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Call Sign : 26-CT-3228 / M7VIC Posts : 6148 Times Thanked : 375 Join date : 2019-11-10 QTH or Location : Bedford Equipment Used : Various
Subject: Got me a Kenwood...... Mon Mar 01, 2021 9:26 pm
Yeah, no new shiny toys here.
Just beautiful old toys, (beauty is as they say very much in the eye of the beholder and I think she's a cracker!).
I received a gift from a very good old friend recently, with whom I haven't spoken to in years and thanks to my Ham licence, the 2m band and a bit of simplex playing we caught up with each other recently. Our QSO was nearly 30 miles apart with as little as 1 watt Simplex on my little Intek K980HP, (Baofeng UV5R copy), and a home-made wire dipole. The dipole was being held by me in the house.....Quite impressed with VHF!
Anyway, he turned up at my QTH with a box full of Radcom magazines and this little beauty placed on top. (Socially distanced of course, essential supplies only )
An old Kenwood Trio TR-2500 HT. Lovely.
She's an old girl and the batteries were well past their prime, so I downloaded the service manual and got to work on her.
Turns out that apart from the internal lithium battery, (CR2032 memory backup), and the external cells in the battery pack she's in fine fettle. Bang on frequency and required no other adjustment whatsoever! Working perfectly on simplex frequencies with good audio out as well as receive and boy does she receive well. Much nicer than the modern Intek despite being a big girl in comparison
Still need to replace the old 1750 tone with a modern CTCSS so that I can fire up the local repeater. I used to be able to 'whistle up' the old 1750 but I'll let a little NE567 handle the 77Hz I need.
This old girl has survived almost 40 years of history and hopefully thanks to my fettling she'll last a few years more. Turns out my old friend has come across the original speaker/mic for her as well, look forward to marrying them back up.
What's the point? Well if you have to ask you'll never get it. I'll smile every time I use her and I'm pretty sure my friend will knowing that she gained a good home.
Go on then, a shot with her clothes off.....
.....and required no 're-capping' whatsoever
All the best, Victor
Monza, Markone, Real Captain Caveman, 2TX240 and Seasick like this post
Seasick Contributor
Posts : 79 Times Thanked : 1 Join date : 2021-02-19 QTH or Location : Norfolk Equipment Used : Uniden BCT 15X
Subject: Re: Got me a Kenwood...... Mon Mar 01, 2021 10:35 pm
I remember spending an evening sitting on the flat roof of a friends garage with one of those radios back in the very early 80's. At that time you could buy linears for handheld radios, that plugged between the radio & the antenna.
At the time there were very few repeaters around & the Fenland repeater was a fair distance from us. We were close to Gainsborough, but from that roof, with a 5 watt linear, we could access the repeater.
Victor likes this post
Victor CT Directors
Call Sign : 26-CT-3228 / M7VIC Posts : 6148 Times Thanked : 375 Join date : 2019-11-10 QTH or Location : Bedford Equipment Used : Various
Subject: Re: Got me a Kenwood...... Mon Mar 01, 2021 11:03 pm
Nice memory there Nick mate
These handies always remind me of wandering round 80's Ham rallies picking up a bargain or two. You'd just about spot them under the bulge of bellies ready to break the belt clip
Now I look just like one of those rotund Hams myself......ain't time a bitch!
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Paddy CT Directors
Call Sign : 26CT2727 Posts : 656 Times Thanked : 54 Join date : 2019-07-08 QTH or Location : Stockport Equipment Used : Icom 7300. Icom 705, Yaesu FTM400XD and a Yaesu FT70. Age : 59
Subject: Re: Got me a Kenwood...... Tue Mar 02, 2021 6:18 am
Love it Victor, getting a new radio is absolutely Essential, you’ll never convince me otherwise. I wish I knew what I was looking at with her clothes off (yes, I’ve said that before!!)
The rotund gentleman comment, well. As we say round here “I spat me brew”
_________________
26CT2727
https://www.qrz.com/db/2E0TWD
Victor likes this post
Victor CT Directors
Call Sign : 26-CT-3228 / M7VIC Posts : 6148 Times Thanked : 375 Join date : 2019-11-10 QTH or Location : Bedford Equipment Used : Various
Subject: Re: Got me a Kenwood...... Tue Mar 02, 2021 6:39 am
Ha! Ha!
You're a star Paddy, gave me my smile to start the day off mate.
She'll do the job sat listening to GB3PI with a few memories to QSY simplex. Rather pleased with her
Quite happy to be the rotund Ham nowadays mate, probably never 'got it' all before. However I won't feel offended if someone says, "Ooh, I like your walkie-talkie".
