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Reviews For: Kenwood DSP-100

Category: Filters, Audio: (DSP and others)

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Review Summary For : Kenwood DSP-100
Reviews: 13MSRP: $500-$600
Description:
External DSP unit for TS850 and TS450
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00134.2
KB8QID Rating: 2017-03-24
great piece Time Owned: more than 12 months.
please disregard my previous statements. This was meant to clean up signals...It wasn't designed to open up the receive and transmit bandwidth, but it does allow you to do this. If your looking for one of these for this purpose...look long and hard as they are hard to come by.
KE4ZHN Rating: 2014-12-07
Not what it's hyped to be Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had one of these things. They are regarded as the holy grail among Kenwood audio guys. Frankly, besides enabling you to transmit wide as a barn door or DSB, it added almost nothing to the TS850 I had it on. On receive the filters are too broad to have much affect unless you have analog IF filters also installed in the rig. Also the crappy din plug cables are not very good and susceptible to intermittent issues. These are okay if you want to play ham radio audio, but are useless for much else and way over priced.

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Earlier 4-star review posted by KE4ZHN on 2008-06-12

I ran one of these with my TS850. The DSP-100 will improve your TX/RX audio to a degree but I didnt experience the "oh wow" factor some of the reviewers claim. This unit allows you to transmit a wider signal which to me is of little use because Im not a believer in transmitting overly wide. To some who toy with audio and EQ's this is fine but Im not into that aspect of the hobby. All too often Ive had to deal with splatter from some of these types so Id rather keep my TX bandwidth under 3khz. The high and low pass filters are somewhat limited in this unit but being a first generation DSP this is to be expected. To be honest, I was just a little disappointed with this unit for what it cost. Its a nice addition to your Kenwood, but for the same money you can sell the combo and buy a more modern used DSP rig that will do much more. Which is exactly what I did.
KK5DR Rating: 2014-12-06
1st gen AFDSP Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
These were known as the first generation of integrated AFDSP level processing units.
They were "OK", but nothing compared to the direct sampling DSP radios coming out these days.
N4NRW Rating: 2014-12-06
Adds IF DSP but not "Blown Away" Technology this day and age. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Nothing really new to add that has not already been stated but I will just share my findings. Bought this unit as an early Christmas present to myself for use with my backup TS-850SAT, mainly because I found it on the Used Equipment list at HRO for only $400 shipped with cables and manual. (Current listings on eBay command $600+). First impressions....really opens up the low end of the audio in TX as well as cleaning up the entire TX audio pass band. In this regard it does exactly what the manual claims. Receive improvement only seems slightly noticeable. You need to keep in mind that the xtal filters in the 850 are still in play and will alter/limit the audio pass band depending on the filter selected. Unit does run quite warm. Had problems initially with it picking up RF at QRO levels (1000+ watts) and chopping the audio. Coiling the audio cables and some snap on ferrites cured this issue. Nothing to report in CW mode. As expected, provides no improvement as a DSP Rx noise reduction system....it was not designed for this function.
W4SWR Rating: 2011-02-20
Great for what it was intended to do Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is not intended to be a noise reduction DSP unit. For what it was designed to do, it does extremely well. It was designed to limit audio passband, shape cw, and "clean up" transmitted and received SSB signals. It does a great job at setting hi-cut and lo-cut audio passbands. Received SSB signals sound "cleaner" and less rough around the edges. Definite noticeable difference. Transmitted audio is also cleaner. Unwanted sideband is suppressed into nothingness when switched on in transmit. If you own a TS-850 and want to make the best of it in terms of a great sounding clean signal, then this will do it. It probably brings the TS-850 into the realm of the TS-950SDX. Not much experience with CW. It costs as much as a TS-850 these days, so only you can decide whether it's worth it. It is for me. 73.
K1NVY Rating: 2009-01-10
TS-850S DSP-100 OK for CW Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I work 100% CW. I recently added the DSP-100 to one my two TS-850's. I found that the DSP-100 gives the incoming CW note a crisper sound than the stock TS-850S. The audio does have not have that deeply hollow "DSP" sound. I have the filters set to 400 - 2800 Hz.

The FAST/SLOW rise time does have an affect on the outgoing note. In FAST, I've received reports of clicking and have clearly heard the clicking on an adjacent receiver. In SLOW, there are no clicks. I would use FAST while chasing DX in a pile-up. The slightly sharper tone of my signal would give a slight advantage as advertized. I will not use FAST otherwise.

The "audio image" on the opposite sideband is gone as noted in the ARRL review of the TS-950SDX.

Unrelated the DSP-100, I also have two FT-1000D's and find the TS-850S is as good a performer as the FT-1000D. Each radio has its own personality and features but both are terrific CW radios.

The DSP-100 is going for up to $700 but for just CW ops, I would not pay that price. I got mine at $450. Is that a fair price for crisp incoming CW, switchable rise/fall time and no audio image? I don't know but I'll definitely keep it attached to the radio.

It does run hot with the internal cover on top of the main board. I removed the aluminum cover for greater air circulation and will eventually add a small fan. There are no adverse effects with the cover removed.

Fred/K1NVY
IZ2CED Rating: 2008-06-12
A nice update for TS-450 Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Well, I think it is a nice update for my TS-450. It demonstrate how Kenwood was looking forward at that years. On receive it help in clarity because you're no longer obliged to use the 2.4 kHz crystal filter. In transmission the voice is even more clear and crispy. With the DSP-100 I can have an analogic radio (TS-450) with the modern IF DSP stage and use the best of the two technologies.

73 IZ2CED Maurizio
LA1TNA Rating: 2006-12-26
Excellent Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had the DSP-100 & TS-850 3 years. The DSP-100 makes quite a difference and is giving an excellent TX-audio quality. Please see the webpages from KA0KA on http://www.cleanrf.com/ka0ka/. The TS-850 and DSP-100 enable really hifi SSB with 6 khz bandwith. Excellent!
AA5TE Rating: 2006-10-19
Good for TX, not so hot on RX Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This thing makes an immediate and quite noticeable difference on transmit, but, as a few others have noted, not so great on receive. It does make a noticeable difference on receive, but only in quality of the received signal, not hardly noticeable in what it does to noise and/or QRM.
VK4TUX Rating: 2005-05-03
Outstanding Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Well I liked mine so much I got another for the other TS850s. The big thing about appreciating these is knowing how to use them properly :).
They are part of a assortment of equipment that can provide unrivalled audio and reception.

Adrian