[Kenwood] 599 twins

Tue Oct 10 01:31:10 EDT 2006

I like older radios and recently bought a pair of early 599 twins from a 
friend. There are issues but nothing that has stopped me from enjoying 
them so far. I have a couple of questions and would be interested to 
hear what others think.
The receiver is very nice but it does seem prone to overload. I have a 2 
element quad at about 80 feet and we live in a very flat swampy area. 
There are some nearby high power broadcast stations and even with an ICE 
 high pass filter I get some problems on 20 metres. The 20/40/60 
attenuator is a little too much so I am thinking about modifying it to 
be 6/12/18. Anybody tried this? I have also learned that the squelch 
control, not something I really need, can be re-wired as the RF gain 
control which is located inside the set, good idea?
I notice in the schematic that there are three traps in the RF circuit, 
A seies trap, L1 & C1 and a parallel one, L2 & C2 on the input to the RF 
amplifier together with another series trap, L4 & C13 on the output of 
the first mixer. The manual makes no mention of these or what 
frequencies they are supposed to stop, Any ideas? Image trap?
For the transmitter I need a source for the rubber belts and I'm am 
wondering about drilling the front panel to re-locate the mic gain and 
carrier level controls. Is this likely to reduce the radios value? Are 
they collector items? Mine is not by any means mint but it is very nice.
I would also be interested in a silver speaker if anybody has one.
I don't expect great things from these radios but they are fun and give 
much pleasure.
Thanks
Martin, HS0ZED