I had one of these that I bought new in 1979 from Henry Radio in Butler, MO. It was my very first solid state no-tune transceiver. I had a Heathkit HW-101 before that. I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. It was working fine when I upgraded to a Yaesu FT-767GX about 8 years later. I still have it, but it wasn't used, or even powered, for many years. I powered it on a couple of years ago and it had several problems, some that may well be bad caps. But, I don't just wholesale replace all caps. I'll do some tests and at least find out which caps need to be replaced. My experience (56 years a ham, 49 of those in electronics repair) has been that capacitors are much less likely to be bad than most videos make them out to be. I have recently rebuilt several pieces of old test equipment and radios that have been in storage for as much as 50 years. Out of the dozens of electrolytic caps, I only had to replace 5 or so. Just because they are old doesn't mean they are bad. With paper caps, no question, they have to go. But you won't find any of those in a TS-120S. It's entirely possible to put more problems into a piece of equipment than you had to begin with if you just wholesale replace all caps. That's my advice. YMMV
I have a disassembled TS-120S somewhere in my junk. Bought it as a bag of chassis and circuit boards at the flea market some time in the 90's. I seem to remember paying $5. Never got around to putting it back together. Fixing radios: as a retired ham, I often find myself tempted by radios I drooled over in the 70's, but could not dream of ever affording. So there's a KWM-2 and a 30L-1 on my desk right now. Bought the '2 INOP on Ebay. Wasn't hard to fix, but the impedances in there are very high. So I scored a HP-410B at the ham swap - complete with the RF probe with the little tube - and fixed that. Oh, and there's a Drake TR-7 sitting next to the Collins. Have no practical need for any of this stuff.
I hear you, buddy. You don't HAVE to have a practical need. You just need to love fixing and using old radios. Like you, I have dozens of radios now that I never dreamed I could ever own. I have three Hallicrafters SX-28's and a Hammarlund SP-600 that I never expected to own when I was a young man. I have an SB-200 that I wanted from the first day I got my General license. Same with a dozen or more other pieces of equipment. I don't need them, but I can't stand to let a piece of equipment sit in my shack or workshop not working. I have to fix them and make them work again. Maybe they will sit another 20 years and not be used. But, I will have the immense pleasure of knowing I made them work like they were meant to. They will all be my son's when I go SK. He can do whatever he wants with them. But, I will never sell a single one of them. They are like old friends to me, especially those SX-28's, which I love to use to listen to late night AM broadcast. To each his own, but today's young folks will never know the joy that a glowing radio can bring on a cold winter night.
ive been doing this too, just restored a Knight T-60...no real use for it, and I was born in 85 so it was before my time, but it is fun. still yet to make a AM contact, though I am stuck on 7.277khz with about 20 watts lol
@@slaquers When I got my General license, I soldiered on for a while with my DX-40 transmitter. Talked to the SSB folks on AM. I'd zero-beat them carefully, and mostly they never noticed, although one guy did say my balanced mixer was out of whack :).
Before you change Caps , Check the PLL (Phase Lock Loop Lock Voltages, could be your trimmers are out of adjustment .and then look at your caps. just dont shotgun your caps and throw in other problems 'Keith N9QDS
Looks like a PLL unlock issue to me. I used to service the TS-830 and TS-530 models. Do the usual verification of powers and grounds first. Many times the pcb screws back themselves out from vibration and thermal cycling. This is very common on the VFO, so be sure to check that as well. A solid performer that just works and would make John Cameron Swayze proud. 73 OM
I love the old Kenwood radios. I used to own a really beautiful 830. What a nice radio! I wish I had never let it go. I hope to find one in good shape again. I won’t part with it if I do. 73
TS-120S was my first HF mobile rig and then the backup to my Drake C-line at the radio desk for many years...great little radio that is somewhere in South America now after I sold at a hamfest to a ham visiting the U.S. 73 - Dino KLØS
Still a relevant radio today. If you only talk SSB or do CW and are not concerned with WARC bands this radio is all you need. A simple audio interface and you can do digital modes with it. When the PLL is unlocked on a band it will not RX/TX and the display will show the dreaded Kenwood dots display. Don't be surprised if you find several bad / low gain 2sc460 transistors on the PLL board. Those transistors have killed countless radios over the decades, not just Kenwoods.
