| N8FVJ |
Rating:    |
2022-01-28 | |
| Reliable |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| The Kenwood TS-430s is very reliable over the years unlike many older HF radios. Everything works well enough. Interesting no one mentioned a lack of sensitivity on 15 & 10 meters using a wire antenna. It will not dig out weak signals on the two top bands. A 15-10 meter or tri-bander antenna will likely work wonders on this radio. |
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| SWLCHRIS |
Rating:      |
2022-01-27 | |
| Great rig to start with or to keep |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have had awhile now to use the radio and have come to some surprising conclusions.
I have had a chance to use the radio for about a year now on all three amateur radio class bandplans from 10 meters to 80 meters.I have not tried 160 meters since my antenna doesn't go that long.
On the higher bands it has performed about as well as can be expected. Those sporadic 10 meter openings can be taken advantage of.On 15,17,and 20 meters the output goes about 115 watts on SSB.
The signal reports state clean audio and according to conditions signal strength reports vary from s9+ to s5 or whatever the crappiest band conditions permit.
On lower bands 40 and 80 meters the radio puts out about 120 watts or so.I got these readings using a Daiwa NS-660PA on peak hold settings.
The radio really shows what it can do on receive . Using tools on the radio such as a narrow SSB filter ,RF gain, a decent noise blanker,and IF shift I can separate a signal to work some stations under rough conditions.The radio is sensitive enough to hear and work stations with a S1 to an S2 sometimes not even that due to the audio. I have worked ZL2SDX with a RST of 52 and been able to clearly understand the station.Some stations I have heard and the s meter is dead still and I can just make out the station in Hawaii or New Zealand on 20 meters without a nudge of the meter.
Is this a new DSP rig? NO.
Is this a new SDR rig? NO.
What it is ,is a radio from the past that was built very well and had a few controls put in that can make the difference between not hearing them and working them.The audio is not fatiguing and the transmitted audio using the Kenwood MC60A is getting good reports without my asking.
I am adding this section for mobile operating with the 430.
In a word? Awesome.
It works so much better than I expected in a mobile setting. I use the hand mic and leave the speech processor on and get great reports for a 100 watt rig and a hamstick.
Receive is great too..
Worked a Finland station on 20m phone with his signal about as low as you can get and lots of electrical noise going down my street.
Only drawback is it's size.It's not as compact as the icom/yaesu rigs but it's ok.
Don't walk, run to the he ATM if you see one of these for sale.
I can't ask for a better first rig at a reduced rate.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by SWLCHRIS on 2018-03-16
After consideration of the recent circumstances with my radio , I have to update my review to more accurately reflect the performance of this TS430.
My previous review rated the the receiver pretty good in it's receive performance and transmit abilities.
However, after having some issues with the radio starting with the meter light and running into some problems during the attempted repair once the radio started having more issues than originally found, I had to send it off to be repaired.I sent it to Midwest Technical Services which is reviewed elsewhere on the site.
Upon return of the radio in it's repaired state, the difference was nothing but phenomenal.
Lets start with receive.
Tim replaced a bad capacitor in the receive section which was introducing noise. I believe this improved my receive greatly because now I don't have the problems with hearing low signal stations way down in the crud now.I thought my signal meter was stingy before the repair, now I realise it was just not receiving signals as it should have. My hearing other stations report a DX contact as S9+ whatever and my meter was sitting on 5 or 6 was not uncommon. Now signal reports of 30 over S9 are not uncommmon on the receiver. My friend down the road in PA now has a signal of s9 plus 10 to 20 on 20 meters and we are on groundwave.So with the filters installed , the receive on this rig I now upgrade the rating to exemplary.
The greatest improvement I have to say is on the transmit after the repair.
My reception reports are much better now, with calls being heard and returned on the first try to a dx station.F8CFU Fabien was calling cq on 40 meters and came back to me on my first attempt right out of the box from the repair shop with a 5 by 7 rst.That weekend I had my radio back I worked so many DX stations in such a short time I thought I was seeing things.Compared to before it was nothing short of amazing to put my call out there when I heard a station and have them come back to me with the first attempt I made in most cases. I have to revise my rating on the transmit side of this review to simply amazing. It's like a brand new radio.
Overall I have to say I am really impressed with the performance of this older rig and I look forward to working many more stations with my setup. |
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| VE3PTC |
Rating:      |
2022-01-24 | |
| outstanding |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
like the majority, i have owned several hf radios over the years. from the ftdx 9000c all the way back to my first hf radio in 1986, a yaesu ft 102.
fast fwd to present. i picked up this ts 430s, for not much money. i intended to use it for /mobile ops.
i was not expecting much from a 35 year young radio. well, apart from the carrier oscillators needing a very slight tweak, and an intermittant gnd connection at the ant socket, this oldie was up and running !
very sensitive receive, and despite having no narrow filters fitted, it does a grand job.
every function works as it should, and then some.
my main hf radio now is an old ft 1000mp, that is filled to the brim with inrad narrow filters and the roofing filter, and of course, it leaves the 430 well in its wake, but i also use a ts 2000, mostly for 6m and vhf/uhf. on hf receive, especially on the lower bands, the old 430s wipes the boards with the ts 2k. the receive audio is stellar. i cant believe how good the older technology is !
