[Kenwood] TS-480

Tue Aug 11 00:56:00 EDT 2009

Hi all, I am new to this list. I would like to get some impressions from
you about the Kenwood TS-480. I am considering purchasing one someday. I
am primarily a CW operator. I would like to know how good is the TS-480
QSK? How is the receiver for picking weak ones out? I would no doubt get
one of the narrow optional CW filters for it.
I am also curious about the CW envelope shape, when operating at reduced
power. I have a TS-440 which I used to drive a SGC SG-500 amplifier. The
SG-500 only wanted about 50 to 60 watts of drive. When I turned down the
TX power on the TS-440 the keying envelope got funny. It had a sort of
slow to rise, soft leading leading edge which made my CW hard to copy,
and I got plenty of unsolicited reports about it. When I looked at it
with a scope it was obvious what people said they were hearing. I found
that I could make adjustments to the ALC to restore the envelope to
normal, but then not be able to turn the power up above 60 watts.
Eventually I built a power attenuator of about 2 to 2.5 dB to reduce the
full 100 watts down to what the SG-500 liked. Then if I did not have the
amplifier hooked up I still had a full 100 watts available from the TS-440.
Have any of you had experience running either the 100 watt or the 200
watt version of the TS-480 at reduced power out on CW? Does the CW
envelope change at all when running at reduced power?
Thanks,
Ken N6KB