Sorry for the bandwidth, but I wanted to express my opinion about
the Kenwood TS570D as a RTTY contest radio since I used one for
the first time this weekend. W5ZE loaned it to me as a 2nd radio.
I received the radio less than 2 hours before the contest. Without
ever having operated one before, I was able to install it very easily.
Since I have owned now two TS870's I was somewhat experienced
with how it might work as far as menu settings and FSK/PTT connections
were concerned.
The '570 I used had a 250 hz filter in it and I used that filter the entire
contest
period. I was very impressed with the radio and it worked very well for
me except for the fact that the filters are not as steep as what I am used
to in the '870 and when a station came very near, the S-meter would
jump up and the audio would go way down.
The only other problem I had with it was that the audio was low coming
out of the PHONES jack. I always use receive audio out of the phones
jack since it allows me to adjust the level. For most of the contest I had
the VOLUME control set 3/4 to almost full on. There was no distortion of
the audio at that range and I felt that was a good thing from the radio.
I made over 700 QSO's with the '570 alone.
For the price, the radio seems to be capable of being an excellent 2nd
rig for RTTY contesting or even a primary rig for a beginner. Hopefully
AVVID can fix one of my TS-870's and I'll have dual TS-870's for JARTS.
I'm looking forward to that. But if my budget called for it, I'd buy a '570.
73, Don AA5AU
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