Adding appeal to fixed station operations
It is now increasingly common to see a PC sitting beside the transceiver in the shack, but we wanted to expand the interaction between computers and transceivers. It was with this in mind that Kenwood came up with the idea of an Internet remote-controlled transceiver. You may be away on a business trip, but you want to operate, or you may want to use a large Yagi antenna out in the suburbs from your downtown apartment. In these and many other ways, fixed station operations are becoming more varied and more difficult. However, laws governing radio transmissions vary from country to country. In Japan, we had just about resigned ourselves to the fact that this could only be implemented as an RX feature when fortunately the law changed: starting January 13, 2004, both TX and RX operations became possible. This made all our development work worthwhile for our market in Japan and worldwide.
Overview of the TS-480 Series
The product concept for the TS-480 Series, as outlined, can be summarized thus:
Not simply a compact HF mobile transceiver like the TS-50 and other transceivers on the market, the TS-480 is a completely new type of powerful compact HF transceiver offering the performance and features required for HF DX operations.
TX output of 200W (HF), an astounding figure; and up till now, only available from the top-of-the-line models.
Transceiver remote control
In order to realize all three of these, we started the design process with the following planning objectives:
1.Priority on basic performance that stresses the 1.8 ~ 50 MHz range;
2.Dynamic range on a par with the TS-950;
3.Uncompromising RX performance, AF DSP as standard;
4.A control panel design that ensures top-notch operating ease, so that desired functions can be accessed instantly;
5.Support for a range of different operations as a mobile station and as a full-fledged base station, allowing the user to enjoy HF DX as much as with a conventional fixed station;
6.A quantum leap in power output in a compact chassis, generating 200W even when working off a DC 13.8V supply (in the USA there are no limitations on the power output of mobile transceivers, so it is being described as a “power mobile”);
7.Internal automatic tuner for the 100W model to make it more versatile and expand the range of possible applications; and
8.Remote control via the Internet.
As for the name of the new series, which was intended to reflect our planning objectives, we decided on the 400’s in order to express continuity with the popular TS-450 workhorse transceiver. This was because the new product was not simply a compact transceiver but would offer the sort of performance and features Kenwood fans would expect of a 400-series model. A workhorse transceiver that could prove its worth in a variety of places – in the shack, in a vehicle, in the field -- this was the TS-480 Series being planned by Kenwood.
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