Scott,
I have three of the four sitting in front of me now. I have the Yaesu
FT-1000D, the Yaesu FT-1000MP, and the Kenwood TS-950SDX. Until
recently, I had the ICOM 775DSP. I did have 3 QTh;s, one in Moscow
(R3/W4ZW), one in Colorado, and now my permanent QTH here on Casey Key
Island off the SW Florida coast.
I believe any evaluation of these radios must be divided into two parts,
CW and SSB, since they have different characteristics in each mode. I
have used the FT-1000D and the TS-950SDX for the past three years and the
FT-1000MP for the past year. I used them all quite heavily at different
times while in Moscow since I averaged about 3000 Q's per month there,
especially in contesting.
For CW, my first choice is the FT-1000D. It lacks a few nice to have
items like a separate key jack so you can use the internal keyer and a
computer port and an external pitch control among other things, but it
has in my opinion no current peer. My second choice for CW is the
Kenwood TS-950SDX. I think its reputation has suffered from the
mediocre performance of the TS-940 after the superb TS-930S/AT which I
had unti I got the Ft-1000D, but it is an excellent and under-rated CW
rig. My third choice for CW would be the FT-1000MP which I really like.
but I still give the edge to the TS-950SDX. My last choice for CW is the
775DSP, which in my opinion is not in the same league at the other three.
For SSB, it's quite a different story. For SSB I would rank the Kenwood
TS-950SDX first, the ICOM 775DSP second, the FT-1000MP third, and the
FT-1000D last. The DSP features really do make a difference on SBB
whereas my old CW ears are better than most DSP systems.
The third ranking is cost. Considering the investment AFTER adding all
the filters, I think a used TS-950SDX would probably be the best buy
since they have suffered unjustly in reputation as I mentioned earlier
and the used price for a loaded unit should be very attractive. A good,
used, FT-1000D is the best buy for CW in my opinion.
I also have the ICOM 756 and the Kenwood TS-570D and have to say that the
Kenwood is an outstanding CW rig for the money. The ICOM is great for
checking the HF bands for activity with the built-in bandscope, but then
I use the Kenwood SM-230 with the TS-950SDX for that purpose.
I also used the Kenwood TS-870S for two months while in Moscow and really
liked it as well. It performed fine for me and I never experienced the
intermod problems I heard rumors about. It ranks as a great SSB rig, but
I'd take the TS-570D over it for CW work. I plan on installing the
TS-570D at my Colorado QTH as my regular rig there.
Hope this helps.
Jon, W4ZW
w4zw@juno.com
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