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Reviews For: Kenwood TS-570D(G)

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

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Review Summary For : Kenwood TS-570D(G)
Reviews: 168MSRP: 1,100
Description:
A compact, affordable, full-featured HF transceiver.
Product is not in production
More Info: http://kenwood.com/i/products/info/amateur/ts570dg570sg.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001684.6
KC2KU Rating: 2002-12-29
Good Basic Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is my second 570, the first being the 570(D). The (DG) is a better radio, especially the Noise Reduction. The radio provides a lot of value, has very good audio and is easy to operate.

The Noise Reduction and DSP still needs work. While you can't expect the radio to compare to those costing a thousand dollars more, it should compare to those in the same price range. I have a Yaesu 920 and the DSP and Noise Reduction is far superior in the Yaesu, when compared to the 570. This comparison was made with a TR switch, listening to the same station and switching back and forth between radios. In addition, the radio should have room for a SSB and CW filters to both be installed at the same time.

That said, I bought the radio for my RV and found with it's size and capabilities, it performs this function very well.
F6GYY Rating: 2002-12-21
Good for normal traffic Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Transceiver with a good ergonomic front panel, easy to use and with plenty of features for the low price. The transceiver suffers from severe AGC pumping under crowded conditions.
I am mainly using it on SSB, try this...

- Remove the AGC on SSB, look at the site of JA6QXW => www11.cds.ne.jp/~cqdx/eng1.htm
the 2SB switching transistor used there can be replaced by a very cheap 2N2222 NPN

- Use the 500 Hz crystal filter from Kenwood on SSB, select 1.8Khz position in the menu...

- place your IF-shift in the 9-o-clock position

- place the audio dsp slope buttons as follow :
inner button at 12 o-Clock
circular button at 10 o-clock

Adjust the RF gain instead and use the fine position of the vfo...

Results ? I am able to copy weak stations on 40 m SSB at night...near teh big broadcasts, here in Europe,as easy as on my electraft K2, maybe a little bit better...

The K2 has got a lot of images on 15m and on 17m...The TS570DG with it first IF at 70.3 Mhz is mostly quiet...

Help yourself and the heaven will help you...
I love this rig very much. Bert
WB4NBP Rating: 2002-11-26
Great Radio! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought my TS-570D from a good friend who bought it new the first part of 2002! It came with a free Heil Gold Line microphone. I have really enjoyed operating this radio after having used 520's, 530's, TR5's, 440's and Drake Twin lines.
It is a giant leap in technology from these oldies but goodies. Receive audio is great and I get great transmit audio reports. It has a very easy to see readout with large numbers and too many features to comment on! The antenna tuner is probally the feature that amazes me most. I used to think that the onboard tuners in modern transceivers were lacking, but I have tuned a HF6V on every band except 160, a George Black G5RV on every band except 160 and a full wave loop for 75 meters on every band except 160 and got good reports on all bands!! It never takes more that a second or two at the most and the blame thing will talk on any band!! I like the auto zero beat on CW and the built in keyer is great. Just connect your paddle and off you go! Im sure there are better radios out there but this rig has a lot for the money and I would reccomend it to anyone who wants to spend under $1000.00. Steve Wb4nbp






N8XE Rating: 2002-10-15
Great for the money!! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I had a used one previously that I sold. Regretted that move. Just got one on a trade. I am keeping this one. I love this radio. Very dependable, AWESOME audio!! Wow! SSB sounds so nice on this radio in my opinion. I like the large display. The DSP is ok. Noise reduction 2 is not very good. NR 1 is nice. I really like the layout of the front panel.

