TS-890 - RTTY Time!

Well,

This weekend is the CQ WW RTTY Contest - perhaps the grand daddy of all the RTTY tests.

The TS-890 has built in tuning and decode features that are really neat. You can have a number of different selections on the screen at any one time, but this is my preference:


I very much like the X-Y scope above, but you can also have the more traditional mark and space audio peak display:


Note the clear "dip" in between the mark and the space in the image above; that's the APF in RTTY mode creating a perfect notch between the two tones. The OPTIONAL 270Hz roofing filter will also help a little more in very strong signal rejection in RTTY mode.

Now, let's do a quick comparison with the IC-7610 in a similar configuration:


So I very much like the fact that only the spectrum scope is visible above; the TS-890 displays both the spectrum and waterfall - the spectrum is so small it's quite useless. You are going to use this visual indicator to hunt signals on the band; the TS-890 is a bit harder to see what's where.

I happen to use WriteLog for windows as my contest software, the TS-890 works perfectly with the software configured as "Kenwood" - note that I can't get the IC-7610 to talk to the software without changing it's Hex address to make it mimic another radio.

This is part of the WriteLog screen for RTTY contesting:


Above I am just running in search and pounce mode, but you will see there are 2 RTTY decoders (one is MMTTY and the second 2Tone) plus I have the monitor connected to the 890 as a 3rd screen of decoded text.

Unfortunately I've been at the Newark HamFest this weekend so not much time for the contest. But still, another tick in the box for the Kenwood.