Kenwod TS-2000 Users ?

[One Country Boy]

Anyone on ORR running the Kenwood TS-2000 ? I think someone mentioned having one awhile back. I've always been partial to Kenwood equipment and I'm getting ready to put together a new station in the stick house. When I do, I'll put my TS-450s in our 5'er.

The TS-2000 is a lot of radio. I don't have a need for the 1.2 gig band or 1.3, whichever it is, so I can rule out the TS-2000X. I think that is the only difference in the 2000 and 2000X models. To be honest I'm not overly joyed with having 2-meters and 440 in my HF rig. Six meters is nice and would like to have 6-meter ssb capability. But, I have a seperate Kenwood radio for the other bands.

Appearence ? I think it's a fugly radio. "It reminds me of an old Nash Rambler", a fellow ham told me. But I'm looking for performance and I like Kenwood.

The TS-2000 has a built in keyer and TNC for packet. I like those features. Also some other frills I may never use. Anyone out there running one, if so, how do you like it ? What mic are you running with it ?

Thank you.

[w3zi]

Hi Jim
I have run the TS2000 for about 10 years now and have been very happy with it. Have it here in the Motor Home with me now and find it a great radio to have -- with the built in tuner etc. I run a Tarheel antenna and set it up on the bumper hitch when I am parked. Although I work mainly cw, have had good reports on the audio of the rig using the hand mic. I dont carry my Heil mic I use at the home QTH.

I have never done any serious VHF work but am looking at the KU4AB Antennas and going to give it a try.

73 - Mark W3ZI:radio:

[wa8yxm]

I run a ts-2000 using the stock Kenwood mobile mic that came in the box.. I would suggest the optional mic with Touch Tone Key pad if you use it for VHF/UHF as well as HF but if you don't the stock mic is just fine.. Very happy with it.. Suggest up's and extras include the voice recorder and again, if you plan on using some of the VHF features the CTSS decoder. (This is useful if you wish to operate it "Remote" as I do, in fact, plan on in the future)

I have a TM-733 in the front of the rig, the TS-2000 is in the 'ham shack" which is "Amid-ships" (about half way back) on my coach.. I plan on putting a six meter antenna in a nice hidden area (Got everythign I need save the round-tuit) and park the TS-2000's "main" on 52.525 when traveling.. Then use the VHF side to "Remote" it

[wa8yxm]

Oh.. I'm also told that if you replace a couple dozen diodes with low noise types it receives better..... Thats on the kenwood modifications page

[AE5BI]

I use the TS2000 and love it. It is too much radio for my limited brain so I get frustrated when I try to figure out Sky Command etc. One draw back is that the built-in TNC is useless for Airmail. As a fulltimer I would like to be on airmail as an option. A friend of mine gave me an MFJ-1276 but, again, I am too stupid to figure it out. :)

Otherwise the unit performs flawlessly and I get good reports on voice using the provided mic.

I am into an SGC AT to a long wire. For more info go to the HAM page from my website.

You won't go wrong with this radio but it is pricey I think.

[One Country Boy]

I appreciate the comments on the TS-2000. There may be several things incorporated into the rig that I have little or no use for. I basically want some good outgoing audio and that is adjustable. The filtering will also be nice. I enjoy running CW, I need to get my speed back up.

I'm not sure I understand what all "Sky Command" does or is. If one of you could elaboarate on that when you have a moment.

I see some places where the radio can be purchased for around $1500 or $1600, maybe less, I've not done a lot of online shopping yet.

I'm also looking for an amp. The Ameritron with the single 3-500z may be an option. I see good reports on it. I think that is the AL-80 or domething like that. I'll really get more into studying all the features in the next few days.

I do appreciate the info. If there are others please jump in.

73,

[One Country Boy]

Steve,

Looked at a portion of the website. Good job. I would encourage others to take a look at it. Lots of good info there. You guys are living the life. Makes me want to go out and hook up the 5'er. It will be a couple of more weeks before we make another trip. Great life isn't it ?:hello:

[AE5BI]

Sky Command allows access to HF on the TS2000 through the Kenwood HT or their mobile radio.

