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write your own review of the Kenwood TS-2000.
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K8BZ
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Rating: 4/5
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May 13, 2013 07:26
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Impressive
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Although I have only had the TS-2000 a few days, I can comment about its performance as compared to the rig it replaced. I have an Icom IC-820H which is an all mode 2m/70cm satellite transceiver that has been in use for about 20 years. I used it for satellite and packet primarily, and for occasional repeater use. It finally became dysfunctional after a long life. I was now on the look out for a replacement with the following requirements:
1. 2m and 70cm all mode
2. Minimum 45 watt out put on vhf and uhf
3. Automatic satellite tracking in satellite mode
With the loss of high altitude ham satellites the field of commercial ham satellite transceivers has narrowed considerably over the last 10 to 15 years. The choices now seem to be the TS-2000 and the IC-9100. With the IC-9100’s price running $2,000 above the TS-2000, it was an easy decision.
As always, the eHam.net reviews are always checked before a purchase of new gear. I also download the manual to get a good sense of what to expect before a purchase is made. Not finding consistent problems with the TS-2000 in the reviews and the manual appear to indicate that the above requirements were met in a functional fashion, the order was placed. I didn’t need HF in the radio, but there was nothing on the market that didn’t include HF in a vhf/uhf all mode, so it was a nice extra.
The radio arrived in short order and in good condition. There are a lot of features and menus and dual functions of many of the front panel controls, but the documentation in the manual is quite good. Following the steps described in the manual carefully and methodically, after programming a couple repeaters, the rest could be programmed without referring to the manual. After the experience of programming the terrestrial repeaters, it shortened the learning time to program satellite mode memories.
Here are the notable features I found that are worth mentioning:
1. 300 memory channels that store all importing operating conditions for the stored frequency. Once you get used to where the dual function buttons are to set CTCSS tones and non standard transmit offsets, programming is quick and easy. Each memory channel can be named with a descriptive name that is displayed when you scroll through the memories. It’s much easier to identify the channel by a descriptive name than a displayed frequency.
2. Separate dual receiver that can be switch on and off with a press of the volume control for the Sub receiver. Most of the time the Main transceiver is set up on a packet frequency via the accessory jack (one of three) on the rear panel. This leaves the sub receiver that can be set to a favorite repeater to monitor activity there.
3. On HF the DSP band with can be adjusted with the turn of a knob on the front panel, which provides a wide variety of very effective settings. Another knob adjusts the Hi and Low cutoff audio frequencies on receive.
4. On CW you can operate Full break-in, Semi-auto break-in and manual with simple settings. In the full break-in mode, transmit and receive change over is accomplished via a mechanical relay with a soft click. I found the clicking to be a little distracting at first, but got used to it after a few minutes.
5. Split operation on HF is do-able, but not as easy as the “quick-split” feature on current Icom radios. Although the way it functions seems odd (almost too odd to describe) it can be done quickly once you go through the steps a time or two. There is also a convenient means to momentarily listen to and adjust your transmit frequency while operating “split” by the touch of a single button. The location of this button was well placed, just to the right of the upper part of the main tuning dial. This button is dimpled so if you tune with your right hand you can press the button with your middle finger and adjust the frequency with the thumb and index finger of the same hand. Avid DX’ers who know how to bust pileups of rare DX stations operating split with appreciate this feature.
6. Program channel scans have lots of useful options. All memory channels can be assigned to one of 10 groups. All satellite memory channels are in their own satellite group by default. For non satellite memory channels I only need two groups; voice channels and digital channels. So when I use the scan feature on the voice repeaters I don’t scan the packet channels, etc. You can also easily lock individual channels out of the scan. The scan rate is quite slower that I expected.
7. Setting up satellite memory channels involved just about the same number of steps as it did on the IC-820H. These memory channels can be named also, which is convenient when scrolling through the satellite memories you just look for the name of the desired satellite as you scroll. I did find a huge “birdie” at 436.805 Mhz. just above the SO-50 satellite downlink frequency of 436.795. This birdie was 40 dB on the satellite downlink, which I suspect will render this bird unusable on the TS-2000; although I haven’t tried it yet. I spoke to another ham who found the same birdie on the same frequency. The default tuning step on vhf/uhf is 15 Khz in FM mode. It took a while to find out where to change it in the menus, but it is changeable.