i have had the ts 830 and the ft 101zd and i put this little radio in that company.
now i think its found a permanent place in my shack, and i will have to look for something else for mobile ops.
tx.
i initially used the mc43s mic, and obtained good reports, but have since changed over to my preferred mic, the heil dual 10, using the #5 cartridge, and receiveing great audio reports.
its well old, but wkg 100% for now. im going to enjoy using it, until it grenades, or i croak !
i highly recommend this radio
best 73 de bob.
ve3ptc/va3vs/gm0ley |
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| N1UMJ |
Rating:     |
2020-12-14 | |
| Not bad at all |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I bought this from an estate on ebay, didn't need another HF radio, didn't really want another one though the 430 is one of few Kenwood radios I've never owned and where I do special event setups and have had radios at field day setups, obviously I'm not going to bring out my daily radios, it doesn't hurt to grab another radio for a good price. It didn't look like much, must have been stored in an attic or maybe next to a hot tub, it was rusty. I cleaned it up, I knew it was in storage, for what I paid I could make a killing parting it out so I wasn't out anything anyway. Anyway, I fired it up, had a couple minor issues but cleaned some connectors, a little work on the PA as you see a lot of talk about online, really not hard at all and it's running great. I can't complain, I'm not going to daily it but for some events, field day, help someone get started this is a great choice, it's very easy to use, great receive, mine came with the AM filter and the FM board, I only need to add a CW filter and I'll really have something.
It's not a modern radio, no DSP or anything, but for what it is, it's very very good. I've had almost every Kenwood HF radio with few exceptions and I've used most of what I don't ahve as well and this has a hot receiver. I used a friend's ts-430 a few years ago and liked it, I wanted one as a backup radio but since then have got a few so this is down the list a bit as backup, I may not end up keeping it but I really do like it and can't complain. it does what it's supposed to and does it very well. If it decides not to do what it should, it's pretty easy to work on. |
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| NY4D |
Rating:      |
2020-11-17 | |
| Great old rig for everyday, starter, or backup |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I'm updating this review, originally from 2005. My opinion or rating hasn't changed but some details of the review have. Assuming the reader is looking at these reviews with a potential purchase in mind I hope the following will be useful.
I'll preface the review by reminding readers that this radio was a product of the mid 1980s that retailed for around $700 with no accessories. Contemporary competing rigs were the Icom 735 at around $850 and the Yaesu FT-757gx at $850. The above prices are straight from a 1986 AES catalog.
I have owned all of these radios but the only one I still own is the Kenwood TS-430s. So my review is based on experience with all three rigs. I like both the Icom 735 and Yaesu 757 but in my comparisons the 430 has always won, based on overall reliability, performance, and ease of use. Nowadays another factor is ease of repair, as I find most parts for the TS-430S available on eBay.
Comparing any of these radios to a modern radio is like comparing a mid 1980s car to a modern one. So I won't do that here. If you want a cheap new 100 watt rig with a few bells and whistles you're basically looking at an ICOM 718 under $600 or a Yaesu 891 at under $650. If you are a new ham (or old one for that matter) and not wanting to learn how to adjust or repair a radio then go with a new rig with warranty and put your mind at ease.
But for around half the price of those radios you can get a very nice used TS-430s. If you're lucky it will have an extra filter or two and maybe the FM board. If you're looking to spend even less you're going to look far and wide for something anywhere near this radio. You're back to rigs from an even earlier era with mechanical vfos or ptos (can we say drift boxes?) and lately the price of those older hybrid rigs has risen as they move into "collectible" status.
The basic architecture of this radio is in a lot of later Kenwood HF radios. The basic design had a lot of merit.
Limited as it is in bells and whistles, the pros of the TS-430s radio outweigh the cons by far. For general operating the con for me is just one thing, and that is basically inherent to the microchips available in the era of the rig's design: limited memory channels. The flip side of this is that you might be pleasantly surprised what else is out there in radioland if you get away from the "channel" mentality and actually tune the bands. There is no band stacking register, when you change bands you will be on the same place on the dial as the previous band. To get around that I program my favorite freqs on each band into the memory slots and dump them into one of the 2 vfos to change bands.
Another con is lack of a CW keyer, but there is a ton of unused space in the radio and many keyer kits that can be fitted inside the rig.
If your goals are to operate digital modes this radio does not have a data port or rig control. But you can plug a digital mode interface into the mic jack. It's a bit fiddly to get your TX levels right though. Best if your interface has a tx volume adjustment.
For SSB pair this with an older Heil HM-5 cartridge mic and you will need do little else to sound good. For CW and AM know how to adjust the carrier level, usually just to the point of max output and no further. For digital it can be tricky as the levels are analog and vary band to band. But it is possible, just a bit more fiddly than radios of today.
The pros of the TS-430s are ease of use, stability, good sensitivity, decent selectivity with the optional filters, easy mods, functionality, and reliability. The rig is relatively easy to work on, though front panel controls can be a bear to get at. There's a pretty large user base as there were a lot of these radios sold.
If I had to put my finger on the one thing that makes this one of my favorite all time rigs, it is that I can use this rig effortlessly. Everything is right there on the front panel (except the vox controls, which are still convenient on the top of the box) and it does most everything I need to do on HF in ham radio.
More technically oriented hams can become familiar with the documented mods for the TS-430. An easy way to make this radio more up to date is adding a decent used external DSP box or speaker.
Buying a used rig is always a risk, best to check the sellers reputation and knowledge of the radio thoroughly. For example I find sellers touting that the stock YK-88s filter, in every TS-430s ever sold, is an optional filter and then bumping up the price. If your tech knowledge is limited and you are averse to working on your own radio then I would look to one of the new rigs with a decent warranty.
Of course in the used market, for $100 -$300 or so more, there are lots of used HF radios with more capability. "You pays your money and you takes your choice." At the $300-$350 price level, used, this is my top choice.
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| VK3PDG |
Rating:      |
2019-01-23 | |
| An Outstanding Radio |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I've owned my Kenwood TS-430s since I bought it new in 1983. It has served me faithfully in mobile & home stations ever since. Simple to operate, intuitive and ultra-reliable, I am very, very fond of this faultless little gem. If ever a rig deserved the title of "classic", it's this particular example of Kenwood brilliance. Not once in it's 36 year life has it let me down. From the dusty coalfields of Victoria's Latrobe Valley, to the roughest and most remote corners of Australia's outback regions, my TS-430s has taken all in it's stride. It's survived a car smash, 3 floods and 2 bushfires, without so much as a hiccough. It's tempting to think I got lucky, but hearing so many other hams rave about their 430s, I must conclude that they represented a signal moment in the development of HF transceivers. The sound quality of received signals is excellent, though a good quality external speaker will improve this even more. It's general coverage receiver works very well across all HF bands. I fitted the AM and FM boards. AM broadcast signals are of very good quality and the FM option used along with VFO splits or the Channel 8 memory split function, allows use of 10 metre repeaters. Apart from a few faint birdies, rx is a dream from top to bottom. Recently, I bought a battered old TS-43X cheap at our local hamfest. (The TS-43X is a TS-430s with minor frequency-limiting to meet Aussie laws.) The rig was in miserable condition, but I decided to see if it might still have some life left in it. I was in for a real surprise.After some minor adjustments and a little TLC, it came back to life and performed like new. It's now my back-up 430! So, if you get the chance to own one, do it. If you already have one, keep it. I doubt we will ever see it's pedigree again. Mark. VK3PDG |
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| W0BKR |
Rating:      |
2016-07-19 | |
| Great Radio and a Great Performer! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have had a number of 430's over the years and periodically, come back to owning one. Why? They look good and perform really well! Very sensitive and selective receiver, full of capabilities and functions and pretty much a full HF radio in a box for a beginner on HF.
Easy to repair or get repaired and lots of users out there. |
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| WB0OKA |
Rating:      |
2014-12-19 | |
| Oldie but Still a Genuine Goodie |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I call the rig an "oldie" only because time flies when it comes to amateur radios and equipment. Despite its age, it is to me, one of the finest all solid state rigs built. I have two that I use on a regular basis, one at my home and one at my portable location at my work. I picked up a very good one, cosmetically and operationally, as part of a package deal on ebay- the transceiver, the power supply, the speaker, and the matching antenna tuner for a song ($450) all in original boxes. Another I purchased has some small issues with it, but as a previous reviewer mentioned, the radio is easy to work on so rectifying the problems took little time. It is back on the air working flawlessly. The third I purchased was from a CB operator that realized it did not work well for that, so dirty, dented, and full of cock roaches, it ended up in my hands. With little work, it was back on the air too.
Long story short, I think they are darn good, reliable radios and if you are looking for a solid state, WARC-option rig for whatever reason, grab it.
Incidentally, I have not read about the 430 having the "dots" problem like the 440 and 450, but perhaps other reviewers can dispute that. Of the three I have described, none have developed that issue. |
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| KB9MRK |
Rating:      |
2013-03-14 | |
| A Great old rig! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| The Ts430s is really a great rig. The one thing that I like about it is the fact it is easy to work on. Most of the problems with these rigs are very easy to fix and usually are loose connectors. If you get one in good shape they have very good receive and transmit. They are simple to operate and very solid. I installed the A.M and SSB filter in mine, also I got an F.M board installed as well. The AM filter is really worth it if you like to listen to Shortwave and such...Makes a huge difference. This rig is under-rated in my opinion, it does have some short-comings, but really for an old rig they are simple fixes and so much info on the internet is available. For the price... Well you cant go wrong, and is most likely the best bang for the buck for a used old rig. |
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| GM8GIQ |
Rating:      |
2013-01-21 | |
| SUPERB OLD RIG |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
One of the best rigs I have used.
Great receiver and excellent transmit audio.
Easy to use, must be getting old but prefer to use this than my 897D because of lack of menus.
Everything you want at the press of a button.
Bargain buy if you can get one buy one you will not be sorry. |
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