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Author Topic: Kenwood still in the ham business?  (Read 3815 times)

VK6HP

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Re: Kenwood still in the ham business?
« Reply #15 on: November 17, 2021, 06:35:57 PM »

A look at the user groups would have pointed to dealer supply chain issues, no doubt related to factory fire issues but also, most recently, to container unloading issues at US West Coast ports. 

TS-890s's are certainly available and, in fact, a VK6 friend just bought one from DX Engineering, where I bought mine a couple of years ago.  His radio is the latest in a local cluster and was bought after a direct comparison with the other contenders, and complements an Apache Labs and related SDR suite.
« Last Edit: November 17, 2021, 06:51:36 PM by VK6HP »
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K7LZR

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Re: Kenwood still in the ham business?
« Reply #16 on: November 17, 2021, 08:53:41 PM »

Just keep buying your Zei-goop garbage because "it's good enough for the price" and you won't have to ask about Kenwood Icom or Yaesu anymore.  How many rigs has Kenwood put out in 10 years?   What the 570DG (late model), 590s, 590sg, 990 and 890...  Kenwood has been known for doing it right and then not trying to reinvent the wheel.   A contact is a contact so I'm not sure how much new stuff you really need.  Maybe you need a better antenna.

Not all Chinese products are garbage. I owned a Xiegu G90 for awhile and it was a very nice working and quality radio. I only sold it because I wanted to return to older rigs which I can likely repair if needed and not have to send them out. Now I'm back to my old reliable Icom IC-745 circa 1983.

Trouble is that most people will try to save money when buying, especially now. Trouble is that they usually buy something that really is total crap before they even look at the well known brands and in most cases it would have been better to spend a bit more and buy a good Icom, Yaesu or Kenwood to begin with.

I don't think that the Chinese are hurting Icom, judging from the popularity of the IC-7300 and maybe the IC-705 too. Not sure about Kenwood & Yaesu though.....
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G8FXC

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Re: Kenwood still in the ham business?
« Reply #17 on: November 18, 2021, 01:10:35 AM »

They are still there, but I don't think they have as much commitment to ham radio as Yaesu or Icom do. I think that, at least in part, this is down to their non-ham markets - take a look at the web sites of the three companies and look at their ranges of non-ham equipment. Both Yaesu and Icom have a significant presence in the commercial analogue markets - marine and aeronautical VHF AM and FM radios and HF SSB radios. Kenwood commercial activity focusses more on digital radio. Hence, I think there is more scope for Yaesu and Icom to leverage their designs across both the ham market (which is relatively small) and the far larger commercial markets.

Martin (G8FXC)
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SOFAR

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Re: Kenwood still in the ham business?
« Reply #18 on: November 18, 2021, 01:19:47 AM »

Kind of surprised this is even a question.   Well no not really.   Let's see there's been a factory fire at a major chip making plant, government restrictions over a virus and now a supply chain break on damn near everything.   

It's a legitimate question. How many new transceivers have they released in the last decade?

More than you.

Now, that is an immature comment.

Seems the Kenwood FanBoys get emotional.
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AC7CW

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Re: Kenwood still in the ham business?
« Reply #19 on: November 18, 2021, 03:01:37 AM »

The TS-890 is not an SDR. Kenwood is not pushing the state of the art, not investing in SDR
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Novice 1958, 20WPM Extra now... (and get off my lawn)

N6MST

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Re: Kenwood still in the ham business?
« Reply #20 on: November 18, 2021, 05:15:23 AM »

Kind of surprised this is even a question.   Well no not really.   Let's see there's been a factory fire at a major chip making plant, government restrictions over a virus and now a supply chain break on damn near everything.   

It's a legitimate question. How many new transceivers have they released in the last decade?

More than you.

Now, that is an immature comment.

Seems the Kenwood FanBoys get emotional.

The only Kenwood I have is an HT that I very seldomly use, no emotion there.

Who are you?
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K1FBI

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Re: Kenwood still in the ham business?
« Reply #21 on: November 18, 2021, 08:08:31 AM »

Kind of surprised this is even a question.   Well no not really.   Let's see there's been a factory fire at a major chip making plant, government restrictions over a virus and now a supply chain break on damn near everything.   

It's a legitimate question. How many new transceivers have they released in the last decade?

More than you.

Now, that is an immature comment.

Seems the Kenwood FanBoys get emotional.

The only Kenwood I have is an HT that I very seldomly use, no emotion there.

Who are you?

SO FAR he hasn’t been willing to tell us that.
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KA4DPO

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Re: Kenwood still in the ham business?
« Reply #22 on: November 18, 2021, 09:20:00 AM »

The TS-890 is not an SDR. Kenwood is not pushing the state of the art, not investing in SDR

Really?  When you say SDR, that means a lot of things.  The receiver chain in the Kenwood is dual conversion superhet, 2nd IF is DSP.  If by SDR you mean Direct Digital Sampling, then no, the Kenwood is not that.  At this time, no Direct Digital Sampling radio can handle the signal levels that the TS-890S controlled high level mixer can, they will simply fold because A/D technology is just not there yet.

Kenwood pushed the state of the art in Analog technology and did a great job, the only other receiver that can come close to it's mixer performance is the Yaesu FTdx 101D, which also uses a high level analog mixer front end.