8. VERY IMPORTANT NOTE HERE: The preamp on this rig is on by default on all bands above (higher in frequency) than 40 meters. This is unlike any other rig you are likely to encounter. Normally the pre-amp would be turned on only when needed for weak signals. For this radio you need to think differently and only turn the preamp off when the receiver is being overloaded. Think of the OFF position of the preamp as an attenuator and you will use it properly. I was almost at the point of calling Kenwood about sending the rig in for repair when I found that repeaters that were 20 dB over S-9 on my 20 year old Radio Shack HTX-202 were only S-5 on the TS-2000 with the preamp off. Even the TS-2000 describes the use of the preamp as you might use an attenuator, by turning it off when overloading occurs. I also searched the subject on line and confirmed that this was the case with these radios.
9. I have not used the internal memory keyer on this rig. It does have storable CW memories but appears to lack the ability to increment a serial number for contesting. But as far as an internal keyer is concerned; it has more than the basics.
10. The audio output from the speaker is exceptional. I ran the audio output to an external 8 ohm stereo speaker as well as an Icom SP-23 external speaker with several filter options and neither of them sounded as good or were as loud as the internal speaker in the 2000.
11. The internal antenna tuner tuned quickly, but I only tried it once to see how it did. I don’t really need it.
For the asking price I found this to be a good value for what I needed and wanted. If it was my primary HF rig for contesting it would fall significantly short of the performance of my IC-7600, but the price was far short of the 7600 also. There’s a lot of radio and a lot of features in this box and overall I am very impressed.
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K4DSP
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 19, 2013 11:18
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Great overall
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I've had the TS-2000 for over over 10 years, and while it's not necessarily the best at anything it's good at everything. It's the one rig I have kept while others came and went. If I could only have one radio the TS-2000 would be it.
A few random observations: The receiver, while plenty sensitive, suffers somewhat in the presence of very strong signals, but the judicious use of the attenuator helps. Except for VHF and 10m I find no reason to use the preamp. The QSK is surprisingly good, better than a lot of radios 10 years newer. I have used it at 100w in a number of RTTY contests with no problems. I don't find the DSP noise reduction particularly helpful, but the IF filtering is good, and it's nice not having to buy crystal filters. I've had one failure when one of the preamp FETs died, but it was fairly easy to replace and only cost a few bucks.
I tapped into the 10.695 MHz IF and brought it out to a connector on the rear panel. With appropriate hardware/software you can get a panadapter with a span of about 30 kHz which is a handy feature.
I would love to see an updated version of this radio, maybe with a receiver of the calibre of the TS-590.
73, Doug K4DSP
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W8KMA
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 17, 2013 08:11
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I like mine!!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have had this rig for almost 10 years and never had any problems what so ever!!. I run mostly SSB most the time. I did have a flex 1000 and 5000, the Kenwood TS-590 and the Kenwood TS-480sat. I still have the TS-2000 and the rest are gone. For what I do, and along with having 2 meters and 70cm bands in one package it works great. I did have a couple of other TS-2000 rigs along the way. One was good and one was not so good. I'm not sure if the new ones are better or worse..If you get a good you would like it. I will have to give mine a 5. Too bad they are not all the same but what rigs are??? That's my story!!
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W8MLD
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 16, 2013 19:55
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Best ham shack in a box
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The Kenwood TS2000X is my 2nd HF rig since I have been licensed in 2008. My first was an Alinco DX70. I bought the 2000X because I enjoy working VHF/UHF SSB, satellites, meteor scatter and EME. It was hard to find 2 meter all mode rigs now a days. The DSP at the IF stage is great on the 2000, helps cut out QRM. So far it has been a great performer. Receive is good; if it gets noisy turning off the preamp usually cures the problem. I also love the DX packet cluster feature; it shows the band and call sign of the spot, and one button puts the frequency on the main transceiver. A lot of reviewers seem to expect $10000 performance from the TS2000 that only costs $2000. This radio does it all from 160 meters to 23 cm if you add that. You can also use HF from your Kenwood HT or 2m/440 mobile with SkyKommand II. To me that is just an extra thing that makes the 2000 worth having.
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M6MEQ
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 19, 2013 14:41
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All things to all Hams
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I got my TS2000 as bargain when a dealer screwed up another deal, and I'm grateful for what happened! There seem to be acouple of gripes among the reviews that I just don't understand.
1. Yes, the fan runs. But it only runs when it needs to, like when the rig has been transmitting and generating heat. If it didn't run, you'd have a lot more to moan about!
2. It isn't deaf on 2m. It works perfectly well on 2m. It doesn't need a pre-amp, because it has one built in, but you do have to press the button to turn it on if you need to(top left, marked "PRE")!!!
At present, I run no more than 10w because of my licence, but I get great reports from whoever I speak to, both local and DX.
