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Reviews For: Kenwood TS-2000

Category: Transceivers: HF Amateur HF+6M+VHF+UHF models - non QRP <5W

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Review Summary For : Kenwood TS-2000
Reviews: 460MSRP: 2300
Description:
Kenwood HF radio
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.kenwood.net/indexKenwood.cfm?do=ProductDetails&ProdID=5016&Group=5
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
144604.4
WZ3O Rating: 2010-02-17
Ugly Duckling - Beautiful Swan?? Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well you didn't buy it for looks..I hope?......
But beauty is in the eye of the beholder & only skin deep, want a rig that does just about all things "Ham" well, some better than others, buy one.
.........Perfect? NO............ VERY VERY good? YES..........
Other rigs costing 2 -3 times as much can't do all this Kenwood does!! It DX's, hits local VHF/UHF nets/repeaters, Ragchews local 10/6/2 SSB, Digital, Packet , etc < haven't hit the "Birds" yet, need different antenna >....
Would give it a 4.75 if possible since it's not perfect, but darn close.
.........Sure, I, like every Ham out there look for a rig that is perfect in ALL ways, cost, function, appearance....for $200..let me know when you find them..I sell my "gold reserve" and invest....HIHI.......
Have owned a IC730, FT450, IC746Pro, IC756Pro & the Kenwood TS-2000 holds it's own against them all...
K6AER Rating: 2010-01-26
Great all around radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used this radio for about 4 years. It came to me as a lightning strike basket case and Kenwood would not attempt a repair. For the longest while I could not get past the droopy butt front end design. Once I started to get into the radio repair and I was amazed at the quality engineering that went into the radio. As a RF engineer I would be proud to have designed this radio. Many have complained about sensitivity of the radio but this I found to be mostly myth.

I have the TS-2000 and the IC-7600 and although the IC-7600 is a superior HF radio from features and selectivity the sensitivity issue on the TS-2000 is blown way out of proportion. Each radio increases the noise floor by about 20 dB when connected to an outside antenna. The limiting factor is the noise floor coming out of the coax.

Minimal discernable sensitivity on TS-2000 on HF is about -129 dB, this is plenty. Part of the problem is many of the new hams who buy this radio, a shack in the box, hear high power stations using beams up high working DX they cannot hear on their G5RV. It not that the radio lacks sensitivity but their antenna is 20 dB below a beam up high for efficiency. In addition, antenna down low pick up more local noise and the new hams thinks the radio is noisy. Many new radios have better DSP but on the bench I have found the radio meets specification easily.

I use my TS-2000 mostly for 144 and 432 SSB. Like everyone else doing week signal work I have mast mounted preamps on top of the tower. I have checked the sensitivity with my HP E4432B signal generator and VHF sensitivity is .15 uV and UHF is about .19uV.

I just did a comparison on twenty meters listening to a DF1 on my vertical. The signal was S0 with the 1st. preamp on the IC-7600. Then switched to the TS-2000 with the preamp on. Although the signal was not moving the S meter on any radio there was no difference in copy ability. Both had the same audio to noise ratio. About 10dB.

Part of the TS-2000 receiver numbness narrative has taken on urban myth proportions. One ham complains and then the new hams all figure that is their problem and join in.

As with all things involving amateur radio it is about the antenna, not the radio.
IK1VQY Rating: 2009-12-30
Wonderful rig Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The TS-2000E is a beautiful transceiver, with a good listening and good modulation as for any Kenwood transceiver. The digital filters are very effective and easy to use. His behavior is very good in all bands, and I receive compliments for modulation but not required.
Has good sensitivity even if the S-meter is a bit 'miser: I may not see the signal but it plays very well and very clean

I like it very much and I would buy it again.

WS2L Rating: 2009-12-30
Great all in one rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I owned a TS-2000 for several years before selling it for financial reasons. On HF I found the performance to be excellent. I also used the rig for RTTY and PSK31, hooking up any external hardware was simple. I also used it to drive my Yaesu FL-2100F HF amp and the two worked well together. This rig was my first all mode 2 meter and 70cm transceiver so I have nothing to compare it to. My previous QTH was 350' above sea level and I use a Cushcraft 13B2 for 2 meters and a Cushcreaft A4496S for 440. Both performed well and I can only assume that this was normal for these bands. I'm saving up right now to buy a new TS-2000 but will probably only be using FM on VHF/UHF. I also like that there is a built in TNC which made it possible to access my clubs BBS.

If your looking for one rig to do it all for a reasonable price this is your best bet.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by WS2L on 2009-08-15

I bought my TS2000 in 2004 and owned it until about April 2009 and I found it to be an overall good radio. If you enjoy all modes on HF/VHF/UHF then this is a serious radio to consider.

I operated CW, SSB, Packet, APRS, RTTY and PSK31 for the most part and the radio performed very well. If you are into working 2 meters you get a full 100 watts output where as most other similar rigs only put out 50 watts.

The rig has a built in TNC which I found useful for operating Packet and APRS. There is a BD9 port on the back of the radio and they also have the Kenwood rig control software available. The software is a bit dull but it does have it's own software to run packet with.

