| KE4AMQ |
Rating:  |
2022-07-23 | |
| Got my old r5000 back today |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Well i sold it years ago, got it back today a little beat up but its here to stay. Still receives like when it was new very quite receiver. They dont build them like that anymore. All of the new stuff is junk. I have a aor3000a but it dont compair. Even the hammerlund hq180 sounds great but the kenwood is better. |
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| K8JHR |
Rating: |
2020-08-24 | |
| Good Radio - Fun to Use |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Good, solid, easy to use, feature-packed radio with a full complement of features providing solid performance as a ham and general coverage receiver. Based on the Kenwood TS-440s, it is a slightly better receiver than the 440s, whereas the 440s can also transmit.
My R-5000 had the narrow AM filter - which was a bonus. Narrow CW filters are also available. This is a solid, reliable general purpose SW radio. I enjoyed it so much, I eventually became a ham. I sold it only to raise funds funds to buy a Kenwood TS-590s transceiver.
My R-5000 did not suffer any of the typical maladies endemic to this species... but even if it did (such as the infamous keypad bounce fault) I would have enjoyed it just as much anyway, as it was such a nice receiver overall.
All in all, a good, solid radio. Audio is just OK on its internal speaker - I used an external speaker with mine and it sounded fine.
I rather miss this one. K8JHR |
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| IZ5PQT |
Rating: |
2017-05-05 | |
| A great receiver for serious SWLing |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I bought my R-5000 back in 1994. At the time I was an avid SWL and this receiver represented a quantum leap above my beloved FRG-7. I had it equipped with all the spare filters and the VC-20 VHF converter. Thanks to it I enjoyed a lot of DXing on the Tropical Bands. It still serves me faithfully, being switched on almost daily, since I did not give up SWLing after my ham licence. I often like to make A/B comparisons with other receivers (the RX part of my TS-590SG and IC-756Pro3 and an ELAD S2 SDR) and the R-5000 always fares very well. I am not giving it a 5/5 rating since my radio developed the annoying keyboard-bounce problem, which fortunately however did not worsen with time. Never thought to replace capacitors since I did not observe any audio degradation. The backup battery lasted 23 years (I replaced it for the first time just a few weeks ago!). All this make me believe that Kenwood used top-quality components. I am now planning to use PC control to mitigate the bounce problem and I hope that my radio will work for many years to come. If you can get one in good working conditions (check the keyboard) it's an excellent opportunity. |
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| N4UE |
Rating: |
2015-08-13 | |
| Wow! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have a very large collection of both vintage/modern recievers and test equipment.
The R5000 has been on my WTB list for many years due in part to the excellent reviews both here and in Osterman's books.
I recently came across what I thought was an exceptional bargain. The radio with both the Owner's Manual and Service Manual (OK, these are free all over the www).
The radio was advertised as working without 'keybounce or dots' issues. This model has a history of both.
Before the radio even showed up, I purchased a kit of 88 caps to update it along with a pair of upgrade filters.
The radio is functioning perfectly. The face, knobs etc are perfect. The covers are 'OK' but they will buff out fine. Someone etched some numbers on the top bezel, but I can fix that.
One thing that kinda surprised me is that it's smaller than I thought. It 1/2 the size of my 'go to' radio, a Icom 761. Comparing the two, they are equal. Pretty amazing since the R5000 has yet to be tuned up or have it's new filters and caps installed.
I have heard many comments about the radio running hot. Today, I installed a very small fan next to the PS and also built my own adapter to run the radio off of 12 VDC.
It's kinda scary due to the huge number of parts inside, but it's reliable and there's lots of parts available.
Besides, I love a challange! ha ha
ron
N4UE |
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| RADIOFREAK |
Rating: |
2015-06-24 | |
| Primary receiver |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Greeting dxer's!
This radio is nowadays hard to find,
but if you'll find one BUY it!
This is truly Kenwood flagship receiver,
real pity that they don't make anymore radios like this one.
Good solid receiver,and it still beats many new receivers.
I have two of these radios and i will never sell them.
One radio is with all possible extra filters and with vhf unit(vhf unit is quite useless),
and one with basic filters..both receivers are my primary radios.
