Been studying propagation for many years as a ham, and I don't claim to be any kind of expert; below is my opinion. 
I now monitor about 7 or 8 different propagation charts every day.  Yes I have noticed the noisy conditions on 20 and also on 17, 15 as well.  Bands have been especially bad the last 2 or 3 weeks.
What I have noticed, in my crude scientific measurements, observations, and opinion is:
1.   X-ray bursts at C level or higher tend to shut down the upper bands, and make a mess of the lower bands like daytime 40 meters, especially with a high A index occurring right after an X-ray event. 
2.   For the past 2 weeks we have had both, X-ray to the low C levels with occasional M bursts AND high A index, running into A=19 or higher for periods.  A should normally be 2-5. 
3.   My general rule is anytime A index above 10, DX is difficult.  This past week or two I have been seeing A shoot up as high as 25 or so!  All the bands sound dead and I can't get over my backyard fence on 40 and the upper bands sound like the antenna is disconnected. 
a.   Seen this happen back in the 70's and 80's right at he start of field day, a big burst would shut everything down Friday night and we wouldn't recover  until Sunday afternoon, ruining Field Day, except for nighttime operations.
4.   When the solar wind GSM speeds gets above 300 km/s, or higher, and or particle density gets above 1 cm³, or rises, especially near 10 cm³, static goes up dramatically, making the upper bands very noisy.  I think its because we are getting bombarded with a whole bunch of particles.
5.   The new 304A data also shows some correlation to band noise, though I haven't studied that enough yet.

Sorry you don't like Kenwood, but I do have to say these facts:
1.   I own 2 Kenwood THF6A's and owned one older thumbwheel Kenwood TH-21AT HT back in the 80's; I broke the antenna connector off the TH-21AT and had to repair it; it was my fault, not Kenwood.
2.   The older of the two THF6A's is eight ( years old and had zero problems, no failures, no repairs, no knobs fall off, no antenna problems, no problems at all.
3.   I purchased the 2nd THF6A so I could donate the older one to a friend who has no HT's.
4.   The Kenwood THF6A's do EVERYTHING and do it well on 2, 220 and 440.  I even have use it to work AO51 satellite barefoot when AO51 was still operational.  I used a ARROW hand held antenna and programmed the radio for Doppler.  Successfully made many satellite FM contacts through AO51 with the THF6A HT.
5.   Batteries are a bit expensive and the MAHA after market don't work due to a mechanical design flaw, the finger stock isn't dimensioned properly and it won't contact correctly to allow enough current on transmit.  The Kenwood batteries on  the other hand work fine, no problems; they are pricey, but you get what you pay for.
6.   I would recommend the Kenwood THF6A HT to anyone.  Its an excellent HT, has lots of features, easy to use, reliable, and is still working fine after 8 years.
7.   I don't use my HT very much, maybe once a month, but then there are times I might use it every day.  Its always been dependable.
8.   All the Kenwood THF6A speaker mic's, battery chargers work well and are reliable.
9.   I had a brand new 1.2 ghz Alinco tri band HT here and it was impossible to use and program.  I think it was designed "in Martian" because I could never get the thing to work properly and it was impossible to program; I ended up selling it.
Those are my observed actual facts.
Again I'm sorry you had such a bad deal with Kenwood.

Me too.  EVERYTHING I ever bought from them over the years **always** didn't work, needed repair, rework, further alignment & testing.  What was the worst was latent reliability failures in KW amp power supplies:  at about 600 hours of "on time" they would ALWAYS fail.  Repeatedly!  After the third return and replacement I got my money back. 

They couldn't even get me one of those "power distribution strips" with the 5 way posts, wired correctly.  Mine was miswired and required rework.  How hard can it be to wire two parallel buss wires down a power strip? 

Never again!

I agree with AE5QB exactly.  And I been chasing ham satellites since 1969.  AMSAT is in trouble, all the old guys are SK now.  To get a launch isn't free any more.  Same with getting parts.  And expensive testing to ensure that the payload won't ruin the mission is expensive.  The current AMSAT guys are probably doing their best but things have changed drastically and a lot is beyond their control.

I haven't been on a satellite for over a year now, their just aren't any useful birds up long enough to make it worth while.

Maybe hams should go back to the telemetry only modes and collect useful data. 

Times have changed, especially Americans just aren't interested in space right now.  Nothing motivating the nation to the extent it was back in the 1950's. 