Thanks for the feedback!

[wa8yxm]

One suggestion with any top end radio now days including the TS-2000.

When I mounted it in my "Shack" I built a small riser, the riser is basically a box. the inside of the box is about 9" wide, and the depth (inside) is about 12".. Meaning the manual fits nicely inside.. Also on both the shack laptop and THIS laptop, is a PDF file titled TS-2000.. Yup, it's the same manual.. Very handy.

I still have times where I operate with the mic or key in one hand and the manual in the other and I tend to be a "Quick Study"

[One Country Boy]

Thanks for all the information and tips guys. We're leaving next Tuesday (11/18/08) for a couple of weeks. Not going far, a couple of hours from home, over to Sunset King Lake (http://www.sunsetking.com/), near DeFuniak Springs, FL. We should return December 2nd. Have planned this trip a couple of times and had to cancel it for one reason or another. If nothing changes my mind I'm going to order the TS2000 when I return. We probably will not be back out until after Christmas. That will give me some time to hopefully get the basics down and keep the manual nearby as suggested.

Thanks again. :radio:

[wa8yxm]

Suggestion.. Before you go visit the kenwood web site I am going to give you two links

Kenwood Amateur Radio support (http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Support/AMA_Radios/)
Scroll down to the "Manuals" list and drop down to the TS-2000 and download the PDF

For one thing where as paper manuals get lost or damaged.. PDF's are often easier to keep track of

The second is Kenwood MODS page (http://www.mods.dk/index.php?ModelId=543RadioRec=kenwood)

[One Country Boy]

Thanks for sending those two links John. That's what I needed, the manual. That will answer many of my questions.

We've had a change in plans, so will not be making the 2 week camping trip. Just had a new grand-baby-boy (my first) born into the family yesterday morning. :baby: He was not due until around Christmas but, decided to make an early appearence. He's a premy so will be sticking around here awhile. I may order that radio quicker than I planned. Should I order a Q&A book now for the grand or should I wait ? :D His father is N4XCI so he will surrounded by radios and stuff. I'll go ahead and order one now.;)

I had pretty much decided on an amp, a tube type. I was listening to a guy ast night on 75 meters running a solidstate amp. No tuning, I like that idea. He sounded good and had plenty of power. So, I'm back to that making up my mind there again. Too many choices. Got to do some more looking.

[wa8yxm]

The thing about amps..(There are two of 'em) and why I don't have one in my "Shack"

1: Power hog 2 (And this is the biggie) BIG and HEAVY

When you can extend your arms and touch oppisite walls in your "shack" (The smallest room in the motor home) ... BIG not good.. When you drive a gasser, Heavy not good either. Though I truly would like a couple of Ameritron (if I've not misspelled it) products I've seen)

Oh, and GONGRADULATIONS grandpa

Enjoy the manual.. As I said, I keep one on both this comuter's HD and the shack computer's HD cause... Well, I have a fairly steep learning curve and I occasionally need the manual still (2 years later)

Oh, HIGHLIGHT the section on resetting... There are two "Resets" one resets the CPU but leaves the memory alone.. The other clears memory

Highlight the 1st when you get a paper copy

[One Country Boy]

Thanks again John. Quickly going through the manual on the TS2000. That rig has a lot of "bells and whistles". Nice features !!! I'm sold on it. The least expensive I've found it is a little over $1,300. Not sure what the shipping was. I've got it bookmarked somewhere.

I've only run one amp in the past. A pair of 572B's in a Yeasu FL-2100F. Never used it a lot. I agree, they are bulky and heavy. I like to hang out on 75 and 40 meters, listening mostly. Never been much for chasing DX. If you're going to get on 75 in the evenings with a group, it's ashame but an amp is almost a necessity to hang in there with the "Big Boys".

