[CQ-Contest] TS-850SAT -- interesting rig for contesting

[jpescatore at aol.com]

I bought a TS-850 new in 1991 and it was my only HF rig since then until I bought a K3 in January of this year.
The 850 spent many years at W3LPL doing multi-multi duty, as well as being dragged on many Field Day efforts
back in the mid-1990s. Some thoughts on it at http://wiki.contesting.com/index.php/Older_radios#TS-850S


When I bought the K3 I wired the 850 in as a secondary radio but mostly used the K3. The K3 is the only receiver
I listened to that was the equal of the 850, and the filtering and flexibility is much better. However, a few weeks ago
the K3 main VFO knob optical encoding stopped working and I had to return the K3 back to Elecraft for warranty
repair, so I was back on the 850 for playing around a bit in WPX SSB.  Before the contest started, I thought "wow,
I actually think the 850 sounds better on SSB RX" but once the contest started, I really missed the K3 filtering. The
Inrad roofing mod would probably close the gap in selectivity, but that's a lot of money to throw into a 20 year old
rig, and still be stuck with the 850's hokie filter changing controls.


John K3TN