Kenwood TS 50

[jim-6477]

Hey guys.
I just finished modding my ts 50. clip a diode so it will transmit everywhere from 1.7 to 30 mhz
I noticed when I talk into mic I am barely getting 20 watts. on 27.385 lsb if i whistle or yell into mic i can swing it to about 80 watts, but normal voice is pretty low, on 40,80.or 160 it will swing 75 watts and peg at 100 watts normal voice,


so is this normal for this type of radio to be weak out of it designed bands?

[dirtyjob]

perhaps it needs to be "optimized" for 11 meters ?? I have no idea its just a guess

[Night Crawler]

I noticed when I talk into mic I am barely getting 20 watts. on 27.385 lsb if i whistle or yell into mic i can swing it to about 80 watts, but normal voice is pretty low, on 40,80.or 160 it will swing 75 watts and peg at 100 watts normal voice,

On the higher frequency bands the power will drop off some maybe 10% which is normal usually starting at 15 meters and above.

Is it doing it on all the bands above 40 meters or just on 11 meters and are you using a dummyload for testing also did you do a master reset after the frequency modification?

What I would suggest is try it in the CW mode on 10 meters and compare it to 11 meters CW the output power should be the same which would be a better way to test it then using sideband and that will determine if the problem is because of the out of band modification.


The TS 50 has three power levels high,medium and low is it set for the high power level above 40 meters?

[jim-6477]

O.K. did some more testing , the radio is putting out about 80 watts across the radio on cw from 10-160 into a dummy load.
20 watts normal across all bands including 11 on ssb, with normal voice peaking to about 60 watts if i whistle, maybe a power mic may be in my future?

[Night Crawler]

You don't need a power microphone that radio isn't a cb if it's doing around 80 watts on cw it's transmitting fine

This is what to do connect the radio to a dummy load use the rf meter in the radio when transmitting on sideband the voice peaks should read between 5 to 7.

If it's reading lower then that on voice peaks then the mic gain might be set to low (default setting) to change it to high use Menu B number 66 there's also a VR that can be adjusted refer to the owners manual.

[hilltop 439]

Took me a long time to realize that i was not going to get that LOUD BLASTING AM AUDIO from my Ham rig like i get out of some of my 11 and 10 meter exports. I to have a Kenwood transceiver different model however but the same principles apply . These radios are not great AM performers but they are awsome in SSB mode really what they were designed for anyway.

[Night Crawler]

I to have a Kenwood transceiver different model however but the same principles apply . These radios are not great AM performers

What model kenwood do you have and did you ever try the the ALC mod on it you can get the AM sounding pretty good after doing that.

[hilltop 439]

I have a Kenwood TS 430 S it is an old radio but it is in well kept condition and i have had a lot of great reports on the audio in SSB mode on all the Ham band including 11 meters . The AM mode is terrible espacially the recieve it just sounds muffled and fuzzy. I am interested in the mod you suggested Night Crawler i am all ears.

[Night Crawler]

TS-430 is a great radio I had one with the FM board.
It's a very simple mod that connects to the ALC input on the back of the radio the one that used for a connection to a linear amplifier with no internal connections to the radio.
I'll send you a PM with the information and tell you what can be done about the receive which is caused by the filter not being wide enough for AM.

[jim-6477]

Thanks night crawler. you were right it was set to low. for the audio. I have owned this radio about a yr and still don't know all the menus on it. now my power swing is what I remember. again thanksall for input.

[Nagant]

I don't mean to change the subject but I wondering how the little TS-50 Kenwoods sound on AM? I realize they're not going to be loud and punchy like a CB or export but do they have clear good sounding audio at least. I ask because in my experiences some HF rigs are next to impossible to get decent clean audio from on AM and a good friend of mine has a nice TS-50 he is considering selling. I might be interested if they can be made to have at least decent AM audio and not sound worbly.

[Night Crawler]

Nagant there are a number of things that can be done to the TS-50 to get it to sound good on AM or any HF rig from simple modifications to more complicated ones depending how much electronic experience someone has.

I had a Kenwood TS-520 that I added the AM mode too that is only a CW SSB rig by adding a diode detector for AM receive and a external plate modulator to the 6146 final amplifier stage.
If your interested what can be done to the TS-50 I'll send you a PM.

[Nagant]

If you have the mods handy and if it's not to much trouble shoot me a PM as to what needs to be done to the TS-50 Night Crawler. If it's to much trouble that's okay as I can do the online research sometime to see what needs to be done.

[jim-6477]

Well did use the radio today, on 19 a.m. had good reports with audio and so forth. no contacts made on ssb yet,
night crawler you can share the ts 50 mods here if you like , unless you dont want to publically share, that is up to you. have a great weekend.