Kenwood TS-590S manual Product Planning Objectives

PRODUCT PLANNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of September, 2010, the TS-590S, a Kenwood HF band amateur radio transceiver was launched after the 7-year long silence since the releasing of TS-480S.

As implied by this model name, TS-590S is the “legitimate successor to the TS-570S”.

The product category taken over from the TS-570S by the TS-590S was created by combining the line of compact HF transceivers that was initiated by the TS-120S and inherited by TS-450S; and the line of TS-500s represented by the TS-520S that swept the market. The product is designed as a transceiver in a preferable price-to-performance range that has sufficient features and performance for the day-to-day use and that arrives with a compact size that is convenient for operations from a fixed station as well as from a mobile station for use in any fields.

One of the noteworthy planning policies is improvement of fundamental receive performance. To achieve the objective, a new structure has been employed for the front end. However, the performance of a transceiver as a whole is not determined solely by the front end. It is imperative to carefully design, in addition to the DSP and local oscillator, all the other elements including transmit performance and ease of operation in a comprehensive manner.

On the TS-590S, we have also made a drastic modification to the external appearance and we are confident it has a “face” that satisfies all HF users.

Following are the major features of the TS-590S:

Superb receive performance and astounding adjacent dynamic range characteristics

•Adoption of powerful roofing filters of 500 Hz/ 2.7 kHz

(During the reception in CW, FSK and SSB modes in 1.8 MHz, 3.5 MHz, 7 MHz, 21 MHz amateur bands, and if the final passband is 2.7 kHz or less, either of the filters is automatically selected.)

•Superior C/N (carrier-to-noise ratio) thanking to the high-precision DDS (direct digital synthesizer) Substantial reduction of noise caused by unwanted adjacent signals

Adoption of a 32-bit floating point DSP to realize various functions

•Advanced digital AGC control realized with DSP processing of the signal derived from the IF stage

•A wide variety of interference removal functions including newly developed noise reductions, WIDTH/SHIFT and IF notch

High-reliability design that offers stable operation

•Heavy-duty specifications for a rig enduring from continuous operation in a contest and similar occasions

•Built-in automatic antenna tuner

•High frequency stability of ±0.5 ppm thanking to the optional SO-3 TCXO (from -10°C through +50°C or 33.8°F to 122.0°F) (The transceiver frequency is ±5ppm when the SO-3 option is not installed)

Outstanding operational ergonomics, more comfortable transmission and reception

•Easy-to-use menu structure allowing excellent operability

•Large-size display equipped with the selectable LED backlight from 2 colors

•USB port that accepts not only control signals but enables input/output of transmit/receive audio signals from a PC

For details, refer to these pages providing technical explanations.

TS-590S

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