| KZ5I |
Rating:      |
2006-07-16 | |
| Good Receiver |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I recently acquired an R-5000 and I'm glad I did. I am constantly amazed such a compact receiver can give such good performance.
The R-5000 has a much hotter receive than does my R-71A. Right now the R-5000 is not in my ham shack but right next to my reclining chair Hi Hi.
This radio is definitely a keeper. |
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| PD0AC |
Rating:      |
2005-12-28 | |
| Never to be sold |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I own (and owned) many reveivers and tranceivers, but the Kenwood R5000 is one of those rare pieces of electronics that will never be sold. Even next to a much more expensive JRC, it's really hard to tell the difference. The R5000 outperforms my brand new Yaesu 897D. Duh.
Sensitivity and selectivity are near to perfect and the IF shift plus notch filters work make it possible to get rid of almost any type of interference. The two variable noise blankers take care of 99% of the ignition interference, something you normally have to live with in a rural area.
My R5000 hasn't even one scratch on it and I intend to keep this gem that way. If you can get a good second hand one, don't hesitate and buy it. |
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| DAROBIN |
Rating:      |
2004-09-03 | |
| A Fantastic Piece of Equipment |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
For a long, long time I had considered obtaining a R-5000, but never did. Almost every other receiver has come through my hands, from high-end WJs and JRCs to Drakes, Collins and Hammarlunds.
As far as solid state rigs go, I long ago settled on the "keepers" -- the ones I will never let go. These include the JRC NRD-515, R7A (R4245), a WJ 8718A/MFP, as well as my R8.
To my surprise, the Kenwood is now in this pack. Having acquired one on Ebay in essentially new condition (still had both original boxes), I immediately hooked it up and I'm just blown away. This thing exudes quality in almost every respect. From silky smooth tuning, to the Passband Tuning, Notch, and its incredible stability, I was just amazed.
I plan to have some filter mods and a few other things done, but I am more than happy with this receiver. It has to be one of the little "engines that could" on the list of receivers. In fact, I prefer the R5000 to the ICOM IC-R71A that I owned for quite some time -- they both have carrying handles by the way, but the Kenwood is much less bulky, I think a bit lighter, and just performs better.
I'll update later on my views after modifications, but I would echo many others who have noted that this receiver is a real gem. |
|
| W6AWO |
Rating:     |
2004-08-04 | |
| R-5000 in Commercial Service |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
There are several R-5000's in service at ex-RCA coast station KPH. See http://www.radiomarine.org for details about KPH.
We find the R-5000s to be good performers. The other receivers are Watkins-Johnsons so there is certainly a standard for comparison.
We use the R-5000s mainly for Morse operation and find that they are sensitive, selective and stable. We use the scan function to listen for calls from ships in the various HF marine bands. We occasionally use the R-5000 on MF as well.
But most telling may be the fact that R-5000 receivers are also used in SITOR service where frequency stability is of paramount concern. The receivers seem rock solid.
We've recently set up a R-5000 at KPH for remote control via modem. It works like a champ.
Bottom line: The R-5000 is an excellent receiver for the price for both amateur and commercial service.
RD |
|
| I61545PE |
Rating:      |
2003-09-23 | |
| IL MITO |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Dal 1991 al 1998,il Kenwood R-5000 e' stato il mio ricevitore di punta.
Un ricevitore che per me ha rappresentato tutto cio' che di bello un Ascoltatore di Onde Corte (e Lunghe,e Medie...),potesse desiderare.
DX in Onde Medie (WNRB 1510),un numero impressionante di DX in Banda Tropicale (90 e 60 metri),migliaia di ascolti in fonia utility e amatoriali,e naturalmente,centinaia e centinaia di ore liete in ascolto di stazioni BC.
Il fascino di una radio da sogno,una Televisone senza Video...
Purtoppo ora non ho piu' il 5000,e sempre mi riprometto di riacquistarne uno,ma il mio primo 5000 รจ stato per me un fedele amico,un inseparabile fratello in un hobby troppo bello,quello della Radio,per essere capito da tutti... |
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| W6YNS |
Rating:     |
2003-05-31 | |
| good coverage receivers. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| The Radio is a great all around radio for coverage. The selectivity is fairly good, I listen to the radio at night for shortwave broadcasts. The only complaint I have about the radio is the fact they like to overheat or run hot, if you leave the radio on for a while just feel the cover and it gets kind of hot. One suggestion to reduce to cool the radio is to use a small fan from Radio Shack. The one I have installed fit between the top cover and the receiver. Besides that it is a great receiver to have. I have had the radio for 15 years now 73's From W6YNS Matt. |
|
| LC2AAT |
Rating:      |
2002-08-21 | |
| Very satified with this receiver! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I bought my R-5000 new back in -92 with the following options:
500 Hz CW filter
1.8 kHz SSB filter
6.0 kHz AM filter
Voise Synteziser
12 VDC input
Original External speaker
Original Headphones.
