| G4IFB |
Rating:      |
2003-07-24 | |
| Love affair |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've owned my '850 for over a decade from new. It's still as good today as it was when I bought it.
I operate almost 100% on CW, usually DXing and contesting with simple wire antennas. I've used lots of other radios (FT101E, TS930, TS440, FT1000 etc.) but there's only one I'd have alongside my 850 - an Elecraft K2.
The 850 sat in its box sulking for three years when I built my K2, but it's back out now and in daily use. Once I get around to building the 100W PA module for the K2, I guess it may go back in its corner though. Shame.
I have 3 little moans: (1) The NB doesn't. (2) The CW filters seem offset - I need a bit of low cut permanently to avoid getting the wrong sideband. (3) It's annoying to have to cycle through all the filters just to select 'one wider'.
There are a zillion plus points though e.g. world class RX quality on sensitivity and selectivity; general coverage from 30 Khz to 30 megs; good full break-in & memory keyer; good filters; perfect reliability; flexibility (e.g. to work split); general ease of use (many contest team members have sat in front of mine for the first time and just got on with using it - unlike the FT1000!); fast auto-ATU; transportable; 'hang' function on the SWR meter.
We've been through a lot together, my 850 and me. We went to XT2DX in 2001 and worked the biggest 10m pileups yu've ever heard. We've done countless contests and cracked nearly every DX pileup going (280+ countries confirmed). There's no end in sight to this love affair.
73 Gary www.G4iFB.com |
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| WORLDWIDE390 |
Rating:      |
2003-04-16 | |
| Great Radio! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I bought my new TS-850 SAT back in 1993 with the matching ps52 power supply. I paid $1685.00 for the rig and $279.00 for the pwr supply. I have only had one problem with it after thousands of hours of use, and that was a DC/DC board. I bought a new one from Pacific Coast parts for $10.00 (and 10 bucks shipping)and that was just recently. The radio is very easy to work on and the built in tuner works great, the receiver is good and you have lots of filters to play with. On this site I read some "contesters" feed back,(py-kn) he said he never owned an 850 but used many. And wasn't impressed. Dude get a clue!
I have put MANY other rigs up on the bench for A/B comparison and I must say the 850 still is on top. It's a great old CLASSIC! I would not sell or trade mine for the world, yes even those DSP units(yuk)that everybody runs now days. Best CB I've ever owned....... |
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| WS7P |
Rating:     |
2003-04-16 | |
| Nice radio |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I bought my TS 850S/AT new in 1997 and I have had many hours of fun on it. I like the audio processor and the keyer is fantastic. The antenna tuner has performed flawlessly. I have had to use the Advanced Intercept Point(AIP) many times to help keep down the power line noise. The noise blanker does not function well. My $50 cb radio has a better functioning NB. I wish Kenwood would have put an accessable cw sidetone control on the radio as well. I have done a lot of neat things with the 850 and feel it is better than the TS 440 I used for years prior to buying the 850. I've found some mods on the internet to help the 850 with its noisy receiver and non-functioning noise blanker. I'm going to attempt those mods and I will report back later if they were successful. All things considered, the 850 is a nice radio but it has its problems. |
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| W3DCG |
Rating:      |
2003-03-17 | |
| WOW. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I can be stubborn. I had my 850S/AT in a box about 7 months, untested. I looked at it once, sure was pretty, kind of scary.
Was having a long affair with my Lady Corsair. The original, ToT Corsair. Had her PTO redone in Tennessee, put in the last InRad 250 Filter... couldn't imagine QSK being "as good" or Forbid- better- than anything Ten Tec put out since the first Triton and Argonaut series.
But my Lady died. Just one day turned off in mid QSO while transmitting. I was senting the word "OFF" in describing my OCF dipole, and that is when she obeyed. Completely. She just turned off, like her spirit just WENT. I checked the PS, checked the fuses, checked the switches. Nil.
So out came the 850 "backup" rig.
Feels like I stepped out of an old Celebrity Wagon with creaking to no suspension, and stepping into the latest 7 or 8 series BMW.
And this is an "old" rig.
The QSK is AS GOOD as Ten Tecs on this baby.
WOW.
As far as the rest of it, I'd say the archived QST review said it all.
If you can get a pretty one in good working order with filters in both stages, for 850, I'd say it's one of the best deals out there. Nothing new in this price range can even come close. I printed all the Reviews and QST Reviews, studied every bit of data I could on all New Radios and Used radio's in the under 900 dollar category, and nothing else came close [except perhaps a one KIT, but that doesn't really come close as a base station, either].
I guess I'm happy with it. |
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| AA8VL |
Rating:      |
2002-12-05 | |
| SIMPLY THE BEST DARN RIG--THE AUDIO REVOLUTION |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
First off, I have used many of the high end radios out there. I thought the best rig for me was the Kenwood TS-2000...so I bought it!
Bought a TS-850S/DSP-100 for backup and WOW! Sold the TS-2000 and bought another TS-850/DSP-100.
The audio on transmit and recieve is AWESOME! Just stock out of the box without the optional DSP-100. With the DSP-100 the Kenwood TS-850 is simply an unmatched rig for the competition. I have never yet seen a rig in the price range of this one that is able to produce such sweet TX / RX audio!
If you buy a TS-850S be on the lookout for a DSP-100. You will not regret it.
I will never sell my TWIN 850's! PERIOD! It's love baby!
Chris, AA8VL
http://www.ssbaudio.com
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| KE4EX |
Rating:      |
2002-11-15 | |
| "Like A Rock" |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I am not going to dance around with words.
As an upper middle class radio overall a 9.99 before you add filters, I have filters installed and played a little with the x=mit filtering.
