[Kenwood] Kenwood Historians-- TS-830S vs TS-180S

Mon, 9 Feb 2004 02:11:08 -0500

Gentlemen: I own a TS-180S and a TS-830S. Both are fine radios for their
age, and both work well. Perhaps someone can inform me as to which one came
out first, and, where tehy placed in the Kenwood lineup at the time. My
guess is they were both around at the same time, with the 830S being an
update of an earlier design while the 180S is a new design but may have been
out slightly before the 830S. My basis for this is that the 180S is all
solid state and has more solid tuning on the rcvr, a secont rcv antenna
input and a normal/rev sidebend selection. Warc bands require extensive mods
to add, and memories not in VFO and are cumbersome to use. The 830S,
however, has some more IF processing available, built in WARC bands, and the
external VFO has a quite usable memory system. Maybe the VFO came out later?
Also, sideband selection is upper/lower rather than Norm/reverse. Any
ideas/opinions? Also, do these both use the same transverters? Thanks, Mike,
WV2ZOW