I understand Kenwood is still going to revamp the TS-2000 in a few years
and that would be a whole lot more interesting to me because it will almost certainly be
under 6 grand! Might even have a TS-590 derived receiver!

 

I've heard (including from the K'wood rep at Pacificon, last year) somewhere in the $5-6k range. Think Yaesu FTDX5000 or the Icom IC7700 .. If this is the case, as much as I'd like to have a knob-fest like the TS-990, the price will keep me waiting for an affordable rig with SDR display but also with trad controls. I like the Flex stuff except for the dependence on an outboard computer and so the lack of any of the usual knobs/buttons that I like. I guess there still too much "perceived value" (resulting in high prices) in units with SDR-anything on them.

 

I was expecting something different in looks. If the performance doesn't blow away the competion @ $5-6k they wasted their time. One has to wonder if any of these companies ask for outside inputs or is it all about money.

 

the latest status symbol rig that lights up like a christmas tree

 

Performance, performance, performance. Remember, when spending big bucks for a rig like this you are buying a receiver with all kinds of bells and whistles.

A transmitter is a transmitter with little change from the beginnings of radio (except spark). So, it is the receiver part of the rig that is important.

K2WH

 

If you look at the analog meter there seems to be a 44 to 52 V scale, suggesting 50V finals, so that may not be quite the case. That could result in improved imd over typical 12V finals.

 

That is a nice radio, but I bet it will be expensive, so the elite will get it first, then one day the common amateur radio operator can afford to buy one... I believe it will be on the display at dayton hamfest... I wish I could go, but due to expenses and no transportation to get there this year,, I guess I will wait until someone post the video on youtube and get more input.

Way too go Kenwood

Miguel-ad4y

 

receiver sensitivity reached a level YEARS ago where it could not be improved as it brought in more noise. strong signal handling is also good enough on most modern rigs also.

 

Hope it ships in a big box, because if I buy one at those prices I'll have to live in it.

 

That's the way I would design it if I were doing it. It would certainly explain the built in power supply.

fp

 

I can hardly wait for the thread>>>> "Does anyone have the MARS mod for the new Kenwood TS-990S?"