The older I get the more I realize how much fun it is to work on the old radios. Right now there is a Heathkit DX-60 on work bench, almost ready to go. Kenwood does put out fine Ham radios.
I too like that vintage, the transistor days, and they're well built, no real shortcuts taken. Most of the rigs were 75 to 110 watts and could run a fairly high duty-cycle all day long. No shortcuts there. That's back when they were still trying to build things better instead of cheaper. They were approaching the top of the quality/technology curve. I also really like repairing and tuning electronic gear, especially tuning. It's very satisfying to squeeze another dB out of a piece of gear, either on Xmit or receive. But then I've been doing that sort of stuff for the last 60 years or so, so I'd better like it. BTW, RIT is Receive Incremental Tuning, fine tuning on receive, same as the Clarifier on SSB CB's.
Watching this stream with great interest. I own 2 of the TS120 radios - one suffering the same malady as yours. Apparently the ‘two-dot’ issue is common with the 120s. The PLL fails due to some soldering issues on the radios. The recommended solution is to reflow the solder. A Google search will provide links to others that have dealt with this problem. Good Luck and stick with it!
That was my first commercial radio too and I've still got it but have not fired it up for many years. It was a bit unstable on 15M at times and the VFO drifted a bit but other than that it was a great radio. I also have the dcf-230 digital frequency controller which allowed it to be remoted and that sorted the frequency drift. Oh, I also have at AT-130 to go with it and that is a handy little ATY.
I have a TS-830s purchased new in 1981. Been a great radio but has needed some maintenance over the years. Did a full recap a year ago or so and have replaced the driver and finals. Next project is to disassemble the wafer switches and clean all that. The fingers get weak after a time and may need some TLC there. Final step will be a full alignment.
hahaha I thought i was the only one!!, i love repairing those, usualy go from one hamfest to another looking for cute radios to repair, i purchase them, repair them, probably use them 2 or 3 times and then sell them so i have money to buy another one to fix haha. i used to do that for a living in the 90s, then switched to IT, and well, i kinda miss repair those, i'm playing with a TS140 i purchased a few months ago.
I think the x30 series of Kenwood gear is probably the most aesthetically-pleasing ham radio product range ever made. I have the AT-230 tuner and it is a thing of great beauty! I would love an 830.
Yes, I have an AT-230 that is in daily use and an AT-130 that goes with my TS-120s. I don't have an 830 but I do have a couple of 520s' and I agree, they good looking radios.
I bought mine second hand in 1981! Haven’t tried to use for many years until recently. Noted frequencies 15 metres and above not working. Also noted it seems to need warm up time. USB and LSB have different warm up times. CW not functioning. Lack of appropriate test gear has stymied me. It seems there is a dual gate fet in the pull board that seems to be not allowing the 15 metre and above bands to function. Watching with interest
Hmmm… I’m old enough to remember when our radios and tv at home had tubes “transistor” portable radios were new and cool. Transistor, and then “solid state” electronics were sold as being long lasting and reliable. Yet here is this radio that’s not really that old and lots and lots of stuff needs to be replaced. Meanwhile, an older tube radio might very well still work. 🤷♂️
I have this same radio with some of the same issues. I would love to see what you do to this radio. I would like to fix mine, then modify the insides as a learning project. Please post what you do. It would be cool if you fix this current issue before replacing the caps, to see if that is possible. My S-meter has some incorrect outputs. After watching your video it gave me some ideas.... I recently purchased a 1986 FJ60. If I can get this radio where I would like it, it would be cool to install in in the FJ with an older antenna. Wasn't there a mobile version of the Texas Bug catcher? If not that, then maybe a screwdriver antenna like I have in my other car. Then this morning I was thinking, I have a older Kenwood 2 meter radio that needs some work, maybe I can set that up in the FJ also. Though when I do POTA, I will still have my newer radio with me. Please post more videos on this.
As always, great content. A question if I may: as you were going over the radio you said "lots of IF cans." I've heard them called IF cans before but I've always assumed they were simply tunable inductors. Is there any distinction? Looking forward to what we can learn from fixing it!
You know what I dislike. How Google Tings has been discontinued and you can't find the development console to run these things. 20$ on eBay for the whole starter kits. Now I understand why.