I'm going to put the new radio and amp in the stickhouse. I've got a TS50 in the 5'er right now. It's been around awhile. I'm going to move the TS-450s out of the stickhouse to use in the 5'er. I would never attempt running an amp in the RV, for the reasons you mentioned and I can imagine the RF problems in a campground. I would be banned from the places we enjoy visiting.:rain:The TS-450 should workout nicely in the RV.

[wa8yxm]

Well.. I just came back in the house.. Since the MH is more or less parked (save for a couple of fuel runs to fill the tank) for the winter I decided to run a CAT-5 line out to it from the switch in the basement.. There are several reasons for this. Not all yet implemented.

However several things happened. 2 suprising

One, When I put the first cable end on the wire,,, It showed good on all but one wire (#8 as it turns out)

When I put the 2nd on #'s 7 and 8 showed bad

You onlyuse 1-6, are safety grounds (as are 2 of the other wires)

So the cable worked.. THE FIRST TIME

Never had that happen before :)

And while downloading updates to the shack computer I had a nice 80 mtr chat with ham in ohio.

[One Country Boy]

UPS delivered the new TS2000 this afternoon. HRO (Atlanta) had a sale going on. Probably a good thing I put it off a few weeks. Maybe I'll get it on the air tomorrow. Had to take care of getting air bags installed on the truck today. The radio waits but the truck rides much better.:) I think I'm going to enjoy this new radio. 'Preeciate you guys helping me make my choice.

[TXiceman]

Jim, if you get tired of the new Kenwood, you can mail it to me....I'll glady pay you fro the freight!

Contrats Gramps...Do you realize that you are now married to a Granny....(presume you are married).

I use an FT897D from my truck in the trailer as well.

Ken

[wa8yxm]

I know that "Give me a call" feeling

here are a couple more links (You can often find me on these links... sort of)

http://www.wssbn.org

http://www.hamdata.com/bc.html

[One Country Boy]

Ken, I'll keep you in mind about the new rig.:bleh: Hi Hi.... Thanks for the congrats on the new grand. Got to see him for a few minutes today. I've had a cold so had to keep away awhile. That was a bummer.

One of those links you sent John, I could not connect to. I'll try again later.

Lot of buttons on the new rig. Will take awhile to get familiar with it. Seems to be very user friendly though.

Got to head to bed, up too late playing radio.

[One Country Boy]

I'm enjoying the new TS2000. I bought an MC60 with it and it's got audio problems. I'm told it sounds like rf getting into the audio. I put my old MC50 on and still the same problem. Changing to the hand mic, that came with the radio, clears it up.

I've been told by a couple of guys, also running the TS2000 and MC60, there is a mod for the MC60. It needs additional grounding. Anyone heard of this problem ? I don't understand Kenwood selling this popular desk microphone with a known problem. It works fine on the FM side, just flakey on SSB.

[wa8yxm]

Don't have the MC-60, Just the "OEM" hand mic. Do have a suggestion though

Did I send you a link to the kenwood mods site up-thread? 1st post on page 2 of this thread if your pages break the same as mine

Oh, yet another net to check into 7272 rag chewers 9am to noon Eastern or there abouts

http://www.ragchewers.net

[AE5BI]

I run the TS2000 into the SGC237 tuner and I can't tune to 40M for some reason. I think I will turn it on and try listening to that net this morning; but I won't be able to transmit.

I am using the stock handheld mic and the only time I have ever gotten a report of RF getting into the mic is if I sit outside. Maybe check your antenna location?

[wa8yxm]

If it won't turn 40 try changing the length of the antenna.

I should note. it don't tune when the coax connector comes loose either

[One Country Boy]

Don't have the MC-60, Just the "OEM" hand mic. Do have a suggestion though

Did I send you a link to the kenwood mods site up-thread?

I downloaded that mod file. I'll take a look at it. I had forgotten all about it. Thanks for the reminder. Is it the mind that goes first ?

John, I see where there are several different mods documented concerning RFI problems with the MC60 mic. I'm surprised that Kenwood as not corrected that problem.