I have found these used from 550.00 to 750.00. Get one!! 73 de N8XE
N7MFR Rating: 2002-09-20
Serious bang for the buck! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I picked up a 570DG used recently and could not be more impressed. I took my time deciding between the 570, the 746 and 920. After pouring over reviews I decided to go with the one that does not break. I cant help but notice that between the 3 rigs, there are more 920's and 746's for sale out there. That should tell you something. The radio it replaced was an Icom 735 (a very nice radio in its own right). And I can honestly say there is really no comparison. The noise level is much lower on the 570 (the Icom was tough to listen to for long periods of time). I am particularly impressed with the receive audio! I have never heard a better sounding radio with any speaker let alone the tiny internal one in this rig! The transmit audio is also outstanding. I picked up the mc-60a mic for it and after some tweaking, it sounds good. The internal tuner is excellent and fast as lightning. Great for SWL, great DSP and plenty of features packed into a small (but not too small) package. I just noticed that if I hollowed out my FT 101E, I could stack two 570's inside! I love my old rigs, but this is one sweet little machine! An absolute keeper!
WA4HNC Rating: 2002-08-15
Love it! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After using a Heathkit HW100 and a trusty Hammarlund SP600 for 30 years, I was used to radios that glow in the dark - and warm up the house here on Tjorn Island on the west coast of Sweden. Well, with tubes getting hard to come by and global warming reducing my heating bill, I finally decided to upgrade. Like many other hams, I looked at both the TS570 and the Icom 746. The 570DG got many good reviews, the G model had just come out, the audio is extremely good on both rx and tx and its size and features make it a nice mobile rig. So I went for it.

I've had it for 3 years now and experienced no problems whatsoever. It fits right into an extra computer bag I had for my laptop. So when I go mobile, I just chuck it in there - there's room for mic, cables, etc, put it on the front seat, hook up power and a 20 meter hamstick on the luggage rack of my VW Passat and go roaring up and down the west coast of Sweden. Great propagation with the North Sea right beside me! I worked a W6 last year from the car!

Like any modern rig, it has loads of memories so I can keep up with old aircraft and NATO frequencies from my time in the US Air Force in England. The extensive menu options allow me to set up the rig just the way I like. The DSP and Beat Cancel along with IF Shift and the Noise Reduction features certainly make listening to anything much easier. I have the 1.8 narrow filter installed which is a plus. On CW you can narrow the selectivity down to the size of the hole in a needle. I have the speech synthesizer as well, so the "girl in the box" gives me frequency readouts while I'm driving. (First time I used that in the shack, my wife asked, "Who's that up there with you?")

So after using the 570DG for 3 years I can say it is a reliable, flexible, easy to use rig. I'm glad I have a fireplace in the house - the rig runs so cool that the fan has never come on.

73,

Craig Kall
SM6JCD / WA4HNC
Skarhamn
Tjorn Island (IOTA EU-43)
Sweden
ONL5183 Rating: 2002-07-30
I keep it, yes, but it is perfectible Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Hi,

First of all i would like to remind to european readers that the upgrade to the "G" version of TS-570D or S is not - and was never - available in Europe. sorry guys :-((

To complete the previous and lo-ong post I wrote about the TS-570D a few days ago, I asked for some additional information to a field engineer, hamradio also, specialist of DSP and HF who has tested various recent rigs. I asked him what he thought about this model vs other high-ends HF RTX.

Here are the key points of our discussion that turns around the DSP features :
- First, as the DSP is placed at the AF-stage, this is like processing signals going out your speaker... That means that if a station develops a signal at S59+20 db and you want to hear the most wanted DX spot emitting at S3 1 Khz away, even with the DSP notch, the AGC processing signals in the last IF-stage will reduce the overall gain due to the presence of the strong station. Result : your weak station will no more be audible ! That means also that in this example the DSP is useless...
So we can wonder why Kenwood and Mr. Torri, the designer, choosed an AF filter in place of an IF one ? For the same reason we choose the TS-570 rather than a TS-870 : it is cheaper !

So what to do ?
Select a built-in DSP suited to your RTX (Kenwood say it is but we know now there are limitations) but an external DSP could perform better but without perfectly be suited to this RTX. Is this the best solution ? Not necessary. This is like selecting a mic; do you select a mic in the Kenwood line of product or a Heil sound ? Personally i don't use it !

If you are not satisfy with the built-in DSP, the only other way is to test another one (external), but do not expect a miracle.

Objectively and technically speaking the TS-570 receiver module is not the best. Now the bad new. If you are not too attached with this model, sale it and buy for the same price a second hand TS-850S which receptor is excellent. It exceeds by largely the TS-570D thanks to its DSP working on the IF-stage.

