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Reviews For: Kenwood R600

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Kenwood R600
Reviews: 16MSRP: 135.00 (used)
Description:
General coverage receiver
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/commrxvr/r600.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00164.3
IW2NZR Rating: 2020-09-05
Good compact receiver. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Good general coverage receiver, good AM selectivity 6/2,7 kHz, good for BCL listening and dxing. However, I prefer my humble FLL receivers FRG-7 and XCR-30 or my insuperable Collins R_392/URR (all with less background noise - I found all PLL receiver "hissy", maybe because I was accustomed to use my Collins receiver from more than 30 years!). If you are a novice, you can find this receiver an excellent dx-machine, but if you have used some "silent" receiver you can find the PLL phase noise annoying especially when you are listening for hours. This receiver is great during nightime thanks to its minimal numbers of buttons and switches, you can easily using it even in the total darkness. Slighty noisy than the R-1000, but with a different audio quality: there is lack of bass tones respect to the R-1000 , but it seem me to perform better in AM with the narrow filter with a more pleasant audio. However, with the 6kHz filter, the R-1000 has a better audio. In ECSS mode, fine tuning is more difficult respect to the easy of tuning of my FT-817ND or the almost easy one of the R-1000.
W0BKR Rating: 2019-04-12
Good Little Rcvr Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Nice basic receiver, table top or otherwise. Wish there were a tension adjust. Nice sized, easy to use, not much more you can say.
IK2QBA Rating: 2017-01-17
Great little radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this radio without knowing it, I found a wonderful radio is easy to use has a great audio has no particular regulations that is its value and its defect can be used with your eyes closed.
You should not ask this radio that can not give but if you claim from her the right is fantastic, I'm loving it.

------------------------

Ho comprato questa radio senza conoscerla, ho scoperto una radio meravigliosa è semplicissima da usare ha un audio ottimo non ha particolari regolazioni che è il suo pregio e il suo difetto si può usare ad occhi chiusi.
Non si deve chiedere a questa radio quello che non può dare ma se si pretende da lei il giusto è fantastica, io ne sono innamorato.

TURBO68 Rating: 2011-03-09
Excellent Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought a Kenwood-R600 last year from ebay USA in brand new condition with original box,manual hooked it up to a Wellbrook-ALA1530 and was amazed how good it sounds and the signals that i was listenning to mainly monitor hf aero easy radio to use and the display is bright i do have othere receivers from Alinco,Icom,Palstar,Ten Tec but this is one of my favourites.
N4ZBS Rating: 2011-03-07
Simply a joy to operate. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought this radio from eham classifieds. Received last week. I have had several other receivers since 1968, but wish I had bought one of these in the early 80's, would have saved myself anguish and money.

True there are no memories, no passband tuning, no notch filter etc. but it sounds great, looks great, is easy to operate, filtering does good job, display and "S-meter" are easy to read and there are no dual function buttons. I have the original manual, but it's not needed to operate.

It is connected to 160 meter dipole and I have not experienced any of the negative comments read elsewhere:
-Great on medium wave.
-Sensitive and selective.
-Have not noticed over loading or problems tuning in side band stations.

Maybe I just got a good one, or maybe it has mods. Not sure. But I've been looking for an
R-600 for several years and this one will not be leaving.

Tx Eddy
N4ZBS




KX4TT Rating: 2010-11-18
Good Basic Receiver Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I owned an R-600 for a couple of years, eventually selling it to get an HF rig. It was a solid performer that worked well even with inferior antennas (I ran 30-40 feet of wire out the window at first). Not a lot of bells and whistles, but a decent performer on SW and the ham bands.
WD6ETC Rating: 2007-12-07
Great desktop radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Kenwood R600 is a well thought out, capable receiver, but its price reflects that fact is lacks certain advanced receiver features. I use it to listen to AM talk radio in the AM and oceanic aircraft on HF in the PM. Pros: easy to use (even at night), large, well lit S-meter, published sensitivity, big tuning knob, effective noise blanker (try it when the gardeners come with leaf blowers), RF ATT switch, acceptable audio, 500 and 50 ohm ANT inputs, mutable. Cons: audio lacks crispness and bass (much better audio on my Sony ICF-SW7600GR), constant hiss even on strong stations (IF filters?), no squelch, no adj. RF ATT, freq. readout 2Khz off on SSB (normal with this type), very freq. stable after 1 hr. warmup (typical), old tech MOSFET front end. In contrast, the Sony is smaller, lighter, portable, has better audio even with small speaker, better sensitivity and adj. RF att.
KQ4O Rating: 2007-10-07
Inexpensive and Fun Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
For a 25 or so year old radio with almost no controls to adjust the received signal with, it's not a bad rig. The wide filter isn't the best, but its adequate and gives nice audio on a clear signal, but not so good for crowded bands with strong signals, though. The AM narrow/SSB filter is actually very good at eliminating hets, and provides very a very nice sound listening to SSB. At HF its pretty sensitive, though a bit noisy, and the classic Kenwood MW attenuation is worse in this radio than on their other receive-only radios. Contrary to what I've read, the R-600's noise blanker does indeed work, but just not on every type of noise. I like the S-meter being marked in normal scale plus a 1 to 5 scale for reporting the SINPO code to stations. Great for just bandscanning or for a bedside radio.
K2VI Rating: 2007-05-31
GREAT BARE BONES RECIEVER Time Owned: more than 12 months.
KENWOOD DID A GREAT JOB WITH THIS RADIO,BUILT TO LAST A LIFETIME AND RECIEVES QUITE WELL,NO IMAGES OR BLOWBY EVEN WHEN HOOKED UP TO MY MOSLEY CL-33 UP 50'...ALSO A SUPER MW BAND DX MACHINE.

TONY K2VI
KI6HJH Rating: 2007-03-30
Nice little Recvr, except Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had my 600 for about 20 years. I'd been using it for SWL only. Recently got my ham ticket, so now I'm using it to listen to SSB more rather than SW AM stations. The 600 is easy to use, easy to understand. Haven't had the manual for years, its not needed. Good sound and good RX performance. The one very frustrating thing is there is no fine-tuning knob or capability. If you're trying to tune in somebody who is using SSB, it's very difficult. That is the only reason I'm looking for another G/C receiver.