[One Country Boy]

I run the TS2000 into the SGC237 tuner and I can't tune to 40M for some reason.

I've tried tuning my 80 meter inverted "V" with the internal tuner in the TS2000 for 40 meters. It will not do it. My TS450 has no problems tuning it.

Putting up an 80 Meter Double Bazooka here at home soon. Will use a seperate antenna on 40.

[w3zi]

With Reference to the antenna tuner, I have found it works but the combination of a manual tuner is sometimes required on certain bands. I take the TS2000 tuner out of the circuit and tune up the rig through the tuner. Then engage the tuner in the TS2000 and fine tune it with the internal tuner throughout the band. I dont have that problem so much with the Tarhell here in the MH but did have the issue with multiband wire antennas.

73 Mark

[AE5BI]

I should clarify that it is the internal tuner that won't tune. The SGC is automatic and I have no idea what it does. My guess is that I have the perfectly wrong length for 40M, I know it is not supposed to fall on an even quarter or some such wavelength measurement. We have two feet of snow so I am not getting on the roof anytime soon!

I didn't mean to hijack the thread, sorry :)

[One Country Boy]

Hi Stephen,

You've not hi-jacked the thread and it would be OK if you did. I'm glad to see the posts. Wow, two feet of snow on the ground. I pulled up your call on QRZ and it shows you in the middle of (what appears to be) a runway in Arizona. Hi Hi.. Where are you located ? I think another site, maybe your webpage indicates you are in Northern Calif.

No snow here. Dealing with flooding conditions in our area. After a long drought, we now have waterfront property again. The water is a little too high for some that are in the lower areas.

The deal about using the external tuner Mark mentioned looks like it would work. Then you would not have to get up on the roof in the snow. Hi Hi.. As I said, my TS2000 won't tune my 80 meter antenna either. I'm still in the middle of putting this station together, I've got a mess in the shack right now. I've got to go pick up another desk that will support this gear.

Hope you have a Merry and White Christmas Stephen.

[AE5BI]

That's the problem with the FCC (and QRZ) using a mailing address. Most of us fulltimers have a mail forwarding service. I am in Flagstaff, AZ. It is probably confusing for contesters :)

[wa8yxm]

I downloaded that mod file. I'll take a look at it. I had forgotten all about it. Thanks for the reminder. Is it the mind that goes first ?

John, I see where there are several different mods documented concerning RFI problems with the MC60 mic. I'm surprised that Kenwood as not corrected that problem.


Well. Since I don't have an MC-60... I can make no comment.

However, that does make sense

On one of the nets I frequent we have had a poblem.. I have identified the source of the problem (A cell phone getting into a net member's radio) Last night we identified the net member... Wonder if it gets fixed now...

(No, it was not me, and as far as I know it's not a kenwood either but it's bad shielding on a mic cable,that's for sure)

[One Country Boy]

I'm really enjoying the TS2000. I've used the basics of it only so far. I like the fact that it has 6 and 2 meter ssb capabilities.

I'm ready to un-box the Kenwood TM742a and put it back on the desk. I miss having the seperate radio for 440, 2 meters and 6 meter FM. The sub-band on the 2000 will not allow you to program 6 meters into the memories and we have a couple of 6 meter repeaters in our area I enjoy monitoring and working.

I'm sure there are other brands, but the TS2000 is a great all-in-one package for RVing. I understand why several of you have them in the RV's.

[wa8yxm]

Suggestions: 1: Consider getting the optional Digital Voice Recorder module, and the CTSS decoder module (useful for some things)

Also there are two URL's you should visit now

1: Kenwood's customer support site (Link Here) (http://www.kenwoodusa.com/support/simple.aspx?men=2&M2=39) and download the PDF manual for the TS-2000. Having the manual on your shack computer hard drive will be very handy

The other link is Kenwood Mods on www.mods.dk (http://www.mods.dk/index.php?ModelId=543&RadioRec=kenwood)

You will find a lot of good information burried in those pages.. I wound up downloading the lot of them (I got a few Yesau mods too since I have an FT-51R, and some info for my TM-733 too)

Lots of good info scattered about those pages

[w3zi]

Found out my TS2000 loads rather well on 6 M into the Tarheel Antenna on the bumper. Just worked K5RK near Houston on 6M -- EL95 to EL29.. Great to have six -- a band I never had worked much except Field Day.