Sorry premature funeral committee, but Kenwood is still in business until Haruo Kawahara says it's not.  Why don't you stop telling him how to run his business, give him time to do it his way.  Be patient, it takes time to push the state of the art.  They will build a Kenwood ham radio Death Star, that will shut the premature funeral committee up good.

Consider yourself lucky if Kawahara doesn't show up here very soon to threaten and chastize you severely. 
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WA3CUJ

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Re: Kenwood still in the ham business?
« Reply #23 on: November 18, 2021, 10:47:09 AM »

They are still doing a lot of advertising in QST. I doubt a company that was out of business would be doing that.
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N6MST

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Re: Kenwood still in the ham business?
« Reply #24 on: November 18, 2021, 10:52:13 AM »

Kind of surprised this is even a question.   Well no not really.   Let's see there's been a factory fire at a major chip making plant, government restrictions over a virus and now a supply chain break on damn near everything.   

It's a legitimate question. How many new transceivers have they released in the last decade?

More than you.

Now, that is an immature comment.

Seems the Kenwood FanBoys get emotional.

The only Kenwood I have is an HT that I very seldomly use, no emotion there.

Who are you?

SO FAR he hasn’t been willing to tell us that.

Precisely. So, a nobody. That's all I need to know :)
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WA9AFM

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Re: Kenwood still in the ham business?
« Reply #25 on: November 18, 2021, 11:40:28 AM »

Just keep buying your Zei-goop garbage because "it's good enough for the price" and you won't have to ask about Kenwood Icom or Yaesu anymore.  How many rigs has Kenwood put out in 10 years?   What the 570DG (late model), 590s, 590sg, 990 and 890...  Kenwood has been known for doing it right and then not trying to reinvent the wheel.   A contact is a contact so I'm not sure how much new stuff you really need.  Maybe you need a better antenna.

....and lets not forget the TS-480SAT/HX, TH-D72, TH-D74, and TM-D710.
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AC7CW

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Re: Kenwood still in the ham business?
« Reply #26 on: November 18, 2021, 11:58:17 AM »

The TS-890 is a multiple conversion rig with DSP in the lower IF. Hams have been using those for decades.
The TS-890 is not an SDR. Kenwood is not pushing the state of the art, not investing in SDR

Really?  When you say SDR, that means a lot of things.  The receiver chain in the Kenwood is dual conversion superhet, 2nd IF is DSP.  If by SDR you mean Direct Digital Sampling, then no, the Kenwood is not that.  At this time, no Direct Digital Sampling radio can handle the signal levels that the TS-890S controlled high level mixer can, they will simply fold because A/D technology is just not there yet.

Kenwood pushed the state of the art in Analog technology and did a great job, the only other receiver that can come close to it's mixer performance is the Yaesu FTdx 101D, which also uses a high level analog mixer front end.

Sorry premature funeral committee, but Kenwood is still in business until Haruo Kawahara says it's not.  Why don't you stop telling him how to run his business, give him time to do it his way.  Be patient, it takes time to push the state of the art.  They will build a Kenwood ham radio Death Star, that will shut the premature funeral committee up good.

Consider yourself lucky if Kawahara doesn't show up here very soon to threaten and chastize you severely.
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N6MST

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Re: Kenwood still in the ham business?
« Reply #27 on: November 18, 2021, 12:01:39 PM »

Just keep buying your Zei-goop garbage because "it's good enough for the price" and you won't have to ask about Kenwood Icom or Yaesu anymore.  How many rigs has Kenwood put out in 10 years?   What the 570DG (late model), 590s, 590sg, 990 and 890...  Kenwood has been known for doing it right and then not trying to reinvent the wheel.   A contact is a contact so I'm not sure how much new stuff you really need.  Maybe you need a better antenna.

....and lets not forget the TS-480SAT/HX, TH-D72, TH-D74, and TM-D710.

I don't always work satellites, but when I do it's with a D72.

In all seriousness, I wish KW had been able to keep this radio in production or had been able to come out with a worthy replacement for satellite work. I'll be keeping my D72 til the cows come home.
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AC7CW

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Re: Kenwood still in the ham business?
« Reply #28 on: November 18, 2021, 06:37:53 PM »

Just to clarify there seem to be four architectures in use today:
--Tayloe; example being KX3
--Direct sampling; IC7300, IC7610 and others.. There is nothing ahead of the A/D except a preamp
--Sampling in the first IF; FTdx-101D. Yaesu calls it direct sampling but that is marketing talk. If direct sampling means state of the art then they have direct sampling in abundance....
--Multiple down conversions with DSP at a low IF. This has been around for decades.
 
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G8FXC

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Re: Kenwood still in the ham business?
« Reply #29 on: November 19, 2021, 12:06:32 AM »

...
--Sampling in the first IF; FTdx-101D. Yaesu calls it direct sampling but that is marketing talk. If direct sampling means state of the art then they have direct sampling in abundance....
...
I don't think Yaesu call that direct sampling - read the brochure more carefully. The current generation of Yaesus is described as "hybrid SDR" with a direct sampling receiver for the panadaptor. Because they sit the main SDR behind a roofing filter a few kHz wide, there is not enough bandwidth there for a full panadaptor, so they add a second low performance direct sampling receiver in parallel...

Martin (G8FXC)
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