 

My best key:  Scheunemann Morsetasten Einhebel.  Solid brass.  Doesn't move on the table and built to last 300 years.  Zero maintenance or adjustment after 3 years of heavy use.
 
Second:  Vibroplex paddle built in 1973 at the New York factory.  Darn good.  But "tinny feel" after using the Einhebel.  The "dot" and "dash" posts wear and the threads eventually wore requiring more adjustment.

Third:  Bencher straight key.  Simple, well built, no maintenance.

Fourth:  My Novice Speed-x 310-003.  Simple but requires maintenance.

Last:  J-38.  Won't stay adjusted, always fiddling with it. 

I operate about 80% CW so I use my keys/ paddles a lot.

It helps to fasten down a light key (Speed-x) screwed to the operating table, so it doesn't move.  The Einhebel is so heavy (almost 5 pounds) that it won't move.

40 meters!

You can get on 40 right now with your tech, 40 CW. 

HF is where its at.  VHF is just another boring telephone. 

You can always work someone on 40 night, day, low SS, high SS, 24/7/365 band.  And you can works lots of DX there too.

HF is where the real fun is.

I own both and the TS590 is far superior receiver to the TS2000.  I ran transfer curve sensitivity testing and the TS590 is at least 25 db better which is huge!

The technology of the TS590 is NEW whereas the TS2000 is 15 years old.

The TS590 is about #8 in Sherwood Engineering list vs the TS2000 DOESN'T even make the list!

TX in the 590 is great also.

But if you want a satellite radio, then TS2000 is one to consider.  But if you want great HF get a TS590!  My opinion.

Suggest you buy a Elecraft KPA-500.  I went the ALS-600 route and after the THIRD factory return and 1 year of heart ache, returns, shipping stuff back, got my money back.  It was a pizza amplifier.

No problems with the KPA500 and worth every cent.  Works well on 120 also.

Been a ham for 48 years and operated a lot of CW on all the bands.  I think there is at least the same or more CW activity now, than back then, especially DX, contesters, and award chasers.  What has dropped off is message handling and nets.

I often find the new hams are curious about CW and do take the plunge and get on CW.

Also, the crowded bands after dinner hour don't happen now because everybody watches cable TV or surfs the internet or chats on their cell phones rather than fire up the rig.  That said, I still think there is just as much over all activity now as back 48 year ago.  And yes, not as many of us stay up late at 2AM chasing DX.

I am a 2 time TS2K owner and just bought a TS-590.
 
My unscientific ear comparisons find that the TS-590 is a much better receiver than the TS2K.  The 590 will hear things the TS2K just can't hear.  Also, the filtering, roofing filters, seems to be superior to the TS2K.  I suspect the side skirt rejection is much, much further down than the TS2K.  Also the immediate down convert to 11 MHz seems to have definite advantage for dynamic blocking though I can't test this by ear.  The DSP seems to be superior in the TS-590.
The TS-590 makes the "Sherwood Engineering list" and the TS2K does not.  You might do an engineering desk check of those results and compare the TS-590 to say top of the line K3.  You can see where it stands against the best RX in the world.

That being said, the TS2K does things no other radio will ever do and I suspect the TS2K will be sold for a while – it does a lot that no other radio does and does it fairly well.  Also the TS-590 is of recent design and the TS2K was probably designed 12 to 15 years ago, so given advance in state of the art, the TS-590 has that advantage.
The TS-590 seems to become my CW radio now, as I'm impressed with its CW performance. 

Again, I will eventually run scientific bench side by side A/B testing between the two but not now.

My 2 cents worth.

I built and tested the 20 meter Ramsey amp and never could get it to work, even after sending it back to the factory for repair and retest.  They said it worked after repair, but getting it back, it worked for few minutes then burned up.  I threw it in the trash.

Why not ship it to Cliff and let him fix it?  I had a TS2K repaired by him, he did an excellent job, it was reasonable and quick turn around. Unless you are an expert and have all the test equipment or want the challenge of fixing it, it may be better to let him fix it for a few bucks.  I doubt the radio is B.E.R. (beyond economical repair) from what you have said.

I recently bought a KPA-500 amplifier from Elecraft and it’s a beautiful piece of equipment.  Bullet proof and works perfect in my shack.  I did have a few questions and they were very helpful on the telephone.  They get an A+ in my book. 

6 meters been just awful this year. 

Your suggested website is no good its all in FRENCH and I speak only ENGLISH.