Anyone else had the TS2000 on Six or the SATS?
73
Mark

[One Country Boy]

I tried it but no contacts Mark... A contact on 6 with you and I is probably a shot in the dark. Want to try ?

Jim

[w3zi]

Dont know about that Jim - I monitor the DX Cluster through telnet and thats where I can pick up stations hearing the beacons. I tuned around a bit and heard WY5B/B in Biloxi. It will be hit and miss but fun to try. I picked up Larry (K5RK) in Houston on USB who heard me but pointed his beam up north cuz I was a W3...!!

I would like to get a small beam and armstrong it on a telescoping mast from here at the RV though. As for a sched attempt might do best to try 20 Meters or something as spread out as we all are. Some may have to relay or something like that to get a sched going.
73
Mark, W3ZI

[wa8yxm]

I have made a few contacts with my TS-2000 on six. And plan on doing more with it as I improve my antenna collection (I actuallly have everything I nees save a "Round-tuit" and I may get that when the weather improves.

I got to admit. it's one excitign radio.


Have not worked any sats with it yet.. Again.. I don't really have the right antenans

[W6CD]

I like my Kenwood stuff. TS2000 in the house shack, with a SGC500 solid state amplifier and LDG600 tuner. TS480AT in the RV. I use MC-60 mic or more commonly a Heil boomset.

[wa8yxm]

Got my TS-2000 at Dayton in 2006. Installed it shortly after, Very nice rig, Rather than sing it's praises though I'll list the "problems" I've had and that way you can see the other side.. (And just how minor the problems are)

Occasionally it acts weird, For example last Monday the auto-tuner (I use a KAT-1 Marine Grade automatic tuner on the back of the motor home with a long wire antenna) Would not tune.. This has happned to me 3 or 4 times in the last six years. Once I found the coax cable connector (PL-259) needed to be re-tightened.. Did so and it worked,, Another time it was the other end of the coax inside the KAT-1 that was loose, same cure.. Last time I did a "Partial Reset" or VFO Reset and ... it worked.. I've had to do VFO resets a few times.

Recommendation, download the kenwood memory manager and back up your memories.. Had do do a full reset once.

The other complaint is that the TS-2000 seems to have a high noise floor, In my case this is not so much a problem as the Radio's noise floor is about .01% of the ambient noise floor (Where I'm at now I see s-9 noise levels, S-3 to S-5 are common) But there is a low noise diode kit which my eyes are no longer good enough to install (Surface mount diodes) I may hire it installed in a few years.

Now the praises part: This radio is nothing short of fantastic.. It does most everything, It covers bands from 160mtrs to 70cm without the "X" module, You have 3 CW memories standard and 3 Digital Voice memories optional, and much more, It will asct as a cross band repeater, as a remote base or with sky command you can completly control it from another radio, You have a choice of two antennas "Built in" for 160 through 6 meters, one with a built in auto-tuner the other (1) uses the external auto tuner (The KAT does not do six meters) YOu can dial down the power level, I keep getting great audio reports from other stations. (OF course getting great audio OUT may have something to do with the audio INput to the microphone) but even if I forget to kill equalization and such I still get good copy when I fire up DM-780 and go Digital. it does digital modes very well.. Kind of fun chatting with places like France, or Spain running 30 watts into a 100' wire tossed over tree limbs.

In short, I like it... Now, that said there is anoter (ICOM) I think that has a few more features... but the decision in my case had to do with case size. It fits where I put it.. See the "How do you not bother others" thread for where I put it.