John123 CT Directors
Call Sign : 26CT763 Posts : 4478 Times Thanked : 161 Join date : 2019-06-27 QTH or Location : Manchester Equipment Used : Optima, Superstar 360fm, Stalker 9fdx, President Jack Age : 50
Subject: Re: Got me a Kenwood...... Tue Mar 02, 2021 10:21 pm
Nice radio, Victor.
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Victor CT Directors
Call Sign : 26-CT-3228 / M7VIC Posts : 6148 Times Thanked : 375 Join date : 2019-11-10 QTH or Location : Bedford Equipment Used : Various
Subject: Re: Got me a Kenwood...... Tue Mar 02, 2021 10:54 pm
Cheers John.
Well chuffed with her.
scropenoggin New Member
Call Sign : G7MBH/26-CT-3847 Posts : 4 Times Thanked : 0 Join date : 2020-10-21 QTH or Location : Durham Equipment Used : yaesu FT450D, Kenwood TS570D
Subject: Re: Got me a Kenwood...... Sun Mar 14, 2021 9:17 pm
Lovely looking radio-my first as an amateur was a TR2600-fond memories of working through GB3TW and GB3HG. Happy days!
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Victor CT Directors
Call Sign : 26-CT-3228 / M7VIC Posts : 6148 Times Thanked : 375 Join date : 2019-11-10 QTH or Location : Bedford Equipment Used : Various
Subject: Re: Got me a Kenwood...... Sun Mar 14, 2021 9:56 pm
Hi Mike,
I do love an older radio, especially if I can resurrect it.
Yeah, the TR 2600 with it's tiny, almost impossible to read S-meter! Weren't they just great.
The best pleasure I've yet experienced with this old girl was my old Ham friend turning up with the speaker mic for it. I pulled out the now working radio, let him plug the mic in and fired up my other radio to let him hear it working. That soft-squelch opened up and the FM reception was crystal clear in the only way an analogue receiver can be. He had a smile from ear to ear explaining how it was his first 'proper' radio after first being licenced........and exclaimed how pleased he was that it had gone to a good home.
That probably made the radio worth more to me than the sum of it's component parts.
Glad it bumped some memories for you Mike and thanks for posting, much appreciated.
All the best, Victor
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Seasick Contributor
Posts : 79 Times Thanked : 1 Join date : 2021-02-19 QTH or Location : Norfolk Equipment Used : Uniden BCT 15X
Subject: Re: Got me a Kenwood...... Sun Mar 14, 2021 10:19 pm
scropenoggin wrote:
Lovely looking radio-my first as an amateur was a TR2600-fond memories of working through GB3TW and GB3HG. Happy days!
Is that the mobile radio, that ran on 12 volts or internal batteries & which had a telescopic antenna & a channel selector like a CB? If so I remember those, I had one, that ended up being put back in in box & sitting in my mothers loft until about 15 years ago.
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scropenoggin New Member
Call Sign : G7MBH/26-CT-3847 Posts : 4 Times Thanked : 0 Join date : 2020-10-21 QTH or Location : Durham Equipment Used : yaesu FT450D, Kenwood TS570D
Subject: Re: Got me a Kenwood...... Mon Mar 15, 2021 6:42 am
Seasick wrote:
scropenoggin wrote:
Lovely looking radio-my first as an amateur was a TR2600-fond memories of working through GB3TW and GB3HG. Happy days!
Is that the mobile radio, that ran on 12 volts or internal batteries & which had a telescopic antenna & a channel selector like a CB? If so I remember those, I had one, that ended up being put back in in box & sitting in my mothers loft until about 15 years ago.
No, that was the TR2300. Mine was a handy, similar to the one in the picture. I only sold it to fund an FT290, which was my dream radio for years. But I have very happy memories of making good contacts as a proud class B on simplex as well as through repeaters. Imagine my surprise in my first sporadic e season when LA9CHA called me through GB3TW!
Seasick likes this post
Seasick Contributor
Posts : 79 Times Thanked : 1 Join date : 2021-02-19 QTH or Location : Norfolk Equipment Used : Uniden BCT 15X
Subject: Re: Got me a Kenwood...... Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:26 am
Quote :
Imagine my surprise in my first sporadic e season when LA9CHA called me through GB3TW!
A little late for Loving Awareness & the engineers used NS (North Sea) via the repeaters. So that must have been Norway, so even better.
I used to head up to Gateshead back in the late 70's. A friend lived not far from the town centre, near some flyovers. Five Bridges, are they, or where they called?