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

[Steve London]

Nate Bargmann wrote:
> * On 2010 01 Apr 20:34 -0500, k8gt at mi.rr.com wrote:
> 
>> First, the TS850 that I bought used, had a serial number in the 50,000,000
>> range and was produced near the end of the run, and had the CAR board with
>> the new 66312 DDS chips, not the old 6631's that would fail (there are 4 of
>> them).
> 
> That must be the reason I had two fail on separate occasions, the first about
> a month after I bought it and the second about six months later. No longer
> trusting it and thinking it to be a lemon I traded it for my FT-920 alomst
> ten years ago.  For those whp've not had the chips fail, good luck and
> continued success.  But even if the chips had not failed, once I tested the
> receivers of the '850 and my FT-890 side by side, the '850 was on its way out
> of the shack anyway.

The really ugly story behind the 66312 DDS chips is that they are now 
unobtainium. No longer available from Kenwood Parts. I saw a set of 4 with an 
eBay "Buy it Now" price of $250.

73,
Steve, N2IC