Nice. I just picked up one of these at an estate sale. Hope to glean some tips from your experiences with yours. I love working on the older gear, also.
I just did this with an Icom 2M rig. The audio amplifier chip is bolted to the chassis. It's in a notch in the circuit board, and soldered to lands inside the notch. The symptom was occasional complete loss of receive audio. A quick resolder fixed it right up.
I think this is like comparing red and white wine... they are both wine but they are not the same and are used for different meals... The fact that send/rec button doesnt work on this one, means it was used a lot. This transceiver can reach any point on globe under certain conditions and thats it. SDR is new generation tech, can much easier reach any point on globe. And its adjusted by software/PC, on transceiver you have to put physical crystals to "define" frequency. In case of world catastrophe, its better to have transceiver for sure, less dependent on internet/software whatever... just turn on and use it (In a harder way than SDR but at least it works).
@@bayareapianist SDR is also digital, and can communicate with satellites. Its like this: in peace time, SDR is better, in war time, transceiver is better, simpler, independent.
@@orion310591RS thank you. For sure I won't be selling my SDR to DoD 😁 But on a different notes, do you guys know any EE clubs in Bay area? Now I have more time, I would like to be in touch with people like myself.
i have a 130v(qrp) version, that has no frequency display.. not sure what is going on with that,, may just need to do like to said,, turn it in and start pushing and "tapping" on components!
I’m sure you’ve seen Mr Carlsons Lab channel. He has a capacitor “foil side” tester or polarity analyzer circuit for non polarized capacitors. If not determined, is the effect that noticeable in RF circuits or does it just apply to audio? If so, why aren’t all Capacitors marked for this purpose?
From what I know, its only for RF circuits, as its most sensible. For other applications it doesnt matter as we see, otherwise there would be no "non polarized capacitor", only polarized capacitors would existed because scientists and conventions agreed to it.
@@orion310591RS This is wrong. Knowing which end is the foil end is just as important in audio as RF gear. Installing capacitors with the foil side to the high impedance side of the circuit can introduce 60 cycle hum and other noise into the audio chain. The foil side will almost always go to the ground end if the capacitor is grounded. If it's not grounded, the foil end will go to the low impedance side of the circuit, the non-foil end will go to the high impedance side. Electrolytic's have a + positive end and a - negative end. They are always installed in the same polarity as the old one they are replacing.
@@IMSAIGuy Im trying to understand, why there is analogue frequency meter, if near is digital screen.... Whats the point...? To use screen for something other than freq, then still to see freq on dial?
@@IMSAIGuy About this button SEND REC, its kinda strange that they put switch there. Im newbie but this switch is like master switch, for each contact you have to switch from send to rec... I mean, they already have VOX and manual, they could implement logic "switch to SEND if manual is activated or VOX is triggered, otherwise stay in RECEIVE". (In this way it would have to monitor mic while in RECEIVE but hey its automated and one failure point less.) Im speaking about durability of literally most important button, I believe it would get broken after few years of usage on new device.
yes, there is the push to talk button on the microphone, or vox (I never use that), but lets say you are sending a large about of data, RTTY or slow scan image. then you just flip the switch. these days the radios can be controlled by a remote computer. remember this is a very old radio.
I had one of these that I bought new in 1979 from Henry Radio in Butler, MO. It was my very first solid state no-tune transceiver. I had a Heathkit HW-101 before that. I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. It was working fine when I upgraded to a Yaesu FT-767GX about 8 years later. I still have it, but it wasn't used, or even powered, for many years. I powered it on a couple of years ago and it had several problems, some that may well be bad caps. But, I don't just wholesale replace all caps. I'll do some tests and at least find out which caps need to be replaced. My experience (56 years a ham, 49 of those in electronics repair) has been that capacitors are much less likely to be bad than most videos make them out to be. I have recently rebuilt several pieces of old test equipment and radios that have been in storage for as much as 50 years. Out of the dozens of electrolytic caps, I only had to replace 5 or so. Just because they are old doesn't mean they are bad. With paper caps, no question, they have to go. But you won't find any of those in a TS-120S. It's entirely possible to put more problems into a piece of equipment than you had to begin with if you just wholesale replace all caps. That's my advice. YMMV
I have a disassembled TS-120S somewhere in my junk. Bought it as a bag of chassis and circuit boards at the flea market some time in the 90's. I seem to remember paying $5. Never got around to putting it back together. Fixing radios: as a retired ham, I often find myself tempted by radios I drooled over in the 70's, but could not dream of ever affording. So there's a KWM-2 and a 30L-1 on my desk right now. Bought the '2 INOP on Ebay. Wasn't hard to fix, but the impedances in there are very high. So I scored a HP-410B at the ham swap - complete with the RF probe with the little tube - and fixed that. Oh, and there's a Drake TR-7 sitting next to the Collins. Have no practical need for any of this stuff.
I hear you, buddy. You don't HAVE to have a practical need. You just need to love fixing and using old radios. Like you, I have dozens of radios now that I never dreamed I could ever own. I have three Hallicrafters SX-28's and a Hammarlund SP-600 that I never expected to own when I was a young man. I have an SB-200 that I wanted from the first day I got my General license. Same with a dozen or more other pieces of equipment. I don't need them, but I can't stand to let a piece of equipment sit in my shack or workshop not working. I have to fix them and make them work again. Maybe they will sit another 20 years and not be used. But, I will have the immense pleasure of knowing I made them work like they were meant to. They will all be my son's when I go SK. He can do whatever he wants with them. But, I will never sell a single one of them. They are like old friends to me, especially those SX-28's, which I love to use to listen to late night AM broadcast. To each his own, but today's young folks will never know the joy that a glowing radio can bring on a cold winter night.
ive been doing this too, just restored a Knight T-60...no real use for it, and I was born in 85 so it was before my time, but it is fun. still yet to make a AM contact, though I am stuck on 7.277khz with about 20 watts lol
@@slaquers When I got my General license, I soldiered on for a while with my DX-40 transmitter. Talked to the SSB
folks on AM. I'd zero-beat them carefully, and mostly they never noticed, although one guy did say my balanced mixer was out of whack :).
Before you change Caps , Check the PLL (Phase Lock Loop Lock Voltages, could be your trimmers are out of adjustment .and then look at your caps. just dont shotgun your caps and throw in other problems 'Keith N9QDS
Looks like a PLL unlock issue to me. I used to service the TS-830 and TS-530 models. Do the usual verification of powers and grounds first. Many times the pcb screws back themselves out from vibration and thermal cycling. This is very common on the VFO, so be sure to check that as well. A solid performer that just works and would make John Cameron Swayze proud. 73 OM
I love the old Kenwood radios. I used to own a really beautiful 830. What a nice radio! I wish I had never let it go. I hope to find one in good shape again. I won’t part with it if I do. 73
Gotta love the TS-830. It's a great old radio. Well it is now after I serviced it. I also have a TS-820. Heavy metal and OK but not superb.
Me too! My 830 had 500Hz CW filters in both IFs. I loved the variable selectivity!
“I like repairing dead radios … “
(Three days later)
“Why is that semi backing into my driveway?”
TS-120S was my first HF mobile rig and then the backup to my Drake C-line at the radio desk for many years...great little radio that is somewhere in South America now after I sold at a hamfest to a ham visiting the U.S. 73 - Dino KLØS
Still a relevant radio today. If you only talk SSB or do CW and are not concerned with WARC bands this radio is all you need. A simple audio interface and you can do digital modes with it. When the PLL is unlocked on a band it will not RX/TX and the display will show the dreaded Kenwood dots display. Don't be surprised if you find several bad / low gain 2sc460 transistors on the PLL board. Those transistors have killed countless radios over the decades, not just Kenwoods.
The older I get the more I realize how much fun it is to work on the old radios. Right now there is a Heathkit DX-60 on work bench, almost ready to go. Kenwood does put out fine Ham radios.
This was my first HF radio, and I miss it. It's a great radio.
Mine too
I too like that vintage, the transistor days, and they're well built, no real shortcuts taken. Most of the rigs were 75 to 110 watts and could run a fairly high duty-cycle all day long. No shortcuts there. That's back when they were still trying to build things better instead of cheaper. They were approaching the top of the quality/technology curve. I also really like repairing and tuning electronic gear, especially tuning. It's very satisfying to squeeze another dB out of a piece of gear, either on Xmit or receive. But then I've been doing that sort of stuff for the last 60 years or so, so I'd better like it. BTW, RIT is Receive Incremental Tuning, fine tuning on receive, same as the Clarifier on SSB CB's.