At last, if you have some $800 order an Elecraft K2. Accordings users, the quality of the receptor is great ! Even the lab test of ARRL shows that this rig exceeds by far RTXs 5 times more expensive !

That is the hard really...
Now, do what your heart tells you. Personnaly I keep my it ! And one of these day I will maybe completed it with an external DSP ;-)

PS. I did a mistake in the previous post. The RIT of the TS-570D can be zeroed instantaneously by pressing the CLEAR button.

By medium QRM if you activate the AGC/NB or FAST button the signal is still worst that without these filters. So I would like to know when are they useful ?

A more complete article about this rig with pictures is available on my website at
http://www.astrosurf.com./lombry/menu-qsl.htm


----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by ONL5183 on 2002-07-26

Hi,
Reading all previous post I can say immediately that the global appreciation meets mine : in its category the Kenwood TS-570D is a fantastic RX/TX that will probably be a reference for the next years for various reasons I will explain.

I'm a SWL for many years and I mainly work in SSB mode with some CW activities, using a simple long wire of 40m or a short sloper 15m long, depending the location I am (ON or LX).

I bought a second hand TS-570D because of its performances (on paper and reviews), lower price (about 1200 euros with DC heavy-duty power supply), reduced volume and attracting look. I'm not disappointed at all ! See by yourselves.

During this summer I recorded an average of 350 QSO per month at all hours of the day with a preference for the eve (17-00 z). So now I have over 1000 QSL to send... During that time I have gathered over 150 DXCC and nearly all 40 CQ zones, including some destroyers and submarines (during the USS salem open door, HI) so I can tell you this is a terrific RTX, probably not at its best due to my poor antenna system.

The technology used in this RTX explain its excellent performances, the high quality of the DSP helps in discrimining weak signals in extracting it from the QRN or RFI/EMI.

On the ergonomy side, the front panel and the multi function knobs associated with scrolling menus on the display are very useful to select the settings they are intuitives, and I read the manual only twice while using the rig to understand its main functionnalities.

Thanks to the built-in DSP, the use of an additionnal narrow Inrad SSB filter is not mandatory (as is not the narrow CW additionnal filter) in such conditions. It can however help is extracting the weakest signals if you accept to invest in it much more than the price of this RTX.

I have also appreciatde the other DSP features such as the IF Shift, DSP slope, Noise reductions capabilities (N.R1 for SSB and N.R2 for CW) which are currently upgradable with stepping (to model DG or SG) without to forget the Beat Cancel B.C. filter. Without activating these filters this is like listening to a very noisy signal. When activated, the silent arises and the signal appears... fantastic !

Completed with the preamplification switch (which of course amplifies both the signal and noises as it is not placed at the antenna output), all these digitals filters allow you to heard with more or less ease any weak stations. For the loudest signals you have the possibility to use the Attenuator (but it reduces all signals, so I presume this option is rarely used) and should be replaced with another filter.

It is even happened that I switch off all filters when QRN disappeared in the 20m band. No white noise, nothing excepting the pure signal. A rare occasion to feel exciting sensations, like if the you speak directly with your correspondant without interference at all !

In conditions where QRN is heavy, the Sun well above the horizon or when the thunder strikes near your location, the RX continues to extract weak signals, but of course with much more difficulties.
But when the signal becomes too weak or too noisy, there is no miracle, the DSP reaches its limits and you miss your contact.
But I can say that I heard a BV station for example while other SWLs could not heard him using another model of RTX, proof of its excellent DSP.
Of course this DSP could be somewhat better using an external device, but at a price 5 times higher or more, so I'm very satisfied of its performances.

Among the other useful options, the automatic Antenna Tuner (AT tune) is a great option even if an external matching box can be useful with some aerials, as the CW automatic tune with ccomes with a customizable bandwidth and the hundred of memories offering a great ease to recall frequencies.

At last, the fact to be able to enter frequencies manually on the front panel keyboard is very practice, even if there is one constraint : to enter 3.63 Mhz for example you have to type 0363 enter (but all 0 are automaticlaly added to display 3.630.00 and this way of working in finally very convenient and fast).

