Can't decide 480sat or 590s

[S109]

Hi,

Can't decide out of these two radios ? I know the 590 gets great reviews all the time but I'm a bit tight on space as I wanted it on my pc desk but the 590 won't fit it will go on the shelf next to it but it will be on my right turned 90deg which isn't much of a problem as I can hook it up to the pc. The 480 sat would be a nice fit as I can have the head unit on the desk next to the TM-V71e and put the main unit on the shelf out of the way. The other thing I don't like on the 480 is the illumination, it only does orange and I'd probably need a filter or two titted so price wise I'm nearly at a 590s !

Any suggestions 

Or another brand/make ?

[KD8MJR]

In a few minutes the K3 gang will be here to tell for just a few $$ more you can get a K3 and then if you follow that advice you will have a bare bones K3 kit with 10 watts of power.  Of course they will forget to mention that for just a small price of say an additional $1000 you will then have a 100 watt radio thats complete.

Anyway I guess I am going off topic.  
Personaly I would choose the 590 mainly because everyone I know that owns one thinks its a fantatsic radio and is very happy with it.  I know the Tx Audio is very good and the Rx from what they tell me is also very good.

I can't think of another Radio that I can recommend that would be that compact and work as well as the 590.

[W1JKA]

Re:S109

Do you plan on buying either of these two radios or any others based solely on opinions,recommendations or advertising without actually taking the time and effort to try any particular radio out for yourself?

[W8JX]

In a few minutes the K3 gang will be here to tell for just a few $$ more you can get a K3 and then if you follow that advice you will have a bare bones K3 kit with 10 watts of power.  

K3 is good CW rig but do not even try to sell that 10 watts with it is better than 100 watts with a 480 or 590. Also K3 is not a at its best in SSB either.

I can't think of another Radio that I can recommend that would be that compact and work as well as the 590.

The line between a 590 and a 480 with optional CW and SSB filters is a very blurry one in practice. The optional filters for 480 have very tight skirts. 480 also has a very clean receiver and low noise mixer. I have spent a lot of time with a 480 and speak from past experience.  A 590 is a very noticeable upgrade over say a 570 but not 480. You will not be disappointed with a 480 with a narrow 1.8khz SSB filter for when band is busy and a 500hz CW filter for digi and CW. It is arguably the best bang for buck out there. I would suggest a external speaker for 480 as built in one does not really do receiver justice.

[S109]

Hi,

After getting a demo in the shop of the 480 I wasn't impressed with the audio, maybe it was their radio 

The Icom 7000 was also on my list, after a demo of this I was really impressed with the sound and the filtering  yeah it's harder to use and it gets mixed reviews everywhere I've looked online but I couldn't resist it with a LDG tuner  got no idea on how half of it works but quickly set it up in the kitchen and strung my inverted V up set it to 10 watts and just got my first HF reply from a contest station in Slovenia   

Pretty pleased with that.

[W8JX]

Hi,

After getting a demo in the shop of the 480 I wasn't impressed with the audio, maybe it was their radio 

The speaker in back of control head is lacking a bit and how the receiver audio DSP is set in menu has a big effect on audio sound. I would not sell it short. Do telling how someone had set audio menu in a demo rig. 

[S109]

They also did a full reset on it but still sounded awful so maybe the unit 

[W8JX]

They also did a full reset on it but still sounded awful so maybe the unit 

Again full reset sets to default and stock speaker lacks. It has to be tweaked to your ear and that is beauty of that rig is that you can tailor it on receive and xmit audio. If you are looking for best performance with rig in plain vanilla settings, look for a simpler less capable rig. With a external speaker and tweaks to menu item 18 which has 8 settings and one of them can be tailored with software.

[ZENKI]

Get a  TS 590S you wont go wrong.

It does everything that the K3 or TS990S will do. Its receiver matches the performance of both these without a problem. Any radio with better receiver performance cant be realistically used on the ham bands today.

The TS590S will blow the TS480 out of the water in terms of receiver performance.

All these radios have transmitters with poor TX IMD specifications and they all about as poor as each other which is  a shame.

The TS590S is the best performance vs bang for the buck radio available today.

What would have made the TS590S a bargain buy would have been the inclusion of a IF output for a bandscope. This was marketing or deliberate mistake by kenwood. Considering that the receiver is rated higher
on SHerwoods list its then no surprise that Kenwood deliberately crippled the  TS590 radio.

The TS590S is  what ham radio need more off. Good performance at a reasonable price. What companies like Kenwood need to do is improve the transmitter IMD and forget about 12 volt radios being sold for home station use.
A  receiver whose performance is so high is not needed in a portable or mobile situation. A radio like the TS590S with a 200 watt 50 volt FET PA and a in  built power supply is all that the majority of hams need. A 12 volt to 50 volt DC to DC converter could be offered as a option.

Any difference between a TS590S and radio like the K3 will be mostly imaginary or subjective nonsense. If there is a difference it can be measured and the differences reported. Since nobody has quantified the difference
all those youtube vidoes are mostly crap. The simplistic test comparisons in front  of a cheap video camera using an internal mic is joke to begin with.

Elecraft has nice radio platform in the KX3. Its shame they dont offer the KX3 in bigger box for home station rather than portable use. I dont see them doing this  since it will  take sales away from the K3.
The KX3 with a in built power supply in a bigger box with a clean IMD 50 volt PA would be great general purpose radio for many hams.

Anyway my vote is for the TS590S for sheer value for money.

[KH6AQ]

ZENKI, you have you operated a KX3? I bought a KX3 and ended up selling my K3 because for me the KX3 is just as good a "home station" radio. With the KXPA100 amp one can imagine the KX3 is the control head for a larger radio.

Like it or not the KX3 will compete with the K3 with the base KX3 + KXPA100 priced at $1600 vs $2100 for the base K3/100.

I have a TS-480 in the car and while it's not something I prefer to contest with, and I have, it is a great mobile rig.

For the OP it comes down to desk space. Given a choice between the TS-480 or the KX3/KXPA100 the Elecraft wins on performance and fun while the TS-480 wins on price.

[N3HFS]

What would have made the TS590S a bargain buy would have been the inclusion of a IF output for a bandscope. This was marketing or deliberate mistake by kenwood. Considering that the receiver is rated higher on SHerwoods list its then no surprise that Kenwood deliberately crippled the  TS590 radio.

Given that the receiver design incorporates multiple IFs, depending on band, this is a greater challenge than on other radios that use the traditional single IF chain.  Please try not to disparage the radio for not doing something that is inherently more complex (and expensive) to do because of the radio's design improvements. 

I feel that it is extremely fortunate that hams have such a great receiver design available early-on in a low-end-priced transceiver.