KENWOOD TS-990 - A Kenwood suicide

Looks to me like Kenwood decided to comite suicide! In a market divided between Yaesu and Icom as ham equipment producers, each one with a very defined design, feel and look, KENWOOD was a silent competitor. They had a very traditional way to made radios: simple, functional, intuitive and ergonomic. But with the new TS-990
as I can see it in the leaflet, looks to me that KENWOOD tried to "steal" the market from both ICOM and YAESU! Some of the features seems to be very futuristic and interesting and I believe that either we'll se a "new star" on Broadway, either we will assist to a big laugh from ham radio market... We'll see... Here is the release photo and some informations from Kenwood about ts-990.

 73 de yo3hjv, Adrian.


UPDATE:

Seems that the new Kenwood TS-990 will have a great audio, as we expect from a specialist in sound.
There are some rumors that Bob Heil,  K9EID from HeilSound is under a new NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement)  with KENWOOD for the TS-990!
Looks like Kenoowd tend to choose the right man in the right place for the latest developments. For TM-D710 and TH-D72 they worked with Bob Bruninga, the father of APRS system.


Click on picture to open a larger version (the front panel of the KENWOOD TS-990)

Original press release:

April 18, 2012 New Amateur Radio Product to be Exhibited Prior to Worldwide Launch JVC KENWOOD Corporation is proud to announce that the prototype of a state-of-the-art Amateur transceiver scheduled for worldwide launch under the KENWOOD brand in the winter of 2012 will be unveiled as a reference exhibit at Dayton Hamvention 2012 to be held in Dayton, Ohio, USA (May 18-20). It will also appear at events in Germany and Japan. Reference exhibit model: TS-990 HF/50 MHz Transceiver Featuring a dual TFT display and dual receiver, the TS-990 is a top-of-the-range flagship model in the KENWOOD Amateur radio line-up. Prior to the launch of the TS-990, a prototype will be displayed as a reference exhibit at Dayton Hamvention 2012 in Dayton, Ohio, USA (May 18-20), at HAM RADIO 2012 in Friedrichshafen, Germany (June 22-24), and at Ham Fair 2012 in Tokyo, Japan (August 25-26). Please note that as this product is under development, published information is subject to change without notice.

1 Leu Iambic CW keyer - touch version

In the quest for the comfortable iambic keyer I made a touch keyer.

The paddles are made from two "50 bani" coins (around 14 Eurocents) each.

Works nice in connection with my home made PIC memory keyer.
The keyer is based on AT42QT1012 capacitive touch sensor.

YO3HJV portable in YOFF-164

From 27 to 30 th of April I was on a little vacation on Black Sea Coast.
I was staying in Costinesti at "Forum" Hotel.

I always have my backpack (ICOM LC156) with me with some stuff ready to operate in HF bands.

I made a few interesting contacts: Albania, Andorra, Thailand  etc with only 5 W from IC 703 with a very short antenna (military folded vertical) and with a small SLA battery (12 V, 7 Ah and a 2.2 Ah backup).

From the hotel, in the early mornings, I used a fishpole stick with a wire hanging, tuned witj ICOM AH4 ATU.

Yes, QRP is (still) possible but you have to be very patient.
What I found is that without internet is very hard to be copied! Not to many hams are searching through the band trying to listen to weak signals. Almost all my QSO's were made after someone post me on DX Cluster.



A very pleasant QSO was the one with Lutz, DL3SEZ. He was on Mount Michael with a IC 7000 and a home made fan-dipole and we were at the third QSO. The first was in 2007, the second in 2011 and now was the third. It was like meeting a old friend!

I cannot say with full confidence if the internet will be the future for the hamradio but I can tell you that this kind of QSO will always make me to turn on the radio again and again!

Here is my log and some pictures:



START-OF-LOG: 2.0
CONTEST: World Fauna and Flora
CALLSIGN: YO3HJV/P
CATEGORY: SINGLE-OP ALL QRP SSB
ARRL-SECTION: DX
CLAIMED-SCORE: 0
CLUB :YO3KSR - ROMANIAN SOCIETY OF RADIOAMATEURS
NAME: ADRIAN
ADDRESS: BUCHAREST
OPERATORS:
CREATED-BY: ADIF2CABR V.2.00 (C) SP7DQR
SOAPBOX: E-MAIL:
SOAPBOX: 5W QRP FROM YOFF 164

QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-30 0927 YO3HJV/P      59             4X1DA         59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-30 0920 YO3HJV/P      59             5B4AIX        59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-30 0902 YO3HJV/P      59             RZ1CWC        59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-30 0839 YO3HJV/P      59             DG0OFH        59            
QSO: 28000 PH 2012-04-30 0800 YO3HJV/P      59             RX3AKT        59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-30 0555 YO3HJV/P      59             DL3SEZ        59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-30 0408 YO3HJV/P      59             RX9FX         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-30 0403 YO3HJV/P      59             RG4F          59            
QSO:  3500 PH 2012-04-30 0347 YO3HJV/P      59             YO3BVJ        59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-30 0317 YO3HJV/P      59             N5EKG         55            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-30 0315 YO3HJV/P      59             KX5C          59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-30 0301 YO3HJV/P      59             RA9UIV        59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-29 1618 YO3HJV/P      59             OE5PEN        59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-29 1617 YO3HJV/P      59             RU6YZ         59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-29 1616 YO3HJV/P      59             MM6GWR        59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-29 1614 YO3HJV/P      59             OM1AX         59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-29 1612 YO3HJV/P      59             GS6PYE        59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-29 1558 YO3HJV/P      59             OT4A          59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-29 0612 YO3HJV/P      59             HB9BS         59            
QSO:  7000 PH 2012-04-29 0521 YO3HJV/P      59             ZA100I        59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1641 YO3HJV/P      59             EA4GIG        59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1626 YO3HJV/P      59             C31VM         59            
QSO: 21000 PH 2012-04-28 1620 YO3HJV/P      59             EA5HJY        59            
QSO: 21000 PH 2012-04-28 1535 YO3HJV/P      59             VU2DK         59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1525 YO3HJV/P      59             ON8VC-MM      59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1520 YO3HJV/P      59             HZ1TT         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 1453 YO3HJV/P      59             RA4PZI        59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 1450 YO3HJV/P      59             RX3FZ         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 1448 YO3HJV/P      59             UA1WA         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 1447 YO3HJV/P      59             ON6DP         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 1446 YO3HJV/P      59             RW4PP         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 1445 YO3HJV/P      59             RA9RR         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 1445 YO3HJV/P      59             RV3LO         59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1416 YO3HJV/P      59             YB0JZS        59            
QSO: 28000 PH 2012-04-28 1400 YO3HJV/P      59             A61R          59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1304 YO3HJV/P      59             OH2BLD        59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1259 YO3HJV/P      59             DL5X          59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1258 YO3HJV/P      59             F1SUP         59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1257 YO3HJV/P      59             F5IL          59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1256 YO3HJV/P      59             DL5MO         59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1256 YO3HJV/P      59             CT1IUA        59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1255 YO3HJV/P      59             DC1NHS        59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1254 YO3HJV/P      59             RA1OW         59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1254 YO3HJV/P      59             F5OUD         59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1253 YO3HJV/P      59             RA4LFQ        59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1253 YO3HJV/P      59             DL4BBH        59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1250 YO3HJV/P      59             SV3DVO        59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-28 1245 YO3HJV/P      59             DL1RNT        59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 1018 YO3HJV/P      59             DJ7BE         59            
QSO:  7000 PH 2012-04-28 0553 YO3HJV/P      59             UT3UW-A       59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0545 YO3HJV/P      59             OH3OJ         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0544 YO3HJV/P      59             4Z4DX         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0543 YO3HJV/P      59             OH3GZ         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0542 YO3HJV/P      59             RZ9OL         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0541 YO3HJV/P      59             EC3ABB        59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0540 YO3HJV/P      59             RU3EQ-P3      59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0540 YO3HJV/P      59             IK1GPG        59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0539 YO3HJV/P      59             UA9LT         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0537 YO3HJV/P      59             F5IL          59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0534 YO3HJV/P      59             RA3DAD        59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0533 YO3HJV/P      59             RZ3DY         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0533 YO3HJV/P      59             HB9DRM        59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0532 YO3HJV/P      59             UA3CS         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0529 YO3HJV/P      59             DH1UQ         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0527 YO3HJV/P      59             UA9CES        59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0456 YO3HJV/P      59             RV9UCN        59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-28 0454 YO3HJV/P      59             RA1OD         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-27 1915 YO3HJV/P      59             LY2CO         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-27 1533 YO3HJV/P      59             UA3VSX        59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-27 1524 YO3HJV/P      59             F1FFP         59            
QSO: 14000 PH 2012-04-27 1522 YO3HJV/P      59             RA1AVP        59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-27 1500 YO3HJV/P      59             PC2F          59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-27 1500 YO3HJV/P      59             U1BD          59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-27 1459 YO3HJV/P      59             MM1AWV        59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-27 1459 YO3HJV/P      59             DL6IY         59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-27 1458 YO3HJV/P      59             HS0ZIV        59            
QSO: 17M PH 2012-04-27 1457 YO3HJV/P      59             UA9JFD        59            
END-OF-LOG: