Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Kenwood TS-480SAT

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

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Kenwood TS-480SAT
Reviews: 218MSRP: 1499.99
Description:
100 watts HF & 6m allmode portable and mobile transceiver w/ built-in antenna tuner
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.kenwood.com/i/products/info/amateur/ts_480/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
24.52184.7
K5BDH Rating: 2009-12-18
Great Radio. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I highly recommend the TS480sat. A very easy rig to use, excellent performance without all the menus to bog you down. For the price you would be hard pressed to find anything else that performs at the level of the 480. Very clear and accurate little rig. Would definitely buy again.
VE3LPP Rating: 2009-12-14
Best Rig yet Time Owned: N.A.
This is the best rig I have ever used for mobile,and I have had many rigs.Now I am using it for a base rig at my winter home.I use the control panel as if it was a laptop while laying back in a recliner,leaving the main radio box,power supply,noise canceller ,KT 1oo antenna tuner and external speaker on the back of my desk.the control panel is very well built and easy to use. .The audio with powered speaker and af filters open to 5K is superb.I may retire my Icom 746 pro and use the TS 480 with an amplifier when I get back to my home QTH.At less than $1000.it's the best bang for the buck and in most situations it performs as good as the big buck rigs.I like the little rig so much I am buying another one to run remotely which this rig is capable of right out of the box. GREAT RIG
PE2AJM Rating: 2009-11-11
Great, great (small) radio! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Just traded my Kenwood TS 480 sat for a Yaesu FT 950. The FT 950 is a very fine radio and in the shack it is ‘more radio’ than the Kenwood. It is a solid radio with a nice large tuning knob and I enjoy the radio very much. On the other hand, I am still impressed with the great performance of the Kenwood.
Despite the small size, many daily used functions of the TS 480 are operated directly where the FT 950 uses the menu (like power, DSP, Auto-notch). The FT 950 has only one Customer Selectable button. The tuner of the FT 950 is noisy, slow and does not tune all bands of my G5RV jr where the tuner of the TS 480 tuned all bands quickly.

After some years I wanted something else and I do not regret the change but still my conclusion: the FT 950 is good, the TS 480 is great!
AC0MW Rating: 2009-10-30
expensive fix Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Kenwood sent the radio back and they also sent the main board thet failed over 400 dollars to fix not only did it take since June to repair the control head came back cracked and missing a screw... now originally I sent the rig to Burghardt's which was my first mistake... Kenwood will not stand by correcting the issue's and trying to reach Burghardt's is almost impossible

Take a hard look is this what you really want?
I should of went with the Icom 7000
EI6IQ Rating: 2009-10-17
Best thing since sliced bread!! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have to say that this little rig is best thing since sliced bread. I constantly get outstanding audio reports, with the stock mic.The beat cancel works great guns. the auto tuner works great also.I have worked vk6 vk5 vk3 vk2 and vk7 on 40 metres.yb ja,vp8,kh6 too name but a few all from the mobile,with a high sierra sidekick antenna with a 72 inch whip.i have had ft897,ft857,ts50,ts690and ic706 2g, all in the mobile in the past.the second closest radio to the 480 was the ts 50. the icom 706 2 g was the worst. ( noisey reciever ). so if you are thinking of going hf mobile. give the 480 a go, you wont be dissapointed
VK6BCP Rating: 2009-10-14
Top mobile Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The TS 480 is the best HF Mobile-Radio you can buy. And I have 50 years of HF Mobile experiences.
KC9PBI Rating: 2009-10-13
AWESOME RIG PERIOD Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Nothing compares to this thing when it comes to mobile usability. Great receive quality. The autotuner isn't the best, but then again no autotuner is. I have an array of hamsticks on my pickup truck and a coax switch which allows me to cover the entire 10, 20, and 40 meter bands and the upper 150khz or so of the 75 meter band. As many people as there are that dis hamsticks, I can hear people and people can hear me back and that's all that matters and I didn't have to spend gobs of money on a screwdriver. I will be buried with this rig.
K6ACJ Rating: 2009-10-10
4/5 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm using CW with paddles and find the results are poor, the characters are screwed up so I think the default settings must be wrong. Also, there is a lot of Relay Clicking. The settings are full break in mode and the right side key paddles connector is used.

Can anyone help with the settings for CW ?

Bill k6acj
G0MGK Rating: 2009-10-01
Great Rig! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Had this beauty about 5 weeks now. Previously had an FT-101ZD Mk.III.

Super rig, VERY easy to operate, receiver is a gem. Love the facilities to get rid of noise (Beat Cancel just works!).

Internal ATU tunes my roof space half G5RV with 80m coils, but not full bandwidth - probably need to do some pruning!

Space-wise it is ideal, the main unit tucks out the way in the corner of my desk, the head unit is next to my PC. The PSU lives under the desk.

Next is a decent vertical, and probably find some way to go portable - all the brackets to attach the head to the main come with the UK version.

Buy it, you'll like it!
N9SB Rating: 2009-09-21
Love it! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a great little transceiver. It is very easy to operate and the quality of the transmit and receive audio is very good. The most used functions are right on the front panel. There is no need to constantly access the menu.

I found that the addition of the 500hz cw filter greatly improved strong adjacent signal rejection. On cw, the AF DSP by itself did not seem to be as capable. As I mostly run digital modes, I am going to install the 270hz cw filter as well. On PSK, the ability to use the AF DSP and cw filter simultaneously, greatly helps picking out the weaker signals.

The Kenwood Remote software package is also quite good. Kenwood has made it very easy to operate remote base over the LAN or Internet. It was quite fun to operate the 480 two states away while on vacation.

Ham Radio Deluxe is also a nice software package to use with the TS-480SAT. With DM-780, which is a part of the HRD package, it is easy to create a handy set of DSP filter macros.

I find the automatic antenna tuner works well but don't expect miracles.

All in all, I think this is a great radio for the money. After about two years of ownership, I have not been disappointed.