Monday, April 30, 2018

The Kenwood TS 950 SD Has Gone!

Sadly I have let the old girl go as she wasn't being used regularly by me anymore simply because I was using the Yaesu FT1000 more and more. A chap down south has bought her and as far as I'm concerned got a great rig for a bargain price.



Before I let her go and when we were in negotiations I tested the radio one more time, just to see that she was running OK and to have one more little play and she didn't disappoint. Admittedly the receive is slightly down on the FT1000 but not by much, but every time I put out a CQ I got a reply back. These radios may now be old but they still pack a punch, I'll be sad top see her go!



Good bye old girl, I'll miss you!!

Monday, April 9, 2018

Yaesu FT1000

Browsing through a well known auction site I spied an FT1000. I've always hankered after one of these as my Brother in law has the FT1000d which is a very nice rig, I remember when first using it I said to myself that one day I would own something similar to that rig. Well, here we are a few years down the road and I'm looking at an FT1000 
The standard FT1000 is similar in build to a d version except no BPF-1 filter or TCXO or any CW/SSB filters.

But reading through the information on this FT1000 I noted all filters had been fitted and a BPF-1, so the only missing part was the TCXO, so you could call it a d version of sorts and the guy only wanted £700 for it. Yep, I could live with that.



 I tracked down the owner via the site and made an offer of £600 minus the auction fees if he didn't sell from the auction site. Sure enough at the end of the auction no one had bid, so eventually he came back to my offer, I had an FT1000!

Within the week I had picked it up and returned it safely back to my QTH.
It turns out the previous owner got it from his father who had bought in the States 20 years ago used it once and given it to his son the present owner, he had used it only literally 5 times and all he had done was switch the voltage for UK use. He had then put it away for storage, presumably to use at some stage, but never did. The transceiver was immaculate not a scratch anywhere, pristine condition, brand new, it looked as if it had been stuck in time!
I took the cover off just to check all the filters were there, they were and on turning the radio over I looked at the TXCO it was the upgraded TXCO-1 !

Switching it on the receive, it was superb and on transmitting I was getting excellent reports, better than the 950SD, nearly as good as the 9000, I could hardly believe it, I'd been so lucky.

These transceivers in their day were the ones to own, but to pick one up at this sort of price even today was indeed a stroke of good luck, I now had this FT1000 the original grand father, as back up to an FTDX 9000, not bad!
To make the day I saw another FT1000 not in nearly as good condition on the same auction site for £1100, I couldn't believe it!

The decision to keep the Kenwood 950SD is down to am I going to use it now I have the FT1000?
Comparing both, I have to be honest there is probably not much in it but the FT1000 has 200w rather than the 150w of the 950SD. The receive capability is definitely towards the FT1000 but not by that far. Both are fabulous rigs,  I think I'll wait and see, if I do sell the 950SD it will be for a similar price I paid for the FT 1000, so someone will be getting a bargain!