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write your own review of the Kenwood TS-940SAT.
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WB1CQW
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Rating: 3/5
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Jan 5, 2012 11:25
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caveat emptor
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I purchased a Kenwood TS-940S brand new in 1990 for about $2000. By 1996 it had become essentially unrepairable. By this I mean it developed intermittent transmit problems. My friend, who owned an authorized Kenwood repair shop, explained that the problem was due to solder connections that had begun to fail due to oxidation during the soldering process. Once the problem starts, it's impossible to tell when it will happen again. He said that this soldering defect was a pattern, not a one-off problem in my particular unit but in general across all the Kenwood TS-940's. For this reason after repairing my unit, he would no longer consider repairing this model. My solution: to swap the 940 with a friend even dollars for a TS-50 he had new in the box. I am still using the far smaller and simpler to use TS-50 that had originally listed for 1/2 the price of the 940 and get consistent praise for its audio. I now have a radio that costs $50 round trip to ship if it ever needs maintenance vs $150 for the heavy Kenwood TS-940S that can never be made "right." By the way this problem of soldering failing over time is evident in manufacturers other than Kenwood in this time period, according to the tech, though especially evident in this model.
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ZL1CDP
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 16, 2011 01:45
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A wonderful rig... when working
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I happened to pick up a non-working TS-940s recently where the rig didn't do anything when turned on - no display, nothing.
Faulty cap and bad soldering joints on the AVR unit got the rig working, bad IC in one of the PLL's got the PLL to lock (almost) and changed one cap in the VCO circuit then VOILA... rig has been absolutely SOLID since.
Wonderful radio now - GREAT RX and TX audio - excellent filtering.
Recommended if you can either a) find a good working one, or b) know how to repair one.
Cheers
Chris, ZL1CDP
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K9CTB
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 9, 2011 17:42
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Addendum
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Seems I misspoke on my previous review, although it does not affect my 5-star rating. I have come to find out that the Piexx RS-232 board for the TS-940S, as well as the original Kenwood interface, does NOT support PTT at all. As Chris from Piexx told me, Kenwood never included a PTT command in the library of commands used by the original IF232/IF10 interface. This just means that you need to either use VOX (which is what I do) or build a transistor interface to use another com port on your PC to control the PTT line.
73,
K9CTB
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W2YM
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 3, 2011 21:15
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Great old radio
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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This TS-940S is one great radio.. I put the procs. on they think I put a amp on.lol,, this rig is something.. I have to keep it on the LOW side of things.lol.. GREAT radio can't stay enough about it.. Slope feature is nice.. Mark W2YM 73's.
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OH2DW
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Rating: 4/5
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Oct 15, 2011 23:50
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It was my dream - still is
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I bought it as new in U.S., Jan 1987. That means almost 25 years ago. It's still going strong. In the meantime, I had to resolder VFO, as it made small jumps. Also, I installed the "Lowe-mod" in 1987 to get rid of AGC pumping, when there was a strong close-by station. Otherwise, I have been very satisfied, and still working with it together with an SB-220, and KAM for RTTY. Great rig. The only thing I'm missing today, is an independent second VFO.
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M0BTZ
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 18, 2011 11:08
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Wonderful rig. Getting old but a golden oldie!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I had previously been spoilt on the TS-830S which is a very good, solid workhorse of a rig with excellent audio. Based on this experience, I was glad to find that the TS-940S is a similarly well put together rig.
I had been looking for an older TS-930S/TS-940S for a while now, to become the main DXing rig in the shack.I was lucky to find a 10-mil serial number TS-940S in almost mint condition at a reasonable price.
I have only used the TS-940S for a short while with a poor antenna, but am so far I have been very impressed. It is solidly constructed, like a battleship, and is very heavy, but it gives excellent performance on TX and RX, and has an great receiver and wonderful audio. It certainly sounds and feels like a classic Kenwood!
I found the slope-tuning SSB controls and CW PBT controls excellent to use whilst on air. Also the ergonomics are in general very good except that some of the hidden controls are a awkward to access. A memory band selector switch on the front panel is badly needed!
There where some issues initially with the radio (which are now well documented) but need to be fixed / checked over before serious use, but thanks to the excellent work of ZL4AI, DF5KF and PY1NR and others, there is a wealth of information on the web on how to do this. The huge advantage of this radio is that it uses leaded components which I can replace and keep it on the air! The RF and IF boards are also quite easy to access.
Yes, this is an old rig and yes sure, there are going to be some maintanence issues, but no manufacturer today builds a solid no-menu, dependable workhorse of a radio of this level of build quality and performance anymore.
I would choose this over many of the more modern rigs in a heartbeat because it is just such a pleasurable radio to operate.
This rig looks and feels like a real classic.
