Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021
I finally got my new-to-me Kenwood TS-530S unboxed and in place in Studio C. The radio is in really nice condition — better than advertised. It’s really a nice upgrade from the TS-520 series. The flourescent display is nice, though it only has one digital to the right of the decimal.
While i don’t have a mic for it, the radio transmits well. I’m not really happy with the 800 Hz sidetone, but I can manage. The one thing that is a little unnerving is that in CW mode, the receive and transmit frequency indicate slightly different frequencies as the rig switches from receive to transmit.
It took me a couple of minutes to figure out how the rig is supposed to operate on CW. Because of the automatic 800 Hz offset, you have to tune the receive frequency 800 Hz away from the actual transmit frequency. When you key the rig, the display switches to display the transmit frequency. While checking in to the CW net, I turned on the RIT and you can tune your incoming signals to the tone that best suits your preference. In the end, all that mattered is that your transmit frequency is where it should be.
The rig is equipped with an Inrad 400 Hertz CW filter, and boy howdy, is it tight! Kenwood offered two CW filters, a 500 Hz and a 270 Hz filter. There are two blank filter spots; you can select one narrow CW filter and one narrow SSB filter, or you can install both narrow CW filters.
My initial take on the Inrad filter is that it is awful good, and I don’t think I’ll bother with a second CW filter. The narrow SSB filter for the rig is 1.8 kHz — a narrow bandwidth that I don’t really enjoy listening to. If I find one at a really good price, perhaps I’ll invest in one. Probably not.
The received audio sounds excellent, and the rig is very stable. I’ve decided that I’m probably going to put in the new HV caps in the TS-520SE and then put it on eBay. I still have three working SB-102s with CW filters, and I’m probably going to keep two of them and sell the third.
REAR-END COLLISION. Today at lunch, I was going to our local radio shack and waiting at a redlight when some guy in a Cadillac Escalade plowed into the rear of my car at 30 mph. I saw him coming and let off the brake right before the impact. He hit the rear of my vehicle really really HARD. Tonight my left shoulder is about to kill me, and my shoulder blade is sore as hell. The guy driving the Cadillac wasn’t wearing a seat belt, and it banged his ass up pretty good. My vehicle was still driveable, so I left and drove to State Farm to start a claim. I’ve paid State Farm for 40-plus years, and decided to let them cover it and then they’ll go after the driver who hit me. It was a little sketchy too, because the guy was driving his girlfriend’s car, and it was her insurance that is allegedly covering him.
Anyway, my car — a 2007 Suzuki XL-7 — may wind up being totaled. The hatch was hit hard and the bumper was too. It looks like the floor of the passenger comparment at the hatch was buckled too, so the cost of repairs could outstrip the value of the vehicle. The retail value of the car — including options — is about $3,800. It won’t take a lot of damage to damn near run that high.
My left shoulder is progressively becoming more sore; I expect to spend time in the shack tomorrow, and I have to come up with a mic to put on the rig.
73 es CUL …. de KY4Z …. SK .. SK … (dit dit) …