New to us HF Radio for the New Place...

Well, i blew my Christmas Money this morning, on a New to us HF Radio for the new Place... I have been watching QRZ. com and eBay since I got my PFD Payment from the State of Alaska, looking for another TS-480x or a TS-B2000 w/Control Head... A TS-B2000 w/Control Head poped up last week, with Reserve minimum bid of $500, and i put in a $500US bid right away.. then over the week a few others bid it up to $680US this morning... I had already decided $800US would be my Maximum Bid, so I waited until the auction had only 30 Seconds to go, and bid the $800US... One oF the other guys bid $750US IN THE LAST 45 Seconds, and I won with a Bid of $767.00 plus $25US for shipping... This is an HF, VHF, UHF All Mode 100 watt HF,VHF, 50Watt. UHF Transceiver with built-in Packet TNC, a DSP IF System, and an Internat Auto. Antenna Tuner on the HF Bands... The “B” version has no Front Panel Controls, but has a Remote Control Head, and. RS-232 Computer Control System that Kenwood supplies a MicroSquash based Program at allows Complete Control of the Radio... I will be able to have complete Control from any networked PC or Virtual Machine, on my network, as well as a less than complete Control from the locally connected Control Head... The Idea is to mount the Radio up in the Blue Cabin, along with the Control Head, and along with the TM-D710GA Vhf/Uhf Radio that can be interconnected to it and then by using Kenwoods SKY COMMAND Software Operate the TS-B2000 as a Complete Remote HF Station... If I happen to be up at the new place, I can use the Control Head to operate the radio. The RC-2000 Control Heads are fairly rare and not currently made, so finding one by itself, would be hard. Once i get it here, and during the Checkout, I will post pictures of the whole System.. It is going to be an interesting Winter Project. I plan to use a Dipole for 80 thru 10 Meters, another Dipole for 6 Meters, and simple Vhf and Uhf verticle Antennas for those two Bands. I have a Dualband verticle Antenna for the TM-D710GA that should be here on next weeks MailPlane...

 

I believe it is a full function TNC will do 1200 and 9600 baud up on Vhf and Uhf respectively... I am not sure but there are indicationS it will do 300 baud on HF... THE specs are published on the Kenwood/USA website.
I have a few spare TM-D710A T/R Units and plan on setting them up as the two end of the SKY COMMAND System for the REMOTE Control, from our Cabin down here... Once I get the TS-B2000 here, in a week or two I will know more, of how this will work...

 

Oh boy, Did I pull a boner.... I just got an eMail from eBay... It seems I placed an unreasonaly LOW Bid on a TS-2000X Transceiver that has the 1296 MHz option installed... and NOW I have apparently WON THE Auction... So I seem to be the proud Possessor of 2ea. versions of the Kenwood TS-2000 Radio Systems. I guess I will keep the 2000x and the Control Head from the B2000 and combine them into one System, and the sell the B2000 T/R Unit to recoop some of the FRNs that I have put out... I believe that I can use both the Front Panel Controls, AND the Remonte Control Head, at the same time, but I will have to test that, once both Radios get here... If they will not work as I had assumed, I will likely pull the 1296 Option from the 2000X and install it in the B2000, and then Sell the Ts-2000x Radio as a TS-2000... We will see whay happens in the testing phase...

 

Well, It took a lot of resolve to admit to AlasakChick, that I messed up, by buying TWO TS-2000 Radios.... She said she understood, and that she went a bit overboard at Amazon as well... So we have agreed that Christmas Shopping is over, and not a lot of discresional spending until the New Year... Whew, got a Pass on that one... Radios are on the way, can not wait to begin testing...

 

True enough, but with two she can have her own ---

 

Not even on her Christmas List...

 

My Christmas Luck seems to be Holding... I just bought an Original Kenwood CD that was shipped with the TS-B2000 Radio for $7.50US including shipping... This CD has the Kenwood Computer Control Program and Software Key on it for controlling the Radio from the RS-232 Port on the back of the Radio... I have the Software but couldn't find the Key, anywhere online, so this will be a BIG Help. I have the R/T Systems Software already coming, and should be here next WED, on the Mail Plane, along with BOTH the TS-2000X and the TS-B2000 w/Control Head... Later next week I am going to be having a whole bunch of FUN, testing out these Units to see which one I will keep, and which one will go up for Sale to recoup the money I didn't intend to spend, on this Project...

 

That IS the right stuff with Kenwood. The Kenwood program works, but is is clumsy as all get out. RT is almost idiot proof. It's worth noting that the database is easily moved from one Kenwood radio to another with the right cords. I have not yet loaded anything on the 480, but the UHF and VHF xceivers are all set up until next repeater frequency needs to be added.