The PSU cooling of the stock rig was poor, and is a weakness of this radio, but the simple modification of changing R11 (AVR board) to 470R, is a quick fix to make the PSU fan turn on sooner, which does help a lot to allow the rig to run much lot cooler. I would also recommend that an over-voltage crowbar circuit is added to the 28V PSU to protect the rest of the rig.
Keep the output power at 100W or less for a nice clean signal, and good reliability from the PA.
I hope to add DF5KF's mod at some point to help to improve the close-in phase noise @ 10kHz offset to -130dBc/Hz or better at some point, which will help the rig to cope better with today's busy band conditions.
This rig works very well for casual DXing on a budget, however it could only be highly recommended if you are an experimenter, and have the time, skills and the inclination to fix and correct a few design faults and the production mistakes.
Make sure you get the full list of Tech bulletins and check that they have been implemented.
I still believe that the older analog rigs like this are in a totally different league in both on-air performance and ergonomics compared to the newer transceivers on offer today, and they still give great bang for the buck!.
All in all, this is still a excellent radio with many things that it does well compared to those which it does not.Remember that Audio DSP can always be added externally if needed.
Big tip :- The internal speaker is better than on many rigs I have used, but I would still recommend using an external Hi-Fi speaker (It does not have to be the SP-940), to get the best possible received audio possible from the rig. It seems to be on par with the 830S in this respect.
My minor gripe is the lack of a finger indent on the tuning knob, this is a bit of a pain when a fast QSY is required. I guess I will have to look out for another fabulous KB-1 knob, as used on my 830S.
Well done Kenwood! - I wish they would build transceivers like this today, but I suspect that they would be so expensive to make today that it would not be economic to produce today unfortunately.
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N7CPU
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 25, 2011 13:27
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Still one of the best
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The only complaints that I have read on here are about alignment issues from a 20+ year old rig. Having a 7xxxx series, I have had most of the same problems. Total time on bench...3 hours...it gives my ic746pro a run for it's money, and usually comes out on top. Even without all the digital toys, nothing that an outboard audio DSP won't take care of. Yes, they are big and heavy, but they are still one of the most complex rigs ever manufactured, and the performance shows it.
If the changes are made to concur with all the service bulletins they are still toward the top of the list. The solder problems so well known are no where near as bad as icom did in the late 70s and early 80s (My IC211 was MUCH worse)
Great rig if you can lift it. it's repairable (no surface mount components) and it's performance is still WAY up there.
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WB5YDA
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 14, 2011 04:46
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Excellent Xcvr
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I just purchased my TS-940s at a hamfest about 3 weeks ago and am very pleased with the way this old beaut performs. Being a Kenwood user (TS-520S), which is still a great old radio, this one is head and shoulders above the 520. This is by far the best HF rig I've ever owned.
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SV9DRU
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 9, 2011 10:15
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The best !
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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This has to be the best analog radio from the 80s. Very low noise floor, excellent audio both TX and RX, and very competent in dealing with nearby strong signals.
Even though it is quite complex in construction, it is not hard to troubleshoot and repair should it require TLC. If one is willing to do some preventive maintenance and install a few straight forward mods (depending on the serial #)he will end up with a fantastic rig both in functionality and looks.
In my book, on par with my Drake TR7 in raw RX/TX performance, but with many additional accessory features, and superior to even the FT1000D due to its cleaner audio. I am not even mentioning any of the new DSP "enhanced rigs" since I am a firm believer that most of the time they just do not compare to these old analog transceivers, no matter how much the manufacturers are trying to convince us for the opposite.
If you can get one in decent shape, grab it. You will not be sorry !
73,
Marinos, sv9dru / ki4gin
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KI6DCB
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 20, 2011 20:09
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Great radio!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have had my TS-940SAT since 2006, and it was great until last year. I started to notice AC hum on RX and, then, on TX, so, I knew that the elderly power supply electrolytics were on their way to capacitor heaven. I stopped transmitting, but I still used the receiver.
A close lightning strike last autumn sealed its fate; in addition to hum, the receiver was nearly completely deaf. Last week, I finally got the urge to fix her, and, sure enough, a re-cap of the power supply and some repairs to the front end of the receiver brought the old girl back to life. The input attenuator relays are still welded in the "0dB" position, but, as long as I stay away from Field Day, that won't be a problem.
It's amazing what a difference the repair of the power supply made; the famous Kenwood audio, which I thought was good before, is even better than when I got the rig as a twenty-year-old companion.
As has been said, you can keep your nested menus and DSP whiz-bang devices; give me knobs, and lots of 'em! I'll be hamming while you are reading your "War and Peace" owner's manual.
Kenwood knocked this one out of the park, but I'm saving my paper route money for a 950SDX. Nevertheless, the 940 is staying with me forever.
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