Overall, this is a great radio, but you do have to spend a little time setting it up to get the best out of it, because it is complicated. Buy one, you won't be disappointed. 73's M6MEQ
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M3WBK
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Rating: 5/5
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Dec 29, 2012 17:05
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great radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Had my ts2000 for just over a year now and only really used it on vhf uhf until a couple of months ago as I have a ts590 which I purchased at the same time.since using it a bit more I have notice that it has much greater avg talk pwr than the 590 and though it's not quiet as hot on hf as the 590 it's not far off.I have found myself turning the 2000 on rather than the other rig.2m ssb could be a little better on the front end but overall this is a great radio with very good TX reports with Heil pr40. £1500 for a radio like this is a bargain.Kenwood have been making this radio for years now with some tweeks here and there so they must be doing somthing right. Well done Kenwood. 2e0wbk.
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VK2FANG
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Rating: 3/5
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Dec 19, 2012 16:06
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Keep your fingers crossed.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I still have mine since I first reviewed it on Jul 11, 2009 06:34.
It has been running fine since being repaired for its total 70cm failure except that just recently, we discovered the audio on 70cm SSB is terrible and I suspect this has been the case since 2009 because this is the first instance I think I have tried 70cm SSB.
My advice after having one of these repaired is to comprehensively check everything. Just because it sounds alright on FM or 2m SSB, doesn't mean it's OK elsewhere.
I still curse the teeny numeric keypad buttons. I tend to use it in conjunction with HRD and HRD is used exclusively to program the memories. If you like scanning memories, forget the TS-2000. For some reason mine only scans about two memories per second. VFO scan is fast but I really can't understand Kenwood's thinking here. HRD's Bandscope tool saves the day.
On a lot of levels, I actually prefer the IC-7000. One area the Icom excels is noise blanking and notch filtering. NB on the Kenwood doesn't seem to do anything and notching out whistles requires multiple steps and juggling of the DSP controls, BC, Manual BC, AN and manual AN, where the Icom is far simpler.
The FUNCtion button is painful because I am forever jumping from one side of the radio to the other to activate secondary functions. Better to just push and hold.
I still think this radio is a flawed gem. The longer it continues to run without problems, the happier I'll become but I still wonder from time to time: what next?
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W6OU
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 21, 2012 18:41
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Good radio
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I needed a transceiver for my second operating position so I decided to go with the TS-2000. I like having hf, 6m, 2m, and 440 capability in one rig. I lot of the initial comments were about the slight curvature of the front panel but after using this for two years, I don't notice that at all. There are a lot of dual-function push buttons so I often have to search for functions that I don't use often. I wish the output power could be set with a knob instead of via the menu. I like the ability to tune in 5 kHz steps on hf. The noise blanker is very effective on my local power line noise.
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N5GOD
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 14, 2012 23:13
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Best radio for the money
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The TS 2000 may not be the high dollar radio. But for the money it is the best radio I believe that is on the market. It does a lot of things very well. I think some may get flustered learning to set it up. This is not a radio you just turn on and talk, sure you can do that but if you want to get the most out of your TS 2000 read the big thick manual that goes with it and a nifty manual is good too. I get great results from my radio so good I bought another one. One thing on the down side of this radio is the sensitivity on 2 meters almost a must of have a external preamp. Yes there is a lot of buttons and some of those buttons do more than one thing. I found using computer control spreads it out and simplifies using this radio. I have had many great compliments on my audio and I think one thing that makes a difference is a Heil PR 781 mic. I really like the way it sounds better than any other mic I have used on this radio. I am always looking for the most I can get for my money and in my opinion this is it. I got 2 great radios for much less money than one of the high dollar radios would cost.
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K0AWU
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Rating: 4/5
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Jun 27, 2012 04:29
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Fairly happy
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have had the rig for about 18 months now. I replaced a IC-746Pro that had a 2m SSB distortion issue from the day it was new.Icom could never fix it and I gave up. I liked the 746Pro better for operation and sound. However ---
I mainly use the 2000 on 2m and 432. All weak signal operation including EME. The rig is totally deaf! This was not completely unexpected, but still disappointing. An external preamp for both 2m and 432 is REQUIRED.
I am not all that wild about the DSP filter sound on CW or SSB. For my ears, not as nice as the Pro.
Frequency stability on 2 and 432 has been OUTSTANDING! Long periods keydown no problem running EME at even 80watts indicated on 2m. MUCH more stable than the 746 or the Icom 820.
Wish it had individual "band buttons" instead of paging through the bands. All the buttons are a bit much, but if you want control on a non-SDR what are you going to do?
All and all ... a "shack in a box" that works, just don't expect it to do it all without "more stuff hanging off the back panel".
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