My new Kenwood TS890
This is an amazing radio. The receive clarity is outstanding. I am a SSB rag chewer so I really enjoy clean clear audio. My previous rig was the Kenwood TS590S. I enjoyed using that radio. It has excellent clarity but the TS890 take the receive to a new level. The quality of the signals I receive are so clear and crisp. It makes listening much easier. After all my years of playing rock in a band, I really appreciate the quality. It has a 2 position noise reduction button which does a great job. When I used that feature on my 590, it would almost block as much audio as noise. The TS890 does a far superior job. It really helps get rid of the noise while keeping the audio. Big improvement. Having the waterfall is another added benefit. Just touch the screen and the radio jumps to the active frequency.
As I use the radio a bit more, I will update the post. My next test is to check some microphones. I have 5 mics and my plan is to do a comparison without making any changes to the EQ. I will leave it flat and see what sounds better. The 5 mics are:
- Kenwood MC60A
- Heil HM10 XD
- Sure SM58
- Electro Voice RE20
- AKG D8000M
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Comments 7
Hey Mike, nice to read you like your 890.
Did you compare the performance of the noise blanker on the 890 vs the 590 ?
I found the 590 to be extremely good in NB performance, and even more, it actually works much better in AM than on other HAM radios.
Thanks ! Chris
Hi Chris. I did not do a comparison of the noise blanker between both radios. The major improvement for me between the 590 and the 890 is the receive quality. The 890 is so much clearer. It makes listening a pleasure.
Hi Mike,
Own a TS-890 for a month now and during the day I see vertical lines every 5 kc in the 21 MHz band. They are gone at night.
Are these AM broadcast signals that overwhelm the filters? Do you have the same in your 890?
Hi Marc,
I have not noticed the same issue but I did find several frequencies in the 21 MHz band where noise was exceptionally high, but narrow. These spots did create solid lines on the scope. I am not sure what is causing the noise. I am going to check this band more often and see if I can figure out what is causing the noise. Please let me know if you get any update on your noise issue.
I tried again this morning at about 8 AM ET and I had no noise across the entire band. Do you have someone near you that can see if they are getting the noise when you are getting it? If they are not, I would look for other things causing the noise such as power line transformer, smoke detectors, or maybe even a power supply for something.
Anybody else have any ideas, please join in.
Must be nearby solar panels I guess. It gets worse when the sun is bright. I swapped the power supply btw.
Did the power supply help?
I wonder if the noise is coming from solar panels, would the noise be heard on an old transistor AM radio? You could walk the neighborhood and see if noise gets louder as you get closer.