I have had or still have MANY receivers like:
-Icom ic-r75(with dsp)
-Icom ic-r71
-Icom ic-r70,
-Drake R8
-Jrc nrd-535
-Jrc nrd-545(With dsp)
-Yaesu frg-7700
-Yaesu frg-8800
The R5000(with all possible extra filters) beats them all easily or reaches the same performance level,
the "standard" R5000 beats all except JRC 545.
The R5000 have very good performance in all areas.
It is outstanding work horse for digging weak signals still in readable form.
R5000 have excellent audio,sensitivity,selectivity and stability.
Kenwood's engineers have made something unique when they created this a piece of equipment.
It has some minor faults,
key bounce and sometimes it runs a bit hot...but they don't spoil experience with this baby.
Radio is quite easy to service and maintain,
it's made of real eletronic components,
real metal NOT plastic.
It feels and looks like a real radio not a plastic toy.
Prices for this radio are something between 300-700€....depending condition and filters etc...
Anyway it is still a highend receiver with reasonable price.
I Hope this review help you of choosing you receiver!
73's |
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| G7HZZ |
Rating: |
2012-12-01 | |
| Good solid RX |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have owned mine for 20 years or more. Its performance is always very good, especially with the SSB filter (etc) fitted. All radios of this vintage have a few plus and minus aspects and the R5000 is one of them.
On the plus side, there are enough controls - each with a separate knob/switch - for slick and easy operation. And the keypad can be used for direct frequency entry. On the minus side, scrolling through frequencies is sometimes a little tedious, and storing/accessing memories is old fashioned. The big bonus for me is . . No Menus! WYSIWYG!
Good all-round good performance more than compensates for handling quirkiness. Overall, I consider it to be a very good receiver, although as a RX for Amateur Radio bands it may now be rather obsolete. The real down-side (at least for me) is that the SW broadcast bands are much less busy and much less interesting nowadays.
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|
| PA0PGA |
Rating: |
2012-10-25 | |
| A excellent receiver |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have 3 R-5000's buyed over the last 3 years from Internet, all in basket case condition, but after repairing some known issues, they are all very hot receivers with a fantastic audio, that I use daily in the shack and in the living room.
Sensitivity is excellent, there are enough controls (notch, IF shift and RF attenuator) and really good filters to fish the weekest signals out of the mud.
It is a pity that Kenwood stopped the production of this fine receiver.
If you can find one, grab it, you will be pleased with their performance.
I use R-390A, IC-R71, Yaesu FRG-100, JRC-525 and lots of others, but the R-5000 beats them all. |
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| AG6HS |
Rating: |
2012-01-27 | |
| Buy one, fix it, keep it |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have several R5000's, all bought on eBay. All have had some age-related defects (key bounce, PLL issues, noise, heat) which needed repair / surgery. Some of the old semiconductors are tough to find, but almost everything else is available. Inrad still sells crystals for them, and a guy on eBay sells a set of capacitors. A white LED fixes the burned-out meter bulb. Keyboard surgery to clean the contacts is tedious. But once repaired / maintained, they are top performers with "classical" good looks, a joy to use, with legendary Kenwood sound. |
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| N3WAK |
Rating: |
2010-07-03 | |
| Great Receiver |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have owned my Kenwood R-5000 for more than 20 years, originally purchasing it at a Radio Shack in Tacoma, Washington, near McChord AFB. It made numerous PCS moves with me when I was in the Air Force. It runs hot. There's a periodic "key bounce" problem that I have to deal with, but never bothered about getting fixed. The display brightness, while perfectly adequate, is a bit dimmer than it was two decades ago. But, this is a fantastic receiver! Great audio, great sensitivity, great selectivity even with stock filters. I have the external matching speaker, but it was expensive and the internal speaker sounds better. In short, for mere mortals, you won't do any better than with this classic, capable vintage rig. Now, just bring back all of those classic short wave broadcasters like in the good old days! 73, Tony N3WAK |
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| KB8DNS |
Rating: |
2010-06-18 | |
| One of the best! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| No need to repeat but it is one of the best receivers! Better receive than it's transceiver brother the TS440s! Only the TS430S comes close! I kick myself for selling mine! |
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