Among the other "contraints", they are so many options available that Kenwood installed several multi functions knobs on the front panel. So you have to remember what do each of them to find a specific option. Hopefully they are not numerous (about 5-6 knobs are multi-functionals) and they are highlighted with orange characters. But do find the good one... not easy as you don't use them often.

On the contrary the power on button is clever. Usually when you press a button it reacts immediately (normal !). This one not. Kenwood engineers probably recognized that placing the switch on/off near the top of the rig or near another button can trouble some users : imagine that you switch off your rig in place of selecting a memory... Bad !
But Kenwood is clever. If you push by mistake on the power on/off, nothing happens. Ouf ! You have to push hardly on it to activate the switch. A very good initiative.

Only one suggestion that I addres to Kenwood : if the frequency knob is voluminous it could be still more smooth, like the RIT. Its performances are however excellent. The RIT placed just near it is too small (it has the same size as all buttons), located among the others but it is much more used that any other one - excepting the volume maybe -, and cannot be zeroed. If you turn it (its smooth is perfect) you have to turn it back to come back to the -00-. It's a pity.

At last, Kenwood provides optionnally and free on its website a CAT program to control the rig, mainly the filters settings. If you like remote control by the serial interface, this CAT is very useful.

Finally this rig is probably as powerful as much expensive ICOM models and other challengers. For its price it is really a winner, a world class RTX I will probably never sold. Small is beautiful.

Thierry, Luxembourg
K0EX Rating: 2002-06-24
OK, but NOT to spec!! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
After much deliberating about whether I was going to become active enough to invest in a new HF rig (I bought an FT-840 about 5yrs ago, just to get back on HF after a long sabbatical), I finally bought a 570 -- lots of nice features, and the price was right. And, I've tended to buy Kenwood over the years.

PROBLEM: I use a Heathkit SB-220. I anticipated that by using the auto-tuner in the 570, I could easily match the input impedance (Zin) of the SB-220 and drive it to full output. After all, I could with the TS-930 I used to have. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!

It took WEEKS working with Kenwood Corporate and BOTH service centers to find out why. ANSWER: ONLY when giving the TS-570 AT LEAST 13.8V at the DC connector on the back of the radio will one get 100W out (that's with the auto-tuner OUT of the signal path). Then, acc'd to one of the service center managers who has seen many 570/870/2000s with this complaint, the MAX output to ever be expected is 105W.

With the TUNER IN the signal path, one will see about 1dB LOSS in output (15-20w... more exact, 80W out instead of 100W)!

So, instead of matching better to the SB-220 and driving it more effectively, using the tuner resulted in less out of the amplifier. A loss of 15-20W into a >10dB amplifier means a couple-hundred or so watts less to the antenna. (For you who feel compelled to argue about what dW means at the receiving end relative to dB differences, let it rest.)

BOTTOM LINE: if one needs 100W output (for whatever reason), don't necessarily count on it unless certain exact criteria are met in the station set-up. Then, if you need to use the tuner to match to the load, 100W out will NEVER happen.

Kenwood has a design that DOESN'T meet published specifications, and I learned that lesson the hard/expensive way!
KE4AMQ Rating: 2002-06-09
dsp is awsome Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I HAVE HAD THIS 570D NOT LONG BUT I DID FIND OUT THAT THIS RADIO RADIO DOES PICK UP SIGNALS THAT I WOULDNT HAVE HEARD ON ANY OTHER RIG, THE MENU'S ARE SOMETHING ELSE THEY ALLOW YOU TO DO ALL KINDS OF THINGS TO TX-RX WELL I LOVE THE RIG, ALL THATS ABOUT ALL I CAN SAY
N9HCT Rating: 2002-05-28
Great Mid-Priced Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I would first like to thank all the other reviewers in this category. I spent about 2 months researching radios to replace my Yaesu FT101EX and this site was extremely helpful!! Thanks so much.....I'm a CW operator primarily but have been playing with digital modes and use SSB the least. So the CW/Digital features were more important in this radio selection than ssb features.