Side by side shoot out with my FT 920 Beat it.
Side by side with a borrowed FT-990 Beat it.
I had Better transmit flexability
Shoot out with Ft1000MP wow almost.
Buck 4 Buck Pound 4 Pound you will not find a better radio.
All radios were tested on the same antenna system at 90 watts.
Oh yea, Side by side with my IC756 Pro,
She tried.
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| KK5RV |
Rating:      |
2002-10-18 | |
| Best HF Rig I have owned |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I can sum up this rig in 1 word, incredible. I have owned my 850 for over 6 years now, bought it used and pat myself on the back every day for doing so. I have owned HF rigs in the past, started out on a Heathkit SB101, cw only, mike was broken. Bought a Kenwood TS530, loved that radio, wow what great audio and receive, kept it about a year, and then at a local hamfest layed eyes on the 850. Something just caught my eye about this radio and it has been a match made in heaven ever since. I absolutely love this rig, I have contemplated selling it several times over the years, due to financial problems or just to move on to something newer, (like the TS2000), but could never bring myself to part with it. I am glad that I have held on to it, this radio has got the best receiver, in my opinion, that I have seen of any non-dsp rig, bar none. Sure the call of a multi band rig with 2 meter ssb is sure tempting, but nothing can beat this receiver in my book. I have worked tons of cw contacts and have been able to pinch down the filter so tight that if I moved even 1 kc off of the contact I would lose them, talk about tight front end! I could go on and on about this rig, but I would be up all night! In short, if you can get your hands on an 850 for a good price, DO IT, you wont regret it!
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| W4ARM |
Rating:     |
2002-07-09 | |
| Anybody Have This Problem? |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I recently acquired an 850SAT. On SSB I received garbled audio reports and initially thought it was RF. I then started getting bad CW note quality reports. And, on receive both SSB and CW the quality of the audio was slightly distorted.
Apparently, there is a PLL that has or is going bad and I am sending the rig in for repair.
Other than this I am pleased with the Rigs performance.
Has anyone else experienced this problem? I would like to hear from you! w4arm@arrl.net Thanks!
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| WB2WIK |
Rating:      |
2002-05-03 | |
| Awesome |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've owned a TS850S/AT since it was new in 1991, and in fact, when I bought mine, I didn't know anybody who had one, and it was before any magazine reviews were published. I just happened to spot it at the local HRO store, tried it out (on an antenna) and fell in love.
Since I purchased this rig, I've also bought "new" (and sold!) an IC765, an IC736, an FT990, a TT Omni-V and a few other used rigs. Obviously, the '850S is still with me and the others are not. I must admit I loved the IC765 in a very similar way, but due to its internal AC power supply, that rig was too big and too heavy for me to lug on and off airplanes frequently, which is something I've enjoyed doing with the '850S. I've also used the '850S as a kind of high-performance Field Day rig a few times, running it QRP with battery power, and those are additional times when I appreciated its relatively light weight.
Dislikes: The noise blankers don't do much. They work on ignition noise, but even then suffer blanking artifacts like do most rigs. Also, there's no second antenna input for a Beverage or loop for use on 160m.
Likes: Everything else. This is a classic. The MONI function is excellent, as is the CW-REV function (the '850S was the first rig to have this feature); availability of 8 different filters, 4 in each I.F., with 3 optional, and all independently selectable, is great. Built-in memory keyer is superb, and the DVR voice recorder works very well. The SPLIT function, and most all other functions, are intuitive. I haven't looked at the manual in many years, and didn't spend much time with it even when I first took the rig out of its carton.
"Wonderful modulation" reports are the norm, even on 29 MHz FM, and also on 29 MHz AM, which I've been working lately. Setting the carrier power to 40W and keeping the SSB mike gain setting, everybody worked swears I'm using a boat-anchor plate-modulated rig. Heh, heh.
Where the rubber meets the road, though, is the receiver performance under contest conditions. All I can say is, "wow." I've used the rig side-by-side an FT1000MP and IC756PRO at our contest station, and it holds its own extremely well, despite being several years older and having no DSP features.
An amazing radio.
WB2WIK/6
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| KEN_X_N2VQ |
Rating:      |
2002-05-03 | |
| Great Receiver |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I bought my TS-850SAT down at the Timonium Hamfest last month and have been using it on HF daily since. My 850 came with the full load of filters and I’m glad it did.
I have compared this 850 with my TS-2000 and TS-940SAT on a Cushcraft R-5 vertical mounted about 10ft off the ground. I find the 850’s receiver to be much quieter then the TS-2000’s (w/o the DSP on) and TS-940’s. The receiver on the 850 was definitely more sensitive compared to the TS-2000’s and very comparable to the TS-940. I used a Heil PRO SET headset to listen.
Audio reports on the 850 were the same compared to the other two radios. Signal reports were about the same also (100 watts output on all 3 radios).
I would highly recommend anyone looking to purchase an 850 to get the CW or SSB filter also. With the filter/slope tuning/notch combination I was able to eliminate all background noise and just find tune to the weak DX’s voice and complete contacts. It was very hard to do that with the TS-2000 or not at all. The 940 just couldn’t match the 850 on this part.
On another note, I also bought the DSP-100 unit to see if it would really help out with my audio reports and I find that it does not do too much improvement to my audio or the received audio. This is a rather expensive item to buy in the used market these days and I normally do not use it. Maybe one day I will find some help the DSP-100 to improve my audio to broadcast grade ;-)
I also modified my 850 to improve on broadcast AM reception and it’s a great receiver to listen to the AM news station with. Great audio.
Hope to talk to everyone soon. 73’s de Ken K2MAK
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