Later I have added the VHF option which covers 108 - 174 MHz All Mode.
I have modified the input circuitry, and removed the AM attenuator.
I have used this receiver for casual listening and for DXing on SW, MW, LW and HAM, after I added the VHF option I have used the R-5000 for VHF DXing and satellites as well. I have dragged this receiver with me all over the world, from mountain trips in Greenland to army excersises in Northern Norway to business trips in Canada, to "field days" on the beach etc....
This receiver have never let me down, rugged, and very good performance.
The original AM filter must be upgraded to the optional filter, the 500 Hz and 1.8 kHz filters depends on your used of the radio. If you plan to use it for hamradio work, I will recommend to get all filters. This receiver is very sensitive, and if you use the IF passband tuning, RF gain, the filters and the notch you are allmost certain to hear the station despite of serious QRM.
I have compared this receiver to several others, it's very hard to beat the R-5000.
The R-5000 has the best sound I have ever heard from any communiction receiver, it also deliveres more than enough volume. The sound on the internal speaker is far bether than on the optional external speaker, so don't bother to buy the speaker.
After about 10 years of operation I had to solder some bad solderings in the internal power supply, thats very good! A Sony TV set usually have to do this after about 5-7 years.
The sensitivity below 100 kHz is nothing to write home about.
After performing the input circutry MW band mod I started having some intermod problems when I was living about 10 miles from a 1,2 MW Mediumwave broadcaster, solution: De-Mod.
I don't live around the broacaster any more, so now I have done the modification again.
The VHF option makes this receiver extremely sensitive on the VHF band, you can listen to WXSats when they are under the horison! Unfortunately the FMN filter is too narrow to get the IR part of the sat picture from the NOAA sats.
But this can probably be replaced with another filter if you desire that. Due to the sensitivity it works great as a receiver for 2 M sat downlinks.
I sincerely hope that Kenwood would make a replacement of this great receiver (with DSP:-).
The VHF option does not make this receiver a scanner! The R-5000 does not make a good scanner, but it isn't designed for that either.
The R-5000 is very easy to operate, but the number keys took some time to get used to due to the non-standard layout.
Layout:
12345
67890
You can selcect between the antenna inputs from the front panel, this is something other manufacturerer should learn from.
I gave this receiver a 5 because it have serviced my without any problems for so many thousand hours!
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|
| YUNG |
Rating:      |
2002-05-07 | |
| The cleanest sounding audio and overall excellent receiver |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Bought new August 1986, has .5, 1.8, 2.4 and 6 kHz crystal filters installed, VHF option too.
Have used R5000 for thousands of hours over the years seven days a week, year in year out. Use mostly for DX SWL, including very low powered tropical stations.
I purchased R5000 after much research and hands-on testing of Icom R71, JRC-535 and R5000 rigs owned by friends.
The Kenwood's most outstanding feature is it's ability to discern the words spoken of the extreme weakest signals and actually understand what is being said. A side by side comparison of the R5000 and a friend's JRC 535 shows the audio( on the JRC to be muddy) with the very weak signals. This breath-taking ability of the Kenwood's audio cannot be found on any consumer-grade shortwave radio sold today.
If you have a passion for DX'ing the weakest of the weak signals and actually hearing cleanly the words spoken in any language for purposes of getting an ID for any given station, then the Kenwood R5000 exceeds expectations.
You can of course find similar audio quality on a modern DSP HAM rig.
A service note: after about 10 years of ownership a hum developed in audio(unbearable when using headphones), sent the R5000 to Kenwood in Calif. they could not fix(the hum). I posted this info on a web site and there were dozens of replies, the most useful of the replies AND the one that ultimately FIXED the hum problem was a reply from TRIO KENWOOD of FRANCE service dept.
The remedy:
To rid the R5000 of hum, remove the IF board and clean with alcohol the foil that acts as the ground under the screws on the bottom of board that contacts the chassis.(A small amount of corrosion was present on all foil contacts).
The hum disappeared completely.
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|
| N2JBP |
Rating:      |
2002-03-31 | |
| Great Tabletop Receiver |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| A great tabletop receiver. Have owned the R-5000 for about 15 years and it is still going strong today! AM and SSB filters needed replacement as they were too wide for DX, but otherwise the listening expierence was excellent. Sound quality was very good, no external speaker needed. If I could change one thing on the rig, it would probably be to add AM SYNC. |
|
| RUZY |
Rating:      |
2002-03-05 | |
| EXCELLENT RECEIVER |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Just bought Kenwood R 5000 (New). Compare with my Drake R8, The sound on R5000 more clearer and clean. The sensitivity and selectivity also very nice. This radio has a very good audio. The brightness of the display can be tune also have IF tune plus RF gain which help me so much.
This is one of the greatest receiver which I have. |
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