Watching this stream with great interest. I own 2 of the TS120 radios - one suffering the same malady as yours. Apparently the ‘two-dot’ issue is common with the 120s. The PLL fails due to some soldering issues on the radios. The recommended solution is to reflow the solder. A Google search will provide links to others that have dealt with this problem. Good Luck and stick with it!
That was my first commercial radio too and I've still got it but have not fired it up for many years. It was a bit unstable on 15M at times and the VFO drifted a bit but other than that it was a great radio. I also have the dcf-230 digital frequency controller which allowed it to be remoted and that sorted the frequency drift. Oh, I also have at AT-130 to go with it and that is a handy little ATY.
I have a TS-830s purchased new in 1981. Been a great radio but has needed some maintenance over the years. Did a full recap a year ago or so and have replaced the driver and finals. Next project is to disassemble the wafer switches and clean all that. The fingers get weak after a time and may need some TLC there. Final step will be a full alignment.
hahaha I thought i was the only one!!, i love repairing those, usualy go from one hamfest to another looking for cute radios to repair, i purchase them, repair them, probably use them 2 or 3 times and then sell them so i have money to buy another one to fix haha.
i used to do that for a living in the 90s, then switched to IT, and well, i kinda miss repair those, i'm playing with a TS140 i purchased a few months ago.
I think the x30 series of Kenwood gear is probably the most aesthetically-pleasing ham radio product range ever made. I have the AT-230 tuner and it is a thing of great beauty! I would love an 830.
Yes, I have an AT-230 that is in daily use and an AT-130 that goes with my TS-120s. I don't have an 830 but I do have a couple of 520s' and I agree, they good looking radios.
For aesthetics, I would nominate the Kenwood Twins - T599 & R599.
I have a beautiful TS-130S, one owner before me, original box, etc. All I need to do is put up an antenna and get it on the air.
I bought mine second hand in 1981! Haven’t tried to use for many years until recently. Noted frequencies 15 metres and above not working. Also noted it seems to need warm up time. USB and LSB have different warm up times. CW not functioning. Lack of appropriate test gear has stymied me. It seems there is a dual gate fet in the pull board that seems to be not allowing the 15 metre and above bands to function. Watching with interest
Hmmm… I’m old enough to remember when our radios and tv at home had tubes “transistor” portable radios were new and cool. Transistor, and then “solid state” electronics were sold as being long lasting and reliable. Yet here is this radio that’s not really that old and lots and lots of stuff needs to be replaced. Meanwhile, an older tube radio might very well still work. 🤷♂️
I have this same radio with some of the same issues. I would love to see what you do to this radio. I would like to fix mine, then modify the insides as a learning project. Please post what you do. It would be cool if you fix this current issue before replacing the caps, to see if that is possible. My S-meter has some incorrect outputs. After watching your video it gave me some ideas.... I recently purchased a 1986 FJ60. If I can get this radio where I would like it, it would be cool to install in in the FJ with an older antenna. Wasn't there a mobile version of the Texas Bug catcher? If not that, then maybe a screwdriver antenna like I have in my other car. Then this morning I was thinking, I have a older Kenwood 2 meter radio that needs some work, maybe I can set that up in the FJ also. Though when I do POTA, I will still have my newer radio with me. Please post more videos on this.
As always, great content. A question if I may: as you were going over the radio you said "lots of IF cans." I've heard them called IF cans before but I've always assumed they were simply tunable inductors. Is there any distinction? Looking forward to what we can learn from fixing it!
some are just inductors, many are a sort of freq tuned transformer, so a filter
You know what I dislike. How Google Tings has been discontinued and you can't find the development console to run these things. 20$ on eBay for the whole starter kits. Now I understand why.
I also believe I still have the service manual if you're not able to find it.
Nice. I just picked up one of these at an estate sale. Hope to glean some tips from your experiences with yours. I love working on the older gear, also.
Once you get it working you should make a CW filter for it. 😊
find me some 8.83 MHz crystals
Reflow the solder joints of all heatsinked components. Thermal expansion can cause cracks, leading to very odd symptoms.
