Well,
I'm one of the first in the UK to receive a new Kenwood TS-890.
ML&S have made a lot about being the "dealer of the year" (which I suspect is a bit made up) and also selling more Kenwood than other people (I wonder how they know that unless Kenwood UK have released sales figures from other dealers; undoubtedly in breach of GDPR).
Anyhow, mine came from my chums at LAM Communications and I collected it yesterday, 21st September 2018, the price was lower than ML&S and its conveniently close by. It was at the dealer the day before, but Kenwood asked them to hold the radio until they released an "emergency" firmware.
So here it is:
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Unbelievably (as was the case with the TS-990) there is NO microphone supplied with the radio (LAM have kindly given me one).
Here's a few screen shots of what I've done with it so far:
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Now, it DOESN'T transmit on 5MHz out of the box - that's a shame.
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It's going to be a good radio for Meteor Scatter on 4M (above) and 6M below:
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I have connected a MicroKeyer II to mine, and in turn interfaced the CI-V output from the uHam device to the linear for automatic band switching. The linear covers all HF and 6M plus 4M so we are in good shape.
Initial impressions of the waterfall are that I think its a bit clunky compared to the IC-7610:
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and I really can't figure out what the "Expand" button does, that seems to just make it more chunky.
Anyhow, some time with the radio is needed before drawing any conclusions, but so far, so good.
Here's Miss Luna Cat keeping one eye on me from high up in the shack:
![]()
I'm one of the first in the UK to receive a new Kenwood TS-890.
ML&S have made a lot about being the "dealer of the year" (which I suspect is a bit made up) and also selling more Kenwood than other people (I wonder how they know that unless Kenwood UK have released sales figures from other dealers; undoubtedly in breach of GDPR).
Anyhow, mine came from my chums at LAM Communications and I collected it yesterday, 21st September 2018, the price was lower than ML&S and its conveniently close by. It was at the dealer the day before, but Kenwood asked them to hold the radio until they released an "emergency" firmware.
So here it is:
Unbelievably (as was the case with the TS-990) there is NO microphone supplied with the radio (LAM have kindly given me one).
Here's a few screen shots of what I've done with it so far:
Now, it DOESN'T transmit on 5MHz out of the box - that's a shame.
It's going to be a good radio for Meteor Scatter on 4M (above) and 6M below:
I have connected a MicroKeyer II to mine, and in turn interfaced the CI-V output from the uHam device to the linear for automatic band switching. The linear covers all HF and 6M plus 4M so we are in good shape.
Initial impressions of the waterfall are that I think its a bit clunky compared to the IC-7610:
and I really can't figure out what the "Expand" button does, that seems to just make it more chunky.
Anyhow, some time with the radio is needed before drawing any conclusions, but so far, so good.
Here's Miss Luna Cat keeping one eye on me from high up in the shack:
