N0RQ’s brief notes on the Kenwood TS-480
One of the unsung heroes of smallish HF+ rigs is the Kenwood TS-480. The price/performance is worthy of serious consideration. (Yes, I know, it is becoming an older model…) It isn’t an expensive competition-class radio, but it is a good-performing little rig, better than most of the similarly-priced radios. The receiver is (apparently) better than the TS-480’s big brother, the TS-2000. It has very good computer control capability, which is why we have it for our remote station as well as our home station. It is designed to be good both base and mobile/portable, with a control head that is neither too big nor too small.
If you use a TS-480, here are a few links that may be of interest:
- Kenwood’s online info
- Firmware: firmware update info (NOTICE: new firmware version 1.07 released Feb. 2017), make sure to carefully follow the firmware update instructions in the manual!
- Kenwood’s ARCP-480 software
- my remote station using a TS-480
- eham.net reviews of the TS-480: TS-480/SAT (autotuner); TS-480/HX (high-power) — you can see it is a very well-liked rig
- Yahoo group for the TS-480 – a very helpful group of folks!
- parts can be obtained at www.KenwoodParts.com
OK, how about some video?
- youtube video of AI4QT giving his analysis of the TS-480
- youtube video of N4LS TS-480 mobile installation
- youtube video of a guy using a TS-480 and RemoteRig
- youtube video of a guy in Taiwan operating his remote TS-480 in Sweden
Read the manual(s) (.pdf format):
- TS-480-Instruction-manual
- TS-480-PC-command-control-reference (useful for HRD users)
- TS-480-in-depth-manual
- TS-480 service manual (note: a 36mb download in .pdf format!)
- TS-480SAT-brochure
- TS-480-Radcom-review (from 2004)