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Old 4th Jul 2020, 2:05 pm   #1
David G4EBT
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Default TRIO/Kenwood TS520/820/830 series - Repair info

In post 13 at the thread at the link below, 'Bazz4CQJ' mentioned that be believes that Ken Kernski, K4EAA, who ran a business specialising in looking after the old Kenwood Hybrids (TS520, 530, 830) had passed away quite recently, which is very sad news.

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=168642

It's evident from Ken's blog that he’d been very poorly for some time and was getting progressively worse.

His last blog entry was May 25th 2018:

https://k4eaa.com/blog.html

His website was last updated in Jan 2019:

https://www.k4eaa.com/

He did mention that his wife Barbara helped him run the business, and his website does still seem to be live, so maybe the business is still active? For anyone who owns one of the excellent Trio/Kenwood hybrid transceivers there's lots of information about known shortcomings which can arise after many years in use, such as failure of the flexible plastic band-switch couplers, for which - still listed in his 'shop' - he manufactured replacement brass couplers to the correct dimensions, and lists lots of other spares.

The TS830 in particular was a very popular rig for several years and deservedly so, with an excellent receiver and a favourite of contesters in its day. They often come up at rallies in pristine cosmetic condition at really quite low prices, along with accessories such as the excellent AT230 aerial tuning unit, the filtered speaker and low pass filter. Ken's website is a mine of information about typical faults and how to diagnose and repair them (without killing yourself!):

https://www.k4eaa.com/examples.html

On the face of things, Ken's 'shop' is still open for hard to get spares:

https://www.k4eaa.com/parts.htm

There is page after page of technical queries that Ken has answered over the years:

https://www.k4eaa.com/TQ1.htm

I greatly enjoyed owning a Trio TS830 and used it often for twenty years until 2003 onwards when I called it a day and 'pulled the plug'. I kept it out of sentiment but it simply became a 'dust gatherer' so with a heavy heart, in 2017 I sold it and the accessories to someone who I knew would use it on CW every day and derive as much enjoyment from it as I once did.

I hope the links above are useful to anyone who has one or another of the Trio/Kenwood hybrid series of transceivers.
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Old 4th Jul 2020, 2:12 pm   #2
HamishBoxer
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Default Re: TRIO/Kenwood TS520/820/830 series - Repair info

That is great info David,many thanks,I believe the coupler has failed on mine.
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Old 5th Jul 2020, 2:11 am   #3
Bazz4CQJ
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Default Re: TRIO/Kenwood TS520/820/830 series - Repair info

I'm a member of the Kenwood Hybrid group and this post was made on 19th May;

Sadly I must report that Ken Kemski K4EAA passed away on 4/27. Among other things he had Kidney failure. Barb (his wife) informs me that for the foreseeable future she intends to keep the parts business going.
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Terry K9TW
www.k9tw.com


I never had any interaction with Ken, but he was clearly much respected in the USA.

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