 

The Kenwood TS-2000X showed up on the Mailplane today... Along with the T/R Systems software including the USB Control Cable... I wiss I was able to get messing around with it today, but yesterday was a Tough Day, around here... Domestic Transfer Water Pumb burned up an Impeller, and when I was installing a new Impeller, my back issu es returned, and went into Spazzum... I couldn’t move without BIG Pain... So spent th e night in my EZ Chair, took a bunch of MEDs, and it is getting better today, but I suspect it will need a couple of more days to rehab it.... So, have to wait another week for theTS-B2000 w/Control Head to get here, and the Kenwood OEM CD that came with the B2000, that I bought off eBay... Santa brough AlaskaChick here two presents today as well... Bluetooth Portable Headphones, and a set of Induction Heating Cookware... Santa brought me a 3 Meter Lightning Data-Charging Cable for my iDevices... I hope to get to the TS-2000X by this weekend...

 

The TS-B2000 Willbe here next Wed.. along with the Kenwood CD... Today, I got the R/T Software loaded onto my MicroSquash XP Virtual Machine on my 27” iMac.. Found a good USB Port for the Connection Cable, and tested all that without actually Powering up the TS-2000X, itself... Turns out that this radio uses the same USB Cable as the TS-480 Series Radios, only with a different Program... So now I am considering replacing the TS-480HX that is my Backup Unit here at the Cabin, with the TS-2000X so I have 1296Mhz here, and then install the TS-480HX up at the new Place... This would give me ALL MODE DC to 1300Mhz capability here, and 200 Watts DC to 54 Mhz, and 50 Watts VHF & UHF, up at the New Place... Will need a few more Antennas here, to occomodate the SSB Frequencies in the VHF & UHF Bands... Hmmmm... Lots to consider...

 

Next installment of this thread... Well the TS-B2000 didn’t show up today due to a couple factors... First, the Mail Plane turned around before it got here this morning, due to heavy turbulence, so they will try again tomorrow at 12:30pm... Secondly, apparently the radio was shipped Parcel Post so it is coming to Seattle via USPS Truck Freight, and the Post Office shows it leaving Michigan on the 23rd, so I hope to get it on next weeks plane... The Kenwood TS-2000 CD I thought was part of of the original packaging, turns out to be an After Market one, with the Service Manuals, and other stuff, but NOT PC Control Program and it’s Software Key... That CD is on tomorrows Plane, for sure... In the mean time last week I found that HRO still has the Kenwood TS-2000 PC Program CD for sale, along with other TS-2000 options... So I ordered one from them, and it shipped USPS First Class Mail today... So it will arrive next week with the TS-B2000...That solves ALL the issues with this project except one... I found a used Kenwood Optional VS-3 Voice Card on eBay and it is on the way as well, but I am still looking for a used Kenwood optional DRU-3 Recording Card for this project...

 

Service and Operation Manuals on CD came on the Mail Plane, today... Got my outside work done before noon (LubeOil change in North Genset) so I could read these manuals this afternoon... Ok, now I am totally CrossEyed trying to follow the diagrams in the Service Manual... This is a VERY Complicated Design and adding a DSP IF, on both RX and TX, makes it even more so... I t. would have been better if I had used the 27” iMac to review the diagrams, instead of my 9” iPad, maybe I will try that tomorrow.... One more week of waiting, then some bench time with ev erything in one place...

 

Mail Plane came and left, and I only got the Kenwood PC Control Program CD, from HRO, in this weeks mail..... No TS-B2000, no Control Head, or anything else... Oh well, looking forward to next week... I got the Control Program loaded into my XP Virtual Machine, and connected power, the USB Control Cable, and then set the Comm Port to Comm-14 for the hardware. It does Control the Radio, and do what it should so far... I also tried the Memory Program from R/T Systems and downloaded the Radios Setup & Memory settings to a file... Then tested loading a unused Memory Location with Data, and uploading it to the Radio.... That all works as advertised... Good to go so far... updates, next week.....

 

Hurrah... The Mail Plane brought the long awaited Kenwood TS-B2000 & the RC-2000 Remote Control Head, with all the Extension Cables and Mobile Mounting Hardware and a Remote Speaker.... I haven't even powered the B200o up yet, because I wanted to see if the RC-2000 would operate in parallel with the Front Panel Controls on the TS-2000x, AND with the PC Control Software running in an XP Virtual Machine on the iMac... Turns out that the answer is YES, they all function simultaneously, in controlling the Radio Hardware... That is what I wanted for this project, and it turns out to be TRUE... So if anyone wants a TS-B2000 T/R Unit for a really Good Deal, I am now able to make them a deal.... Still a lot of things I need to figure out about this Radio System... Now that I have ALL the Hardware in one place, I just need to learn how to do the Controlling from each of the Control Pieces. Front Panel, RC-2000, and PC Control Software. More to come, next week, while AlaskaChick in down in the FlatLands, and my time is my own...