At 05:48 PM 01/30/2003 -0700, tlogan7@cox.net wrote:
Yesterday, after posting a note about buying a Corsair II and my potential
on the-air comparison with my Icom 756 Pro II, I was surprized to get a
number of unsolicited direct emails which explained to me, in short, that
neither the Pro II nor the Corsair II were really worth beans for the cw
enthusiast.
a reference to Kenwood having at one time made the best cw rigs ever made.
I cannot remember which models were referred to - the 830 or 850 maybe?
Anyway, I would enjoy hearing from anyone about the Kenwoods and what you
think....
and how they may have compared to Ten Tecs of the same vintage.
Tim:
There were some notable JA rigs that sounded good on CW. They are the
exceptions, of course.
The below list applies only to transmitted CW, not the total xcvr or the
ease of use.
One of the first was the Yaesu FT-101B. Not all models of the 101 were
that good. VOX only, no QSK
This was a contemporary of the Triton 4 series. Triton much easier to
use, sounded great and also full QSK.
The Kenwood line had the 520/530, 820/830, 930/940. All very nice
sounding. The rest
were inconsistent and less than perfect.
The 500 and 800 series were same vintage as early Omni's (A,D,C). VOX
only, no QSK.
Again, Omni's easier to use, sounded terrific and had full QSK.
Kenwood early 900 series nice sounding. Finally all solid state...and had
decent QSK.
Tentec's Corsair series were close to same vintage... but Kwd was PLL
while Corsair was PTO.
(Having had both a Corsair II and a TS-940, I preferred the Corsair...
quieter RX, less phase noise)
And.....Icom never has had a good sounding CW signal.....
These are my observations over the last 32 years of your "window of
questioning."
Not scientific, but as fair as I can be..... :-)
I'm sure the replies and flames will just be starting....... :-)
Hope this helps some...
Perry w8au
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