I just did this with an Icom 2M rig. The audio amplifier chip is bolted to the chassis. It's in a notch in the circuit board, and
soldered to lands inside the notch. The symptom was occasional complete loss of receive audio. A quick resolder fixed it right up.
The radio shows your decmail points Look at the PLL First and get the manual for the location and voltags levels there is 4 or 5 PLLs Keith N9QDS
some of the later kenwoods of that vintage in the PLL circuit they used a wax or glue that would become conductive and cause the PLL to unlock
@@whiskerlesswalrus I was wondering about this, why glue is not used but now you say its becoming conductive, first time I hear for this phenomena.
I've never used one of these. But can you replace this beast with one of those software define (control) radios?
no
this is a transceiver 100 watts
I think this is like comparing red and white wine... they are both wine but they are not the same and are used for different meals...
The fact that send/rec button doesnt work on this one, means it was used a lot. This transceiver can reach any point on globe under certain conditions and thats it.
SDR is new generation tech, can much easier reach any point on globe. And its adjusted by software/PC, on transceiver you have to put physical crystals to "define" frequency.
In case of world catastrophe, its better to have transceiver for sure, less dependent on internet/software whatever... just turn on and use it (In a harder way than SDR but at least it works).
@@IMSAIGuy if I had an SDR transceiver which it's output connected to 100w LNA (!!!) , would they be similar?
@@bayareapianist SDR is also digital, and can communicate with satellites.
Its like this: in peace time, SDR is better, in war time, transceiver is better, simpler, independent.
@@orion310591RS thank you. For sure I won't be selling my SDR to DoD 😁
But on a different notes, do you guys know any EE clubs in Bay area? Now I have more time, I would like to be in touch with people like myself.
Got one too with lots of corrosion.
you know i can't stop looking at the phones connector, yes the nut is the wrong one, it is too big too wide.
I eventually threw it in the trash. looks perfect without it
i have a 130v(qrp) version, that has no frequency display.. not sure what is going on with that,, may just need to do like to said,, turn it in and start pushing and "tapping" on components!
I’m sure you’ve seen Mr Carlsons Lab channel. He has a capacitor “foil side” tester or polarity analyzer circuit for non polarized capacitors. If not determined, is the effect that noticeable in RF circuits or does it just apply to audio? If so, why aren’t all Capacitors marked for this purpose?
that's a thing for vacuum tube stuff from the way back days
From what I know, its only for RF circuits, as its most sensible. For other applications it doesnt matter as we see, otherwise there would be no "non polarized capacitor", only polarized capacitors would existed because scientists and conventions agreed to it.
@@orion310591RS Actually it's important for low-level audio circuits. "AC Hum" is a big deal.
@@orion310591RS This is wrong. Knowing which end is the foil end is just as important in audio as RF gear. Installing capacitors with the foil side to the high impedance side of the circuit can introduce 60 cycle hum and other noise into the audio chain. The foil side will almost always go to the ground end if the capacitor is grounded. If it's not grounded, the foil end will go to the low impedance side of the circuit, the non-foil end will go to the high impedance side. Electrolytic's have a + positive end and a - negative end. They are always installed in the same polarity as the old one they are replacing.
5:06 - Thats not "pushing". :D
love taps
@@IMSAIGuy Im trying to understand, why there is analogue frequency meter, if near is digital screen.... Whats the point...?
To use screen for something other than freq, then still to see freq on dial?
@@orion310591RS that radio as sold with and without digital display. the 'S' at the end was WITH readout
@@IMSAIGuy About this button SEND REC, its kinda strange that they put switch there. Im newbie but this switch is like master switch, for each contact you have to switch from send to rec... I mean, they already have VOX and manual, they could implement logic "switch to SEND if manual is activated or VOX is triggered, otherwise stay in RECEIVE".
(In this way it would have to monitor mic while in RECEIVE but hey its automated and one failure point less.)
Im speaking about durability of literally most important button, I believe it would get broken after few years of usage on new device.
yes, there is the push to talk button on the microphone, or vox (I never use that), but lets say you are sending a large about of data, RTTY or slow scan image. then you just flip the switch. these days the radios can be controlled by a remote computer. remember this is a very old radio.
Ines Dale
Thad Unions