Now my initial impressions of the radio. I first must say that the technology jump from my old Yaesu was huge, so I have a bit of technology shock!

I've owned this radio for about 3 weeks now and just love it. The menu system/user interface is very intuitive and took me no time at all. I will say that for some advanced features the manual is well written and helpful.

I bought a few accessories for the radio too that might be important. I bought the 2.1kHZ SSB Inrad filter and the narrow Inrad (400Hz I think)CW filter. I have installed the 2.1kHz Filter and the filter is very nice, but not narrow enough. I would recommend buying the Inrad 1.8kHz to really make a difference. I plan on exchanging mine for the narrower filter. I have not installed the narrow CW filter yet due to only having one slot available at a time. I will install the narrow filter and test it when I send the SSB filter back for exchange. But, the DSP CW filters all the way down the 50Hz are nothing short of awesome!!! I think an aftermarket CW filter isn't really necessary, because the DSP in the Kenwood is very very good for this mode. The sound at 50Hz is very good... little/no tin-can sound with echo. I'm very impressed!

The other DSP features such as IF Shift and DSP slope do a very good job at getting rid of annoying qrm. I have been playing with PSK31 and using those two features can really get rid of QRM or strong signals that may be overpowering your psk31 waterfall. I have also had great success with SSB work and eliminating QRM too. I would say these features work very well. I would imagine that IF DSP would be somewhat better, but the AF DSP is pretty darn good and I'm very satisfied.

Now, there are a few things that I don't appreciate so much. The noise reduction 1 (NR1) mode for SSB isn't very pleasing to the ear. It's a little too ringy and makes the voices sound funny. I think my old Timewave DSP-9 does a better job of SSB noise reduction. This NR1 feature isn't useless, but could be better in my opinion. The NR2 mode is for CW and is very good. This clears up the static and makes the cw sound very clean with little background noise. I like the NR2 feature very much. Now, with both of these features you can adjust the level of noise reduction via a menu or put it in automatic mode. You can improve these NR modes somewhat if you play with the manual noise reduction settings.

The other minor gripe is the multi function knob that controls a lot of features depending on which menu your in. For example if you think that the RF power key is pushed and you go to change power and the key wasnt pushed..whamo you've just changed something else like frequency and screwed up your contact. But i guess being more careful will eliminate this problem. I think this knob may be a little over used....


I also purchased a Heil Goldline (HC-5 element) microphone and used the factory suggested settings. I have received very good audio reports with the suggested settings. I did some on-the-air testing and processor and gain feature work very well. When I use the HC-5 element in the Heil microphone I'm told that the voice punches right through and sounds very good for breaking a pile-up. The full range feature with the mic gain set at 60 and the Hb equalization with a little processor gave the best audio quality according to one reviewer. So I'm equally impressed with the SSB quality of this rig.

One more accessory I purchased was an Ameritron interface for my old heathkit amp. I bought the ARB-704 interface to get by the high keying voltages of the old amp. I made the cable up after some careful thought and tested the Heathkit SB200 and Kenwood TS-570dg combination. I received very good reports and the menu system to turn off the linear is very nice considering this amp does not have a standby. This interface is very universal and works well.

The last thing I would like to mention is how I currently have the rig set-up. I am using TRX-manager to control the rig via computer using Comm port 2. this program is awesome and allows some filtering that is more difficult to set on the radio itself... very nice CAT program.

I also have a RigBlaster interfaced with comm port 1 for my digital mode operations. I can run the CAT and rigblaster interface all at once and have complete control of everything. This has worked very well and wasn't too difficult to set up.

I plan on commenting more later as I gain more experience with this rig, but as of now I am very happy with my purchase. I think this is the best mid-priced rig out there for my operating habits. My next choice would have been the Icom-746pro, but it costs twice as much and really doesn't offer a 2X cost increase in performance. I think the IF-DSP would be nice, but the Kenwood is much more pleasing to the ears and the CW features are better in my opinion. So there we have it, hopefully others can use this opinion to help them in deciding their next rig. If you have any questions I'd be glad to help someone out if I can!!! Thanks again eham.cc!!