I used my radio to do some contesting, mainly operated the VHF/UHF contests, RTTY, SSB and CW contests and once you have your settings customized to your liking you will be happy with the TS2000.

Overall this is a radio that can do many things, if you don't use a certain mode, band, etc you may in the future.
K3AXR Rating: 2009-12-13
Great Rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I've had this rig for about a month and continue to find things it can do. It is performing great on all bands. The dual receiver concept is fantastic. I recommend reading the manual numerous times. Every time I do, I find something more it will do. I also get unsolicited audio reports. And that's just with the hand mic that comes with the rig. I highly recommend this rig. I don't think you can beat it for the price.
K7GLE Rating: 2009-10-31
Added an ATU Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Purchased new in July 20009. Not much to add to others' comments regarding strengths and shortcomings. I'm a casual user without a lot of room and was attracted to the "rig in a box" configuration. I have been very happy with it on all bands and modes, including digital, plus or minus for band conditions.

As mentioned elsewhere, the range of the onboard ATU is somewhat narrow...too narrow to cover the entire range of all bands on my HyGain AV640 multiband vertical, so I recently added an LDG KT-100 autotuner, which is a direct replacement for the discontinued Kenwood AT-300 (plus the addition of 6M).

On HF the KT-100 is activated "transparently" using the tuner button on the TS2K front panel. Because the old AT-300 didn't cover 6M, that band requires tuning "by hand" using a button on the AT-100 while holding down your CW key.

So the rig, the ATU, a couple of closely-matching thrift store speakers, and a Navigator interfacing to a laptop comprise a very capable, tidy little desktop shack.

KC9MLL Rating: 2009-10-27
Great Rig! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned my 2000 for almost 2 years.
Once I got past the initial apprehension of touching the wrong buttons, I love it!
Kenwood did it right when they made this rig.
Being the ALL IN ONE station made it affordable for me to work all the freqs. available to a ham!
Just recently I started work on 160 Meters. Plugging right along! Go Kenwood!! de KC9MLL 73



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Earlier 5-star review posted by KC9MLL on 2008-11-15

I shopped around for almost 4 Months looking into every possible rig. Me being a NEW HAM and all, I wanted to set up a shack that would do it all, but on a very limited budget.
I picked my TS2000 up at the 2008 Dayton Hamvention. I have yet to find any problems with it. As my Shack grows and I put up new antennas, my TS200 just keeps plugging along, and I get to access more of it's functions as I go.
Today was the first time I ever got to use the 70cm side of the radio. It worked like a champ. I have worked all 50 States, and over 23 different countries. I have several friends that WISH they had bought a TS 2000. Have fun! and 73
Done Rating: 2009-10-24
Multi-Tasking Gem Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
After several months of research, I purchased the TS2000x. Looked at the Icom 7600- very pretty radio- but 4000.00$?? -- Fancy LED displays dont last long --
With a cheeseball homemade inverted V, I made contacts in the UK. The DSP works very well, and the filtering is incrementally adjustable, not like others with a few fixed filters.
Overall im very pleased with this rig- The build quality is outstanding- built like a tank. I like the ability to experiment with satellites, no other radio made is as diverse as this one.
KF4HR Rating: 2009-09-18
Jack of all trades, master of none. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned my TS-2000X for several years and use it mostly as my backup HF rig and also for local FM work. I would have to say this best part of this radio is that is is feature rich, but the receiver and overall package (human factors wise) is a major step backwards in performance, compared to Kenwood's top-end HF gear of years gone by. I enjoy the cross-band-repeat function regularly, as well as Sky Command feature. The receiver isn't on par with transceivers in this price range - but it's tolerable. On VHF and UHF you can get close to the receive sensitivity of competitive equipment, only if you leave internal the pre-amp turned on.

Other things I don't like about the radio is the small buttons and the even smaller print on those buttons and on the face of the radio. Also the slow scrolling menus aren't much fun to weed through and I find I refer to the manual more often than I would like.

The TS-2000X is not my favorite radio, but I do plan to keep it in my shack as a back up radio only because I like all of its functionality and band coverage. It's a shame Kenwood didn't put a bit more effort into a better performing receiver.

I rated this radio a "4" only because of it's numerous functions, otherwise I would have rated it a 3.

If ICOM would have added cross-band-repeat and some type of way to remotely operate their new IC-9100 with one of their HT's - I'd sell my TS-2000X in a minute.

KF4HR
HAMMYGUY Rating: 2009-08-30
Noisy HF receiver but shines in other ways. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned the TS-2000 for several years. Like others I've found the amount of white noise from the receiver very hard to listen to for any length of time. I've found that leaving the pre-amp on and using the RF gain control to adjust volume is the best way to get around this issue. Most old timers would recommend that all receivers be tuned this way! Aside from that this is a feature rich radio. It has more bells and whistles than most others. Mine is in use primarily for UHF/VHF packer/APRS where it really shines.

Would I recommend it for others? Probably not for use as a persons primary radio. Kenwood has known about the noisy receiver and UHF birdie on 436.800 since the radio came out. Both have been ignored. How are you to receive a satellite down link when you have an S9+ internally generated carrier on frequency? Sure you can play games with shifting of the received frequency to get around the carrier, but when the satellite is at maximum strength, you can't hear it.